On the eastern shore of the Vatnsnes peninsula슠in the northwest of Iceland슠there lies an amazing rock formation dubbed as ‘Hv쎭tserkur’ (literally meaning ‘white shirt’ in Icelandic). The 15 metre (or approximately 50 feet) tall sea stack resembles a dragon (or a troll, depending on the angle of perspective) drinking from the North Atlantic Ocean. Hv쎭tserkur…
According to슠Landn쎡mab쎳k (a medieval manuscript detailing the Norse settlement of Iceland), Ing쎳lfur Arnarson is widely ascribed to have been one of the first permanent settlers of Iceland, alongside his wife,슠Hallveig Fr쎳쎰ad쎳ttir, and his foster brother Hj쎶rleifur Hr쎳쎰marsson. A nobleman of Norwegian descent, Ing쎳lfur (his name literally meaning ‘noble wolf’) was forced to leave early medieval…
It is customary in Iceland to give books as gifts on Christmas Eve. This tradition should come as no surprise to foreigners as Iceland disposes of a tremendous cultural heritage with respect to literature. So it is that from the Viking Age and High Middle Ages (periods of time throughout which슠the Icelandic sagas and the…
The tradition of building houses with turf roofs in the Faroe Islands and Iceland dates back to the Viking Age. These architectural structures are the result of the climate on these islands, the requirements of the Norse society that settled them during the early Middle Ages, and last but not least of the local environmental…
Here is a top of the five greatest Viking Age longships built in contemporary times. The following are either replicas of well known Viking longships or vessels that have been built from scratch, based on the concept of the ships used by the Norsemen during the early Middle Ages. For this top, there have been…
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