Iceland review - 2016, Qupperneq 86

84 ICELAND REVIEW
East Iceland is the only part of Ice-
land where reindeer roam free, and
Seyðisfjörður is the country’s only car
and passenger ferry connection to the Eu-
ropean mainland. The ship is called Nor-
röna and she comes to the charming town
every Tuesday, from late March to late Oc-
tober (there is also a winter service, but by
freighter).
The east offers swimming pools to re-
member; first to come to my mind is the
pool on the banks of a salmon river in
Selárdalur in Vopnafjörður, and the pool in
Neskaupstaður with a view of Norðfjörður
fjord and Hellisfjarðarmúli mountain.
Here you have hiking routes to die for,
like walking around Lake Lagarfjót (or
Lögurinn), passing the biggest woodland
From Langanes peninsula in the north to Höfn in the south,
East Iceland has some of the best Iceland has to offer.
Go East
in Iceland, Hallormsstaðaskógur, and one
of the country’s highest waterfalls, Hen-
gifoss, framed by columnar basalt. The
mountain backdrop of Borgarfjörður eystri
is unique, with light rhyolite mountains on
one side and the oddly-shaped Dyrfjöll on
the other. Visiting Stórurð with its gigan-
tic ice-age rocks and the abandoned farm
in Húsavík cove on foot is an experience
to remember. Don’t forget to climb the
highest non-glaciated mountain in Ice-
land, Snæfell (1,833 m; 6,014 feet), an old
dormant volcano with panoramic views of
the nearby brand-new Holuhraun lava and
big parts of the North and East Iceland re-
gions.
Offshore, just outside Djúpivogur, lies
Papey, uninhabited; one church and thou-
sands upon thousands of puffins, reigning
over the small, green and beautiful island,
with its amazing view towards the main-
land and its fjords.
The East Fjords, with their big moun-
tains standing proud and rising straight
up from the ocean, are home to charm-
ing fishing towns with very different at-
mospheres. One of them, Mjóifjörður in
the eponymous fjord, has a population of
just 23. The fjord has both landscape and
atmosphere that beg you to come back,
again and again.
And coming back is easy: all roads in
the region go through Egilsstaðir, the
east’s service center, with the region’s air-
port, connecting East Iceland to the whole
world out there.
EAST ICELAND SPECIAL PROMOTION
BY PÁLL STEFÁNSSON.
SUPPLEMENT COMPILED BY ALËX ELLIOTT, JENNA GOTTLIEB AND LARISSA KYZER. www.icelagoon.is