Visiting .00125% of Icelanders

The second leg of our journey south after Seljalandsfoss was full of ash (see "Kicking Ash and Taking Names" post). As we drove the ring road the ash disappeared into the hovering clouds allowing us expansive views of the lush, green countryside. The topography was mountainous and the views were more beautiful the further we drove.


We reached our destination, Vík, the wettest place in Icleand which is ironic because when we were there it didn't rain. Vík is a town of 400 people. On the map in my guidebook, the town was marked with a larger dot so I thought it would be bigger. Guess it's big for Iceland, roughly .00125% of the population! The town had one church up on a hill set along the mountainside. We took the main road and parked at what we thought looked like a school or rec center with an interesting mural that made me laugh so hard. From what I could tell, it depicted a kid running into a volcano, falling in, then blowing up. Hilarious. (pic below)


We weren't sure we were allowed to park there so we found a gravel road that led us to a small lot by the German memorial. It looked like a mini Stonehenge design and the only inscriptions were in German. It commemorates a German fishing boat that was wrecked off the beach and was erected by the fishing company to thank the Icelanders who had risked their lives to save crew members.


Since we couldn't read German well, we continued toward the beach (voted a top ten black sand beach in the world... and rightly so!) Along the rock face of the Reynisfall cliffs to our right we saw a large and industrious colony of arctic terns. Beyond that was a stegasaurus-like basalt rock formation called Reynisdrangar. Legend claims the pillars of basalt rock was formed when two trolls couldn't land their boat before dawn and consequently turned to stone. (below)


All the sites were taken in from the beach. We waded our feet in the freezing Atlantic ocean and walked to the shoreline which became rockier and harder to walk on as we headed back toward the town. Side note: I can handle cold water like no one's business, sometimes I think my body is as well insulated as a polar bear, but this water was coooold. My only regret is that I didn't bring my suit with me for the road trip, otherwise I'd be all over doing a true polar plunge! We hopped Rte 1 back to Reykjavík for our first rehearsal with Vox Academica in Langholtskirkja after taking in the nature, walking along the beach, and taking pictures.