Where is she? In this country the wheat grows by itself, darkness salmon in rivers, wild "wine berry" (cranberry) and warm winter. People, who lived a thousand years ago, it seemed a Paradise. The message that was left thirty-six brave, committed trip in that region, pushed modern researchers to look for places where Europeans, perhaps for the first time set foot on the North American mainland.

Somewhere between 990 and 1000 years B.C. the Viking Leif Erikson and his men went to explore the land. He sailed a total of 2,000 kilometers. Along the Western coast of Greenland, he sailed North, then choose the course to the West. On the way Erickson met two countries and called them Helluland and Markland. Today we know them as Batpenova Land and Labrador. The third open land has been a mystery. Where it is, this legendary country Vinland?

In 1959 to search it went archaeologists Helge Ingstad and his wife Anna-Steen Install. The only clue they were "sagas of Icelanders" the Norse sagas, which contains the truth and fiction. Travelling by sea, by land and by air, the couple had covered thousands of kilometers. They travelled the length and breadth of the Eastern coast of North America. In the end they waited for an award! In the Northern tip of the island of Newfoundland, they found a small settlement L'Anse AUX meadows. One of its inhabitants, George Dekker, led archaeologists to the place where their eyes appeared something similar to the overgrown ruins of houses.

The archeological excavations, which lasted seven years and attracted the attention of people around the world seem to shed light on the history of the settlement. It is noteworthy that the couple Ingstad unearthed eight sod houses, and found a bronze pin, which is shear clothes. All this pointed to the fact that it was visited by the Vikings. One of the most significant findings was a small furnace for the smelting of iron. For the remaining slag has determined that the oven was used at a time when, according to the sagas, in a New Light has come Erickson. Finally were found evidence that the Vikings had set foot on the soil of North America.

The area, known nowadays as the L'Anse AUX meadows, not really fit the description of the country Vinland. And probably we will never be able to accurately determine the location of this country. However, although the Vikings, apparently, were not the first in North America, they came back almost 500 years before Columbus.

Today there is an opportunity to visit this country and see how the Vikings lived. You will see the reconstructed sod houses, as well as exact replica Viking ship on which Erickson probably made his legendary journey. Guides in historical costumes of the period will help you to mentally escape the past, for a thousand years ago, and live the life of a Viking.