Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
5
ACCOMMODATION
EYJAFJARÐARDALUR VALLEY
Öngulsstaðir III
T
463 1380,
W
ongulsstadir.is.
This
farmstay is a real treat. The pleasant rooms, simply
decorated and en-suite, are located in the former cow
sheds, while breakfast is served in a converted barn. To get
here, take Route 829 (sig
nposted t
o “Laugaland”) up the
eastern side of the valley.
21,000kr
Grímsey
Forty kilometres north of the mainland, the five-square-kilometre chunk of craggy
basalt that defiantly rears up out of the Atlantic is the island of
Grímsey
, straddled by
the
Arctic Circle
, where Iceland ends and the Arctic begins. First settled by the Viking
Vestfjarða-Grímur Sigurðsson
, and named after him (“Grímsey” means Grímur's
Island), the island supports one tiny settlement, scruffy
Sandvík
, on its southwest coast.
While many come here to cross that magical geographical line, Grímsey also hosts
some amazing birdlife, including
pu
ns
,
razorbills
and
guillemots
, which are resident
on the island's cliffs for most of the year - some 36 species breed here. Take special care
when walking around the island since you're likely to be attacked by
arctic tern
, in
particular, which will stop at nothing to protect their eggs - they are present on
Grímsey from early May to early September.
here's just one
road
on Grímsey, which runs the length of the west coast from the
lighthouse at its southernmost point, Flesjar, past the indoor
swimming pool
at the
southern end of the runway (which opens if three or more people want to swim
- enquire at the store) through the village to the airport at Básar - a total length of
3km. Landing here in the Air Iceland Twin Otter plane that links the island with
Akureyri can be quite an experience, as it's often forced to buzz over the runway on
the initial approach to clear the hundreds of potentially dangerous birds that gather
on it before coming in a second time to land. Taking off is no less hazardous
- although one of Grímsey's few cars is driven up and down the runway to achieve
the same result.
Just past the airport, the
Arctic Circle
is marked not by a line but by a
signpost
- there's a picnic bench beneath it, and you can read the signpost to find out how far
you are from home.
Sandvík
SANDVÍK
, home to 85 people, is essentially nothing more than twenty or so houses
grouped around a harbour, which is where the ferry from Dalvík docks. Southeast of
the harbour, the road leads to the community centre,
Múli
(ask at the village shop for
the key), where every year on November 11 the birthday of the island's benefactor,
nineteenth-century American chess champion
Daniel Willard Fiske
, is celebrated with
coffee, cakes and a day off work.
ANYONE FOR CHESS?
A prominent journalist during the nineteenth century, and a leading scholar on things
Icelandic,
Daniel Willard Fiske
left the islanders of Grímsey US$12,000 upon his death and
gave instructions for a school and library to be built. Oddly, Fiske had never once set foot
on Grímsey, but it seems the islanders' reputation as the greatest
chess
players in the
whole of Iceland (chess was introduced to Grímsey by the Vikings) furthered his own love
of the game; he also donated eleven marble chess sets to the island. The last remaining set
can be seen, alongside Fiske's portrait, in the library inside the Múli community centre,
which stands on the original site of the school he financed. Today, the island's children
learn to play chess at school and there's even an open-air table opposite the shop if you
fancy a game.
