Category Archives: AJ - Blog 2012
Image of the month:
Image of the month: art of Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann
Saturday, September 8, 2012 — Oddi, Þórsmörk, Eyjafjallajökull
My feet are badly blistered from earlier activities, so focused the remaining time on a small corner of Iceland, and did my best to keep off my feet. To this end, the Icelandic horses were a godsend. These wonderful animals have five distinct gaits — of which the unique tölt allows them to flow over obstacles like caterpillars. Read more »
Wednesday, September 6, 2012 — Journey to the Center of Myself
In Snefflls Iokulis kraterem kem delibat umbra Skartaris Iulii intra kalendas deskende, audas uiator, te terrestre kentrum attinges. Kod feki. Arne Saknussemm.
Away from computers for awhile, as I’ve spent some time out in Iceland’s spectacular landscape. The interior of the island is virtually uninhabited, but even the coastal areas are largely mountains bare of trees, roads, buildings and people. The mountainsides are extraordinarily steep, and often unclimbable as they consist of loose pebbles on which you can get little foothold. You look for patches of green, which usually mean the slope is gentle enough for the mosses and grasses to take hold. Most of the mountains are slabs created by ancient lava flows, and they are broken into cliffs of astonishing sharpness. Mixed in with these are volcanic cinder-cones. It is possible to walk enormous distances, with an unimpeded view of many miles, and not see a single person. But you always run across sheep, and, in lower areas, untended horses. Walking over long stretches of this landscape requires a willingness to accept sudden and unpleasant changes of weather. It may be warm and sunny, but an icy wind may pick up at any time, or rain clouds roll in within minutes. Read more »
Monday, September 3, 2012 — Farmers and Fishermen
Daði Jóhannesson, the District Commissioner for Snæfellsnes og Hnappadalssýsla drove me across a great part of the district. He stopped at a solitary farmhouse to deliver advance ballots for the upcoming constitutional referendum, which will be held in October. Along the way, we discussed the district’s social problems, which consisted, for the most part, of nothing more dramatic than a few bar fights. Read more »
Sunday, Sept 2, 2012 — Skálafell and Hvalfjörður
After the constant rain of the last few days, it was wonderful to be out in the bright sunlight, so I thought some hiking would be in order. I walked through the quiet valley of Skálafell, a place of no particular importance from a touristic point of view. The valley, tending northwest by southeast, is defined by high plateaux on either side. Even this early in the year, there are some patches of fresh snow on top. The slopes curve down in almost perfect arcs. The bottom of the valley has some rich grazing land, and is dotted with sheep, cattle, horses and ducks, all amiably grazing together. Read more »
Sunday, September 2, 2012 — Þingvellir
I was driven directly to Þinvellir by Ingi Bjarnason, a geophysicist who has done considerable work on Iceland´s mantle plume. If you are going to study plate tectonics, you could hardly pick a better spot than this, where the American and European tectonic plates are simultaneously separating and shearing. Read more »
Saturday, September 1, 2012 — Reykjavik’s Bookstores
Iceland is famous for having a very high level of reading, and I saw plenty of evidence of this. Reykyavik’s core has a half-dozen fairly large bookstores, well stocked with both Icelandic and English books, and they are always crowded. A Canadian city of this size would be lucky to have one. I visited a second-hand bookstore, and marvelled at the large selection of old books in Icelandic, dating back to the early 19th century, when the population of the island was tiny. These included both translations of the world’s output, but quite a lot of original works in Icelandic. My will-power broke down, and I purchased a two-volume set of Sagas. These are useless to me, as they are in Icelandic, but they are beautiful, and I rationalized the purchase as the visible souvenir of my trip that will look at me handsomely from my bookshelf. Perhaps a wandering Icelandic scholar will drop by and read them.
Saturday, September 1, 2012 — Viðeyjarsund to Klukkuvellir by Foot
A rather gloomy and rainy day, but not too wet to prevent me from taking a long urban hike of about thirty kilometers that would give me a good idea of the layout and neighbourhoods of greater Reykjavik. My starting point was the Höfðy, the old house where Ronald Reagan and Mikhael Gorbochev held their famous summit meeting in 1986. I first went northeast from the center to Sundahöfn Harbour. One end of the harbour has some huge cruise ships; the other is container port, looking very modern, but quiet these days. I then turned south through the Laugardalur, a large park containing various urban amusements, including a zoo and one of the most popular geothermal pools. Read more »