Eyjafjörður Fjord in North-Iceland - part I - Hrísey Island - the Pearl of Eyjafjörður

Eyjafjörður fjord is a beautiful fjord in North Iceland. It is about 60 km long from the mouth to the bottom of the fjord, which makes it the longest fjord in North Iceland.

In this lovely fjord, you will find so many interesting places to visit, that I have dedicated 7 travel-blogs to all the interesting things to see and do in Eyjafjörður.

Eyjafjörður is at the edge of the Arctic Circle and there are 2 beautiful islands here; Hrísey island and Grímsey island, but through the latter of the two, the Arctic Circle runs.

Top photo: Hrísey island

Sailing to Hrísey, the Pearl of Eyjafjörður, in beautiful weather

In this first part of my series of travel-blogs about Eyjafjörður fjord, I am going to tell you about Hrísey island, the Pearl of Eyjafjörður fjord. It is well worth it to take the short ferry ride across to the island while visiting this part of Iceland.

Hrísey island is the second-largest island in Iceland with 167  inhabitants (2019). It is 7.5 km long and 2.5 km wide at its widest point.

Only Heimaey island is bigger than Hrísey, but you can read up on that very interesting volcanic island in my travel-blog the Westman Islands of Iceland - the Settler, the Beautiful Stave Church & more interesting Things.

The Hrísey taxi

When arriving in Hrísey you get greeted by the taxi on the island - a tractor with a hay cart capable of transporting quite a few people.

The taxi takes you on a guided 40 minutes' trip around the island.

Next time I visit Hrísey I will go on that guided tractor tour.  But this time around I opted for walking around in the village at Hrísey.

The House of Hákarla- Jörundur is a museum in Hrísey

On the island, you will find a convenience store, a church, restaurants, guest houses, a campsite, and a swimming pool. 

I love the multi-coloured houses on the island. The oldest house in the village is the red "Hús Hákarla-Jörundar" or the House of Shark-Jörundur, built in 1886, which is now a museum and the tourist information of Hrísey.

The museum tells the history of shark fishing in Iceland through the centuries. 

Hrísey island

The main industry in Hrísey is small fishing vessel fishery and blue mussel breeding - and of course tourism in the summertime. 

In the mid-twentieth century, the harbour at Hrísey used to be the second-largest herring port in the north - right after Siglufjörður town, the Herring town of Iceland.

From 1930-1950 the island was not as peaceful as it is today when the population of the island multiplied during the summer months of the herring salting. 

Later on, the herring disappeared and things started declining.

Hríseyjarkirkja church

Hríseyjarkirkja church was erected in 1928. It is a big church (Iceland style) by Iceland's state architect back then, Guðjón Samúelsson.

I was able to enter it during my 2010 visit, but during the Hríseyjarhátíðin festival in 2022, it was unfortunately locked, as are most churches in Iceland by the order of the Bishop of Iceland.

We have seen a lot of vandalism and theft in Icelandic churches so they have to be kept locked, which is a great shame as I love visiting these lovely churches which are scattered all around Iceland.

Hríseyjarkirkja church

The Icelandic Quarantine Centre was established on Hrísey island in 1974 so that the Galloway cattle could be imported from Scotland to Hrísey.

One can see these cattle grazing in certain parts of Eyjafjörður fjord, and as it is so different from our Icelandic cattle, we always stop the car and have a look at them.

Multi-coloured houses on Hrísey island

Hrísey island is so peaceful now and there are a couple of houses here that are only used as summer houses, one of them owned by a police chief in Reykjavík.

It was not at all peaceful on the island though during my second visit to the island, when my husband was asked to perform at the Hríseyjarhátíð - the Festival at Hrísey.

Then it got filled with people and we had so much fun.

My husband, Jón Víðis, doing magic at the Hríseyjarhátið festival

We brought good weather with us from South Iceland, as for the longest time it had been dreadfully cold up north, while it was sunny in the south. So they were worried that it would affect the Hríseyjarhátíð festival.

But on the day we arrived, the wind stopped and it got warm and sunny. My husband was a mystery guest, so we had to sneak unnoticed into our guesthouse and stay there until he was to perform for the adults later that night.

Well, he had to stay in the room but I went out and took photos in the sun. The following day he did magic for the kids.

My husband doing magic in the midnight sun on Hrísey island

We stayed at Syðstibær guesthouse, but when he performs in other parts of Iceland (we live in Reykjavík), we are offered a place to stay for the night, which is convenient for me as then I can use the time to get material for my travel blog :)

Guesthouse Syðstibær

Hrísey is a birdwatcher's paradise, some 40 species of birds nest on this small island - and here the ptarmigan can be seen in abundance.

On the second day in Hrísey before he performed for the kids we walked around the island and everywhere I looked there were ptarmigans.

They were too quick for me though so I couldn't get a photo of them.

But you can hear the sound of other birds on the island in my video below:

We went looking for a special rock which I had read about but after searching for it for the longest time we had to give up as time was running out and he had to do the show.

So he went ahead and left me at a very special place on the island with a view of the energy center Mt. Kalbakur.

This spot is called Orkulindin - the Fountain of Energy and here you can sit on a bench and connect to Mt. Kaldbakur on the opposite side of the fjord.

Connecting to the energy center Mt. Kaldbakur

Mt. Kaldbakur is believed to be the second most powerful energy center in Iceland.

The most powerful is the Snæfellsjökull glacier on the Snæfellsnes peninsula, which I have shown you in my many travel-blogs about the Snæfellsnes peninsula.

I sat down and looked at Mt. Kaldbakur on this beautiful sunny summer day. The sky was almost clear so I had a good view of the mountains on the other side of the fjord.

The mountains on the other side of the fjord

I could feel the energy from the mountain and had a very special spiritual experience. I prayed that nobody would come and disturb this moment.

And I was in luck as during my meditation there was nobody around, but as soon as I had finished people arrived from both directions with their children.

Hrísey is very idillyc

There is lupine in abundance on the island in the summertime and it was in bloom during our visit, which made the walk around the island heavenly.

Angelica (hvönn) is also found in abundance in Hrísey and is used for the health products of Saga-Medical. And for one type of beer that is produced at the brewing factory at Árskógssandur, which is just opposite the sea from Hrísey - Stinnings Kaldi.

The outside tubs at Bjórböðin

All of the beer produced at this factory is called Kaldi something or another.

In the summer of 2017, the Bjórböðin Beer spa opened at Árskógssandur.

At the Beer Spa, you can bathe in young beer in wooden kegs. I often visit the restaurant of the Beer Spa and got a peek into the spa to see what it looked like.

Bjórböðin Beer spa

I can tell you that it looked very promising and I will for sure try it out on my next visit to Árskógssandur ;) It is also possible to sit outside in kegs filled with geothermal water. 

Þorgeirsboli ghost

Hrísey island

Now we cannot leave Hrísey island without mentioning one of the most horrific ghosts in Iceland - Þorgeirsboli or the Bull of Þorgeir, which roamed around in this area in the first part of the 18th century.

This folklore can be found in Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar - the Collection of Folklore of Jón Árnason.  According to legend the sorcerer Þorgeir Stefánsson, a.k.a. "Galdra-Geiri", conjured up this horrible ghost. 

Hrísey cemetery

The Islanders at Hrísey could sense his presence late at night and heard him roaring.

Some people saw this frightening ghost and described him as a dog, a cat, and a string of fog - but most of the islanders described him as a skeleton bull dragging bloody loose skin behind on his tail!

The sorcerer first conjured up the ghost to haunt a poor woman who had rejected his love.

Then the horrible ghost grew stronger and stronger and started to hunt the sorcerer and his family - some say it is still out there somewhere roaming about!!

The Hrísey island supermarket

Hrísey is located some 416 km away from Iceland's capital city, Reykjavík. To visit this area you can rent a car in Reykjavik and drive up to Árskógssandur and catch the ferry to Hrísey.

The ferry Sævar leaves 9 times per day from Ársskógssandur and it only takes some 15 minutes to reach the island.

You can buy the tickets by the accommodation ladder when entering the ferry or on-line.

The ferry Sævar

It is so much fun visiting this area and there are just a myriad of interesting places to visit and things to do around here. 

Here is the location of Hrísey on Google maps.

This is part I in my series of travel-blogs on Eyjafjörður fjord - if you would like to get to know this area better, then you can join me on a tour of the longest fjord of North Iceland:

Eyjafjörður fjord up North - part  I - Hrísey Island, the Pearl of Eyjafjörður

Eyjafjörður fjord up North - part II - Dalvík & the Great Fish Day

Eyjafjörður fjord up North - part III - the Historical Gásir and the Vikings

Eyjafjörður fjord up North - part IV - The Deacon of Dark River - A Ghost Story from North-Iceland

The view of Dalvík town from Hrísey island

Eyjafjörður fjord up North - part  V - Mt. Hraundrangi in Öxnadalur and Hörgárdalur Valleys

Eyjafjörður fjord up North - part VI - Akureyri - the Capital City of North-Iceland

Eyjafjörður fjord up North - part VII - the Christmas House is open all Year round

Eyjafjörður fjord up North - part VIII - Historical Churches