Laufus Turf House pt 1

Not surprisingly, we arrived in the rain. The Laufus turf house was originally made for the wealthy. Unlike Eric the Red’s place – or most others in Iceland – this was a sprawling, interconnected set of chambers capable of housing up to 30 people in relative comfort.

We were greeted by a guide in authentic garb. It’s one of the rules of the place that all the employees dress as they would have a hundred years ago.

We entered through the door on the right. This is the one closest to the parking lot and gift shop. From the exterior shot below you can see that they used the more detailed style of laying in sod. The entire structure had turf exteriors.

Some of the floors were wood. This one had a trap door leading to a small chamber that I didn’t get a chance to look into. Many were dirt. One was cobblestone.

Most of the ceilings had the same kind of driftwood construction as Eric the Red’s place. This is from that first room that we entered.

Many of the rooms had various pieces of furniture and/or props set up. In a way it reminded me of the kind of layout some real estate agents do to attract buyers to places that aren’t actually inhabited.

Although not exactly lived-in, it gave a pretty good idea of what life in such a place was like:

Yeah, a lot of hard work. I’ve actually cooked on a cast iron stove before and regularly use cast iron pans. I’ve also done laundry in a wash tub. I’ll stick with my modern appliances, given half a chance.

The cobblestone floor covered a long, narrow hallway that ran the length of the building. As we made our way from the first room toward the other end, the dark, humble rooms gave way to more civilized areas.

The beds tended to be narrow with high sides. In a way, this would be comforting. Less likely to roll off onto the floor.

Hey, I only did that once.

At the far end of the house was a series of windows and doors. Here, the rooms inside received the most light and best treatment.

Looking at that part of the house from the outside:

From there I went out a door, crossed the yard to a church, then wandered up the length of the house along the outside. But I’ll save that for next week.