Andante Travels

Introduction

Our tour reaches beyond the Old World to one of the most dynamic and spectacular landscapes on earth - Iceland, a country not settled until the 9th century AD when it became the home to a Viking society.

This is the setting of the Icelandic sagas, stories which are integral to our visit, and which add meaning and depth to the archaeological sites, explaining their dramatic role in times and events with global consequences. The Viking past feels very close here and many farmsteads have changed little since the settlement period.

Professor Hines will be able to weave together the written evidence - both historical records and the more imaginative sagas - and the archaeology, to form a picture of life on this island from the days of the first human settlement.

These are hard and difficult places, where the human presence sits on and amidst swathes of volcanic lava and ash. Unlike the ruined cities of the Mediterranean and Middle East, the story here is of livings wrested from an unyielding land. This may have been why the imagination and recreativity of the inhabitants found such rich expression in their poetry and sagas.

This year we are visiting in July so, since we are just below the Arctic Circle, almost in the land of the midnight sun, we will enjoy long daylight hours. We have included a couple of internal flights, not only to avoid long and potentially tedious drives, but also because this can offer special views of the glacial and volcanic land.

Itinerary

Day One
Fly to Keflavík and drive to our hotel.

Day Two
Reykjavík, the capital city chosen for its natural harbours, lapped by the Gulf Stream - we visit the National Archaeological Museum and Settlement Museum. This afternoon there are a number of options available, three of which will need to be chosen and booked in advance:
- a visit to the famous Blue Lagoon, for a swim in the steaming waters
- a boat trip to go whale-watching
- a hack on an Icelandic horse - they have a special gait called Tölt.
You could alternatively enjoy a free afternoon in the capital.

Day Three
Reykjavík: the National House of Culture, to see manuscripts of old Icelandic sagas and poetry. Ferry to the Island of Heimaey, where there is evidence of the earliest settlement in this part of world at Herjólfsdalur. A visit to the late medieval harbour fortress at Skansinn.

Day Four
Explore the extraordinary landscape of Heimaey (‘the island of homes’) with either a walk up Eldfell volcano, which last erupted in 1973, or along a flatter, coastal route. There is an alternative option of taking a boat trip to view the wildlife for those who wish to take to the seas again. After lunch visit the Natural History Museum and aquarium and the Folk Museum. Afternoon flight to Reykjavík.

Day Five
Today we explore the landscape of Njáls saga, possibly the best-known of the classic Icelandic sagas, set in the south of Iceland. We begin with a visit to Njáls Saga Exhibition and then to the sites of farmsteads at Hlíđarendi, in the Fljótsdalur Valley and Bergthórshvol. In the afternoon we visit Thjóveldisbærinn, a reconstruction of the farmstead at Stöng, buried by ash from the eruption of Hekla volcano in 1104, then on to Stöng to see the excavations of the original.

Day Six
The bishop’s seat at Skálholt, then continue to the magnificent waterfall at Gullfoss and the famous Stokkur geysir, a clear pool where the water erupts regularly at boiling point to a height of 30m.
We visit the original parliament site at Thingvellir, which means ‘assembly-plains’. The national assembly met in the striking open landscape here, from before AD930 to 1798, after which (in 1843) a national assembly reconvened in Reykjavík.
We also visit Mosfell, which was the home territory of a dynasty of powerful leaders in early Icelandic Society, whose story it told in Egil’s Saga. The Mosfell Archaeological Project is exploring the physical evidence for the development of the valley in the light of written historical sources.

Day Seven
Today we explore the landscapes of more famous sagas. We start with a visit to the Settlement Centre in Borganes, with an Egil’s Saga exhibition, and can visit sites mentioned in the story, including the alleged burial mound of Egil’s father, and Borg í Myrum where a church now stands on the site of Egil’s farm. After lunch we visit Reykholt, the home of Snorri Sturluson, author of ‘Snorri’s Edda’, himself a collector and student of the saga, with its Heimskringla Museum, then drive to see the reconstructed homestead of Eirik the Red at Eiríksstađir. Eirik has his own saga, which tells us that he built his farm in Haukadalur before becoming involved in feuds, and moving away to found the Norse colony in Greenland. Drive on through Laxadalur - ‘salmon river valley’, the setting for the Laxdaela Saga. On to our hotel.

Day Eight
Thingeyrar medieval assembly and monastery site. Drive to Hólar, famous for its printing presses, and for printing the first bible in Icelandic. We may be able to visit the late stages of excavation at the nearby harbour site of Kolkuós. We see the cathedral, a reconstructed turf farmhouse and excavations. Continue to Möđruvellir, a beautiful early church and literary centre, and on to Gásir, the principal trading port of medieval Iceland.

Day Nine
Visit an excavated cult site at Hofstadir; then Lake Mývatn with good walking and bird-spotting in this area of natural beauty. After lunch visit geothermal area of Namaskarđ and return to Akureyri, with a short stop at the Gođafoss waterfall, for the afternoon flight to Reykjavík.

Day Ten
Free morning in Reykjavík, an opportunity to see some of the capital’s excellent museums and art galleries or take an independent whale-watching trip. Return flight to London.

Included

WHAT’S INCLUDED

• Flights Scheduled flights London to Keflavík; internal flights* Heimaey/Reykjavík; Akureyri/Reykjavík.
• Transfers private coach provided to coincide with group flights
• Local Travel Private coach with heating
• Meals All meals included except lunch Days 1, 2, 3 & 10 and dinner Day 2.
• Guide Lecturer Not to be confused with "guest lecturers"!  The guide lecturer will be with you from breakfast to supper, and probably even a drink in the bar afterwards.  There is the occasional site where they may not be allowed to guide because of local regulations (we normally manage to circumnavigate these) but otherwise the guides are just that. They will have been chosen because of specialist knowledge and their ability to communicate and interest you.  After 22 years of making tours worldwide, we are highly appreciative of the attributes of a good guide, and intensely critical of people who do not possess them.  If you would like to know more about Professor John Hines, please click his name.
• Tour Manager We never know how best to call the very special people whom we choose to accompany you on your tour.  They are usually employed in this capacity only by us, and have been trained to do things in the Andante way - unobtrusive, friendly and quietly efficient.
• Fieldnotes written for the tour
• Entry & tips Entry to all sites in programme; tips included.

* A couple of internal flights not only avoid some very tedious long drives, but give a view of the island which it is impossible to appreciate from the ground.

Flights & Visa

Airline: Scheduled flights with Iceland Air from London Heathrow to Keflavík (Reykjavik); domestic flights from Heimaey and Akureyri to Reykjavik

Visa and Passport Requirements (for British passport holders only)

Hotels

2+1 nights in Reykjavík;
1 night on Heimaey;
1 night in Hvolsvollur;
1 night at Skeiđum;
1 night in Borganes;
1 night in a guest farm in north Iceland;
1 night north of Akureyri

Map

Reading List

This list is no more than a guide to some books that you may find useful to read in advance of the tour. Talks given on the tour will attempt to fill in the background to what we are seeing, so no prior knowledge or pre-tour cramming is expected or needed. In many cases, we expect that you will find some of these books even more interesting and useful to read once the tour is over.

Guide Lecturer's Choice

Jesse Byock, Viking Iceland (Penguin 2001)

Gwyn Jones, The Norse Atlantic Saga (2nd ed. Oxford University Press 1986). Out of print but easily available second-hand through Amazon etc.

Old Icelandic sagas and other literature

To make the most of our visits, you should read at least:

Brennu-Njáls saga. Recommended edition Njal's Saga, trans. Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Pálsson (Penguin 1960).

Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar. Recommended edition Egil's Saga, trans. Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards (Penguin 1976).

Also strongly recommended are:

The Saga of Erik the Red. E.g. in The Vinland Sagas (Penguin, new edition has just come out), or in Gwyn Jones, Eirik the Red and Other Icelandic Sagas (Oxford University Press 1961).

Laxœla saga. Recommended edition Laxdæla Saga, trans. Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Pálsson (Penguin 1969).

Snorri Sturluson, Edda. Recommended editions, Snorri Sturluson: Edda, trans. Anthony Faulkes (Dent 1987); Snorri Sturluson: The Prose Edda, trans. Jesse L. Byock (Penguin 2005).

The Poetic Edda. Trans. Carolyne Larrington (Oxford University Press 1996).

Also recommended/ Modern literary responses

W. H. Auden and Louis MacNeice, Letters from Iceland (Faber 1967)

Simon Armitage and Glyn Maxwell, Moon Country: Further Reports from Iceland (Faber 1996).

Terry G. Lacy,  Ring of Seasons: Iceland - Its Culture and History (University of Michigan Press 2000).

Archaeology (very specialized)

Kristján Eldjarn, Kuml og Haugfé úr heiðnum sið á Íslandi. 2nd ed., rev. Adolf Friðriksson, with English summary (Mál og Menning 2000).

Book Now

Price and confirmed details for this tour will appear in our full brochure due out in October 2009.  You can reserve a place on this tour before October on payment of a deposit.  If you then change your mind, we will refund your deposit in full.