Iceland review - 2015, Qupperneq 25

ICELAND REVIEW 23
The West Fjords is a world of its own. This large
peninsula in northwestern Iceland makes up close
to one quarter of the country’s land area, with a
population of only 7,000—half what it was a century ago.
But what a mountainous world! The coastline is heavily
indented by dozens of fjords, where steep hills and moun-
tains cascade into the sea. Here you have empty roads, the
last remaining long gravel roads, mountain passes to die
for, and the most picturesque waterfall in the Republic: the
trapezoidal-shaped Dynjandi.
In the West Fjords, you find small fishing villages where
time has stopped. Iceland as it was half a century ago. And
if you like churches, the region has 49 of them, which
equates to one church for every 141 people living there.
And then there’s the light. People here are blessed with
the most unique light; heavenly spotlights, shaped by the
wind, hitting the mountains, which rise proud from the
bottom of the sea. *
WILD WEST
BY PÁLL STEFÁNSSON.