Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
FOSSHÓL
By bus
Most long-distance services pull in at Fosshól for a
few minutes to look at Goðafoss.
Destinations
Akureyri (2 daily; 1hr); Egilsstaðir (2 daily;
2hr 55min); Mývatn (2 daily; 45min); Reykjavík via
Sprengisandur (3 weekly; 10hr).
ACCOMMODATION
Fosshóll Guesthouse
T
464 3108,
W
fossholl.is.
Cheerful place right by the falls; the exterior is bright
yellow and the inside is brightly lit (though the pink feature
wall is probably a mistake). Most of their rooms are pretty
simple with shared bathrooms, though they also have
slightly c
osier en su
ite doubl
es. There's
a restaurant and bar
here too.
18,600kr
; en-suite
23,800kr
6
Grenjaðarstaður
June-Aug 10am-6pm • 500kr
Northwest of Mývatn, around halfway to Húsavík of Route 87,
Grenjaðarstaður
is a
nineteenth-century church and block of turf-roofed farmhouses - well insulated from
the icy prevailing winds - sitting exposed in a broad valley. The estate was founded in
medieval times (a contemporary altar cloth from the original church is now in the Paris
Louvre) when it counted as one of the best holdings in all Iceland, and now comprises
the largest collection of period buildings in the country. Most of the rooms are kept as
they were when last lived in, full of household items and farming implements from
days gone by, though one building has been taken back to its original state, with beaten
earth floors and central stone fireplace and kitchen.
Húsavík
HÚSAVÍK
is a small, likeable town of 2500 inhabitants hunkered below Húsavíkurfjall
on a rare dip in the coastline, the blue-green bay out front patched by cloud shadows
and a couple of islands. The ninth-century Swedish rover
Garðar Svavarsson
wintered
here while making the first recorded circumnavigation of Iceland; the shelters he built
gave Húsavík (House Bay) its name. It's also said that two of his slaves decamped
during his stay and established a farm, though later historians - looking for nobler
lineages than this - tend to overlook the possibility that they were the mainland's first
permanent residents.
The area's economy focused on sheep farming until hit by the nationwide
depression
of the late nineteenth century - caused in part by the 1875 eruption of
Viti in Askja (see p.314) - when many switched to fishing or emigrated to Canada
or the US. Nowadays, Húsavík has become Iceland's premier centre for
whale
watching
; the town is now so dependent on this summer income that Húsavík led
criticism within Iceland of the government's decision to resume commercial whaling
in late 2006.
The harbour
Húsavík's
harbour
is where to book and board a whale-watching cruise; over the road,
the town's landmark wood-and-tin
church
, with complex eaves and a green painted
roof, dates from 1907. Views west across wide
Skjálfandi bay
take in the heights of the
peninsula opposite, inhabited until its mountainous terrain prevented roads and power
being supplied in the early 1960s, after which its scattered farms were abandoned.
Look north up the coast and you may be able to spot
Lundey
a small, uninhabited
flat-topped island famed for its puffins.
