Eastern and southeast Iceland - The Rough Guide to Iceland - page 278

Vatnajökull fills Hálslón beyond capacity, and the overflow creates an artificial waterfall
here known as Kárahnjúkafoss .

The East Fjords
he East Fjords cover a 120km stretch of eastern Iceland's twisted coastline between
Borgarfjörður Eystri in the north and southern Berujörður , with many of the fjords
- none of which is particularly large - sporting small villages, mostly given over to
fishing. The fjord scenery can be vivid, particularly in summer, with the villages sitting
between flat blue sea and steep, steel-grey mountains, their peaks dusted in snow and
lower slopes covered in greenery and flowers. Aside from scenery and puffins at
Borgarfjörður Eystri, highlights include Seyðisfjörður, , for its Norwegian-style wooden
houses and international ferry, and, right at the fjords' southern end, the tiny island of
Papey , which can be visited on a day-trip from Djúpivogur .

7

GETTING AROUND THE EAST FJORDS

By bus There isn't a continuous road linking the fjords,
or a single bus service running out to them, so any
thorough exploration of the region requires a bit of
backtracking and advance planning. Borgarfjörður
Eystri, Seyðisfjörður, the Fjarðabyggð fjords
(Reyðarfjörður, Eskifjörður and Neskaupstaður), plus

Fáskrúðfjörður and Stöðvarfjörður, are each on separate
roads and separate bus services from Egilsstaðir. The
southern fjords of Breiðalsvík and Djúpivogur, lying
along the Ringroad, are covered by long-distance
summer buses between Egilsstaðir and Höfn. Specific
services are detailed in the individual accounts.

Borgarfjörður Eystri
BORGARFJÖRÐUR EYSTRI , also known as Bakkagerði , is a slowly dwindling community
of just 110 farmers and fishermen at the end of the mostly gravel Route 94, some
70km from Egilsstaðir. The journey here can be a little hair-raising; about 7km short
of town, Route 94 winds along the side of dangerously loose cliffs, a hazard attributed
to the malevolent local spirit Naddi , who - despite being pushed into the sea by a
fourteenth-century farmer - remains active, judging by the state of the road. Keep an
eye out for a protective cross by the roadside with the Latin inscription Effigiem
Christi qui transis pronus honora (“You who hurry past, honour Christ's image”). But
once arrived, Borgarfjörður is a charming location, steeped in local lore, with a wide
fjord to the front and a backdrop of steep, colourful mountainsides. The core of the
village surrounds its old harbour ; while a new harbour, 5km up the coast, is home to a
large pu n colony .

Borgarjörður church
Isolated in a field on the edge of town, Borgarfjörður's church is a standard nineteenth-
century wood and corrugated iron affair, though the unusual altarpiece is a sunset-hued
affair painted in 1914 by Jóhannes Kjarval (see p.67). Typically incorporating a local
landscape into the work, Kjarval depicted the Sermon on the Mount delivered atop of
Álfaborg , the rocky hillock behind the church; Álfaborg means “elf-town” and,
according to folklore, is home to Iceland's fairy queen.

Hafnarholm
A grassy headland above Hafnarholm , 5km around the bay from town at
Borgarfjörður Eystri's tiny fishing harbour, is home through the summer to
hundreds of nesting seabirds. Wooden steps lead up to an observation platform with
views out over the headland and an adjacent outcrop of rock. Although there are
plenty of fulmars and kittiwakes here, the pu ns are the real draw; your chance of
seeing them is greatest when they return from their fishing expeditions during the