Had a lovely morning wandering around the touristy and working areas of Reykjavik’s old harbour. There’s a fabulous exhibition at the Vikin Maritime museum all about seafaring Icelandic women through the ages.
Here are a few things I found out:
- The cod wars (with Britain 1958-76) weren’t wars really
- Female seafarers were commonplace throughout Icelandic history but maligned as troll like from the late 19th century. Most notable ones were called þuríður
- Icelanders fished by rowing boat for nearly a thousand years
- Icelanders and Brits have the same taste in fish species
- Bacalao was produced here for the Spanish market in the main
- Dried fish was a staple to supplement the Icelandic diet, it’s made much like airdried ham, with care taken to keep it out of the rain
- Fish and chips, lobster soup, open prawn sandwiches are all fabulous in restaurants at the old harbour
