As we start to see the light of spring move towards us, our canceled travel plans are caught somewhere between being mourned and redesigned, with a side of excitement. After weeks of isolation intense cabin fever has surfaced along with deep cravings for vast spaces, socializing, and re-activating our senses.
During the past few weeks our senses have been deprived and a bouquet of curiosities revealed. Nostalgia has played a big part in our lives of late and our photographic memory leads us forward.
And now we’re officially in Spring - with lingering unknown summer plans. There won’t be any lounging in a Tuscany villa come summer, nor cruising between Spanish villages, but there’s an open invitation to walks on black beaches, breathing crisp air, eating pristine fish, and immersing in hot springs.
The thought of driving around my photogenic country come summer mentally alerts my senses. Staying inside for weeks without a touch of nature and physical contact deprives our senses. Travel alerts our senses and there’s nothing that feeds my soul like ocean waves. The thought of Oud perfume takes me to Abu Dhabi, and sea mist with a touch of kelp to Southern California. Arctic herbs like Thyme and Icelandic Birch serve me a blend of childhood and my mother’s cooking.
After years of wanderlust behaviour across the world - substantial time cruising through lava fields and fishing villages in my homeland has been somewhat neglected. Though memory serves the curiosity as my parents took us around the island and to Snæfellsnes numerously.
Memories, engaging tales and photographs mentally transport me. And I immediately think about the earthy smell of the moss, the vision of black beaches and sharp cliffs, the taste of fresh lake trout with arctic herbs, the sound of silence and the feel of a caught trout slipping through my hands.
It’s with intense eagerness that creating an itinerary magnifies into a moment of a blank stare - freedom being an aspect of the past for most everyone on the planet right now. I had taken a comfortable residence in that blankness when I noticed that Úr Vör has a map on the site connected to the articles for each place in Iceland. To places where creativity cares for our culture.
This could be a blueprint of my itinerary dedicated to the senses - including tastes like Nordic Wasabi at Egislstaðir and Bera hot sauce in Djúpavogur to sheep’s cheese in Fljótsdalur. An array of unique places and projects that are currently operating without a single tourist króna.
Text: Anna Rosa Parker
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