Skogar Folk Museum and the Turf Houses

After a quiet day in the city yesterday I decided to do another tour to see some more of the rural beauty of Iceland.  I went on the South Shore Adventure, which took in 2 large waterfalls (Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss), Black Sand beach, made from the remains of volcanic activity, including a good example of basalt columns.  We eventually made it all the way to the small town of Vic where we visited an Icelandic Folk Museum.  The weather was not so good today - windy and snowing from time to time.  We had a short time of sunshine and blue sky but a few times we had an almost complete white-out.  We were also supposed to go to one of the glaciers but the weather prevented us from going.  

I could have easily shared a blip from one of the waterfalls or the beach, all of which were stunningly beautiful, but I thought I'd show something a little different instead.  These turf houses are part of the Skogar Folk Museum and are a collection of houses from various places in this part of Iceland.  The history of the turf houses and those who lived in them was fascinating.  It was explained to us that this was how most people lived until relatively recently, especially in the remote areas along the coast, cut off from many other populated areas.  It was only after the war that many of these communities finally modernised, going straight from the medieval period to the modern period in the matter of just a couple of decades.  Some of the houses on the site, only slightly more upgraded from these, were occupied right up until the 1970s.  

I could have spent much more time here - I found the social history fascinating.  Although I loved everything we saw on the tour today, this was the first tour I took this week that had every seat taken on the large bus.  I felt rushed at every stop and the tour certainly didn't have the relaxed feeling that the Golden Circle tour did.  My only consolation is that I know I will come back soon.  The tours were perfect for this visit but during better weather, I plan to drive and go at my own pace.  

I plan to add more pictures to my Flickr album, but that will have to wait for another day.  The link I provided a couple of days ago for the Golden Circle tour didn't work, so here it is again if you want to see more pictures from that day of my trip.