“Improbably sunny Akureyri” (from our OAT booklet) came through for us, and after a long day in the bus we arrvied in this sunny city not far from the Arctic Circle. (See red circle upper centre in the map to the left.)

Akureyri is the second largest urban centre in Ísland and we are scheduled to be here for three hopefully gloriously sunny days.

We stopped at a replica of the turf house inhabited by Erik the Red, including his famous son Leifur Erikkson before the family was exiled and became the first settlers in Greenland. Erik was born in Norway but was somewhat crazy. After killing four of his neighbours the rest of the Íslandic inhabitants had had enough. Leif, at about 20 years of age in the year 1,000, discovered North America, landing in Newfoundland and calling it Vinland. For some reason Íslanders are somewhat insecure about Leifur’s accomplishments as whenever the topic of discovering America comes up we are reminded that Christopher Columbus wasn’t the first. Like, we KNOW already!

The turf house replica could sleep 20 or so. We sat on benches that adults would have used as beds – they slept sitting up. Slaves would have slept on the floor, and children and virgins in a loft at one end of the room. There was a cooking/heating fire in the centre that would not, of course, been fired by natural gas. The docent explained that they used to use authentic fuels but the smoke became intolerable. The roof of the house is padded with turf that is laid in an interlapping pattern so it won’t blow off in the wind.

The second stop on our long day’s drive was at the Gauksmyri Horse Centre. The Albertssons have been breeding and showing Íslandic horses for over 30 years. The Íslandic horse is quite small and is the only breed of horse on the island. No other horses are allowed to step foot in Ísland and if a horse is taken off the Ísland for showing, it cannot come back, it must be sold. In this way, the breed is remaining pure.

These horses are five-gaited horses, that it is they have five differnt gaits. Walk, trot, tölt (there is no translation of this word into any language), gallop and pace. We first lunched at the Centre and then watched a show that illustrated all the gaits. It was a tad chilly at the Centre. The owners thoughtfully provided blankets.

I’ve made this short video to show you the different gates. Tölt is the most comfortable. We were told that it’s like sitting on a sofa and you will see that the horse’s back barely moves. The horses are bred, not for speed, but for their gaits which is what they show at competitions. This one’s for you, Tracey!

The owners invited us to view the stables, ask any questions we may have, and admire and pat the horses. I settled for photographing a few of them.

I can’t tell you anything about the drive from the Horse Centre to Akureyri because I fell asleep on the bus. I hope nothing of great import occurred. Surely someone would have wakened me. 🙂