Iceland’s Remote Westfjords

Just when you thought Iceland on it’s own was remote, we find a region of the country that’s less explored than most. Photographed by Jan Erik Waider, we see a vast landscape full of craggy cliffs and plateaus, peacefully abandoned homes, and soft colors of the grasslands. Waider’s eye is a keen one, able to take images that are serene and peaceful.

We were recently surprised to learn that Iceland once had large, healthy forests, back in the time before Vikings. Sadly, vikings razed nearly every tree to fuel their rise. In the centuries since, the country’s soil has become poor for trees to grow, resulting in a landscape barren and open. Beautiful in it’s own right, but strange to consider, once you realize there might have been might forests in much of the countryside.  Yet another reason to visit Iceland, to see these largely uninhabited westfjords.