Sights
The area surounding Hotel Grimsborgir Holiday Homes in South Iceland offers a variety of sights and activities, such as Thingvellir, Gullfoss, Geysir & more.
Sólheimar
Solheimar is a sustainable community where about 100 people live and work together. It was founded in 1930 by Sesselja Hreindís Sigmundsdóttir (1902-1974).
Solheimar community emphasizes on the growth and development of man and nature. The social emphasis is that different individuals are offered variable opportunities to work, live and socialize.
Skálholt
(15 min drive from Grímsborgir)
Skálholt in Biskupstungur is one of Iceland’s most important historic sites. Christianity was made state religion of Iceland by law in the year 1000 A.D. The country’s first bishop, Ísleifur Gissurarson, ordained in 1056, settled at Skálholt, which was the episcopal see of South Iceland and a center of culture and education for 700 years. Of the bishops residing there in the middle ages, Þorlákur Þórhallsson (bishop 1178-1198), Iceland’s only saint, should be remembered.
Thingvellir
(15 – 20 min drive from Grímsborgir)
At Thingvellir, Althing – general assembly was established around 930 and continued to convene there until 1798. All major events in the history of Iceland have taken place at Þingvellir. Today Thingvellir is a national park where the protected area shall always be the property of the Icelandic nation, under the preservation of the Althing.
Kerið
www.nat.is/travelguideeng/plofin_kerid.htm
(5 to 10 min drive from Grímsborgir)
The slag crater Kerid is the northernmost one of the crater row called Tjarnarholar. It is elliptic in shape, 270 m long, 170 m wide, and 55 m deep. The pond in it is 7-10 m deep, depending on the ground water level of the area.
This crater row along with the cluster of larger craters further east, called Seydisholar, and the lava field are about 6000 years old. In 1990, a concert was held on a raft on the crater pond with the audience sitting in the grassy slopes inside it. This was repeated on large rubber boats in August 2004 and 2005.
Gullfoss and Geysir
www.gullfoss.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haukadalur
(1 hour drive from Grímsborgir)
The Golden Waterfalls in the glacial river Hvita count among the world’s most beautiful waterfalls. One of the many stories connected with the falls tells about the fight early in the 20th century for their existence, when a foreign enterprise managed to contracted the rights to harness them for electrical production. The spouting hot spring Geysir was claimed to be the biggest one in the world. Its fame spread and other spouting hot springs elsewhere were consequently named Geysir or geyser. The old Geysir has been in retirement for decades, but when it was active its eruptions reached the height of at least 80 m. All around the old Geysir are more spouting hot springs, such as the ever lively Strokkur (the butter Churn), which erupts every 3-5 minutes. Just east of the Geysir Area is one of the many centres of the Forestry Service and its forest, which has been expanding for decades. A Norwegian started the planting and left a considerable fund for the Icelanders to continue his admirable pioneering work. A very nice hotel and restaurant are in the Geysir Area and an outdoor swimming pool.
Many travel agencies and bus companies offer daily tours to the Golden Waterfalls and the Geysir Area.
The distance from Selfoss is about 71 km.
The Westman Islands
The Westman Islands, a paradise at the end of the world
where the molten lava runs close to the surface, and the puffins circle
tirelessly above their precarious homes built on sheer cliff faces;
the place that the star of Free Willy ( Keiko ) has chosen to make his home;
a calm and wonderous haven in a freezing, thundering sea,
where the hardy meet the artistic and the wild.
Liner
Herjólfur sails daily between the island and Landeyjahöfn. Travel with Herjólfur takes 30 minutes.
Phone 481 2800
Read more on www.herjolfur.is
You can reach Landeyjaöfn from the capital by taking a bus from BSÍ. Read more on www.bsi.is
Flights
Eagle Air flies daily between the Island and Reykjavik.
Phone 562 2640
See more at www.ernir.is
Flights from Reykjavik takes about 25 minutes.
