Key takeaways
- A turf-roofed homestead in East Iceland, still inhabited by residents who maintain the traditional building and way of life among the fjord settlements.
- The elf capital of Iceland, a hill above the village where many Icelanders believe hidden folk dwell. Local respect for elf beliefs remains deeply woven into community culture.
- Built from turf for insulation and shelter, these homes reflect how Icelanders adapted to harsh fjord climates using materials at hand for centuries.
- Tiny fjord settlements like Bakkagerdi survive through fishing heritage and tourism, preserving their identity while adapting to modern economic realities.
- Herring fishing and maritime trade shaped these communities profoundly. Norwegian timber buildings in Seydisfjordur and local churches reflect centuries of seafaring traditions.
Turf: Building Without Trees in the North Atlantic
East Iceland's fjord settlements rose from a landscape almost entirely without woodland. Early Icelandic settlers arriving in the 9th century found sparse birch scrub and treeless plateaus, making imported timber prohibitively expensive. Turf became the answer: layers of sod and earth stacked over wooden frames, creating walls up to one metre thick that insulated against winter temperatures dropping to minus 15°C. The turf absorbed moisture from Atlantic storms and required constant maintenance, yet for centuries it was the only practical material available to ordinary families.
On this tour, you'll visit a still-inhabited turf house where the building technique remains visible: the layered earth walls, the low doorways designed to trap heat, and the thick sod roof that gradually transforms into living grassland. These structures represent not primitive construction but ingenious adaptation to an extreme environment. Turf buildings persisted in remote fjords well into the 20th century, and restoration efforts across East Iceland have preserved examples that show how families lived, cooked, and survived the Arctic night within these modest earth-bound homes.
Lindarbakki: A Turf House Still Lived In
Lindarbakki stands as one of Iceland's rare inhabited turf houses, offering insight into how these buildings function in practice rather than as museum exhibits. Built using traditional methods, the house demonstrates the everyday reality of turf living: the thermal mass that keeps interiors stable, the need for careful management of moisture and airflow, and the intimate connection between family and landscape. Unlike preserved examples sealed behind ropes, Lindarbakki reveals how turf architecture adapted to modern life while maintaining its historical character.
Visitors on this tour meet the realities of turf dwelling firsthand. The thick walls and low ceilings reflect practical choices made by generations of builders, not aesthetic preferences. The house shows how families maximized limited space, positioned windows to capture light during winter months when daylight lasts only a few hours, and engineered drainage systems to manage the wet Icelandic climate. Walking through an inhabited turf house connects you to centuries of North Atlantic settlement history in a way that photographs cannot convey.
Lindarbakki's turf-roofed homestead frames the fjord beyond
Álfaborg: Iceland's Elf Capital Above the Village
On a hillside above Bakkagerði village stands Álfaborg, known throughout Iceland as the elf capital. This rocky outcrop, roughly 40 metres high, is believed by many Icelanders to be the home of the hidden people or huldufólk, spirits said to inhabit rocks and hills across the island. Far from being dismissed as folklore, elf belief influences real decisions in modern Iceland: road projects have been rerouted to avoid disturbing elf settlements, and construction companies consult specialists to assess whether sites are inhabited by the hidden people.
The persistence of elf belief in contemporary Iceland reflects a cultural philosophy distinct from dismissing folklore as superstition. Many Icelanders describe respecting the land and its spiritual dimension as practical wisdom rather than literal belief in supernatural beings. At Álfaborg, the combination of dramatic geology, historical settlement patterns, and living spiritual tradition creates a landscape where ancient understanding of place remains active. This tour explores how belief systems survive modernization and continue to shape how Icelanders relate to their physical environment.
The Church Altarpiece in Bakkagerði
Bakkagerði's village church houses a notable altarpiece that reflects the artistic and spiritual heritage of East Iceland's fjord communities. Like many rural Icelandic churches, it represents centuries of artistic tradition and the role these buildings played as cultural centres for isolated settlements. The altarpiece tells stories through image and craftsmanship, serving both spiritual and educational functions in a community where the church was often the only gathering place beyond the home.
This modest church, set in a landscape of mountains and sea, anchored the social life of a fishing village that relied on community bonds for survival. The altarpiece endures as a reminder that even in remote locations, Icelanders maintained connections to European artistic traditions and brought skilled craftsmanship to their places of worship. Seeing the altarpiece within its original setting, surrounded by the fjord landscape it has overlooked for generations, adds layers of meaning that displays in larger museums cannot replicate.
Seyðisfjörður's Norwegian Timber Heritage
Walking through Seyðisfjörður reveals a streetscape unusual in Iceland: timber buildings in bright colours, architectural styles reflecting 19th-century Norwegian design, and a waterfront layout typical of Scandinavian fishing ports rather than Icelandic settlements. This distinctive character arose from the herring boom, when Norwegian merchants and fishermen dominated East Iceland's economy and brought their building traditions with them. The timber buildings, shipped in sections from Norway, became symbols of commercial prosperity and cultural exchange.
Unlike the turf houses that represented subsistence living and local adaptation, these painted timber structures embodied international trade and economic integration. Many buildings date from the 1890s and early 1900s when herring fishing was at its peak, and families grew wealthy from the harvest. The architecture tells the story of how a small fjord community connected to broader Atlantic trade networks. Today, Seyðisfjörður's distinctive appearance makes it visually distinct from other Icelandic towns and preserves physical memory of a period when Norwegian influence shaped the region's economy and identity.
Herring and the Rise and Fall of Fjord Prosperity
From the 1880s through the 1960s, herring defined the economic life of East Iceland's fjord settlements. Vast schools of Atlantic herring moved through these waters seasonally, and fishing families developed technologies, processing methods, and trading networks around the harvest. At the peak, herring brought wealth that transformed small villages into bustling ports. Fish processing plants employed hundreds, merchant ships loaded cargo destined for European markets, and young people from across Iceland migrated to these fjords for seasonal work that could yield enough income to sustain a family for months.
The collapse came abruptly. Overfishing depleted stocks, ocean conditions shifted, and the herring vanished from East Iceland's waters in the 1960s. Communities that had invested in processing infrastructure and built their identities around the fishery faced sudden poverty. Many residents emigrated to Reykjavík or abroad seeking work. The villages survived by diversifying into other fishing species and tourism, but the herring era remains woven into local memory. This tour traces that history through the architecture, settlement patterns, and landscape itself, showing how a single resource shaped civilization and how its loss required complete social reorganization.
East Iceland's Fjords: Where Settlements Survive Today
The fishing villages of East Iceland persist in an environment that demands constant negotiation with geography and climate. Seyðisfjörður, Bakkagerði, and surrounding settlements remain inhabited despite remoteness, difficult winter conditions, and limited economic opportunities. Their survival reflects stubbornness, cultural attachment to place, and ongoing adaptation to changing circumstances. Modern residents maintain connections to ancestral land while building livelihoods around tourism, small-scale fishing, and services that serve the communities themselves.
This 5-hour tour from Seyðisfjörður port visits four distinct locations across the northeastern region, revealing how these fjord settlements endured centuries of isolation and economic transformation. Your guide provides context for the landscapes you encounter, connecting visible features like turf buildings, rocky hilltops, and timber structures to the human stories they represent. The tour departs from the cruise ship terminal with transport and expert guidance included, allowing you to experience East Iceland's cultural geography without logistical complexity.
