Exploring Grundarfjörður, Iceland
This is blog post #23 from our tour of northern Europe. On Saturday, July 19th, we visited Grundarfjörður, a community of about 880. While we had lots of time to explore, being there from 08:00 until 7:30 pm, visibility was very poor. My hadn’t booked an excursion, though, and my goals were simple – I wanted to see some of the waterfalls nearby, and get a good look at the mountain Kirkjufell, often claimed to be the most photographed mountain in Iceland.
On Thursday and Friday, July 17th and 18th, we had been at sea, sailing east from Greenland, almost always in thick fog. When I shot the first photo of this day at 07:17 as we arrived at Grundarfjörður, not much had changed.
Cathy and I didn’t go ashore until almost noon. Tendering was quick and simple.
The tender dock area is very welcoming – a very large open space with washrooms and a few tour and gift vendors. We noted this waterfall shuttle for possible use after we’d done our town wander.
There were two busses set up as gift and tour shops – what a great idea.
I always like to see that our visits are economically important to the communities we visit.
This is an interesting mailbox system outside the grocery store. I assume you enter your information on the screen and your box opens.
The church, as always, was one of the first places to get our attention, but there was a big funeral about to begin. We noted that every flag in town was at half mast (and that many private homes have flags).
Beside the church is this statue by Steinunn Thorarinsdottir, dedicated to fishermen in the community.
Putting names to mountains is alway a challenge. Here’s a solution I’ve not seen elsewhere. Line up the mountain you’re wondering about on this wheel…
…and there’s your answer, with the mountain’s profile to verify: “Kirkjufell, 465m.”
An orca rising out of a park.
An intriguing head-thing 🙂 – while it might have a cultural significance, it may also just be artistic expression from today. I would shortly come across the studio it came from.
Cathy and I parted ways there – I wanted to put some miles on, with waterfalls and Kirkjufell as the vague destinations.
With the sort of wandering I do, there are no wrong turns, only unintended destinations. I next ended up in a little commercial area. I’ve been impressed by the vehicles I’ve been seeing for the past 3 weeks or so, but Iceland is providing the best car show yet. They build awesome custom off-road luxury vehicles.
In the lot beside that Toyota were these gorgeous Volvos. This cabover style semi is a thing of the past in North America, but is the norm here.
Here’s the back of the gallery that created the head-thing seen above. If I lived within driving distance, I would probably become a client as well as an admirer of what they do.
Now on the road I had intended to be on, I walked out of town along the coast. I don’t know what these kayakers were doing – they seemed to just be out there chatting.
The path was on the shoulder of the highway, crossed over this “Texas gate,” then went onto a section of the old highway.
The farm just past the Texas gate had lots of Icelandic horses, available for rides.
Wow, that’s the happiest field of forget-me-nots I’ve ever seen!
The first good waterfall of the walk.
While Kirkjufell wasn’t very clear yet, this interpretive sign explained its geological history as shown in the layers.
The walk on the old road, away from the highway, was very nice. There were a fair number of people from the ship but it wasn’t bad.
The waterfall Kirkjufellsfoss was a nice addition to the view ahead.
That’s quite a ridgeline! “Howling Dog Peak” in Icelandic is Æpandi hundafjall
Now I could see better why Kirkjufell is the most photographed mountain in Iceland.
When you add Kirkjufellsfoss, the photographic possibilities are endless.
Near Kirkjufellsfoss, these sheep were grazing along another very photogenic little river.
I saw some people at what appeared to be an old farm building down the coast a bit, so decided to go across the highway to see what they’d found. This was the view back to Kirkjufellsfoss from the trail I found there. Yes, busy place. When I got back to the ship, Cathy told me that she had taken the bus to Kirkjufellsfoss and was leaving just as I got there.
The broad views were wonderful, but so were the flowers.
The beach offered nice walking in many places, and I took advantage of that.
It was a concrete barn I had seen from the waterfall, and that may be the foundation of a house in the first photo below.
Back to the beach…
The beach was becoming a great place for birding, with several species.
There were also some shells to add interest for beachcombers.
I eventually decided it was time to start walking back to the ship. The next photo, perhaps my favourite of this hike, was shot looking back from the highway.
Sometimes little things like fence wire catch my attention.
No, I wasn’t finished exploring yet. The coast leading out to a point looked interesting, so I headed out that way. I met a few oystercatchers.
I also came to the old foundation of a building of some sort.
I walked along the beach for quite a while, so the shortcut to te highway was cross-country, which turned out to be more gnarly than expected, with lots of hummocks. But soon enough, I was back on the highway, and passed the Icelandic horses again. I don’t think I’ve ever seen horse grooming each other like this, but Icelandic horses have a reputation for being very sociable.
When I get tired, the number of photos shot per mile/hour slow down, and I was tired 🙂 But The Old Post Office Guesthouse caught my eye.
With the funeral over, all the flags in town were back at full mast.
The grocery store and gas station.
This little hot dog stand was doing a great business each time I went by.
Back at the tender dock at 5:15 (they were running until 7:30).
At the end of the day, I was very happy with the visit – I had an excellent hike and had a good look at the community. I put on 14 km, which I think is my best in a very long time.
From Grundarfjörður we had a short run to Reykjavik, where we would spend two days, with lengthy bus tours booked for both days.
About The Author
