Our high-speed passenger ferry slowed to a kayak's pace, gliding past offshore cliffs crowded with the nests of thousands of squawking kittiwakes. The cacophony of these genteel gull cousins can be heard quite literally over half of the island. Not until you clear the tops of the rolling pastured hills, past the Viking gravesite, are you out of earshot of this unceasing chorus from the stage of their natural amphitheater.
 |
| We added a few bones to the Viking grave |
|
The Vikings found Bjarkoy a hospitable place too. Strategically located, this tiny island was the loading point for furs from Siberia that were then sent south and exchanged for fine goods from as far away as Rome and Byzantium. Trade law began here for Scandinavians, whose law books bear 'Bjarkøy Protocols' to this day.
|
Bjarkoy was home to the chieftain Tore Hund whose saga is still retold today. The story recounts his bittersweet struggle to retain the tradition of the Gods and Giants of Valhalla or to side with the new forces of the Cross pushing their way from the south, a church which was to end the Viking way of life. An ornately cast iron cauldron was taken from Bjarkoy to a museum in the south, leaving a simple stone ring grave marker and the saga of Tore Hund to bear witness to Bjarkoy's Viking past.
Created on ... August 04, 2001
