Getting up at 7.30 a.m., I took care of my daily business and thought about what to do today in the village of Grundafjördur (to call it a town seems dishonest). I decided that I would walk in the morning before the town museum which was also the town's tourist information center would be open at 10 a.m. Then, after the museum visit, I would ask at the museum for more info about what to see and do in this village, for example, the village walk or other activities.
The morning day was rather cold. A trail to the direction of Mount Kirkjufell to the west side of the village was a scenic route.
There were a few horse ranches on the way. Icelandic horses are quite cute with very long hair. They are lucky to be raised in Iceland actually, since the country has grass that they can endlessly eat. To be a horse and eat grass all day in a beautiful place doesn't seem so sad.
Many small waterfall could be seen along the way.
Mount Kirkjufell (church mountain: 463 m) was claimed to be the most scenic mountain in Iceland. I definitely agreed with the claim. Its various stunning views from distance didn't bore me.
A little larger waterfall than the previous ones creates a river running to the village. Its background in the photo below is Myrarhyrna (588 m).
To me, Mount Kirkjufell looked similar to a buddhist pagoda. This similarity drew a parallel between the name of the mountain which mean holy and the shape of it.
On the opposite side of the main road, a mountain with similar layered stone structure to Mount Kirkjufell is situated.
Having walked for more than 3 hours, I felt so exhausted that I decided to get back to the village before I had become too exhausted to walk even a meter. So, I continued my day to the town museum Eyrbyggia Heritage Center which is located on the opposite side of the gas station (in a small village, every important place is around the gas station).
The museum was dedicated to the events of Eyjarbyggja saga and the rural development of Grundafjördur bwtween 1900-1960which was similar to other small villages in Iceland. The entrance fee to the museum was 500 ISK. I even got a guide to tell me the stories of artifacts exhibited in the museum.
The below picture shows the replica of a church's stained-glass window in France which tells the story of the god came to rescue people from a ship wreckage in the early 20th century.
The old fisherman boat whose height had been extended when a motor was to be used instead of human power...
The old but newly renovated tractor...
The photo below shows the imitation of a town shop which usually was a grocery store but converted to a Christmas shop every year for villagers to buy Christmas presents for their children. All the items shown were from the old time.
The museum visit took me about an hour. It was now about the lunchtime and the museum cafe is filled with people having soup who seemed to know each other. I realized later that this museum and cafe seemed to be run by a family. However, it wasn't unusual that everyone knows everyone in a small village. I decided to have coffee, which I hadn't had any cup since morning, and a meringue cake (450 ISK). The cake was huge and really good.
After finishing my espresso and cake, I was ready to continue my day yet with no idea what to do. Then, I asked about the village walk at the museum and it turned to be that one of the women who was eating soup was the one operating the walk. Anyway, the walk was only on Monday.
As I didn't know what to do, I head back to the hostel for a nap and to think what to do or where to go in the afternoon. However, my nap wasn't so successful regardless of how tired I was. I managed to plan that I would go for a walk along the harbor and then take a bus to Stykkisholmur at 4.55 p.m. I stayed at the hostel for a few hours, having fried salmon and took shower. I left the hostel around 3 p.m.
The harbor was founded in 1786 by French fishermen. Around these hours of the day, the harbor appeared quiet.
The main business in this village was fishing. The below photo shows one of the 3 fish factories in town. I like the logo of this factory...
Mount Kirkjufell beautifully stood under the sunshine. It was very warm and sunny in the whole afternoon.
The walk along the harbor took me less than half an hour. However, as I had no idea where to continue the walk, I went to the bus station, having a cup of coffee and waiting for the bus to Stykkisholmur. The strong sun made me tired. Just before the bus came, I suddenly became sleepy and wondered if I would manage to continue the day until 8.10 p.m. when the bus would return from Stykkisholmur. As I was sure that I ran out of energy, extending the day wouldn't be the smartest choice. So, I went back to the hostel to read and plan what to do tomorrow in Stykkisholmur before heading back to Reykjavik... I went to bed a bit after 9 p.m.
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