This Article is worth reading, source: Morgunblaðið

Life is full of surprises, unexpected connections and new ways of looking at things. That’s what discovered on a recent daytrip to the south of Iceland. I joined a travel blogger on a private guided tour called the Secret Circle, offered by the travel company Glacial Experience.

Our guide, Kjartan Valgarðsson, who happens to be the company owner, picked me up in a black Landcruiser early in the morning. We had never met, but within minutes, we had discovered three common acquaintances, all of whom happened to be my cousins.

We, Icelanders, are constantly searching for some invisible ties that connect us. Deep inside, we have a secret desire to discover new relatives – to expand our extended family. It’s no coincidence, therefore, that one of the warmest ways to address a person in the Icelandic language is by calling them “frændi minn” or “frænka mín,” depending on whether it’s a man or a woman, which simply translates as ‘my relative’ in English.

Perfect stage

Enough digression. No sooner had we established this triple connection than we drove up to the blogger’s home. Regína Hrönn Ragnarsdóttir greeted us with a warm smile, thereby convincing me she’d be a great travel companion.

We were headed eastward, over Hellisheiði mountain. It was a sunny, cool and very windy day, and as we reached the top of the mountain, we knew we were in luck. The weather gods had lifted the curtain off the most beautiful stage: Before us, to the left, were the volcanoes Hekla and Eyjafjallajökull in all their glory in the far distance, and to the right, there was the ocean, with Vestmannaeyjar islands lined up like diamonds, side by side.

 

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