After our time on the Snaefellsjokull Peninsula we headed north to explore a little bit of the Westfjords, one of the more remote parts of Iceland. Our first stop was to visit the Museum of Sorcery and Witchcraft in Holmavik, where we learned all about the history and culture of pagan activity in Iceland.
The Westfjords was one of the biggest holdouts for witchcraft after the country was "christian-ized," and most of the people who were burned alive for witchcraft were from the area. It turns out, in Iceland the people accused of witchcraft were mostly men and only one woman was ever burned at the stake. We learned a lot about the various lore and superstitions and for such a small museum it was really well done. All of the exhibits were in Icelandic, but we were given a translation book in English so we could understand everything. The craziest thing we learned about were the Necropants...apparently a spell for making money involves getting a friend to agree to let you skin them from the waist down after they die so you can step, bare bottomed, into your very own pair of skin-pants. If you keep a coin in the scrotum along with a magic rune symbol, then as long as you never remove the original coin the scrotum will always be filled with money. Good for those who are short on cash, and presumably don't mind jingling with every step.
The Westfjords was one of the biggest holdouts for witchcraft after the country was "christian-ized," and most of the people who were burned alive for witchcraft were from the area. It turns out, in Iceland the people accused of witchcraft were mostly men and only one woman was ever burned at the stake. We learned a lot about the various lore and superstitions and for such a small museum it was really well done. All of the exhibits were in Icelandic, but we were given a translation book in English so we could understand everything. The craziest thing we learned about were the Necropants...apparently a spell for making money involves getting a friend to agree to let you skin them from the waist down after they die so you can step, bare bottomed, into your very own pair of skin-pants. If you keep a coin in the scrotum along with a magic rune symbol, then as long as you never remove the original coin the scrotum will always be filled with money. Good for those who are short on cash, and presumably don't mind jingling with every step.
After our journey through the Icelandic Occult we drove out along route 60 that hugs the coastline of the Southern part of the fjords in search of a hot pool right on the edge of the ocean. It was a long and winding dirt road that made me grateful to be in a car rather than on bicycles as we periodically climbed over one mountain and descended down the other side to the next fjord at steep grades of 10-15%. The entire drive offered magnificent views of the ocean and the occasional quaint little farmhouse set next to its own private waterfall.
We found Hellulaug hotspring in the early afternoon, and it was completely worth the long drive. Hot water was piped down from a spring on top of the cliff into a 12x9 foot pool about waist deep. It was made by blocking up the entrance to a natural crevice in the rock with a wall of stacked stones, and it was so close to the ocean that I could imagine getting sprayed by waves if the tide was high and the seas were rough. The clear blue water was slightly aerated and if we sat still for a moment or two we ended up covered in tiny little bubbles. Since we had no other plans for the day we stayed for several hours as various other groups came and went. As the day wore one we decided not to continue out into the fjordlands, and retraced our route and cut north to the little town of Hvammstangi to a campground we particularly enjoyed while on our cycle tour. On our way back a juvenile white tailed eagle raced us along the road for a couple hundred meters, giving us a chance to marvel at his nearly 6 foot wingspan.
We spent two nights in Hvammstangi so I could take advantage of the internet there to do a Skype interview for a position at Schweitzer for this winter (spoiler alert, I got the job!!). It was nice to take a full day to relax, organize all of our photos and footage and catch up on sleep. We've been on the move constantly since we arrived in Iceland and this was the first time we spent more than one night in the same place. In the evening we went down to the grocery store for some veggies and were surprised by a huge whale dragged up onto the boat ramp down by the dock. It was a Minke whale that had stranded itself in the next inlet and died as they were trying to get it back out to deep water.
| It was brought to Hvammstangi so the scientists at the Seal research center could try to determine what happened to it, and it was a great opportunity to get up close and personal with such a magnificent creature. You could tell it wasn't a common occurrence because even the locals were gathered around taking pictures. The most interesting part to me was that baleen it uses to filter feed made the inside of its mouth quite hairy and soft. The next morning the only thing left of the whale was a bright red patch in the ocean covered in sea birds. They took samples and then put a hole in the stomach so it would sink when they dragged it to its watery grave. | |
We are continuing our travels to the North and East, come back soon to hear about our adventures in North Iceland!
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