A sculpture made from the twisted I-beams of a warehouse destroyed by an avalanche.
There were two options for walking on Saturday – a longer seven and a half mile walk, or a “town-and-country” walk. Jonathan had indicated earlier that he would prefer the town walk, so we met up with Kristín on the steps of our hotel, while John, Diane, Margie, and Kevin joined Erling on the bus up to the trail head at the ski area up the valley. We were joined by a local guide, Ola Maja, who described the history of the town..
As we reached the edge of town, she led us up into the hills, walking further down the fjord towards the ocean. We then retraced our steps back to the track down to the road, but then headed along the contour up the valley to a spot between fields of lupine to enjoy our gravlax sandwiches.
Afterwards, we continued to scramble over wilderness landscape – there was no path I could discern – and Ola Maja perhaps misjudged the lay of the land as Kristín led the bulk of the group back down the slope to the road, although Jerye and I followed Ola Maja. (We were out of sight of the rest of the group at that time.)
Actually, once we got past the difficult ridge along the edge of a field of lupines, the path was no more difficult, and perhaps easier, than previously. The three of us made our way to the base of a waterfall and then followed the stream back downhill to join the rest of the group.
Walking back into town, we stopped at a couple of handicraft shops that were dominated by “lady stuff”. After showering and a twenty minute nap, Jonathan and I sit in the Skaftell Bistro working on our journals and the trip evaluation (since this is a prototype tour, our input is being sought real-time).
A sculpture made from the twisted I-beams of a warehouse destroyed by an avalanche.
The local church (from the backside).
Another corrugated iron-clad building.
A view of the village from across the lagoon (looking southward).
I thought the house in the background matched Ola Maja's jacket.
A multi-tiered waterfall on the north-facing slopes.
During WWII - a tanker, El Grillo, was sunk by German aircraft in the fjord and is an attraction to divers.
Ronnie in front of a former machine shop, now the home to the East Iceland Museum of Technology.
A plaque on a building that housed the western link of the first trans-oceanic telegraph cable from Europe.
The 2004 Tree of the Year as determined by the Icelandic Forestry Association, a European larch specimen.
Looking back over the village.
Everyone else looking back over the village.
Water avens (Geum rivale).
Common cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium).
Barbara and Kay.
Gisele taking a low shot.
Heading up the road…
…with Lubin in tow.
Fording a stream below a small waterfall.
Cutting a purple path…
…through a hillside of lupines.
Climbing the steep hill, the businesses along the harborside street are visible below.
I think these tiny purple flowers are immature wild thyme (Thymus praecox ssp. arcticus).
Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum). I'm not sure if the yellow-red leaves are the new growth or old.
Crowberry showing the berries - they'll turn black as you might imagine.
Jerye pauses for a moment - the village and harbor visible below.
Kristín before a field of lupine.
We made it to the falls - Jerye and Ola Maja (and me!).
Following the stream back to the road.
Looking back up towards the falls.
Sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata).
The rest of the walkers waiting for us at the fire station.
Another Irish cat.
An interesting sculpture with other non-wood elements.
A close-up of the feline portion.
Poppies (Papaver nudicaule).
Appetizer: Gravlax on greens with mustard sauce.
Entrée: Filet of lamb.
Dessert: Skyr with cream and blueberries.
Jonathan warned me about his experience with Icelandic cuisine 40 years past. However, the Icelanders must have been the star pupils at the culinary schools of the world since then. Every meal we had was excellent!
The dinner that night was on our own, and we chose to return to the same restaurant as the previous evening. Our reasoning was that we saw some lamb racks go by to the table behind us that looked and smelled wonderful. So for our anniversary (which was actually the day before), we both ordered the exact same meal – from appetizer to dessert – gravlax with dill mustard sauce, the “fillet of lamb", and skyr with blueberries and cream. The appetizer was a reprise of our lunch sandwich without the bun, and was wonderfully tasty. The lamb, although described as a fillet, was a full rack with seven chops – the excess fat had been removed and the chef obviously knew how to cook it. The lamb came on a bed of lentils and root vegetables on the side. About halfway through our meal, Ronnie and Kevin came in and after a brief conversation (where we recommended the lamb), they settled in at their own table. We finished our meal with skyr, an Icelandic variant of yogurt that uses different cultures, with blueberries and cream. Ronnie and Kevin sent a couple glasses of champagne from the bottle they were sharing, and as we left, we swung by their table to thank them.