Reykjavík Grapevine - 17.06.2011, Qupperneq 58

The RoadIS
OUTSIDE REYKJAVÍK
I love travelling around
Iceland. Usually, I
hitchhike, and have
circled the Ring Road
twice in this fashion. So when I
was asked if I wanted to check
out the northwest of the coun-
try—including some places I'd
never seen before—I was of
course enthusiastic about the
idea.
I have to say, this was a pretty fun
trip. The countryside is stunningly
beautiful, and seems to change each
time I see it. Even total strangers in
villages of a hundred or so people
were warm, inviting and talkative.
Of course, this isn't to say that
travelling in Iceland is easy. The
drives can be very long, the weather
can change on you in a heartbeat,
and road conditions can take a turn
for the worse without much warn-
ing. Combine this with hours at a
time in a tiny car with very few CDs,
and tensions can run high.
But there's a way around that.
You can make up great car games,
such as ‘What's It Called?’. In this
game—which requires a minimal
command of Icelandic—one per-
son picks a random location on the
map of Iceland and translates the
name directly into English (e.g.,
Sauðárkrókur would be “sheep river
hook”), and the other person tries
to guess what the original Icelandic
name is.
More importantly, you can try
to enjoy the journey, the road itself,
instead of maintaining the belief
that the fun will begin when you
get to where you're going. Keep your
eyes open as you travel—you'd be
amazed at some of the things you
might see. Don't be shy about pull-
ing over, getting out of the car, tak-
ing a few minutes to enjoy where
you are right now.
It's amazing how easily you fall
back into the road mindset, no mat-
ter how long it's been since you last
travelled. But travel, to me, is about
the going—not just the arriving.
This is especially true in Iceland,
and I hope you keep that in mind as
you explore this beautiful country,
too.
THE ROAD
The first stop on our tour of north-
west of Iceland was a place you'd
normally drive right past without
noticing it: a farm like so many
other farms you drive by on Route
1, called Ölkelda. But what makes
this farm unique, located on Route
1 about an hour north of Borgarnes,
is the presence of a natural spring
that gives forth naturally carbon-
ated water. This we had to experi-
ence.
Pulling into the driveway in the mid-
dle of the day, we saw no one around.
There were no signs indicating a natu-
ral spring anywhere near the place, and
for a moment we thought we were lost.
A knock on the door of the first house
we came to was answered by a friendly
middle-aged farmer named Svavar.
When I asked where this purported
spring was, he pointed to a small pipe
sticking out of the ground that ended
in a spigot. “Right over there. Just help
yourselves”.
And so we did. The reviews, I have
to say, were mixed. I thought it tasted
a lot like Toppur, a lightly carbonated
bottled water you can buy in most su-
permarkets. Our photographer felt
it tasted like the fizzy drink you take
when you're feeling ill, or hungover.
Regardless of the taste, the water is
high in minerals such as calcium, po-
tassium and iron. Svavar came out later
on, hopped on a tractor, drove to his
barn, and hoisted out a large alumini-
um sign with all the water's nutritional
information on it. He explained that
his grandmother, who is 101 years old,
drinks this water every day.
The first question that sprang to my
mind was if he'd ever considered bot-
tling and selling the water, or at least
charging people for drinking it. He
dismissed the idea outright. “The prob-
lem is, if the water sits in a bottle for a
while, it gets this yellowish colour near
the bottom. That's the iron. It's good
for you but it doesn't look really good”.
After a few beats, though, he asked how
much we would pay if the water were
being sold in bottles in the store. “I
was thinking maybe, I don't know, 100
krónur per bottle?”. Which is hilarious,
seeing how “pure Icelandic water” is
sold in stores for twice this. When we
told him this, he appeared to mull over
the idea of taking his water onto the
open market. So we recommend stop-
ping there now, while it's still free.
Ölkelda: The Mineral Water Isn't For Sale—It's Free (For Now)
Distance from Reykjavík: ca. 180 km
The countryside landscape of the west-
ern part of the Snæfellsnes peninsula is
both dramatic and contrasting where
one will come across some of the
country’s extraordinary natural won-
ders. Among them is Arnarstapi, an
old fishing village rich with history and
interesting sights to explore. Its beauti-
ful harbour with a magnificent view over
the gulf of Faxaflói and all the unusual
cliffs and surreal rock formations ris-
ing up from the unfriendly ocean have
made the place a popular hiking desti-
nation. A short walk away one will find
the small and homely café Fjöruhúsið.
Arnarstapi
Words:
Paul Fontaine
Cover Photography:
Maroesjka Lavigne
Photography:
Maroesjka Lavigne, Skari, Thorsten Henn,
Julia Staples
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Accomodation provided by:
Hotel Hellnar / Hellnar / 356 Snæfells-
bær / Phone: 435-6820 /www.hellnar.is
Breiðavík við Látrabjarg / Látrabjarg /
451 Patreksfjörður / Phone: 456-1575 /
www.breidavik.is
Gamla GistihúsiðMánagötu 5 / 400 /
Ísafjörður /Phone: 456-4146 / 897-
4146 / www.gistihus.is

Hotel Akureyri / Hafnarstraeti 67 / 600
Akureyri / Phone: 462-5600 /
www.hotelakureyri.is