In 1875, the volcano Askja erupted and the ashfall devastated much of the countryside in the East of Iceland. A year later, my six-year-old grandfather Olafur and his family left with hundreds of other volcanic refugees for Canada.
My grandfather describes the journey in his memoir: “It was
a sunny evening in July…” and then goes on to tell how they rode their horses
with all their belongings, crossing the Lagarfljót River and then riding on to the seaport village of Seyðisfjörður. I have always longed to visit Seyðisfjörður, the last place so many
Icelanders saw before leaving their homeland forever.
The road from Egilsstaðir to
Seyðisfjörður today—we were stunned to see so much snow in June!
The view my grandfather must have seen from horseback, as his family
came over the mountain and caught their first glimpse of Seyðisfjörður.
Seyðisfjörður today...
... a very different place
in my grandfather’s time.
The weather is a bit strange for Iceland – hot and sunny! Oliver keeps telling people we brought this good weather from California, but the truth is that it was cold and rainy when we left. We kept saying, “Iceland can’t be any worse than this,” and indeed, it has been much better. This has been a picturesque and romantic interlude from our hectic book tour schedule.
Me blogging at an outdoor café in Seyðisfjörður.
Yet it’s strange to be here, over a hundred years later, sitting in cafes and staying in a beautiful restored hotel—and then to think of my grandfather’s family waiting here for their ship to leave port, uncertain of the journey that lay ahead. According to my grandfather’s memoir, the ship passage from Seyðisfjörður was filled with typical immigrant miseries: overcrowding, seasickness, and trepidation...
Oliver enjoying a beer in his
tee shirt.
Good thing we packed
all our wool sweaters, rain coats and rain pants, hats, gloves and scarves! But
who knows, we may need them yet.
Dozens of waterfalls stream down the sides of the fjord.
Delicious water to drink!
What a wonderful blog, Christina--and what a fascinating story, to be walking in your grandfather's footsteps. How wonderful that you have his memoir as a guide!
I spent a few days in Iceland in 1999 and have never forgotten it. It was such a beautiful place, I've always wanted to go back.
Posted by: Michelle | June 06, 2010 at 08:03 AM
Michelle, thanks for you comment. I hope you get back to Iceland someday! (By the way, it's very inexpensive here for Americans now, so it's a great time to come.)
Posted by: Christina Sunley | June 07, 2010 at 04:50 PM
It's so very cool to see Seyðisfjörður again. All 8 of my great-grandparents emigrated from there to the Gardar area in the 1870's to the 1890's (they all came over separately). I was there in 2000 and we attended a family reunion with cousins that still live there at my great-grandfathers (father's side) farmstead. We also visited my maternal great-grandfather's farmstead as well. It was very wild to be at their childhood homes.
Posted by: Jody Heigaard | June 18, 2010 at 12:34 PM