Iceland: Dramatic Viking Movie Set and Black Sand Dune Beach

Viking Cafe

Viking Village Panorama

Approach to Viking Movie Set

Viking Long House

Viking Turf Houses

Viking Catapult

Viking Hut with Horns

Black Sand Dunes and Misty Vestrahorn Mountain

Richard and Dunes for Scale

Dune Covered with Green Grass

Sideswept Dune

Windswept Dunes

Single Blade of Grass in Black Volcanic Sand

Departure on Stokksnes Exit Road

Mist Flowing Down Mountain

Mist Flowing Over Mountain

Descriptive Map of Vestrahorn and Stokksnes Area

Viking Cafe Map of Area

An especially great place for photography in southeastern Iceland is Vestrahorn Mountain. The 8-10 million year old gabbro and granophyre rocks are the remains of an ancient magma chamber of an extinct volcano. To get to it, drive on Ring Road 1 about one hour east of Jokulsarlon and exit to Stokksnes (an old World War II NATO radar base). The exit is just before the tunnel entrance east of Hofn. Drive about 3 miles on the dirt road until you reach the remote family-owned Viking Café and pay a small entrance fee.

A short hike through this stunning landscape leads to a former Viking movie set. This Viking village was initially planned to be revived in 2017 to film the movie “Vikingr” by Universal Studios.

What’s inside the mysterious 17th century gold chest?

A burial, at Ban Non Wat in Thailand, that contained the remains of a person buried with a remarkable number of shell and marble bangles (1000-800 BC).

Ancient Roman girls dressed in bikini. A mosaic from the Villa Romana del Casale in Piazza Armerina, Sicily, Italy, 4th century A.D.

A condom (1640 CE) made from ‘Pig Intestines’, was found during archaeological excavations in city of Lund, Sweden. It is considered as the oldest specimen of condom in the world.

A 3rd century CE Roman horse armour, made up of about 2000 bronze scales. Found in Dura-Europos, Syria, and is now housed at the National Museum of Damascus. The bottom picture shows the armour shortly after it was discovered in 1932