stinky shark pieces

The hostel is really cool. There are tons of people to talk to, a really nice breakfast - assuming you are able to get there before 9:30 in the morning.

As the last night was a bit longer than anticipated, I barely made it for breakfast - still a well spent 800 ISK. The weather was much worse than the day before, it was raining and it was cold. So I hung around for a while, made a plan which museum to see and only headed downtown later. I walked around for hours, visited some museums and ended up at the hostel in the evening to watch a movie in the hostel about the great bird migration of birds.

Oh, almost forgot - here we go:

"Take one large shark, gut and discard the innards, the cartilage and the head. Cut flesh into large pieces.Wash in running water to get all slime and blood off. Dig a large hole in coarse gravel, preferably down by the sea and far from the nearest inhabited house - this is to make sure the smell doesn't bother anybody. Put in the shark pieces, and press them well together. It's best to do this when the weather is fairly warm (but not hot), as it hastens the curing process. Cover with more gravel and put heavy rocks on top to press down. Leave for 6-7 weeks (in summer) to 2-3 months (in winter). During this time, fluid will drain from the shark flesh, and putrefication will set in."

Yes - you eat this... And yes, it smells and tastes weird. And normally you should drink a cup of icelandic schnaps afterwards - rumour says that's the best way of enjoying it. This reminds me - the learning of the weekend was never to buy schnapps outside of the duty free zone ...

THE ORIGINAL ICELANDIC SCHNAPPS

"Brennivin is uniquely Icelandic. The legal beginnings of this distinct schnapps were in 1935 when prohibition was lifted on the island. A black label was chosen because it was considered necessary to have an unattractive label to limit demand for the spirits of this purely Icelandic recipe. The black label had the opposite effect, however, and is today considered a symbol for all strong liquor - and even Iceland itself."

(end of the short liquor-history lesson; as I found it quite funny and as it is printed on the back of the bottle I decided to type it here. Click this link to see the rest of the pics of this rainy day in Reykjavik)

Did I mention I ate like 9 hotdogs in 3 days? They taste very jummy and are not as expensive as the rest of the available food...