Iceland day 6

June 10 we explored the Westman islands. They are home to the largest puffin colony in the world, so pretty much everything was puffin themed. We searched and searched for puffins and saw some flying, but we couldn't get a good photo of them. Breakfast came from a little local bakery that was on par with the fish place from the night before. So, so good. I'm still dreaming of the cinnamon rolls!

There was a volcanic eruption in 1976 that happened without warning, it damaged/destroyed almost 20% of the town. This water tower was covered partially with the lava flow- you can see the volcanic rock on the right side. 

We wandered/drove around the island just taking in the sites. There are about 18 museums in this little village of 5,000 people but they weren't open yet for the day. 

Aaron braved the cold and wind and hiked to the top of the volcano that erupted in 1976. 

The fog rolled in really quickly! Literally 10 minutes prior this was clear. 

Look, more sheep :)

We went to the cemetery to look for some ancestors graves before we had to get back to the ferry. We didn't find our ancestors, but it was very pretty and peaceful. The eruption from 1976 actually buried the cemetery in 6 feet of ash- Aaron's standing next to a column that shows how tall it got. 

The church had the best doors! I wanted to take them home!

After getting back to mainland Iceland we stopped for a famous Icelandic hot dog. It was pretty good, and they make their hot dogs out of lamb meat instead of beef. Luckily we had instructions on how to properly use the toilet- we may have forgotten if not for this handy chart.

We made it back to Reykjavic and checked into our hotel before heading to our activity for the evening- Meet the Locals! It was a 4 hour presentation where they teach how to pronounce Icelandic words, tell the history of the island, introduce you to native foods, and teach you how to cook traditional Icelandic foods! It all started with comfy couches and fresh angelica and juniper tea, in a room that was warm and cozy and inviting. After a short history lesson we got to have some delicious rye bread and butter, with pickled herring if we wanted, and a selection of locally produced flavored salts. There were lots to choose from, like moss salt, volcanic ash salt, juniper berry salt, licorice salt, etc. 

This snack break also included the traditional boiled sheep's head. I admit, I was pretty grossed out by it. Aaron and Dena ate everything; the tongue, eye, ear, and cheek. I managed to choke down the tongue, and the cheek was decent. I couldn't bring myself to eat the eye or the ear, but Aaron and Dena said it was pretty delicious. 

Back to the classroom to learn the alphabet...

And then another snack of Skyr, a local yogurt. Technically it's a really soft cheese, but it gets eaten as yogurt. There was a large selection of locally made syrups that you could use to flavor the skyr!

Then it was on to the main course of Icelandic lamb stew. It was fresh, very filling, and super flavorful. 

For the finale, we had traditional Icelandic pancakes! They are a cross between a crepe and a regular american pancake. We took turns learning to cook them and then ate the fruits of our labor. Filled with fresh cream and homemade jam, it was the perfect ending to a perfect day!