Icelandic Turf Farms
Just before Skaftafell we stopped at a Museum of Icelandic history, a building crammed with Icelandic artifacts of the past 300 years, for the most part dealing with fishing and the sea. But of most interest were the replicas of the Icelandic turf farmhouses built outside. The Icelanders worked with the materials they had at hand -- volcanic rocks, dirt, sod. Until the mid 1800's, Icelandic houses looked like these. The most primitve had no windows - the floor was dirt, the walls, undressed stone. Later, houses had one wall of wood, with windows, and these houses had finished walls and floors, and several rooms.
I remember, as a teen-ager, reading "Independent People" by Halldor Laxness and trying to imagine the harsh life he described. After visiting this museum, it was easier to imagine.
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