SPUR (OF THE MOMENT) GLACIER

On our way back to the cabin for the evening, we spotted a sign that said something about a glacier, and we could see a massive glacier in the distance, so why not! This is often how it is in Iceland, a land without many trees; you see something interesting on the horizon and drive towards it!

What we found was Sólheimajökull Glacier, a 7 mile spur off the massive Myrdalsjokull Glacier. A spur-of-the-moment spur! There was a nice parking lot and a trail. That’s about it. An old shipping container serves as a meeting place for those gearing up with crampons and ice axes to get an up-close-and-personal guided tour of the glacier.

We just hiked the trail to see how close we could get. And I think we all were a bit surprised on how cool it was just to experience a glacier from this close (half mile away?).

It has an interesting history with this arm receding 2/3 of a mile between 1930 and 1969, and then advancing again for 500 yards in the cold years between 1970 and 1997. Since then it has receded 4,000 feet.

You can see a bit of the stunning “glacier blue” ice on part of the snout of the glacier.

You can barely see the name of the glacier (Solheimajokull) through all the “visitor-contributed” stickers!

You already know that I really enjoy the architecture of churches, and just outside of Vik we found yet another red-roofed church—the Reyniskirkja Church built in 1929. Allegedly an elf built a church on this site a 1000 years ago…but that is a story for another time.

Off to Norway!

NEXT: Norway #1 Oslo the Magnificent

[This is part 1 of our Stensaas Family vacation to Europe. I like to post on social media for family and friends, but mainly because it will help me, Bridget and the boys remember this trip far into the future.]

Icelandair offers a wonderful perk that Bridget and I took advantage of 19 years ago on our Honeymoon to Iceland (Norway, Sweden, Finland). You can buy your ticket to anywhere in Europe that Icelandair flies, and get a free layover in Iceland! And they still offer this today.

We arrived in Keflavik, Iceland at 6am local time…but our bodies really felt like it was 1am…and we were exhausted. But it was a 2 ½ hour drive to our cabin and we couldn’t check in to 3pm so exploring Reykjavik was the sensible way to start the day. Coffee latte and cake at a little inner-city café started the “morning.”

I might as well warn you right now…I love church architecture! From ultra-modern design to mideival cathedrals to rural white-steepled chapels to the ancient post-Viking stave “kyrkke” in Norway.

So we headed over to the immensely impressive Hallgrímskirkja, a Lutheran church dedicated to Icelandic poet and clergyman  Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614–1674). Over 240-feet tall and designed by Icelandic architect Guðjón Samúelsson‘ in 1937 to mirror the mountains, glaciers, and especially the cooled lava rock formations called columnar joining such as those found at Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach.

It took FOUR decades to complete. Begun in 1945, the church wasn’t completed until 1986. It is a mesmerizing design, not to mention picturesque. I have never been able to go inside, and today was no different. A scheduled church event was going on so no general admittance. Some day!

Leif Erikkson steadfastly gazes west toward his destiny of Greenland and North America from the church’s courtyard. Sculpted by Alexander Calder (father of Sandy Calder the “mobile artist”) this iconic bronze was a gift from the United States in 1932 to commemorate the 1,000 year anniversary of the “Althing,” the world’s longest running  parliamentary gathering that began in about 930AD. This was still in the Viking era and villagers, farmers, and townspeople would all gather in spring at Þingvellir (28 miles from the future Reykjavik) to air their grievences and legal issues before a “lawspeaker” and 39 district Chieftans. It was a Supreme Court of sorts and peacefully solved many serious (and probably not so serious) issues of the times.

NEXT: “The Pearl” and the Lave tube.