The Church
The Vik church (Víkurkirkja) was built between the years of 1932 and 1934 and it is made of concrete. The church can seat roughly 200 church-goers. The most significant relic the church holds is an altar containing paintings by a famous Icelandic painter Brynjólfur Þórðarson. The church is situated above the village of Vik and it offers some very nice views of Vik together with its most interesting sights, the ocean and the mountains all around. Further details from Wikipedia:
Vík lies directly south of the Mýrdalsjökull glacier, which itself is on top of the Katla volcano. Katla has not erupted since 1918, and this longer than typical dormant period has led to speculation that an eruption may occur soon. An eruption of Katla could melt enough ice to trigger an enormous flash flood, potentially large enough to obliterate the entire town. The town's church, located high on a hill, is believed to be the only building that would survive such a flood. Thus, the people of Vík practice periodic drills and are trained to rush to the church at the first sign of an eruption.
Contemporary legends note the story of a husband who found his wife taken by the two trolls, frozen at night. The husband made the two trolls swear to never kill anyone ever again. His wife was the love of his life, whose free spirit he was unable to provide a home for; she found her fate out among the trolls, rocks, and sea at Reynisfjara.
The Village
Vik is considered the southernmost settlement in Iceland, located directly by the Ring Road (R1). The village has roughly 300 inhabitants. Lets see what Wikipedia has to say about Vik's sights:
In 1991, the US journal Islands Magazine counted Vik beach as one of the ten most beautiful beaches on Earth. Its stretch of black basalt sand is one of the wettest places in Iceland. The cliffs west of the beach are home to many seabirds, most notably puffins which burrow into the shallow soils during the nesting season. Offshore lie stacks of basalt rock, remnants of a once more extensive cliffline Reynisfjall, now battered by the sea. There is no landmass between here and Antarctica and the Atlantic rollers can attack with full force. According to folklore, they are former trolls who tried to drag their boats out to sea only to be caught by the rising dawn. The sea around them is rather wild and stormy, so travelers will not be surprised to discover a monument to the memory of drowned seamen on the beach.
The village was affected by volcanic ash during the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull.
The Wedding
Apart from geocaching, we also love nature and Nordic countries. Even though we have never been to Iceland before, we decided to get married here. We considered several different places around the island, but finally picked Vik as we believe it is one of the most beautiful places in the country. The regular places for wedding ceremonies are the Black Sand Beach (Reynisfjara), Basalt Columns (Reynisdrangar) or Dyrhólaey peninsula with its lighthouse. We decided to have the wedding by the church with the beautiful views of Vik and its surroundings. We came to travel around Iceland for 10 days, then we got married and then we sealed our marriage by completing the Laugavegur and Fimmvörðuháls treks. We certainly hope to be coming back to celebrate our future anniversaries.
