Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
by 4m wide, are huddled around a dirt floor and support a roof made of rafters covered
over with twigs atop a layer of turf. Story-telling
guides
, evocatively dressed as Vikings,
expertly bring the period to life and will also point out the significant features of the
ruins. To the untrained eye they can be hard to find (they're located immediately
behind the small statue of Leifur; from the statue take the gravel path to the right up
the hillside heading towards the waterfall).
ACCOMMODATION
EIRÍKSSTAÐIR
Stóra Vatnshorn
T
434 1342,
W
farmholidays.is.
Comfortable accommodation in cottages sleeping three
people, located on a working farm adjacent to Eiríksstaðir
with fantastic views out over the Haukadalsá river to the
sum
mit of Jörf
ahnúkur (557m). Closed mid-Sept to mid-
May.
18,000kr
Laxárdalur
The tragedy renowned as one of the great masterpieces of medieval literature, the
Laxdæla Saga
(see box, p.162), unfolded in
Laxárdalur
, the valley northeast of
Búðardalur and traversed by Route 59. Although there are few remains of the homes of
the characters of the tale, the rolling green landscapes are reminiscent of the most
romantic scenes in the epic, and the mere mention to an Icelander of virtually any local
place-name will conjure up images of forsaken love; handy information boards
recounting the main events of the saga are placed at the key sites involved.
3
Hjarðarholt
Five kilometres out of Búðardalur just to the north of Route 59 lies the farm of
Hjarðarholt
, established by Ólafur the Peacock and later taken over by his son, Kjartan. In
the saga, Ólafur moves his livestock from
Goddastaðir
, now a couple of kilometres to the
northeast off Route 587, to Hjarðarholt and asks a local chieftain, Höskuldur, to watch the
procession from his own farm. The first of Ólafur's animals were arriving at Hjarðarholt
while the last were still leaving Goddastaðir - a visual demonstration of wealth which can
still be appreciated today by standing at Hjarðarholt and looking at the distant hillside to
the northeast. Incidentally, Höskuldur lived next door to Ólafur at
Höskuldsstaðir
, directly
located on Route 59 and still inhabited today. Route 59 continues east over the lake-
studded moors of Laxárdalsheiði to the fjord of Hrútafjörður from where Route 61 heads
north to Hólmavík in the West Fjords and south to the tiny settlement of Brú (see p.216).
Hvammur
The other branch of Ólafur the Peacock's feud-torn family lived around 17km north of
Búðardalur, at a couple of sites not far of Route 60 - the Búðardalur-Hólmavík
bus
can drop you nearby. Some 2km west off Route 60 and then north along a minor road
just after Skerðingsstaðir farm,
Hvammur
is one of Iceland's oldest settlements and was
first occupied by Auður Djúpúðga (Auður the Deepminded) around the year 895, the
only woman recorded in the Book of Settlements. Firm but compassionate, she was the
matriarch of a leading family in the saga age, though confusingly, the
Laxdæla Saga
refers
to her as Unnuras. Auður, the daughter of Ketill Suðureyjajarl (Earl of the Hebrides)
and married to King Ólafur Hvíti of Dublin, first came to Iceland with her children and
grandchildren around 890 after one of her sons, Þorsteinn, died in battle in Scotland,
and she brought with her a large number of Scots and Irish. The land settled by Auður
was long occupied by her descendants, one of whom was Þorfinn Karlsefni, who
explored America for three years in an attempt to establish a Viking settlement. There's a
small memorial to Auður at Hvammur, erected by the University Women of Iceland.
She was the first in a long line of prominent Icelanders to live here, the most famous
being
Snorri Sturluson
(see p.154), who was born here in 1179; a memorial in his
