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TRAVEL 22 The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 16 — 2015 The West How to get there: Take route 1 north, and turn onto route 60 to Búðardalur, from where you can continue on route 60 to Sælingsdalur, or 586 to Haukadalsskarð. To get to Dagverðarnes, retrace your steps onto route 1 and then turn onto route 508. 12 Hours In Sagaland Exploring the West that got left behind Words Ciarán Daly Photos Art Bicnick The Westfjords. Snæfellsnes. A petrol station. All places. What do they have in common? Well, they’re synonymous with western Iceland—and, of course, the west is the best. What about other parts of the west, though? Where are they? Are there any? How do we get there? To find out, we went west. To the region of Dalir. “Valleys,” that means. While not entirely off the beaten track, the environs of Dalasýsla—“Dalir County”—are hardly the first place tourists would think to travel to. Nestled between the Westfjords and the Snæfellsnes peninsula, the Dalir region is the untouched taint of the western Icelandic pelvis—or maybe its armpit. With a predominantly agricultural economy and a not-so-dramatic landscape, it’s been left somewhat behind in the cloud of tourist dust sweeping everywhere else. Not necessarily a bad thing, that. Famous mostly for being the setting of many sagas, Dalir is one of the oldest areas of Iceland, with a lot of history. Whether you’re on a ring road trip or you’re just one of those weird Saga nerds, here’s some of the excellent! exciting! things! you can see and do in Strandir—complete with some notorious local legends. Pull off the Ring Road near Bifröst. Keep driving. You’ll get there sooner than you think. 1. Erpsstaðir Alright, you’ve been driving up the sheer rock face of the majesty of nature for like, what? An hour? There was a bunch of inaccessible waterfalls? Cool! You must be exhausted! It’s probably time to recharge those batteries. Pop into Erpsstaðir—ICE CREAM VALLEY—for some kick-ass ice cream. Obviously, this was our first stop. Erpsstaðir was an odd experience for us. When we arrived, the weather was pretty terrible. There was a cute dog hopping around on three legs, even though it had four legs (we counted). We almost got some sweet photos of some pumpin’ cows (you can enter the cowshed for a small fee), but they were busy. The whole place also smelled pretty badly of cow shit. Mixed with the ice cream. In a strange, not-altogetherunpleasant way. Then, a pig decided to attack us, jumping its pig fence in some sort of wild pig rage. We had to call the pig master. It was a real pig mess. Having said that, Erpsstaðir sells some of the most kickass ice cream in all of Nicecreamland, and the coffee is good. It’s well worth a visit, to be sure. On quiet nights, those in the valley say they can hear the wind whisper the tiny ghost screams of all the innocent ice cream people thrown in the meat grinder to produce your delicíóús ís. You fucking monster. 2. Eiríksstaðir There isn’t much around here, huh? Farms… farms… more farms. A couple of waterfalls, I guess, but even that ice cream place was a farm. Why are there so many farms? No wonder they had so many Sagas happen round here. You need a bit of drama in a place like this. (Danish TV producers employ a similar logic.) Don’t worry, you get to see another farm soon. Eiríksstaðir is in Haukadalur, a pretty cool and spooky valley populated by some more farmers. It’s so spooky that it is currently the shooting location for the horror film ‘Mara’ (more about that on page 14). There’s also a pretty nice guesthouse right at the end of the road. More on that later. Anyway, Eiríksstaðir. Eiríksstaðir is said to be the home of Leifur Eiríksson’s dad, and therefore the birthplace of LEIF THE LUCKY HIMSELF! I hear he’s a pretty big deal. He used to have an airport named after him, just like JFK. For the low, low price of 500 ISK, you can look inside his old-as-balls hobbit house, which is located just metres from the foundations of the actual original old-as-balls hobbit house. If you need the bathroom, there is one here. (IT HAS NO LOCK. I FOUND THIS OUT THE HARD WAY WHEN I OPENED THE DOOR. I AM SO SORRY, MORTIFIED NORWEGIAN WOMAN.) On a nearby farm, there used to be an annual party. One year, however, this party resulted in no less than nineteen illegitimate children. The local authorities were very unimpressed. Shit must have got really wild. No more parties in the valley. Opposite Dad’s house is a large salmon fishing lake. There might be a fisherman in there. If you fish, go fish! If not, carry on. Local legend has it that every winter, a mythical lake troll named Davíð camps in the salmon lake, stealing the fish treats of badlybehaved local children in the nights leading up to Christmas. Apart from hating Christians, Davíð is a pretty nice guy. He just doesn’t like to fish for himself in winter. It’s cold. As the old saying goes: “Teach a troll to fish, and he’ll still steal all of the Christian children’s snacks.” 3. Haukadalsskarð Once you get lost at the end of the valley like we did, you’ll see a sign pointing to a dirt track that says “Haukadalskarð.” FOLLOW THIS SIGN! The road is seriously rough (rougher than that of the rest of Haukadalur), and I would not recommend you do this in a Mini Cooper, as we did. Thankfully, Art, our photographer, is a way better driver than you. The track will take you over a very rickety bridge and some very pointy rocks. At what is sort of the end of the road (who knows?) you will see a super old horse playground or something. It’s eerie. You would not be surprised to see a creaking swingset there, if horses used swingsets. Take some photos. Then, a pig decided to attack us, jumping its pig fence in some sort of wild pig rage. We had to call the pig master. It was a real pig mess. To your right is Haukadalskarð, a COOL waterfall. Park the car. Tie your laces. Walk down to it (if you’re daring enough, you can get right up close). On the way, there should be plentiful blackberries and blueberries. Whatever those berry things are called. Pick them! They are DELICIOUS! Now, meditate/swim/Instagram to your heart’s content. It might be cold. Who knows? I don’t swim! If you’re looking for somewhere to stay, head back to the roadsign for Haukadalskarð and take the other route. At the end of the road there is the aforementioned Cool Guesthouse. Go say hi! The Haukadalskarð horse playground is said to be the site of a brutal battle between horses and men in the early Settlement era, known in horse circles as the Continues Over...
The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 15 — 2015 23 TRAVEL "WHOA , THOSE IMAGES OF ICONIC REYKJAVÍK BUILD- INGS SURE LOOK NICE . IF SOMEONE WERE TO SL AP THEM ON A T-SHIRT, I WOULD SURELY PURCHASE SEVERAL" We went and teamed up with fancy design firm karlssonwilker to make you some artisanal t-shirts sporting several iconic Reykjavík buildings. Get them at www.grapevine.is and also probably at some store eventually, when we get around to talking to the store people. Harpa Regulars They’re always around Pearls of Icelandic Song Get acquainted with some of the most beloved Icelandic songs, folk music, art songs and classical Icelandic music. How to Become Icelandic in 60 Minutes A comedy stand–up in English which teaches you everything you need to know about being Icelandic and living in Iceland. harpa.is/pearls harpa.is/howtobecome Guided Tours Winter time Weekdays: 15:30 Weekends: 11:00, 15:30 Summer time Daily: 09:00, 11:00, 13:30, 15:30 Expo 360° Cinematic Experience Iceland in all its diversity, projected onto four walls and the ceiling, forming a cube that surrounds its guests. harpa.is/guidedtours harpa.is/expo Reykjavík Concert Hall and Conference Centre Austurbakki 2 101 Reykjavík Iceland www.harpa.is +354 528 5000 Harpa is open every day 08:00 – 24:00 Harpa box office 09:00 – 18:00 Weekdays 10:00 – 18:00 Weekends
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