Vikings, Witches, and Poetry

On March 7, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Iceland4 Comments

On the night before we drove to Borgarnes, our dinner took longer than expected and it was a very cold and windy night, so we decided to take a taxi back to our hotel from downtown Reykjavik. Our driver, like almost everyone we met during our trip, was extremely friendly and immediately struck up a conversation with us. He was trying to discern from our accent where we were from and he told us that he was keen on learning the variations in accents from within different countries. Somehow that led us to talking about German accents and from there we related a story about a time that we flew through Frankfurt. It was an overnight flight and they offered headsets to listen to a variety of radio stations, one of which was a German station that told lullaby stories. As soon as the words “German lullabies” came out of our mouths, our driver doubled over in laughter, tears streaming from his eyes as we all contagiously laughed together. Perhaps not as funny now as it was at the time, but the image of Grimm’s Fairy Tales being told to lull children to sleep in a language that is somewhat guttural certainly seemed to provoke a comical image in our driver’s mind. After our following day touring the Settlement Centre in Borgarnes, it seemed more than just a little hypocritical considering the violence of their own Icelandic tales.

We made the hour-long drive to Borgarnes, going through a five kilometer tunnel underneath one of the bays, and enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the restaurant of the Settlement Centre. We then took the tour through the museum, which consisted of two thirty-minute audio tours that covered the history of how the Vikings first came to populate Iceland as well as their turbulent history once they arrived. The early history of Iceland is told through Viking Sagas, one of which is the Eglis Saga. Egill Skalla-Grimsson was a famous Viking and poet whose story is used to provide an understanding of the first people to populate Iceland. It isn’t just a recanting of his poetry, but is the tale of his life, beliefs, fortunes, and misfortunes.

It is a bloody history filled with mythical tales of beasts, witches, and betrayal. Neither of us were particularly fond of history when we were in school, but that is because the way that they used to teach history was fundamentally flawed. We don’t know if they’ve changed, but when we were growing up, history was about memorizing dates and names without context to how all of the events were interrelated or how cultural and religious pressures and prejudices affected personal decisions of those who affected our history. History would be a lot more fascinating if told around a campfire by the village elders as it was in the past versus dry text books. Generally speaking, history is far more fascinating when you understand the motivations of the individuals involved. This is also true of the Viking Sagas, which the Settlement Centre does an excellent job of relating the relationship between Egill and his father, brothers, and mother and how that shaped his manhood.

We knew that the Vikings were great seamen and that they had conquered the oceans long before the rest of Europe had done so because of their invention of the keel. One interesting fact that we learned was that they didn’t use the stars to navigate, despite their ability to travel such long distances, eventually leading to the discovery of North America. The reason, once we learned it, was quite obvious. There are times of the year when there are no stars visible or not visible for very long due to the length of the days during the summer, so obviously they couldn’t rely on the stars. Instead, the Vikings learned to navigate by following the birds, the migration paths of the whales, and other patterns that allowed them to travel back and forth between Norway and Iceland with ease.

Borgarnes is definitely worth visiting and the restaurant at the Settlement Centre is one of the best on the island. It is a beautiful drive along the coast with stunning views, even as you drive across the bridge that leads you into town. Even if you’re driving the ring road that goes around the entire island, stopping at Borgarnes is something that is well worth the time. We hadn’t originally planned on going to Borgarnes, it was one of those last-minute whim decisions and we couldn’t have been happier with the unexpected surprise and the history that we learned while we were there.

Reykjavik – Friendly People, Charming Old Town

On March 4, 2016March 4, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Iceland14 Comments

We made Reykjavik our home base while we were in Iceland and it certainly offered everything that we needed. When we visit Iceland again in the future, and we expect that we will, we’ll probably stay in smaller towns in different parts of Iceland, but for our first trip, we’re glad that we were able to spend time in Reykjavik. We hadn’t been in Iceland for a full day before we had already vowed that we’d be returning and that a week was not enough time to see everything that we wanted to see in this beautiful country. From the very first person that we talked to upon our arrival in Reykjavik (not the airport, that was a different story) to the very last person, every interaction was genuinely friendly. The people were as helpful as in any city that we’ve ever visited and we never once worried about crime while we were there.

We drove into Reykjavik before the sun had started to rise, which was about 8:00 a.m. After one wrong turn, we quickly found our hotel and were fortunate enough that our room was available. We had requested an early check-in in advance, but were surprised to find that it was available that early. Additionally, our room included access to the executive lounge where we could get a cooked breakfast until 11:00 a.m. After grabbing a quick bite at the hotel, we walked into Old Town, which was about a fifteen minute walk from the hotel, a walk that we would make about eight or nine times over the course of our visit. Reykjavik has a great bus system that will allow you to get around pretty easily, but we chose to walk so that we could see more of the town as well as get some exercise.

The main street of Old Town, Laugavegur, is lined with shops and restaurants. Towering over it all is Hallgrimskirkja, the largest church in Iceland. You can pay to go to the top of it and apparently on a clear day, something we didn’t have, you can see the Snæfellsjökull glacier, but we got much better views when we drove up to the peninsula. Outside of the church is a statue of Leifur Eiriksson (Leif Erikson) who is the Icelandic explorer that first discovered America. Inside the church, there is an enormous pipe organ that is impressive and beautiful. The church is definitely worth visiting while you’re in Reykjavik.

Street with Church Tower in the Distance

One of the interesting things that we learned is that the people of Iceland are proud of their beliefs in elves and trolls. The most common things to find in stores are the hand-made wool sweaters, stuffed animal puffins, and figurines of elves and trolls. We even bought a plate that has the images of the thirteen Yuletide Lads, who are supposed to be descended from trolls and are boogeymen that are used to scare the children into behaving at Christmastime. Considering their Viking heritage and the harsh environment that they endure, surrounded by volcanos and harsh winters, who can blame them for believing that there might be mythical creatures hidden in the mountains.

Another feature of Reykjavik are the colorful homes and buildings that line the streets. When seen from above, it is a tapestry of color throughout the town and brings some warmth to the cold winter days. Walking through the streets of Old Town down towards the old harbor, you will enjoy seeing a variety of historic buildings, each housing different businesses all owned by locals. You won’t find any chain restaurants or stores in Old Town Reykjavik. You’ll be greeted by the store owners and restaurant owners, all extremely proud of the goods, services, or food that they offer. Take the time to talk to them, they will be happy to tell you the history of their store, of Iceland, or just to chat with you for a few minutes.

We really enjoyed our time in Reykjavik, it is truly a charming little city. The people are incredibly friendly, the shops are filled with interesting goods, and the restaurants are incredible. We also enjoyed the hotel where we stayed, which was the Hilton in Reykjavik. Every evening we enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine in the lounge with other guests, many of whom were from a film production crew. We knew this because they would quietly talk about directors, screenwriters, actors/actresses, all hushed, but loud enough that we couldn’t help but overhear. We never asked them what they were there to film, we knew that Game of Thrones was filmed in Iceland, but after we got home we found out that Star Wars Episode VIII was being filmed there during the same time as our trip, so perhaps that is what they were there to film. Reykjavik was just one of the reasons that we had an incredible trip travelling to Iceland.

Mahabalipuram – Temples by the Ocean

On February 1, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn India12 Comments

One of our favorite day trips when we were in Chennai, India, a few years ago was to visit Mahabalipuram. Mahabalipuram is an ancient historic town with beautiful monuments and temples that has made it a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Along the way we stopped at DakshinaChitra, which is a museum and heritage village depicting the culture and heritage of South India. We also stopped at Tiger Cave, a site that we didn’t know what to expect to see since our guide didn’t tell us anything about it other than its name. After a long day of touring monuments and temples, we stopped at a Radisson Resort to enjoy a nice meal at their restaurant while watching the waves break on the beach.

To be clear, we did not attempt to drive while we were in India. The traffic is far too chaotic, with the constant blasts of horns, not used in anger, but meant to let other drivers know where you are and what you’re doing. Sort of “hey, I’m coming up behind you on your right” instead of “get out of my way”. We hired a driver from our hotel who took us around Chennai and drove us on our excursions, acting as a personal tour guide for us. We headed south out of Chennai, out of the hectic city traffic, and onto the highways following the coastline towards Mahabalipuram. Before we started, our driver let us know that there would be several tolls along the way, so we prepaid him so that he could pay as we passed through each of them.

Our first stop was at DakshinaChitra, which means “a picture of the south”. We had a wonderful time wandering through the village, where each section of the 10 acre site represents a different portion of southern India. Each is meant to represent the culture of the region, from art, clothing, typical homes, etc. Even though they are merely representations, it is still a site worth visiting and walking through the Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh sections. The Kerala section features a Hindu house and granary and textile exhibition. The Tamil Nadu section features a merchant’s house with basket weavers and art exhibits. Those are two largest sections, but we had a wonderful time on our self-guided tour of the whole site.

Next was our stop at Tiger Cave. On the way, we conjectured that we might be seeing some sort of zoo with tigers or perhaps a giant cave with tigers carved into its walls. It turned out to be closer to the latter, but still not what we expected. It is a Hindu temple complex located on the Bay of Bengal. There is a cave with the heads of tigers carved into the mouth of it, but the site is all about the temples. When the waters of the tsunami of 2004 receded, more temples were revealed, which is the only good that could have possibly come out of that horrific event. They are still excavating new temples and monuments today, which is quite exciting to see. As you enter the site, tour guides approach you and you negotiate the price that you’re willing to pay for your tour. Our driver had told us what the maximum amount that we should pay should be, although we’d read similar information online. Once the amount was agreed upon, our guide took us through the complex, providing history on the ancient temples and carvings, which are over two thousand years old. It was quite interesting, but just a slight build-up to what we’d see when we reached Mahabalipuram.

Upon arrival at Mahabalipuram, our driver found us a tour guide, which again we had to negotiate the price we would pay for our tour. It is hard to describe how beautiful the temples and monuments are when you see them in person. Throughout our trip to India, we rarely saw any westerners, and even at such a tourist site as this, it continued to be the case. There were so many interesting things to see, from Krishna’s Butter Ball, which is a huge boulder that balances on the side of hill, seemingly defying gravity. Its name comes from Hindu mythology where Krishna’s love of butter as a child, stealing butter from his mother’s butter jar. Legend has it that several kings tried to pull the stone down the hill using elephants, but the stone wouldn’t budge.

There are several important structures at the site. There is the Thirukadalmallai temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Bagiratha’s Penance, which is a giant rock relief. Vahara Cave Temple, which again isn’t really a cave, but giant rock that has been carved out with sculptures carved into its walls. The Shore Temple with its beautiful views of the Bay of Bengal. And Pancha Rathas or Five Chariots, which are five enormous pyramid-like structures, each carved from a single stone. The carvings on each of the temples and monuments represent stories meant to glorify the gods. Our guide took time to explain each of them to us as we were overwhelmed with the amazing Hindu mythology. There is so much to see and take in that a single visit to Mahabalipuram probably doesn’t do it justice, but unfortunately we only had time for a single visit.

When our tour was complete, our driver decided that he and the tour guide would grab a quick meal so that we could have time to do “some souvenir shopping” at the store of a relative of our tour guide. It was a little frustrating, we didn’t want tourist trinkets and the collusion between our guide and driver to try and make us feel obligated to buy something was all to obvious. Shortly, however, we were on the road back towards Chennai where we stopped at the Radisson for a late lunch. It was actually a beautiful resort and was actually one of the only non-Indian meals that we had during our time in India. After relaxing at the beach bar for a little while, it became apparent why this area is a destination for beach lovers wanting to enjoy some relaxing time by the Indian Ocean.

As we drove back into Chennai, we kept seeing what looked like bodies being hung in effigy from the roofs of several buildings. We knew that the elections had happened just prior to our arrival and that there were some protests (will tell you about our arrival at the Chennai airport in another post), so we thought that they might be related to that. We asked our driver and were surprised to learn that they were there to keep bad spirits from inhabiting new construction before it is completed, thus bringing the owners bad luck and misfortune. We didn’t take any pictures of them, not wanting to get any bad luck ourselves for doing so. All in all, it was an incredible day, full of exploration, learning, and appreciation for India’s rich culture. If you make it to southern India, whether to Chennai or to Pondicherry, you should definitely make your way to Mahabalipuram for an experience that you’ll never forget.