Reykholt--Center of Saga Research

We awoke at 6:45 am and immediately went to breakfast with a bus load of Japanese tourists. Thorstin took a liking to us and shared some fresh salmon he caught and smoked in his other job. He owns his boat and is a commercial fisherman on the north side of the Snaefellnes peninsula. The guide for the Japanese tourists came to our table. He said he grew up in the east of Iceland. Even though we did not get his name, we had a wonderful conversation about the Icelandic language. As Glenda an I headed out for Reykholt, we me sustained winds of 30 mph and varying degrees of rain. The day before we had discussed going to Reykholt to see these falls. It’s a good thing we delayed, because Thorstin informed us that there is more than one town by that name. The Reykholt we want is not the one near Gullfoss, but rather is a smaller town of the same name only 30 minutes from Borgarnes. The roads were fairly clear with only occasional patches of ice and temperatures about 5-8 degrees C. The preeminent scholar on all of the Norse sagas lives and writes from his home in Reykholt, an ancient Icelandic town.Read more