Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
he forbade anyone to relieve themselves within sight of it, a decision that later sparked the
Erbyggja Saga
's central feud, when a neighbouring clan attending the Þingvellir assembly
refused to abide by this law. Much later, a
monastery
moved here from the island of
Flatey, and stood at the foot of the mountain from 1184 until the Reformation.
It's possible to climb the mountain: the path on the west side is easy enough, but the
eastern descent is steep and rocky and you have to pick your way carefully. The ascent
is worth making though: at the top there are ruins of a tiny thirteenth-century
chapel
,
Tótt, and striking
views
over the islands of Breiðafjörður and to the mountains of the
West Fjords. Guðrún Ósvifsdóttir, heroine of
Laxdæla Saga
, spent the last years of her
life at the farm at the southern foot of Helgafell and, over nine hundred years on,
people still decorate her grave with wild flowers - it's in the simple churchyard marked
by a headstone. Even today, local myth has it that anyone climbing from her grave to
the chapel remains on top of the mountain will be granted three wishes, on the
condition that they climb in silence and the wishes are pure-hearted, kept totally secret
and made while standing beside the remains facing east.
From Stykkishólmur, it's a 4km walk to Helgafell on Route 58: once past the airstrip
and the Nesvogur inlet, take the second turning on the left. All buses in and out of
Stykkishólmur pass this junction.
3
Flatey
The largest of the Breiðafjörður islands,
FLATEY
is a tranquil haven of two dozen or so
restored wooden cottages set amid fields that are bright yellow with buttercups in
summer. If you like the idea of having nothing to do all day but stroll through
undisturbed meadows while taking in magnificent vistas of the West Fjord mountains
and Snæfellsjökull, then dining by evening on succulent cod caught the same
afternoon, this is the place to come. The weather is most dependable in August, but
remember if you're coming here out of season the island will be virtually deserted, since
most of the houses are only occupied in summer by Reykjavík city slickers; just five
people spend the winter on Flatey.
Although low-key in the extreme today, Flatey was once one of Iceland's leading
cultural centres, and in 1172 a
monastery
was founded on the island's highest
point, a little behind where the present-day church stands, though there's nothing
left of it today.
The old village
From the ferry jetty it's a ten-minute walk down the rough track that passes as the
island's one and only road to the
old village
, a restored collection of painted houses
nestling around a tiny
harbour
. It's from here that Flatey's sheep are painstakingly
bundled into boats and taken to surrounding islands for summer grazing - quite a
sight if you're around to witness it.
Past the harbour the track bears right, turns into a well-trodden path and climbs a
little to the diminutive
Lundaberg
cliffs where you'll find plenty of
black guillemot
,
kittiwakes
,
fulmars
and
pu
ns
from April onwards; half of all the different species of
bird that breed in Iceland are found on the islands of Breiðafjörður.
FLATEYJARBÓK
Flatey was once home to the
Flateyjarbók
, a collection of illuminated medieval manuscripts
written on 113 calfskins. Although the topic was written at Víðidalstunga in northern Iceland
around 1387, it somehow turned up on the island and remained in the possession of a local
farmer's family until they gave it to the Bishop of Skálholt, who in turn sent it by royal request
to King Frederik III of Denmark in 1659. The Flateyjarbók finally returned to Iceland in 1971 and
is today housed in the Þjóðmenningarhúsið in Reykjavík (see p.65).
