I am attracted to the wrong men.
Apparently, I am also attracted to the wrong barns.
I came to a fork in the road. To my right the path snaked upward, higher than I could discern because it entered the clouds. The signage indicated chains for the next 200 km. To my left the path continued along the coast. It was the longer route, but it would take me through the Snæfellsjökull National Park, which I had hoped to see anyway. Easy choice, to the left I went. I rounded the bend and saw that this route also ascended rapidly. Drats, there are no shortcuts in Iceland.
Nearing the top I am rewarded with this beautiful, dilapidated barn. Let me now introduce you to the term ‘ruin porn’.
There it stood.
board-formed concrete
a weathered painted metal roof
a triptych of entries, all slightly different but with a unifying esthetic.
gorgeous
Even the farm name signage at the street was stunning. Stamped metal with worn, barely blue finish.
ÖXL
It was decidedly not modern; was this sign a clue to the age of the barn?
A mama sheep and her lamb stood at the top of the driveway. I wondered to myself if mother sheep are aggressive. A few exploratory steps told me not in this case. They saddled off and I descend the driveway. There was a more modern looking house with a car so I knocked at the door.
No answer.
I called out, ‘Góðan daginn’.
No response.
Cautiously I tiptoed around the barn. The street elevation was deceiving. The space was double-height and built to follow the hillside. I peered into the 15-foot drop of the space. It looked abandoned.
I returned to my steed. I crossed the pass and quickly began the descent. Halfway down there was an information placard that caught my attention. I stopped and this is what I proceeded to read:
Axlar-Björn (born 1555) is the best known serial killer in Icelandic history. His nickname comes from the farm Öxl in Breiðavik, where he living during the latter part of the sixteenth century. Travelers often stayed with him and enjoyed his hospitality, and one could say that he was the region’s earliest known farm holiday provider. But many of these travelers got no further, as Björn stretched his income by killing those whose path led to his farm with an axe and stealing their clothes, money and horses.
Well, turns out it is an old barn.
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