Saying farewell to Reykjavik and hello to a thankfully large hire car to start a whistle-stop tour of Iceland. This includes history, geology and waterfalls.
Starting with a black timber church at Budir, then some waterfalls, and on to Vidimyr with its grass covered church. With layers of turf coming down its sides, it was almost a fully covered turf building.
Further on was Laufas with it turf farm. This is a collection of timber buildings covered by thick layers of turf. The central passage dated back to the mid 16th century, with ongoing changes over the years. And it was inhabited until 1936. Apparently the turf needs replacing every 20 to 70 years. Personally I would be going for 70.
I strongly dislike painting, but digging out my house only to bury it again would not be my choice of fun. But apparently it kept its inhabitants cosy. The windows were interesting prior to glass being easily available. They used semi transparent materials such as peritoneum, fish skin, and so on.
Back to geology. Lava pouring into the sea cooled rapidly, forming basaltic columns. Some were eroded by the restless seas forming majestic arches. Others collapsed into tumbled hexagonal blocks.
