 Leaving Jane and his children with Rossetti at Kelmscott , in July 1871 Morris left for Iceland with Faulkner , W.H. Evans , and Magnússon . Sailing from the Scottish port of Granton aboard a Danish mail boat , they proceeded to the island via Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands before arriving at Reykjavik , where they disembarked . There they met the President of the Althing , Jón Sigurðsson , with Morris being sympathetic to the Icelandic independence movement . From there , they proceeded by Icelandic horse along the south coast to <unk> , <unk> , Geysir , Þingvellir , and then back to <unk> , where they departed back to Britain in September . In April 1873 , Morris and Burne @-@ Jones holidayed in Italy , visiting Florence and Siena . Although generally disliking the country , Morris was interested in the Florentine Gothic architecture . Soon after , in July , Morris returned to Iceland , revisiting many of the sites he had previously seen , but then proceeding north to Varna glacier and <unk> . His two visits to the country profoundly influenced him , in particular in his growing leftist opinions ; he would comment that these trips made him realise that " the most grinding poverty is a trifling evil compared with the inequality of classes . " 
