Fun things to do in Eyjafjarðarsÿsla

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Grenivik is a village in the east part of Eyjafjörður. The inhabitants are 272.

The lovely church in Grenivik dates back to 1886.

As in all the towns in Iceland there is a museum here, Utgerdaminjasafnid in Grenivik. It stands by the ocean in a yellow house and shows artefacts and equipment of small boats in the last century.

The lovely museum of Laufàs is only 8 km away from Grenivik, closer to Akureyri.

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Laufás turf-houses is a must visit in Iceland, I say. It was a wealthy vicarage (by Icelandic standard). The last minister moved out of Laufás in 1936 and into a newer vicarage.

I love these old turf-houses, they are so typical Icelandic - but of course the vicarages were bigger and "cooler" than what the common people were used to. Up to 20-30 people were living here in these turf-houses. And the furnishing is from ca 1900. So if you want to see how Icelanders lived this is the place. In this neighbourhood there are also 2 other vicarages which are now a museum like Laufás; Glaumbær in Skagafjörður and Grenjaðarstaður close to Húsavík (see my tips).

The church at Laufás was built in 1865 and was dedicated to the Apostle Paul in Catholicism. In the church you will see a very decorative pulpit (see my photo) from 1698. The church is open and you can go inside and have a look around.

When I was last visiting a man (tourist) had stopped his car on the road and ran out and took photos like crazy (like most of us here on VT do). What he didn't know was that if he had driven just a a short distance ahead there he would find a parking lot and the entrance to Laufás. I guess he was just so excited about seeing such old turf-houses :)

Opening hours: May 13th - September 15th from 9:00-18:00.

There is an entrance fee seeing that Laufás is now a museum.

There is a big parking lot by Laufás, a restaurant and a souvenir shop.

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There is a lovely view platform opposite the ocean from Akureyri. Here you can see the whole Eyjafjordur fjord and the best view of Akureyri city. A highly recommended stop.

In the summer time there are always a lot of cruise ships and boats by Akureyri and sometimes one can see whales from here.

To get to the view point, which is by ring-road 1, you cross the bridge by Akureyri airport and drive up along ring-road 1. The sight-seing busses stop here, so it can get crowded, but it is so worth it as the view is amazing - especially on sunny days. It was very sunny when I last visited here, and my photos are too bright because of the sun shining right at us very early in the morning.

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At Munka-Þverá was a monestary for 306 years from 1155-1551, but in 1429 the monastery and the church burnt to the ground with a lot of valuables and 2 priests died. The current church at Munka-Þverá was raised in 1844.

Munka-Þverá was in the olden days one of the best lands in Iceland and here chieftains resided.

There is a statue of the Virgin Mary at Munka-Þverá, made in 2000 in remembrance of the 1000 year anniversary of the adoption of Christianity in Iceland. Munka-Þverá church was dedicated to Virgin Mary back then when the nation was Catholic.

In the grave-yard is Sturlungareitur or "The plot of Sturlungar" and Sighvatur Sturluson and his sons are buried there, but they got killed in the big Viking fight - Örlygsstaðabardagi battle (see my tip).

There is a statue of Jón Arason, the last Catholic bishop, in the site where the old monastery used to stand. Jón Arason studied to become priest here at Munka-Þverá.

Here was the home of Víga-Glúmur, the protagonist of the Saga Víga-Glúmur.

The church was closed when I visited without any sign of where you could go to get the key. There is a farm by the church though, but I didn't feel like knocking on its door, so I wondered around the graveyard instead. Churches shouldn't be closed here in Iceland though.

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Just outside of Dalvík village is Hrísey island called The Pearl of Eyjafjörður fjord. It is well worth the while taking the ferry across to the island while in this area. Hrísey island is the second largest island in Iceland with ca 190 inhabitants. It is 7,5 km long and 2,5 km wide at its widest point.

When arriving in Hrísey you get greeted by the taxi in the island - a tractor with a hay-cart (see my photo) capable of transporting quite a few people. The taxi takes you on a 40 minutes' trip around the island and the fee is ISK 1.000.

But it is equally fun just walking around in the village at Hrísey. There is a convenient store, a church, restaurants and guest-houses, a campsite and a swimming pool. The oldest house in the village is the red "Hús Hákarla-Jörundar" or the House of Shark-Jörundur built in 1886, and is now a museum and the tourist information of Hrísey. The museum tells the story of shark fising in Iceland through the centuries. The main industry in Hrísey is small fishing vessel fishery and blue mussel breeding - and of course tourists in the summer time :)

You can get a beef-steak in Restaurant Brekka in Hrísey from mongrel Limosine, Aberdeen, Angus and Galloway breed.

The ferry (called Sævar) leaves from Árskógssandur and it only takes ca 15 minutes to reach the island. You buy the tickets by the accommodation ladder when entering the ferry. A round-trip on the ferry costs ISK 1.000. I add the website of the ferry for further information.

I absolutely loved my visit to the island - I got the best weather ever - 20 degrees C, still and sunny, so this made for a beautiful trip.

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In Dalvík village (with ca 2.100 inhabitants) there is a very popular annual family festival called Fiskidagurinn mikli or "The Great Fish Day". It is held on the second weekend in August, the week after Verslunarmannahelgin or "The Bank holiday weekend" every year. The theme of the festival is for people to get together, have fun and eat fish :D And the nation is invited to a great sea-food buffet.

It is so much fun and people from all over Iceland visit Dalvík this weekend. I visited on its 10th anniversary. The festival starts on Friday when locals offer "Fiskisúpa" or fish-soup in their homes, but the main events are on Saturday. The theme is fish and all kinds of fish-courses are offered to guests for FREE - even the soda-pop is for free. The main events and entertainment are by the harbour and there you can see lines of people by the 14 fish-stalls getting their different fish-courses. Master-cooks prepare the courses and you can taste many different types of fish. On the longest barbeque (8 meters) in Iceland fishburgers are prepared. There is music and singing and everybody is just so happy :D

By the main-street there is an open-air market where locals sell all kinds of stuff.

This is just so much fun and a lot of people attend. Every guest-house is booked solid and the campsites are full. I was lucky enough to be offered to camp in Hauganes by relatives.

The stalls are open from 11:00-17:00 on Saturday and in the evening there are bands playing by the harbour and the festival finishes with a big fireworks show :) It is very well organised.

Highly recommended if you are in this area the second weekend of August.

I must give a big thank you to the fish-producers and other companies in Dalvík for their great generosity towards the nation and guests visiting Iceland :D

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There is a very lovely wishing well close to the Christmas House in Eyjafjörður. It is called The Wishing well of unborn children - in Icelandic "'Óskabrunnur ófæddra barna".

On a sign there says: "Walk to the well and make a silent wish. Touch the surface of the water and your wish will join all good wishes in the wishing well for children of the future".

There is a white tree there with stars on top of its branches representing unborn children. On a sign is written: "I child is a star in the sky of life. A wish for a child is a wish for a star".

I can tell you that one can get very emotional there. Not all of us can have children, including me. But I recommend going there, it is a lovely little grove.

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There is a delightful museum by Svalbarðseyri in N-Iceland called Safnasafnið in Icelandic or "The Icelandic folk and outsider art museum" with lovely diverse rooms with all kinds of collections. One room is filled with dolls from all over the world. Another room is a replica of a store from the early part of the last century - I loved that one.

And another room is a collection of men carved in tree branches :) There are just so many rooms.

There is also a room with books, where you can read the books while visiting the museum.

The museum is located in a white painted house by ring-road 1. You cannot miss it as outside the house is a statue of a very tall man dressed in blue - it is called The Curator. And by the house there are all kinds of figures, it is like being in a fairy-tale.

The exhibitions vary from year to year so if you visit it next year f.ex. there might be totally different exhibitions.

I highly recommend visiting this museum, it is so well made, it was a pure pleasure wandering around the different rooms. It is so delightful and you feel good inside after having visited this museum.

The opening hours are: May 1st - September 5th. Entrance fee is only ISK 500.