Kirkjubæjarklaustur

by Dan · July 9, 2025

Tuesday, July 8, we decided to go to Kirkjubæjarklaustur, a small village northeast of here. Only 500 people, but it has a few restaurants, a grocery store and a couple of waterfalls. Instead of taking the gravel road in front of our Airbnb south towards Vík, we headed north. Along the way, we saw some sheep.

We stopped at a pretty amazing visitor center.

From the roof of the Vatnajökulsþjóðgarðs Visitor Centre, we caught our first glimpse of Systrafoss

And some hikers on a nearby hill

Inside the visitor center were some interesting exhibits on the geology and history of the area, and the national park of which it is a part. A very nice woman gave us some recommendations of places to see in the area. She lived on a farm nearby, and said her favorite restaurant was Kjarr, at the base of Systrafoss.

The divided waterfalls comes together into a stream at its base.

After lunch, we climbed up to get a different perspective on the falls.

On our way back down, we found a sod house

This is called Byrði sögunnar, the burden of history

This Convent at Kirkjubær is built at the site of a 12th century Benedictine nunnery

Stjornarfoss

Gail and me at Stjornarfoss

Near Stjornarfoss

What do you do if you’re lost in an Icelandic forest?

Stand up.

Hildishaugur Burial Mound

From a sign nearby: According to the local legend, the settler Hildir Eysteinsson is buried here. The first residents of Kirkjubæjarklaustur were Christian hermits from Ireland. It was strictly forbidden for pagans to live there. In the 9th century, Ketill the Foolish made his home here. When the pagan settler Hildir Eysteinsson from Meðalland later tried to enter the estate of Ketill, he fell down dead and was buried in the burial mound.