Pueblo Vikingo y Santa

Last weekend I hung out with Óskar from work and his friend Matthea, and we stayed around the Akureyri area. First we went to a Viking village festival which was a site where archaeologists found old Viking ruins. Miðaldahátíð á Gásum was the name of the festival and it means the Medieval festival in Gásum (name of the village) and it was about a 30 minute drive north of Akureyri. The houses reminded me of teepees from the Native Americans. There were people dressed up in traditional Viking gear, and doing traditional Viking things like making ropes from animal hair, making tools and instruments from wood or bone, and playing traditional games. It was fun to walk around and see people doing their thing and looking at all the handmade things they were selling. I ended up not buying anything, but the stuff was still pretty interesting. I tried the meat soup which every Icelander knows and loves, especially when its left in the fridge for a couple of days I've been told. It was lamb meat and had a lot of natural spices and it came with bread. It was a bit salty, and definitely not my favorite soup, but still rather good. I also saw "the bossman's" wife at the festival and we also saw Óskar's sister and nephew. It's a small world.

I know the bossman's wife, because one day I saw Guðmundur (bossman) at the grocery store after work, and he invited me to his house for dinner. Not sure if I have already told this story, but I am assuming I did, and I'll leave it at that.


Making a mold for something.

Bending some metal.

Crazy looking fish that they dry (look at next pic).

Fish (look at previous pic) drying.

People trying their hand with a bow and arrow.


Making jewelry to sell.

Fernando the fierce! With a purple hat!

Two good ole Vikings, and beer?

A tent/house with antlers as a decoration, or maybe some other meaning.

Stack of horns and bones used to make weapons or toys or tools.

I really wanted shoes like these. And the pants reminded me of my towel shorts.


The town (more like 10 houses) was really great and lively. However, after the town, we went back to Akureyri and were trying to decide what we would do next. Then I discovered there was a Christmas house 5 minutes south of Akureyri, so we obviously had to go.

In the Icelandic Christmas, there are 13 Santas (all brothers), their parents, and a cat. They are usually evil or mischievous. Some of them include the peeping Tom, one that steals food, and one that makes your clothes dirty. The parents and the cat also eat naughty children. They leave presents for all the good children if you leave your shoe out (similar to Los Tres Magos on January 6th that I remember from my childhood). The naughty children get a potato or nothing or eaten.


The store definitely looked and smelled like Christmas.

Two very naughty Santas AKA Óskar and Matthea.

Óskar bought a Christmas malt drink and put it in front of some figurines with some of the Santas and the cat.

A cute mini building on the side of the store, with a cross on it. It's in the ground, like the old Icelandic houses used to be. Not sure if this mini house is used for anything or is just partof the decoration.

After the Christmas house, we went to this place called Brynja which is the Akureyri ice cream shop. This ice cream can only be found in Akureyri and the family keeps a tight hold on their ice cream secret that makes it unique. It was pretty good, and definitely unique, although I wouldn't classify it as the best ice cream I've had. One thing I've learned about Iceland though is that it is similar to Texas in that "everything is bigger in Texas" and "everything is better in Iceland"/"everything is better in Akureyri." If only they also had good Mexican food.

On that note, if you want to make a lot of money, you could probably set up a Mexican restaurant in Akureyri and charge $5 for a regular taco and I'm sure people would buy it.

So a great weekend and I made a new friend (who is coming to visit Boston in November with her family!!).

Until the next post, breathe.

Au revoir.