We’ll start the day with breakfast and then explore a 1000 year-old turf manor farm. Those who want an early lunch may chose a 19th century tearoom nearby which features a buffet of traditional Icelandic open-faced sandwiches of smoked salmon and smoked lamb, as well as many special Icelandic crepes, waffles, cakes and deserts- all appointed in fresh whipped cream and rhubarb jam- and available as an all-you-can eat option!

We’ll shop several top-tier handcrafts cooperatives for exceptional hand-knit sweaters, treen and unique ceramics made from volcanic ash. Some of us will visit an impressive, newly built Textiles Museum. Others visit the reconstructed homestead of Eric the Red in a remote and peaceful fiord valley and imagine the world as it was 1000 years ago.

We all arrive in the afternoon to explore a 500 year-old fishing village surrounded by 10,000 islands and hosting a hill-top avant-garde art installation, actually a library of water from Iceland’s twelve glaciers, created by world-renowned New York artist Roni Horn whose work is centered in annual pilgrimages to Iceland.

Some with interests in history will tour a fully- furnished Merchant’s home from the 19th century. A new museum in town devoted to volcanoes features elegant changing exhibitions centered in art and artifacts.

 We’ll end our day at the ruins of an abandoned 18th century fishing village on a westwardly peninsula are set in an eternity of golden sand dunes folding into grassy, wildflower-strewn hills. Massive black lava stones punctuate the scenery, taking the brunt of exploding surf all around.

 Today, nobody lives here and all that remains beyond the scattered ruins is an austere black church- considered a national treasure- and Iceland's chicest boutique hotel where we'll be spending the night.

 Nearby, 1000-year old ruins from settlement times are still visible and an even older well made by pre-Viking Irish monks which still draws water. Beside the well an ancient whale skeleton rests undisturbed as it has, perhaps for centuries.

 Above us looms the glacier Jules Verne chose as the setting for the entrance to the earth’s interior in his novel, ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth.’

 This evening we’ll stay and dine in plush 4-star luxury at a boutique hotel set strikingly in contrast to austere desolation.

“There are long flat lava plains between us and the mountains, a setting so remote that it was used by Jules Verne as the location where the entrance was discovered in "Journey to the Centre of the Earth". The silence is deafening as you sit on the black rock at the shore, the only sign of human footprint being the subtle ruins of the turf houses. My ears are struggling to pick up the noise they assume must be there, and generate random white noise. The relaxation is complete.”

Adrian L., Australia

“I adored Hotel Budir, as it appeared out of the grassy coastal fields and mountains like a small Boutique diamond shining and inviting us to indulge. I'll never forget that evening over dinner and cocktails, as our perfectly manicured waiter announced that Michael Jackson had died that day in LA. Our dream had been infiltrated by the outside world! It was especially shocking because I had felt so removed and happily lost from civilization>>> untouchable.”

 Michelle B., USA

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