Iceland - 6 - Impossible to Categorize

11-15 August,  23 August - 4 September, 2025

It just didn't fit anywhere else.

1 September

The most famous LGBTQ+ "Rainbow Street" in Iceland is in the town of Seyðisfjörður in the East Fjords. (We simply couldn't squeeze in a visit.) There's also a prominent Rainbow Street in downtown Reykjavik. This obviously not new street painting is in the remote town of Suðereyri, just showing how ubiquitous is the acceptance of the Gay Pride culture in Iceland. You don't get much more remote than Suðereyri at the tip of Súgandafjörður in the West Fjords.

31 August

In Kollafjörður (West Fjords) we even saw a barn roof with rainbow colors.

31 August

There's nothing more Icelandic than a swimming pool - almost always filled with geothermal warm water. This is the swimming pool at Heydalur.

The swimming pool overflows into these man-made "hot pots", mimicking natural hot springs. There was a a "natural hot pot" on the property, but we didn't see it because it required crossing a river on widely-spaced uneven stepping stones.

15 August

Icelanders love golf - rain or shine (mostly rain). This course is on the Reykjanes peninsula near Grindavik.

More golf on the coast near Grindavik.

31 August

We saw several of these picnic tables made from driftwood and wire spools along the coast in Kollafjörður.

Driftwood was historically a major source of timber in Iceland. Kollafjörður was the only place we saw driftwood on the beaches and piled up for future use.

Cairns like this were common along the roads in north Iceland and the West Fjords. This one was along Isafjörðup.

Chains are required on many roads in the winter. This frequently seen sign marked a pull-out for putting on and removing chains. 

Iceland - 5 - Art

11-15 August,  23 August - 4 September, 2025

Public art, folk art, fine art, galleries - it's all there in Iceland.

Safnasafnið - The Icelandic Folk and Outsider Art Museum

30 August

Safnasafnið is a museum featuring folk art, handicrafts (recognizing the significant contribution of women to Icelandic art), and fine art. It's on the east side of Eyjafjörður, near Akureyri. There's too much on display to do justice to the collection in a short blog. Check out the website to see more.

A large wooden structure outside the museum gives an idea of the art to be found within.

This cat may be our favorite item in the collection.

The library has an impressive collection of art books, and several interesting sculptures.

Djúpivogur

27 August
Djúpivogur is both a historic town on Berufjörður in east Iceland and home to one of the more interesting public art displays: The Eggs of Merry Bay" (Eggin í Gleðvik).

34 huge granite eggs are displayed on the road along Djúpivogur's harbor. Each one represents a local bird species.

The eggs are lined up in a long row.

Flateyri Bird Murals

2 September

The town of Flateyri is known for several things: the oldest bookstore in Iceland, a folk culture school, a devastating avalanche, and bird murals. Icelandic-American artist Jean Larson has painted 13 murals of local birds on buildings around Flateyri. While we didn't take time to find all 13, we enjoyed the ones we did see.

Two murals can be seen from one spot. Whooper Swan (left) and Golden Plover (right).

Eurasian Wren

Other artists have also started to paint murals in Flateyri. I liked this garden painting on a garage wall.

Petra's Stone Collection

27 August

It's difficult to categorize this popular tourist attraction in Stöðvarfjörður. Is it art? Is it geology?

It is an amazing collection of 70 years work, displayed in the collector's (Petra Sveinsdóttir) house and garden. It takes a small army of volunteers to keep up the site.

Most of the collection is displayed on shelves in the garden.

There are thousands of brightly colored rocks and minerals on display. It's difficult to comprehend that all of these stones were collected in Iceland - most of the rocks we saw were shades of gray.

A rainbow of rocks and crystals.

Is It Art?

4 September

These cracks in a concrete bench along the beach in Ytri Tunga sure look like Icelandic runes, even though we're pretty sure they are just random cracks.

Iceland - 4 - Agriculture & Aquaculture

11-15 August,  23 August - 4 September, 2025

Aquaculture

Salmon farming is a big thing in Iceland - despite the controversies on its environmental impact and sustainability. Fish processing, including wild-caught fish, is a major industry (and usually quite smelly).

27 August

Salmon farms were common on most fjords. This one is in Berufjörður.

Fish drying racks (probably cod) along Önundarfjörður.

Agriculture

Most Icelandic agriculture revolves around sheep - pasture and hay. The climate is not very amenable to row crops. I'll cover sheep in the forthcoming "Animal" post. But the availability of cheap heat and electricity have led to a recent rise in year-round greenhouse agriculture.

This is the Friðheimar Tomato Farm, which supplies about 40% of Iceland's tomatoes. Friðheimar pioneered the year-round greenhouse concept. Normally, a climate like Iceland's would not support year-round greenhouses.  It only works because geothermal heat and electricity are low cost in Iceland.

Tomatoes on the left; flowers and tomatoes on the right. This section of the greenhouse also holds a restaurant (reservations highly recommended) that serves a variety of tomato-based dishes, beverages, and desserts. Another section of the greenhouse grows herbs and lettuce for the restaurant.

These "piccolo" tomatoes grow in flat clusters - not like any tomato plants I've grown.

Tomatoes need to be pollenated to produce fruit, so each greenhouse has a hive or two of imported bumblebees.

Iceland - 3 - Infrastructure

11-15 August,  23 August - 4 September, 2025

Iceland is noted for its unique infrastructure that meets its unique challenges - from geothermal power plants to one-lane tunnels with two-way traffic.

Geothermal Power

Geothermal power plants using fluids from deep boreholes provide both electricity and heating to most homes and businesses. Heat is essentially free, and electricity cheap. (That's about the only thing that isn't expensive in Iceland!)

15 August

The geothermal power plant at Svartsengi on the Reykjanes peninsula. It's discharge provides the hot water for the famous Blue Lagoon.

25 August

The atrium of the Geothermal Energy Exhibition at the Hellisheiði power plant in Hengill. This exhibition does an excellent job of explaining how a utility-scale geothermal power plant works and has observation decks overlooking the generators.

The pipes leading to the Hellisheiði power plant.

28 August

Pipes across the road at the Krafla geothermal power plant (Kröflustöð). The power station lies at the foot of the Krafla volcano, which erupted for nine years just as the power station was being built.

Pipes across the landscape at the Krafla power station. The borehole tops are protected by small geodesic dome huts, like the red structure in this photo. These small domes dot the landscape in Iceland. Sometimes they cap boreholes, and sometimes they are weekend cabins.

Tunnels

Tunnels are a fairly recent addition to Iceland's infrastructure, but they can save hours of driving. They also provide access to remote communities that could easily be isolated when winter weather shuts down many of Iceland's roads.

1 September

The Arnardalshamar tunnel is the first and shortest (30 m, 100 ft) tunnel in Iceland. It goes through a basalt dike and was opened in 1948.

30 August

Several of Iceland's tunnels are one-lane, but support two-way traffic. These are not short tunnels that could be monitored by stop lights. This is the Múlagöng tunnel, 3.40 km long (2.1 miles).

So how does a one-way tunnel handle two-way traffic? With pull-outs every 50 to 100 meters. When you see headlights approaching, if the pull-out is on your side, you yield to oncoming traffic. Since Iceland traffic is generally light outside cities and towns, it actually works rather well. Still, I'd rather be in a two-lane tunnel.

The most impressive tunnel (not pictured) was the 5.77 km (3.6 mile) long Hvalfjörður Tunnel which dips beneath Hvalfjörður, connecting Reykjavik to the northern parts of Iceland. It dips to 167 m (540 ft) below sea level on a 8% grade at the north end (the south end is a much gentler grade). It is two-lane, with a third passing lane on the uphill north end.

Ferries

Many of the communities on the coast are most accessible by water. Ferries are the solution. We took one ferry across Breiðafjörður from Brjánslækur to Stykkishólmur. Stykkishólmur is a town, but Brjánslækur is just the ferry terminal - we drove right past it, even though we were looking for a place where a ferry could dock. There was a sign, but it was small and easily missed. There was no office or place to buy tickets - you paid as you went aboard. (Reservations highly recommended.)

3 September

The ferry at the Brjánslækur dock. There was a deck for cars and trucks, then two passenger lounges on the two decks above. The ride to Stykkishólmur takes about 2 hours. While most of the time in the summer, the ferry stops at Flatey Island, our trip did not.

The car/truck deck.

Avalanche Deflectors

The Icelandic word for avalanche is snjóflóð - literally "snow flood". Avalanches have caused major economic damage and many deaths. Towns try to protect themselves with a variety of deflectors. We mostly saw these structures in the West Fjords.

1 September

Deflectors near Ísafjörður.

2 September

Man-made cones along Önundarfjörður near Flateyri.

Construction of avalanche deflectors above Flateyri, site of one of the most deadly avalanches in Icelandic history. On 26 October 1995, an avalanche at 4 AM destroyed or damaged 32 homes and killed 20 people.

Iceland - 2 - History & More

11-15 August,  23 August - 4 September, 2025

Iceland was an unoccupied island until the Vikings came in the late 9th Century. In 930 CE they formed the world's first Parliament, the Althing, at Thingvellir, where local chieftains gathered annually to elect leaders and hash out disagreements.

Thingvellir

24 August

Thingvellir (Þingvellir) is on the mid-Atlantic rift.

Looking down the rift towards the "Law Rock", where the Althing (Alþingi) was held in a natural amphitheater.

Across the river is a large plain. The five houses serve as the prime minister's summer residence, along with space for the park manager and the church priest.

Traditional Houses (Sod Huts and Sod Roofs)

14 August

The original settlers quickly ran out of trees to use for construction and fuel, so sod huts became the standard. Additionally, the sod huts withstood the harsh Icelandic winters better than wooden structures.

The protected archaeological site at Stöng is a 14th Century farmstead.

The farmstead has been re-created at the Commonwealth Farm (Þjóðveldisbærinn) in nearby Thjorsardalur (Þjórsárdalur).

A closer look at the sod walls.

Traditional loom.

31 August

A stone-and-sod hut in the West Fjords.

Churches

Churches were generally of three types: the oldest were sod structures, most were classic country churches - white with red roofs, and a few modern show-piece concrete churches. Today most churches are community centers, in addition to worship centers, where meetings and performances are held.

14 August

The church at Commonwealth Farm is a turf-and-timber structure.

30 August

Grafarkirkja is another turf-and-timber church in north Iceland near Hofsós, on Skagafjörður.

Grafarkirkja's circular enclosure contains a cemetery as well as the church.

30 August

The cathedral at Hólar may be the most historically important church in Iceland. It was the seat of the last Catholic bishop in Iceland, as well as the site where the Bible was first translated into Icelandic.

30 August

A church along the shore of Kollafjörður in the West Fjords.

2 September

The church in Flateyri.

The Flateyri church is known for its stained glass windows. (I liked the reflection, so I didn't include the whole set of windows here.)

4 September

The church in Stykkisholmur is an example of a modern concrete structure. Akureyri and Reykjavik also have noted modern churches.

Hólar

30 August

The village of Hólar is known for more than just a historical church. It is an education center, as well the site of the first printing press in Iceland. Today, the agricultural college has expanded to a small university (Hólakóli - Hólar University College). The Historical Center of the Icelandic Horse is located in here. The Hólar History Trail points to and explains several sites in the town.

Auðunarstofa is a replica of the original bishop's house. It is now the bishop's office, not residence.

Nýibær (New House) was a farmhouse built in the mid-1800s to replace a decaying original structure. It is now maintained as a museum.

Except for a few windows and chimneys, Nýibær looks like a mound of sod.

The workroom in Nýibær.

The cooking area in Nýibær.