Plants, Mon­as­ter­ies and Chil­dren - Edu­ca­tional Walk

The theme of the walk is plants, monasteries, and children. This year marks 800 years since a monastery was established on Viðey Island. Björk and the Reykjavík City Museum are celebrating this milestone by teaching children a little about this remarkable monastery and the island’s plant life at the same time. The monastery itself is no longer visible, but what we can explore are the place names on the island that relate to the monastery period, and we can try to imagine what life was like on the island when the monastery stood there. Some of the questions we will consider include: What is a monastery? What has been and is done in monasteries? What is a convent and what is a monastery for monks? Was the monastery on Viðey Island for monks or nuns? Were there once more monasteries in Iceland? Monasteries are associated with a strong gardening tradition; most had kitchen gardens and medicinal herb gardens. There was a monastery garden on Viðey Island, and we will speculate about which plants may have been grown there and how you could try setting up your own kitchen and herbal garden. We will walk around the area, learn, and play together. Feel free to bring plant and bird books. Everyone is welcome! The ferry sails from Skarfabakki on Saturday, 4 July, at 13:15 and returns at 15:30, or an hour later if you prefer. We recommend purchasing tickets on the Elding website in advance. See the link here: https://elding.is/videy-ferry-skarfabakki