Sunday 1 June 2008

Vik I Myrdal Iceland May 2008

We arrived in Vik I Myrdal on Tuesday evening. It was an amazing place, the southernmost point of Iceland. Nearby the Volcano Katla snoozed under her glacier, but evidence of her previous eruptions were everywhere.
The road into Vik was never dull. . . .
The church looked like a little lego church, but was actually a very sweet and humble Lutheran church, with modern stained glass windows, the oly extravagence in a very humble church. With a backdrop like this, you don't need much else.


and in the distance you can see the Reynisdrangur. . .

Just outside Vik we found these wonderful turf houses. I cannot begin to imagine living in these houses, but then I cannot begin to imagine living in Iceland as an early settler in the shadow of a live volcano.

The beach at Vik looks out to the Dyrholaey headland (NOT the Dry Holey headland as I was guilty of saying). The sand is volcanic and totally black. Whilst not really a country for sunbathing, the beach was a good one for stoneskimming!

These are the black rock formations at the beach. I think they look like Church organ pipes!


The Dyrholaey headland was closed as the birds were nesting (Damn those birds!). The forck formation was incredible, and I apologise for the mediocrity of the shot. Believe me it was not for want of trying!!

The other end of the beach at Vik you can see the Reynisdrangur. Locals believe that these are trolls caught by the early sunrise and frozen into stone.




and just so you can really appreciate the black sand!



Lots of Icelandic ponies everywhere. . . . They were pretty hardy, and very randy!



The sheep did not seem to like visitors with cameras . . .


This Oyster Catcher was by far the most common bird that we saw in Iceland. They were as prevalent as the British pigeon. Do you thing the Icelanders would mind if we swapped, the Oyster catchers are far prettier and far more interesting than our pigeons!and there were a pair of White Wagtails outside our hotel in Vik . . . .
Finally a photo taken from outside my hotel room in Vik at sunset. This was at about 11.15 pm, and although I would have liked to photograph the sunrise, this was at 3.05am, so I did not manage it. The light never got much darker than this, it was perfectly possible to read without a light on throughout the night!




3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You've taken some absolutely beautiful pictures of my mother's home town. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, but have spent many happy childhood days in Vík in the 1960's and 70's. I live in Denmark now, and have just come back from my first visit in Vík in 11 years! It is a magical place- for me at least. Thanks for putting those pictures out there!

Anonymous said...

You've taken some beautiful pictures of my mom's hometown. Though I was born and raised in Los Angeles, Calif., I have fond memories of many childhod days spent in Vík in the 1960's and 70's, beachcombing and digging potatoes with my grandfather or climbing the mountains with my grandmother. The views are always spectacular there! Thanks for sharing those pictures!

Anonymous said...

You've taken some beautiful pictures of my mom's hometown. Though born and raised in Los Angeles, Calif., I have many fond memories of childhood visits to Vík in the 1960's and 70's, beachcombing and digging potatoes with my grandfather or climbing up the mountains with my grandmother. It's a magical place for me. Thanks for sharing your pictures.