The Wandering Scot

An occasional travel journal

Tag: Vikings

  • Vinland: Vikings in Newfoundland

    I’m in Newfoundland, Canada, out at the L’Anse aux Meadows archaeological site.  This is the only confirmed Viking site in North America.  Since I’ve recently followed the Vikings from Norway to Iceland to Greenland, I found the pull of Vinland just too strong to resist!

    Parks Canada vigorously assures visitors that Leif Erikson himself landed here. Which is probably true, but Leif or no Leif, there was definitely a Viking outpost here, with archaeologists finding various bits and pieces from Greenland and Iceland, and the remains of Norse-era iron smelting.  They also found butternuts, which aren’t native to Newfoundland and were probably found on voyages further South.

    There are only outlines of the buildings remaining, but it was still fun to see. There’s a good visitor center and also a full-scale reconstruction of the main buildings, with various in-character Viking guides. Naturally I tried out some traditional axe throwing. 🙂

    Nearby, there is a fine statue of Leif Erikson (See! See! He was really here!) which is an exact twin of the one I saw in Greenland, near Eric’s farm. That one faced Vinland. This one faces back towards Greenland.

  • Greenland: Down on Eric’s Farm

    I’m now in South Greenland, visiting Norse Ruins. I made it out to Eric the Red’s Farm!

    For me, part of the allure of the Greenland Norse Ruins is the idea of the “lost colony”.  Eric the Red arrived in 985 and the Norse prospered in Greenland for four centuries, establishing over 200 hundred farms, 7 churches, even a tiny cathedral. Then decline set in and contact slowly faded out. When Denmark tried to re-establish contact in the 1700s, they found only abandoned ruins. What happened? Where did they go? There are plenty of theories, but no-one really knows.

    Today I was at the village of Qassiarsuk visiting Eric the Red’s farm of Brattahlíð. It’s a nice piece of green farmland, probably the best in all Greenland. This is where Leif Erikson grew up and there is now an idealized statue of Leif on a hill, staring South-West towards Vinland. The farm site has scattered ruins from the 10th c and also the foundations of a later Norse church.

    A discreet distance away is the site of the first tiny church in Greenland, Thjodhild’s church, which (according to the Sagas) Eric very reluctantly allowed his wife Thjodhild to build, on the condition that he didn’t have to see the stoopid thing from his farm, gods damnit!

    Earlier this week I took a boat out to the Hvalsey Church. This is from around 1300 and is by far the best preserved Norse ruin in Greenland. It’s small, but strongly built. I was the only visitor.  I also made a visit to the scattered ruins of the little 12 c. Garðar Cathedral, at Igaliku. Yes, there was an actual Catholic Bishopric here in Norse times!

    Hvalsey Church
    Garðar Cathedral

    Footnote: Some historians argue that Eric’s farm might have been at a slightly different location further down Eric’s Fjord.  Naturally the citizens of Qassiarsuk indignantly reject this ridiculous idea.  After all, they have an actual statue of Leif Erikson!  Fortunately for them, the scholarly consensus, supported by recent archaeological work, still strongly favors Qassiarsuk.

  • Oslo: Norse Gods

    On the outer wall of Oslo City Hall are a series of sixteen carved scenes from Norse Mythology. They are one of my favorite sights in the city!

    Odin rides out on eight-legged Sleipner, with his ravens Huggin (Thought) and Munin (Memory) flying overhead. Opposite is hammer-wielding Thor, riding on his goat-drawn chariot across the sky, high above the peasant huts.

    Nearby are Ask (the First Man), Embla (the First Woman), Balder, Loki, Frigg, Fenris and many more.

    I was amused that there was a long queue of tourists waiting to take the interior tour of the City Hall, but very few were stopping to look at the exterior carvings – which to my mind are much, much more interesting than the placid interior murals!

    Here’s a link to more photos of  the Oslo City Hall Norse Carvings.