Postcards from Iceland -12 (museums and a busy road trip West,

After the excitement of the whale encounter we drove further up the coast to the small town of Siglufjördur for the night. Perfect location.

Especially the fabulous hot tub by the water…

The weather changed over night and a thick layer of mist ad low clouds covered everything… it was quite magical…

I sat with my coffee by the ruins of the old herring docks, breathing the sea air, listening at the invisible birds. It was so calm and peaceful.

The thing to see here is The Herring Era Museum. It narrates the story of the glory days of the town and it’s a total delight. The attention to detail is superb, no wonder has won many prizes. The set up the old herrings industry buildings to look like a busy dock, including real fishing boats and all the various tools and machineries. Fascinating.

We hit the road and as it climbs we cut through the clouds and it was glorious…

For lunch we stopped at a place called Hofsós, that has a very interesting museum about the emigration of Icelandic citizen to the New World (US and Canada, but also Brazil)…

Further down the road, blink and you miss it, sits the oldest Christian church in Iceland , Grafarkirkja. Idyllic setting even on a grey afternoon:

Following this beautiful turf church as then had to stop to see this incredibly well preserved turf house. I’ve been waiting for days to visit one and it didn’t disappoint! Old Icelandic houses were built like this for centuries, thick turf walls keeping the inclement weather out.

Once again the attention to details was incredible and I could have stayed there for hours… sadly my travelling companions had other ideas. One had a terrible head cold and the other was a 15 yr old boy to whom all this went straight over the head. (note to self, best travelling on your own)

It was a packed day which included almost 5 hours of driving… where are the hot springs when you need them??