Skagaströnd Village and Þórdís the Prophetess in Skagi in North Iceland

In this travel-blog I want to show you the lovely little village on the Skagi peninsula called Skagaströnd. 

I have already written travel-blogs about the pearls of the peninsula Skagi in North-West Iceland, Ketubjörg Cliffs, and Kálfshamarsvík, but want to tell you a little bit about an interesting museum in this village, Spákonuhof.

Top photo: Inside the museum

Spákonuhof in Skagaströnd

Þórdís the Prophetess

The museum is connected to folklore, which tells the story of Þórdís the Prophetess and Mt. Spákonufell.

Folklore in Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar - the Collection of Folklore of Jón Árnason tells us the story of Þórdís.

I often tell you about the folklore collected by Jón Árnason in my travel-blogs, but the noted Jón Árnason (1819-1888) was born here at Hof on Skagaströnd.

We are very grateful to him for collecting and publishing all this old Icelandic folklore. It is an invaluable collection, which I love reading.

A bas-relief of Jón Árnason by Spákonufellshöfði cape

Now, let me tell you the story of Þórdís, which I translated into English:

In the 10th century, there lived a Prophetess named Þórdís by the roots of the mountain Spákonufell.

Þórdís regarded the mountain as her own and on that mountain, she wanted to die later on in life.

She hiked up the mountain every day and there she combed her hair with a golden comb. From there is a good view of the surrounding areas.

Hiking trails on Mt. Spákonufell

A stubborn sheep, called Grákolla, owned by the minister at Hof, roamed around free.

Every day the sheep went up to the mountain to a special place called Leyningsdalir valley and ate the grass there.

And then it returned home to Hof at night. This irritated Þórdís and she repeatedly chased the sheep out of the mountain.

She warned the minister to not let his sheep roam free on the mountain. This dispute ended in Þórdís killing the sheep by breaking its back when she threw a big rock at the sheep.

Mt. Spákonufell

Þórdís threw the rock from Spákonufellsborg above the valley in the mountain.

The minister was devastated when he found out that his sheep was dead and told his shepherd to hike up the mountain to a place above Spákonufellsborg, where Þórdís used to comb her hair and throw a glove on her back while she was combing her hair.

And let her know that this was payback from the minister for the killing of his sheep, Grákolla.

Ruins at Spákonuhof museum

When the shepherd was about to throw the glove at Þórdís, a rock fell from the edge where the shepherd stood. 

Þórdís, who was combing her hair, looked up and into the eyes of the shepherd.

He lost consciousness on the cliff top and was unconscious for most of the day. When he woke up he saw that Þórdís was dead on the ground below him.

The glove had turned into a big boulder that broke Þórdís's back!

Geese at Spákonuhof museum 

The minister, who had been bedridden since his sheep were killed, was so happy that Þórdís was dead that he immediately recovered and got out of bed.

The people of Skagaströnd were happy as well, as Þórdís had been a big bully.

It is as if Þórdís had suspected that she was close to death after killing the sheep Grákolla.

As she had taken a treasure chest, containing her whole fortune, and hid it on top of Spákonufellsborg, with the key in the lock.

Þórdís the Prophetess at Spákonuhof museum

She said that this chest would belong to a woman, who was neither baptized nor knew of the word of God.

If such a woman were to find the treasure chest then she would be able to open it easily and the whole fortune would belong to her.

But to everybody else, this chest would seem like a rock. Still, no woman has claimed this treasure.

(Recapitulated from Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar - the Collection of Folklore of Jón Árnason).

Pretty tough, eh? And as fortune has it then Þórdís fostered Þorvaldur víðförli who became the first missionary in Iceland.

Spákonuhof museum

Þórdís the Prophetess is also mentioned in the 44th chapter of Vatnsdæla Saga where Vatnsdælir (the people of Vatnsdalur valley) asked Þórdís for advice as she was well respected in that valley.

Þórdís even rode with them to Alþingi - the annual parliament at Þingvellir to help them with the case against the noted Guðmundur ríki - Guðmundur the rich. 

She used a bit of sorcery to help resolve the case.

Fortune-telling at Spákonuhof Skagaströnd

At Spákonuhof - the Skagaströnd Museum of Prophecies, you can get to know more about Þórdís as the museum is dedicated to her.

It is an interesting exhibition and you will even be able to see a replica of the treasure chest of Þórdís!

And you can get your fortune told. Most of the photos in this travel-blog are from my visit to Spákonuhof.

Skagaströnd village - Spákonuhof is to the far right in this photo

Fortune-telling is a popular pastime in Iceland and there are many psychics in my country.

At Spákonuhof you can get various readings in small rooms with a different theme; be it Tarot card reading, rune reading, and palmistry - or a combination of all the above, just don't ask them for a reading of guts!

My mother got a combination of all the above and I got a Tarot card reading. It was uncanny how accurate the reading was. 

Mt. Spákonufell - the fog crept up on us

This was back in 2013 and ten years later I wanted to get another reading, but arrived too late to Skagaströnd and had to leave too early for a visit to the museum, which is open from 13:00-18:00.

Is Þórdís still able to put a curse on people and places?

Laupurinn and the enchanted rock

Þórdís the Prophetess seems to be still active as the rock you see in my photo above had to be returned to Skagaströnd as it was enchanted or cursed by Þórdís. 

Þórdís had forbidden any removal of rocks from Spákonufellshöfði cape or misfortune would happen.

This was done anyway when the harbour was being built in Skagaströnd and all the herring disappeared from the north of Iceland.

Hólaneskirkja church in Skagafjörður - the Christian faith tells us how to lift curses

Then this rock was given to Erlendur Magnússon, who lived in the old part of Blönduós village, and was moved to the oldest house by Blanda river.

Soon after things started changing in this old part of Blöndós and hotels, guesthouses, bars etc started opening in this peaceful part by the river.

Blönduóskirkja eldri - the old church was unchurched, so to speak

I read an article by Erlendur himself which was published on the Skagaströnd website.

In the article, Erlendur says that even the old church was "unchurched" and the pews were used as bar stools. 

Erlendur lost both his car and women, so he demanded that the rock be immediately returned to Skagaströnd. And so it was and we now hope that the curse has been lifted.

The view-dial at Spákonufellshöfði

The view-dial at Spákonufellshöfði points towards Mt. Spákonufell

Mt. Spákonufell - the Prophetess Mountain is 639 meters high. There is a path leading up to the mountain by the road west of the mountain and the 2-3 km hike up the mountain takes some 1.5 - 2 hours.

I haven't done this hike myself, but it is always on my agenda.

The view-dial at Spákonufellshöfði and the village Skagaströnd

I have only walked on Spákonufellshöfði cape above the village a couple of times. That hike is short and right up my alley, as I am not much of a hiker.

It is well worth walking up on the cape to have a look at the view-dial.

From there is a good view of Skagaströnd village and the surrounding area. Just be aware that you might get attacked by the Arctic terns which think that they own the cape during their nesting season.

The view-dial at Spákonufellshöfði 

I was attacked by a flock of them in 2023 when I hiked on the cape from the sea. They were so aggressive that I had to hide under the view-dial and then run back down the cape for cover with them chasing me ;)

My father-in-law, Jakob Hálfdanarson, designs view-dials in Iceland, and on my travels, I am always on the lookout for view-dials.

He designed the view dial at Skagaströnd and his assistants were his children Jón Víðis (my husband) and Þórný (my sister-in-law).

Spákonufellshöfði cape and Mt. Spákonufell

The view-dial on Spákonufellshöfði cape shows the names and heights of the surrounding mountains and a time of 3 hours. It is a basalt column with a chrome-plated view-dial.

The view-dial was erected on Iceland's national holiday, the 17th of June in 2007 by the Lions Club of Skagaströnd.

Murals by Guido van Helten

Mural by Guido van Helten in Skagaströnd

In the harbour area of Skagaströnd village, you will find two beautiful murals, which add such character to this little village.

These large-scale murals were painted by the Australian actor Guido van Helten, from old photographs. 

I love his murals, they look so lifelike and add such warmth to the buildings. There are a couple of his murals in the Great-Reykjavík area and Akureyri up north.

Salthúsið guesthouse

Our room at Salthúsið guesthouse - what a view!

In 2023 we visited Skagaströnd and stayed at Salthúsið guesthouse by the sea.

I can recommend it, it was very clean and had a fantastic ocean view and a view of the harbour. 

At the guesthouse, we had access to a fully equipped kitchen, which is always a plus when travelling.

There are also a couple of restaurants in Skagaströnd where you can have lunch or dinner.

Salthúsið guesthouse by the sea

We had a fantastic stay, I love staying in little villages to get to know them better. Way too often we just drive through them, stop at the supermarket, take some photos, and are off again.

This was my first stay in Skagaströnd and I am so glad that we decided to extend our trip and stay for one more night after visiting the Westfjords of Iceland, where we had also stayed in little villages to get to know them better.

The sun was up but it was still foggy

When I stay in little villages or wherever I travel in Iceland, I wake up really early and go outside alone, breathe in the atmosphere of the place, and take photos.

I was in luck that it was sunny both in the evening and the next morning, but in the

middle of the night and early in the morning, it was foggy when I opened the door to the terrace. But it soon lifted and I went on a walk around the village to take photos for my travel-blog.

The rainbow side-walk in Skagaströnd

To reach Skagaströnd and Skagi peninsula from Reykjavík you can rent a car and drive up north in a day.

To reach Skagaströnd from the nearest town, Blönduós, which is by ring-road 1, turn unto road 74 and drive for 23 km to Skagaströnd. A new road was being built in 2023.

Here is the location of Skagaströnd on Google maps.

Have a lovely time at Skagaströnd :)