Iceland...."land of the Vikings"

[Bhaskar]

Glaumbær Turf Museum

Glaumbær farm is a lovely historic turf house in Skagafjörður in North-Iceland. It is a conserved site and owned by the National Museum of Iceland. The timber house below is the Gilsstofa which contains the offices of the museum and a museum store.

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Tyrfingsstaðir, Kjálki

Back on road 1 we turned right on road 759 to Tyrfingsstaðir turf farm at Kjálki. The road is well marked and is on the right side ahead. We drove by the lush green fields to reach a typical farmhouse of earlier times at Kjálki.

The location of Tyrfingsstaðir cannot be found in google maps. I read about it in one of the blogs and got its coordinates from mapcarta. Continue on road 759 and look for signs on the right side of the road that reads Kjálki.

These are the remnants of an abandoned farmhouse with stables and sheepsheds.

 

[Bhaskar]

I was definitely not trying to round up the sheeps; just wanted to walk down the valley.

 

[Bhaskar]

Akureyrarkirkja, Akureyri

Akureyri, in North Iceland is its second largest city and the largest city in the northern region. The church Akureyrikirkja was closed as we reached about there at about 5 pm. It is a majestic and impressive architecture. We had our refreshments and decided to head to the Systragil campsite which was the nearest campsite to our location.

Our route for day 3

We had already driven more than 350 kms. for the day and finally reached the Systragil camping site.

So this is road 833 which joins road 1 to Akureyri. The distance to Akureyri reads 36 kms.

Meanwhile, this eerie character welcomed us to the site. I remember a tourist map on which some locations were marked as haunted sites; it may be linked to some of the numerous troll and folklores indigenous to this island country. This location is one of them. But you never know

As darkness was fast setting in we soon pitched our tents. We still had time to try our hands on the frisbee before the hot shower. The shower starts automatically when you insert a coin for 10 ISK and cuts off automatically after 5 minutes. You can top up if you are not done. In case you do not have coins you can take a few from the warden who comes to charge you for camping. We were charged 3111 ISK(1500 ISK/person x 2 + 111 ISK tax). The WC and sink facilities we excellent. It is a beautiful campsite with many camping grounds in the vicinity. There is a small forest nearby known as the Vaglaskógur forest and you can drive or hike around to explore it. This camping ground is highly recommended.

 

[Bhaskar]

Day4 (14.09.2017, North Iceland)

The northern lights appeared once again in the skies last night and the aurora forecasts are good for the rest of the week. Camping in the wilderness with the northern lights dancing above in the night sky is something out of the world. This is what they call "hunting for the northern lights". For us, we were just lucky that we need not go out hunting for them. Auroras are mostly visible during early autumn and are clear during the darker nights of the winter months. Known as the " Aurora Borealis" in the northern pole(incl arctic and subarctic) and the "Aurora Australis" in the southern hemisphere it is a fantastic display of nature's art on the canvas of the sky.
Next morining at Systragil

This Quechua tent from Decathlon just lived up to our expectations; quite durable and the pegs wouldn't let off even during strong winds.

Few other camper vans had arrived there too the previous night.

Over there you see the WC.

 

[Bhaskar]

Next stop

 

[Bhaskar]

Goðafoss

We left Systragil and were back on road 1 to Goðafoss, the waterfall of gods. This beautiful and historic waterfall is right by ring-road 1. There is an ancient folklore of the viking age as to how this waterfall got its name. We just sat and admire.

 

[Bhaskar]

Grenjaðarstaður

Way to Grenjaðarstaður
Continuing on ring-road 1 take road take left turn on road 845 after a few kilometres from Goðafoss. Driving a few kilometres on road 845 take a right turn on road 854 which leads to Grenjaðarstaður, a turf farm museum from the 19th century. Looking inside the turf houses will give an insight into the lifestyle of the rich and the affluent of those days. These is also a church within the premises. It is now controlled by the National Museum of Iceland.
This turf museum opens during June-August every year. But after this you can still visit the premises and have a look around. These turf house locations are a must visit while visiting this country.

 

[Bhaskar]

Þverá turf house, Laxárdalur valley

Continuing on road 854 take right turn on road 856 named Laxárdalesvegur. The road 856 is a bit off beat and is not marked on google maps. But this road is marked on the Sygic mobile application and the bing map. Travelling on road 856(heading south) for some distance you will reach the Þverá turf house which is marked on google maps as 'Thverá in Laxárdal, Thverá, Iceland'.

There are many farmsteads, museums, churches and houses made of turf roof spread all across the country. Some of them have been restored, some closed for visitors while rest are either abandoned or in dilapidated condition. Wish I could visit all of them someday. You can refer to the given blog for all such turf house locations.
A List of the Beautiful Icelandic Turf Houses, which I Have Visited on My Travels in Iceland

 

[Naturebuff]

This is quite an extraordinary country!! Carry on... your log is very addictive as are the pics

 

[Bhaskar]

thank u... yeah I will keep on updating; just for this busy schedule.