E is for Erik the Red

Good evening my dears, how are you all? I quite miss talking directly to you, rather than just typing information here! I'm sorry I've been slow with commenting, I have deadlines coming up at the end of April so I'm feeling a little frantic! 

Anyways, lets talk about Erik the Red, the guy who founded the first settlement in Greenland!

We know about Erik the Red from the Icelandic Sagas, texts that were passed down from oral tradition during the viking age. It is said that Erik had to leave Norway because he had committed manslaughter there. He moved to Iceland but then he killed a bunch of people and ended up getting himself outlawed. Smart, huh? 

I've always liked the story that when Iceland was discovered, the explorers named it Iceland because it was so cold, but on discovering Greenland afterwards, realised that they should have reserved the name for that place instead. However, according to the sagas (/wikipedia, where I've just learned this) it was Erik who named it Greenland, having returned to Iceland after he'd served his time away, because he wanted to give it a more appealing name than Iceland had. Either way, I've always thought how the names Iceland and Greenland were kind of mixed up :)

Have you ever read any of the Icelandic sagas? I really do recommend them - I find it really fascinating that they had been passed down orally for so long before finally being written. I love the Chinese Whispers effect that they got, since they began as historical tales but as they were passed on, certain details were changed, leaving us with stories of beserkers and witches and magic. They're wonderful!

the little nordic cabin

x

G is for Greenland

During my time studying the Nordic region, I have become more and more curious about the country of Greenland. While I was studying Icelandic, I read somewhere that Greenland was discovered by a Viking named Erik the Red, who had been sent away from both Norway and Iceland because of his crimes. When he found Greenland, he discovered that it had a great many resources and sailed back to Iceland in order to spread the news about "The Green Land".

According to their tourist website, on visiting Greenland you will have the opportunity to see many wild animals in their natural habitat. The biggest predator is the Polar Bear – can you imagine seeing one of these in the wild? He doesn't look much like a predator!

Oh hi :)

It is possible to take a boat trip, through the icebergs to see the midnight sun. Have you ever experienced this before? Up in the cabin I mentioned a couple of days ago, it is very light during the summer months. It does get fairly dark in the middle of the night, but it only really reaches twilight, before getting lighter again. The picture below was taken out of one of the windows, around 11:30pm. It’s a really strange experience, sitting out in the sunshine with a glass of wine, casually glancing at the clock and discovering that it’s nearly midnight!

While I was doing some research for this post, I came across quite a lot of information about the Ice-Sheet. I then found what I think is such a beautiful description of this: “Wherever the Ice Sheet meets the sea or a fjord, icebergs are born. The sea is whipped up, the swell rises, a huge lump of ice tumbles into the water, finds its equilibrium and floats in a sedate tempo out to sea, where icebergs in all shapes and sizes create a wonderful, ever-changing island realm.” - this was taken from the tourist website, that I linked to above.

Can you imagine having the opportunity to see this? I have never been lucky enough to visit Greenland, but in my mind, it is just the most stunningly beautiful place! But with all of it’s beauty and wonder comes a great sadness, and that is the fact that if we do not take care of our planet, it will be gone. It worries me that places like this are coming closer and closer to destruction with the passing of years and the problem with climate change. It makes me want to run away and see all of this breath-taking scenery while I still have the chance!

(pictures taken from here, here, here & here)

Happy Easter to all of you. I will be visiting you shortly. I've just stepped off of the train and am feeling very sleepy, but I can't wait to read your posts for today!

inspire nordic