Archive for 'Icelandic history'
Draugasetrið, the haunted ghost-museum. Posted by hulda on Oct 29, 2013
“The man whose voice you heard on the tape died a while ago. Ingólfur, who made the ghost movie also died recently, of cancer. Then I died too but they started me up again.” It’s a little bit difficult to take our ghost museum guide 100% seriously but as he is one of the specialists…
The legend of Lagarfljót. Posted by hulda on Oct 23, 2013
It’s not long now until Halloween so let’s get in the mood of it and have a look at more Icelandic monsters. This time I’ll be concentrating on one particular monster that, unlike the others, has been seen on regular intervals up to our day: the Lagarfljótsormurinn (= the worm of Lagarfljót). What’s known of…
Nature in poetry. Posted by hulda on Sep 26, 2013
I’ve come to believe that Icelandic people’s relationship with Icelandic nature is of the strongest kind there is. Logically thinking this is not surprising: just look around to see what I mean. On particularly beautiful mornings I still find it hard to believe that Esjan, the mountain looking over Reykjavík in the north, is real…
A house called The House. Posted by hulda on Aug 31, 2013
The House of Eyrarbakki, Húsið á Eyrarbakka, was among our must-stop list during the camping trip. I’ve already described how Icelanders typically lived (link), but this example is exceptional because the house in question used to belong to a very wealthy family. Of course it pales in comparison to many, larger and fancier houses all…
Traveling in Iceland – ghosts and hidden people. Posted by hulda on Jul 31, 2013
Near the Valahnúkur cliffs is a hot spring area called Gunnuhver, Gunna’s hot spring. It’s easily accessible so if you’re visiting the lighthouse you should definitely go see this place as well. There are two roads that lead there, one from the main road and one from the lighthouse. Something has once been built here…
Traveling in Iceland – Reykjanes. Posted by hulda on Jul 29, 2013
After a whole month of bad weather the summer finally arrived to Iceland. We made some quick plans – quick because they had been made before and always abandoned because of the continuous rain – packed our tent and other camping items into the jeep and headed out. We decided to stay close to Reykjavík…
The grass house that wouldn’t be blown in. Posted by hulda on Jun 30, 2013
Imagine that you have just arrived to an island somewhere in the middle of an ocean and have decided upon a place you’ll build your new home. Far as the eye can see there’s almost nothing suitable to building with except for – turf. Torfbær, the turf house, dating back from the early times of…