Lögberg-Heimskringla - 17.03.1995, Blaðsíða 24

24 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 17. mars 1995
lceland — Mother Nature’s Panorama
by Dorothy Leibel
Oliver, B.C.
Iceland is indeed the land of the mid-
night sun! From the time we left
Winnipeg at 6 p.m. June 29, until we
retumed on July 15 at 6 p.m., we were
never in darkness. At first it was strange
to wake up at three in the moming and
gaze out over the Reykjavík harbour
which was as busy then as any time dur-
ing the day. We soon got used to the
light — the problem was knowing when
to get up. The single cots with a pillow
and comforter were very comfortable
and easy to straighten up in the mom-
ing.
We stayed in a Bed and Breakfast
house at 29 Sólvallagata during our days
in the capital. Lugging our suitcases up a
narrow staircase to the fourth floor and
sharing a bathroom with nine other peo-
ple was a test, but everyone was patient
and courteous and there were no com-
plaints. Our Icelandic breakfast was
served by a 23 year old named Katrín
who handled a group of hungry tourists
plus her little redheaded daughter with
ease. Typical breakfast fare was herring
(pickled or smoked), smoked mutton,
puffin paté, several kinds of brown
bread, preserves, sliced tomatoes and
cucumbers. There was also com flakes
with your choice of plain or cultured
milk. A bottle of cod liver oil was also
displayed on the breakfast buffet. We
enquired about a toaster and Katarin
dug it out from a bottom shelf, saying
that Icelanders don’t have time to make
toast in the moming.
Of the 189 people on -the plane, veiy
few did not have some Icelandic origins.
The tour originated from the community
of Gimli, Manitoba and also included
many from Markerville, Alberta and
North Dakota, two other Icelandic com-
munities.
We were within walking distance of
downtown and explored this area thor-
oughly before venturing on the buses to
go farther afield. Reykjavík has a popu-
lation of 160,000 which is more than
half of the total 262,000 inhabitants of
Iceland. It is a lovely, clean city with
many museums, art galleries and
churches. The architecture displays
pure, sweeping lines with many win-
dows to take advantage of the sun when
it is available. The National Museum is
located in the comer of the campus of
the University of Iceland. Here roughly
4,000 students study in nine faculties.
The Botanical Gardens display 300
species of plants which can be found in
Iceland. Quite a few were species that
we would find growing in Canada.
In the central part of Reykjavík is
Laugardalur (Hot Pool Valley). Here
there is a considerable amount of ther-
mal power which is used to heat the
houses in the city, swimming pools and
greenhouses. Drills similar to those used
for drilling oil are used to reach the
water which is then pumped along a
network of pipes to the consumers. The
deepest borehole in all of Iceland is
nearly 3,080 metres deep and the water
is approximately 75°C. when it reaches
the houses.
Towering on top of Öskjuhlíð Hill,
are six giant tanks through which geot-
hermal water is distributed. Perched on
these tanks is Perlan (The Pearl) where
its glistening dome serves as a multi-
storey sightseeing tower offering every-
thing from an Italian ice-cream parlour,
to a top-class restaurant, along with art
exhibitions, musical events, meeting
rooms and its own geyser which spouts
regularly from the basement to the top
of the dome. The day we visited this
unique facility all the staff were bustling
around in preparation for a luncheon
for the Queen of Holland. We peaked
into the kitchen and saw a hundred
dessert plates being prepared in the
shape of a geyser using pastries, fruits
and whipped cream, Yummy!
Ásmundur Sveinsson’s sculpture The
Washerwoman, overlooks the geother-
mal springs where Reykjavík women did
their washing in the ample natural hot
water in times of old. Women used to
bring their washing in wheelbarrows to
this site in the days before automatic
washing machines.
From Áskirkja (Ás Church), 47 m.
above sea level, on clear days you can
see Snæfellsjökull glacier 100 km away.
In front of Hrafnista, is a statue of
Thorfinnur ICarlsefni, an llth century
Viking explorer. He followed Leifur
Eirílísson, who was the first European
to discover America - 500 years before
Columbus rediscovered it. Karlsefni
lived for three yeárs in America with his
wife Guðríður, and there, according to
Eric the Red’s Saga, she bore him a son
called Snorri, in all probability the first
European to be bom here.
Árbæjarsafn is an open-air museum
built around the old farm ofÁrbær. It is
first mentioned in written records in
1464. The last inhabitant moved out in
1948. Most of the buildings were of turf
construction which evolved in Iceland
owing to the acute shortage of large
trees. As Icelandic grass grows very
thickly, a turf building can last a centuiy
as long as the roof is sloped at the cor-
rect angle. A complex of small separate
buildings are united by a central pas-
sageway — sometimes these are so long
that a guest was reputed to have
remarked “I thought this led to the next
farm”. The smokehouse was also the
kitchen and the fuel was peat or dried
(odourless) sheep dung. The “baðstofa”
of an Icelandic farmstead was, in the
very real sense, the “living room”. Here
the farmer, his family and the hired
hands, ate, worked, and slept. There
were rows of single beds on both sides
of the room and each person worked
and ate sitting on his own bed. On a
shelf above it they kept their private
“askur” — a cylindrical wooden dish or
a bowl with a lid, often intricately
carved. In this the food was brought
from the pantiy. The woman’s side was
along the window, since their work
spinning and sewing — required more
light. During the long winter evenings a
member might read a saga or recite
poetry. A wooden board called the
“rúmfjöl”, was used to hold the bed-
clothes firmly in place on the aisle side
and putting it in position at night was a
silent uttering of the prayer which was
carved on it. There was a covenant of
privacy among the people who lived in
the “baðstofa” and what a person kept
under his pillow was as safe from piying
as if it had been in a strong-box. The
dwelling was heated by the body heat of
its inhabitants, from the animals stabled
below, and from the excellent insulating
properties of the Icelandic turf.
We spent an aftemoon searching for
a cemetery where some Canadian air-
force men were buried. Our search was
successful and we wére able to take pic-
tures of the headstone of a friendly broth-
er killed defending the North Atlantic
shipping lanes during the last war. There
were 147 Canadians buried during this
peaceful, well cared for, cemetery in
Reykjavík.
The oldest buildings in Reykjavík are
barely two hundred years old but
Iceland’s capital was built where Viking
adventurer Ingólfur Amarson made his
home after arriving from Norway in AD
874. When nearing land he tossed his
high-seat pillars overboard and vowed to
settle where divine providence washed
them ashore. After three years of beach
combing, they were found by his slave
who was unimpressed by the gods’ urban
planning. With the words “to ill purpose
we crossed good land to settle this spit”,
he ran away with one of the slave women
and set up home near to where the town
of Selfoss stands today. We could under-
stand his feelings as the drive in from
Keflavík Airport was through veiy rocky,
barren, unproductive land. This is under-
standable when you realize the whole
area is a 7,000 year old lava field.
Iceland celebrated its 50th year of
independence on June 17, 1994, at the
ancient parliament site of Þingvellir.
There was also a meeting of the
Intemational Icelandic Federation so it
was a homecoming for many of the
147,000 tourists visiting Iceland this year.
We were impressed with the warmth and
hospitality tendered to visiting relatives,
and were sorry we had no Icelandic con-
nections
We were all invited to a reception
attended by the Prime Minister who gave
a brief welcoming speech. On a humor-
ous note, he mentioned a meeting with
the Israeli Prime Minister who compared
Israel and Iceland as having had to stmg-
gle for their freedom. The Icelandic Prime
Minister agreed stating that the Israelis
were “Gods’ chosen people” and the
Icelander’s were “Gods frozen people”.
Actually, in most coastal areas it doesn’t
get much colder than -10°C. but it doesn’t
get much warmer than 15°C. The highest
temperature we encountered was 22°C.
and that was considered a heat wave in
Iceland.
The Icelandic monetary unit is the
króna and the exchange rate for one
Canadian dollar is 49 lcrónur. When you
must double the price of everything you
purchase it is not conducive to a big
shopping spree and many gorgeous
Icelandic sweaters were reluctantly
passed over, The price of a bowl of soup
and a roll was $9 and a basic main meal
would be around $20. Gasoline was
$1.25 a litre but there are half as many
cars as people in Iceland. The average
wage in $20,000 a year and the price of
an apartment is comparable with our
prices in Canada. Lower income workers
may borrow up to 75% to purchase hous-
ing and have 45 years to repay at 6%
interest. There is 18% direct tax levied on
everyone. There is a very low level of
unemployment — 6% — and conse-
quently a low level of crime with only 344
people in prison.
The first day of our circle tour of
Iceland, we headed north to Þingvellir
National Park, the site of the Alþing (par-
liament) from 950 A.D until 1798 when
the area collapsed in an earthquake. The
acoustically superb rift valley wall gives a
beautiful view of Þingvallavatn 83 sq.,
km. and 340m. deep, believed to be glaci-
er fed. The mid-Atlantic ridge runs from
SW to NE in Iceland and as the tectonic
CONTEST
FRENZY
Contlnued from P. 1
While this contest frenzy is
upon us, we might as well
announce another. In
keeping with the great Icelandic
tradition of writing poetry, we
invite all subscribers who enjoy vis-
its from the'muse to enter our poet-
ry contest. Even non-subscribers
are invited to join in. The rules are
simple — there are no rules except
that you have to write and submit
to us a previously unpublished
poem. We will publish them in the
newspaper on a continuing basis
and announce a winner in our spe-
cial Festival Issue in August.
The winner will receive — you
guessed it — a free subscription to
Lögberg-Heimskringla but all
entrants will enjoy the glory of
being published in North America’s
Icelandic weekly. Send your
entries to In Search of the Muse,
care of Lögberg-Heimskringla, 699
Carter Avenue, Winnipeg,
Manitoba R3M 2C3.
plates are gradually moving apart it is
believed the island will eventually be
split in two. All along this ridge or rift
are spotted hundreds of volcanoes and
thermal areas.
We stop at White River (Hvítá)
where there was a water fall in the river
and also water pouring from the banks
of the underground. We stop to climb to
the top of a volcano and enjoy a terrific
view of the crater and surrounding
countryside. This was a lovely green val-
ley with a clean cold glacial river flowing
through and the salmon fishing was said
to be excellent if you could afford a
licence. A fishing licence would cost
$120 for two hours of fishing. You
couldn’t pull them in fast enough to pay
for the licence.
The farms, obviously covering many
sections of grazing land, are very pic-
turesque and well-to-do with predomi-
nantely white buildings with red roofs.
There were some potato and turnip
fields but basically the main crop was
hay to feed the many sheep, cattle and
horses during the long, dark winter. The
average farm would run 22 cows and
400 sheep with several horses for round-
up. Milk production is very important
and the farmers do everything to keep
their cows happy, including brassieres
for the heavy milkers.
Our housing during the circle tour
was at Edda Hotels, most of which, are
boarding schools for nine months of the
year. Our quarters were good with a
sink in each room and a shared toilet
and shower. There was usually a swim-
ming pool nearby and hot tubs to soak
our travel weary bones.
We saw many Icelandic horses dur-
ing our travels as there are 75,000 of
them in the country. This undemanding,
hardy, strong, willing animal would be
considered a pony in Canada as it is on
the small side. This is the only breed of
hórse in Iceland as importing horses has
been banned for 1,100 years. This is a
purebred, a direct descendant of the
Germanic horse of the Middle Ages.
This horse possesses, in addition to the