The Official Tourist Guide - East Iceland

island, and there was a time when egg collecting
and hunting birds were an important part of
daily life. Birds include puffins, kittiwakes, various
black birds from the Alcidae family, gannets,
storm petrels and Leach´s petrels. Skrúðshellir
cave is the largest “puffin city” in the world. You
can see the great dives of the gannets from the
coast with good binoculars. Legends say there
were three giant brothers living in the East, one
of them in Skrúður, the other in Streitishvarf and
the last in Papey.
⌘ Mt. Sandfell. A rhyolite mountain (743m)
south of Fáskrúðsfjörður. It is one of the most
typical examples of a laccolith in Iceland. On the
south side of the mountain it is possible to see
how laccolith has lifted the basalt cover over itself.
The laccolith is considered to be 600m thick,
and one of the best examples from the tertiary
period found in the northern hemisphere. A
very enjoyable and beautiful walking trail leads
up Mt. Sandfell, which takes 2-3 hours.
- STÖÐVARFJÖRÐUR -
Petra’s rock collection. In the small fjord of
Stöðvarfjörður there is a wonderful collection of
rare rocks and minerals all found in the vicinity,
mostly trough the efforts of Petra Sveinsdóttir.
This tiny place also has thriving artistic life, and
one of the most excellent centres for graphic
arts in the country, run by the artists Ríkharður
and Sólrún Valtingojer.
www.east.is
51