Iceland 14: Of ruins and Kirkjufell and Icelandic Goats

By this time, we are heading southward towards west Iceland. We are seeing more evidence of the old settlements, some of them possibly Vikings.

Borgarvirki - the Citadel is a columnar basalt fortress and might have been used as an old Viking fortress. Nobody really knows for sure.

But it's cool to hike up to and imagine the people defending themselves.

Beautiful location.

Another troll trapped by the sea.

They fortified this one with concrete underneath so it wouldn't wash away.

It is quite a mystery how such a rock formation

 exists along a beach with no other rocks.

Next stop, Grundarfjörður, with the lovely Kirkjufell in the background.

Loved this random sculpture of an orca out in the middle of a field.

This random sculpture just hanging out.

The main sculpture of the town echoes the mountain behind it.

Apparently the most photographed island in Iceland.

I'm guessing this is the most photographed horse in Iceland.😄

Beautiful Icelandic horse.

So, I had read about Icelandic goats: (Wikipedia) The Icelandic goat, also known as the 'settlement goat', is an ancient breed of domestic goat believed to be of Norwegian origin and dating back to the settlement of Iceland over 1100 years ago. This breed of goat was on the verge of extinction during the late 19th century, but recovered prior to World War II, only to precipitously decline again. As of 2003, there were 348 goats in 48 flocks distributed throughout most parts of Iceland.

I had been looking for them, when there they were looking at us!

Of course Dave did a u-turn so I could get my photo.

But suddenly, the little baby goat got under the fence

 and over the cattle guard and headed straight for us.

The little goat enthusiastically started climbing  up on our rented car!! 

 Shoo, shoo sweet little goat!

Well, she's obviously not afraid of cars so this is not a good situation.  She will run out on the road and get hit for sure. this is Dave trying to coax her back in the pen "Come, little goat. Come back"

Ah, but the grass is always greener on the other side and our little runaway found some delicious greens in the ditch.  If we could've found the farmer, we would've alerted him.  But decided out best plan was to slip away while little fur ball wasn't watching.

If you watch Game of Thrones, you may remember this scene. These are the Icelandic goats and this clip is the reason they are thriving today.  Their fame allowed the farmer who was trying to save them hold a Go Fund Me campaign, 

which brought in enough money to assure their survival.

 At least temporarily. 

 Until the dragon takes them and eats them!!!