Iceland 2.16: Grenjaðarstaður

It was Sunday - a week since I'd arrived in Iceland - and a moderately lazy day for us after the exertions of the Kjölur Route.  We started with a leisurely breakfast at the hotel in Akureyri, and I've included a few photos to show the kind of fare which was on offer.  What I haven't included is the bottle of cod liver oil - presumably taken at this latitude to avoid Vitamin D deficiency during the winter months.

We were heading eventually for Mývatn and Reykjahlíð, but since we had plenty of time on our hands we decided to visit a handicraft centre at Grenjaðarstaður.  A great idea in principle, except that neither the road signs nor the car's satellite navigation system seemed capable of getting us there.  Even Harriet, my resident geographer and map reader extraordinaire, was unable to stop us getting lost in the middle of a large hydro-electric power station.  We weren't the only ones, as it happens, and a German car seemed to be using the same "scenic" route as us.  Either that or we were being followed...

We discovered that Grenjaðarstaður was another set of traditional turf houses, as well as being an outlet for local handicrafts.  It was probably the best of the turf houses we'd visited in Iceland (and this includes Laufás two years ago), partly because there were very few people around, but mainly because there was so much more interesting stuff to see.

There was a church on site, and I was keen to take a look inside.  Again I didn't have time to use a tripod, but the Fuji X-T1 and 10-24 OIS lens allowed me to capture the elegant simplicity of the interior without too much difficulty.

It was then time to sample the handicrafts and indulge in the (free) coffee before hitting the road again, this time towards Mývatn.