LIVING BY THE SEA Welcome to the final newsletter of the Comenius project “Living by the sea”. Our group consists of seven schools from Denmark, France, Guadeloupe, Greece Iceland, Ireland, Latvia and Portugal. This project was developed between September 2009 and July 2011.
ICELAND – The final destination on our present voyage Friday June 3rd Our Iceland Air flight from London started to descend towards Keflavik Airport and what a vision appeared before us – Black lava fields, small volcanic hills, rugged lava cliffs, black sandy beaches, multi coloured houses in villages……. We knew that we were arriving in a very special country.
We drove to our hotel in Reykjavik and were met by Elfa. As this was a free evening, we decided to make the most of the long daylight hours, so we drove with Sylvia from France to Thigveller National Park, The Geyser group at Strokkur and to Gullfoss. At Thigveller, the chasm dividing The European Continental plate from North America one was clearly visible. We were amazed at the local wildlife – geese and artic terns that taking absolutely no notice of people walking among them. It was indeed an evening with “four seasons in one day”; we had sun, rain, snow and wind and it was bitterly cold. Geyser was amazing; it is surreal to see hot water flowing in little streams all around you and to see steam rising from fields, bog holes and from every small hole in the ground. One can see here how the Icelanders have a great spiritual interest in the power of nature. It was still bright at Geyser at 11 p.m., so we decided to drive to Gullfoss to see the might of this powerful waterfall coming straight from the glacier. The water was brown from the power of the ice and water grinding rocks. It was here that we got our first taste of the midnight sun; it was perfectly bright driving back to Reykjavik at 1.a.m. Our body clocks could not figure out why it was so bright and yet we were so tired. This is something one must get used to in Iceland.
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Saturday, June 4th At breakfast we were delighted to meet Maggi and his daughters who were staying in Reykjavik. This morning we spent visiting Reykjavik Lutheran Cathedral, The Pearl, The hot water beach at the harbour and having a look around down town Reykjavik. Elfa and Maggi also brought us around the port area where we sampled “The Fisherman’s Festival”. At 18.30, the Danes and Irish went with Maggi to see the European qualifying match between Denmark and Iceland at Laugardakr. Things did not go well for the host nation, much to Niels and Lars delight! After dinner we had a short walk around downtown Reykjavik and again our body clocks could not get used to the sun shining at 11.30 at night.
Sunday June 5th. At 10 am, we left our hotel for The Blue Lagoon, this amazing water feature was discovered when geologists were test drilling for hot water to power a heating plant; baby blue coloured sea water started to erupt from the crust and the clever Icelanders have made a major tourist attraction of it. Once you were able to walk the 30 seconds in freezing conditions you can then enjoy the warmth of the mineral rich heated water. Definitely an experience that everybody wants to have again. Following this, we were driven to The House of the President of Iceland at Bessastathir. Unfortunately he was visiting his home town in Northern Iceland but we were able to get photos taken at his front door and even peep in the windows. Following lunch we started on our trip up to Snaefellsbaer to where out Icelandic hosts live. This four hour journey brought us through undersea tunnels, past glacial lakes, isolated farm houses, mighty mountains and through numerous lava fields. On the way we stopped off at a small farmhouse in
Pojarnahofn where the owner – Hildibradir Bjarnason is continuing a 400 year old tradition of curing shark. We all sampled the local produce, an acquired taste. Tasting this delicacy is not helped by the fact that the word” cured shark”, means “rotten shark” to us! Having said farewell to Hildibradir and his sharks, we headed towards Olafsvik and Hellisandur at the base of Snaefellsjokull glacier. The glacier itself was clearly visible, something that the folklore loving Icelanders told us was as a result of the fact that the spirit of The Glacier most Consider us as good people. Once at the hotel it was approx 11 p.m., we all wanted to see and photograph The Midnight Sun. At 12.00, the sun was shining brilliantly, it was approx 1 degree Celsius and a bighting wind was blowing from the north. After watching the sun dip below the horizon we headed to the warmth of our hotel.
Monday June 6th. We arrived at The Olafsvik house of Grunnskoli Snaefellsbaejar at 9.30 am and were welcomed by Gudrun. The setting of the school is spectacular, high mountains and a waterfall to the rear of the building with a view of the harbour and sea to the front. The children had been on holiday since the previous week but some of them came in to meet with us. We also met the staff who were on a planning day. Our Comenius meeting commenced at 10.00 – during this first meeting we started work on our final report, especially the areas of the report that are common to all the schools. This first meeting continued until 1.am. After lunch we visited the local Community house and learned about the work of the Snaefells Community Council. We also visited a fishery research centre
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After lunch we visited the beautiful local Lutheran Church and then went on a bus trip of the peninsula. Our first stop was the school house at Hellisandur where Elfa is in charge. This school building caters for younger children and has some magnificent displays of local bird and animal life. Our trip continued past a little fishing port with a very moving sculpture to those fishermen lost at sea.
and were treated to an enthusiastic presentation by a local researcher. Following our visit to the fishery centre we were then taken on a fishing-boat around Vallnabjarg. The crew gave some of us a chance to do some deep sea angling, but unfortunately the fish didn’t seem to have been impressed by Comenius fishermen. The weather was sunny but freezing cold. It was even cold by Icelandic standards for June. That evening we joined the school staff and council authorities for dinner where we were treated to some Icelandic dishes. A favourite for all to try was whale. This is not cooked but marinated in Soya sauce and herbs. Not for the faint hearted but utterly delicious! On our way back to our hotel, the school cook joined us and gave us a colourful explanation of the local history while we travelled on the bus. Being Irish we really enjoyed his explanation of the Irish link to this part of Iceland.
Tuesday June 7th. Our last day in Snaefellsbaejar, our final Comenius meeting commenced at 9.30 am and by 1pm we had finished the joint parts of our final report. Our thanks to Ditza for filling in all the information on computer. We all agreed that we really worked very well together as a group. Some of us wish to work together again, perhaps on a project linked to National Parks.
Next we visited “The Irish Well” Iskrabrunner. This part of Iceland was originally settled by Irish monks and hermits. In Ireland holy wells are very common and this in its time was probably an Irish-Icelandic holy well. The 3 Irish left an Irish flag here. We continued on to the black pearl beach – a beach made entirely of black lava which has been eroded into little black pebbles, a place of energy and inspiration for Icelanders. The day trip also brought us to more small fishing ports, the trolls cave, and we finished at Langaholt There we had dinner and bade a sad farewell to Elfa and her husband Alti We then continued on and left Magnus at a little Church. A lasting memory for us is seeing Magnus and his daughter outside the church and The Icelandic wilderness as we drove away. We arrived back in Reykjavik, had some supper and said a sad farewell to the other group members. Will we meet again? I hope so.On Wednesday June 8th we reluctantly left this land of fire and ice. We all said that we want to return!! – VERY SOON!
Where the Icelandic school is located The school is located in 3 separate buildings over the whole of the Snaefells Peninsula. We visited the school buildings at Olafsvik and at Hellisandur. The other school building is located at the South of the Peninsula at Lysuholsskoli. Many of the children go by bus from
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one area to another depending on their age and where they live. The children at Lysuholsskoli come from the locality and are mainly children from farms and small fishing settlements. The towering volcano and glacier are a magnificent backdrop to all the schools. Magnus (Maggi) is the very capable headmaster of the school.
Some facts about
Iceland
Our Thanks Many thanks to Maggi & Elfa for arranging everything for us in Iceland and for giving us a taste of “The real Iceland”. We really loved your country, even if it was a bit cold.
The Captain As our voyage comes to an end we all would like to thank our Captain – Niels Brusgard who has been a great leader for this project. A real Viking!
The end of our voyage • We were in Iceland in June and saw lots of snow and cold weather. • The country may be cold, but the people are warm! • Icelanders love their folklore and sagas. • Icelanders are very spiritual and believe in the power of nature. • There can be 20 or 30 earthquakes in Iceland every day but are very small. • They eat a lot of fish, cured (rotten) shark, whale, puffins, seagulls etc. • Their Education System is very impressive. • The word Geyser come from Iceland and was the name of the original geyser. • Icelanders are a mix of Norwegian and Irish descendants. Many people look very Scandinavian but equally many people look very Irish. We felt at home here. • The scenery in Iceland is breathtaking! • There are volcanoes everywhere and many towns are built on lava fields. • Icelandic Vikings are supposed to have discovered North America but we all know in Ireland that the Irish were there before them!
We all agree that this is not the end of our journey; a plan has been hatched by The Irish School to create a new project after 2 years rest – hopefully for us to work together on a theme based on National Parks. This project has taught us all how similar children, schools and teaching is in Europe, that we can learn a lot from each other and that we all can be stronger by working together – “strength in Unity”
Ní neart go cur le chéile
“This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.”
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