Visiting the Westfjords, Iceland
We left Akureyri this morning on the way to the Westfjords area in north west Iceland.
This day although not a long driving day, it proved to be a challenging drive as a result of the road conditions.
Our first stop was at the new Church at Blönduós, a very striking building. The information board in front of the church gave the following details: the church’s architecture was the idea of a local architect from a nearby farm who drew her inspirations from the surrounding landscape, including volcanic craters.
Afterwards, we headed to see another church, but this time was a very old church. Þingeyrakirkja church is not only a beautiful church but one of the oldest in Iceland. It is located at Þingeyrar in North-Iceland by Húnafjörður bay. At Þingeyrar the first monastery in Iceland was erected in 1133. It stood here until the Reformation in 1550. Þingeyraklaustur monastery was well known for its literature, which was written down on parchment in the years 1100-1300.
After the visit to this church we headed further north to see Hvitserkur a natural rock formation – referred by some, as the Troll of North Iceland. This natural monument is situated on the Vatnsnes peninsula in North-West Iceland, some 50 meters offshore. This rock is a 15 meter high monolith or sea-stack, an eroded volcanic dyke. It looks like an animal of some sort, an elephant or a rhino; or even a dinosaur drinking. The legend goes that Hvítserkur is a petrified troll. The troll lived in Strandir in the Wesfjords and wanted to tear down the bells at Þingeyraklaustur convent. The Icelandic trolls are not Christian and don’t like the sound or sight of churches or church-bells. Coming down the steep cliff I nearly fell down, as it was very slippery. Pam being more cautious used the longer way to come down to the beach.
After this site, we stopped for a short break for coffee, at a local café.
We then headed towards our destination at Holmavik. The road and scenery was striking, although very different than the other areas we have visited so far. One can see that the winters in this area of Iceland would be very harsh. One point of interest in this part of the coast, is the large amount of drift wood found by the shoreline. This wood apparently comes from Siberia in Russia.
We reached Holmavik just after 4 pm. There is a festival in town today, so many people are in the port area celebrating.
We ate at a local restaurant recommended by our guide book. The place was full, as many of the locals also had decided to come to have dinner at this restaurant , following today’s festivities. Lucky we were there early on, and got a table. The pizza was great and also huge. The beer wasn’t bad either.
A lot of great highlights today. See some more photos from today’s journey here:
Another great day in Iceland.