Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Café Mika has an outdoor pizza oven, sandwiches and Icelandic mains, and sells handcraf-
ted chocolate.
Getting There & Away
Bus 73 Selfoss-Flúðir-Reykholt-Laugarvatn-Selfoss (Ikr1750 from Selfoss, 45 minutes,
one daily).
Bus 72 Selfoss-Flúðir-Reykholt-Laugarás-Selfoss (Ikr1750 from Selfoss, 45 minutes,
two daily).
Skálholt & Laugarás
Skálholt is a very important religious centre; it was one of two bishoprics (the other was
Hólar in the north) that ruled Iceland's souls from the 11th to the 18th centuries. It rose to
prominence under Gissur the White, the driving force behind the Christianisation of Ice-
land. The Catholic bishopric lasted until the Reformation in 1550, when Bishop Jón Ara-
son and his two sons were executed by order of the Danish king. Skalhólt continued as a
Lutheran centre until 1797, when the bishopric shifted to Reykjavík.
Unfortunately, the great cathedral that once stood here was destroyed by a major earth-
quake in the 18th century. Today there's a modern Protestant
theological centre
with a
Þorlagsbúð, and a prim
church
with a
museum
in the basement containing the stone sar-
cophagus of Bishop Páll Jónsson (bishop from 1196 to 1211). According to
Páls Saga,
the
earth was wracked by storms and earthquakes when he died. Spookily, a huge storm broke
at the exact moment that his coffin was reopened in 1956. The centre also has peaceful ac-
commodation, a restaurant and summertime concerts.
The neighbouring village of Laugarás is essentially a community of farms, some of
which sells greenhouse-grown fruit and vegetables and cute souvenirs. It's marked at the
entrance to Laugarás when arriving from Skálholt.
Laugarás is served by Strætó buses 72 and 73 from Selfoss (Ikr1750, 40 minutes, two
daily) and Sterna bus 35A returns from Akureyri to Reykjavík via Laugarás.
