Woke up a little later at Helluland, had breakfast and saw the horses again.. this time with a better warning so I was able to catch them running up the hill.
Today we spent quite a lot of time on dirt and gravel. Something normally a little hairy - but when you add snow, rain and a complete lack of any kind of shoulder on any road - it really adds to the challenge. Our faithful steed rose to the challenge time and again, with always-on 4x4 lock enabled I had plenty of power and grip. Twice I found that the road was actively disagreeing with the direction I wanted to go - and had no trouble returning us to the appropriate direction with a minimum of fuss.
In other words, we got a little sideways but I didn’t fuck it up. Go me.
We visited the Eiríksstaðir recreation viking long house, built about one hundred meters from the ruins of Eirik the Red’s original home and birthplace of Leif the Lucky. Normally during the low season they don’t open unless by appointment - so we made an appointment. The 15,000 ISK fee wasn’t the easiest to justify before we got there, but after spending a good hour and a half talking to our guide about the site, Eirik, his family, the history of the area and all things Iceland, it was definitely money well spent.
The longhouse is regarded as the most faithful reproduction in Europe of a real long house, and when you think about what you see in the movies, you couldn’t be more wrong. It’s quite small, especially when you consider up to 25 people could have been in there during down time.
Sadly there were no tags on anything, this was very cute - maybe an Arctic Fox?
After that we went to the Bjarnarhofn shark museum (more information on TripAdvisor) to find out about the national dish of Iceland and the way it’s made. We had a quick wander around and then were shown a quick video and talk about how they used to hunt shark for their livers (shark oil burns well), but since electricity came along it wasn’t financially viable. Now they just work with the local fishermen (mainly in Reykjavik) and buy the bi-catch when they accidentally pick one up in their net.
The Raven and the Merlin - someone’s just showing off.
Greenland sharks literally have anti-freeze in their veins because they live in the deepest, coldest part of the northern oceans - so typically it’s poisonous to eat the flesh. When they were hunting it for the liver, they’d just bury the rest of the shark for lack of a better place to put it. It’s not quite clear how someone came to dig some up later, but the hungry guy got a mouth full of not-deadly shark by doing it, thus starting the hilariously stinky tradition. Once they let it ferment, with lactobacillus bacteria turning the chemicals to ammonia, they then hang it out to dry for some time until the ammonia works its way out. Given they grow to be over a tonne in weight, seven meters long, and basically everything but the guts is edible - it was a great source of food for their people.
We really need more taxidermied beasties in our lives.
So, long story short - I ate it - kæstur hákarl. It wasn’t bad at all. I could see how people wouldn’t be a fan - especially if the fishy urea smell was more powerful - but the several pieces I had were quite tasty. There’s a rich “six day old cat litter tray” undertone to it, but otherwise it’s like eating pork fat as far as texture is concerned. The scent hangs around your mouth as you’d imagine, but it definitely wasn’t as bad as everyone was making it out to be.
Today’s weather, brought to you by the west coast of Iceland, included heavy rains and high winds, blowing snow off the mountains from every direction.
After a short drive we picked up food and checked in at the Grundarfjörður apartments, right up against the water’s edge. A large complex with a well-appointed kitchen and fast internet. What more could a weary (and hungry) traveller need? :)
