Yesterday we took a bus trip to a couple of neighbouring towns – its the local bus with school kids and us. One of the towns, Flateyri, we will return to next week – it looked quite charming. There are immense tunnels excavated through some of the mountains that vehicles take to avoid driving around the mountains. They are a wonder of human engineering! Some parts are one way so all vehicles going in the direction that doesn’t have way have to pull in to the side and let the others pass – there are regular little indentations for vehicles to do this. The tunnels are incredibly gloomy – I can hear strains of In the Hall of the Mountain King in my mind as we travel along.
I’ve been making my postcards – slowly. And need to think about soundscapes or podcasts as well. Mostly we think about staying warm. When I looked at the Museum of Photography website, this is their photo of the month – A WINTER’S DAY ON ÍSAFÍRÍD CIRCA 1913. It’s cold.
Jenni, have you explored early settlement in the area? What are the houses made of? Both old and new? Timber doesn’t look like a great option – all that snow and the hills look bare. We visited the historical society in Oatlands and they had a reconstruction of an early settlers hut – early 1800’s. Hand made brick chimney, internal fireplace and rough sawed planks of wood for walls and floor. All drafts and cold in winter and heat in summer. Pondering what drives people to stay when conditions are so adverse.
Hi Donna – yes, I have a couple of pics – one taken today in Bolungarvik where they had early settlement, and during the ring road tour we visited a replica viking village that was meant to be in a film set, that was never made. The woman who drove us around Bolungarvik said she lives there “because it is wild”!