In July 2020 we took the “Island roundtrip” visiting all Iceland’s WHSs and TWHSs. The turf houses are the dominant part of the TWHSs because of its numbers, thus the turf houses were always on our minds in the trip.

The turf houses is a remnant from then viking age and where probably the building standard in northern Europe for some time. Eventually it is replaced by wooden houses, but probably is the lack of trees in Iceland made that difficult. Hence the technique has survived.

Between the 14 buildings enlisted in this TWHS there are a variable quality/standard/authenticy from house to house so each one needs a mini review:

1.       Austur-Meðalholt
…is a museum with opening hours until 6 p.m, but when we arrived on a Sunday at 5:15 it was closed. We could still visit the exterior. The facades and roofs look new and not very authentic. Not the best example, but still ok. The advantage is the closeness to Reykjavik.

2.       Keldur
…is also a museum but very connected to an active farm. You omit the farm to find the museum. It opens at 10 a.m. and since we arrived at 9 once again we had to enjoy the exterior only, but this looks more authentic, hence “enjoy”.

3.       Núpsstaður
… is not (yet ?) a museum. It is a closed gate by the main road 1, but you can park there and walk up to the house. There is a white house amongst the turf houses which seems habituated, but when you come up close there is no one living there.
The houses seem authentic, but not very well maintained. The “last” turf house is a small church looked both authentic and maintained though.

4.        Hofskirkja
… is a slightly bigger building and it is only the church that is turf. We don’t know if it’s accessible, we were too late anyway. The church looks good, booth authentic and maintained.

5.       Galtastaðir fremri
… is a bit hard to find and it’s the one place we didn’t feel welcome. It’s most certainly privately owned. There was a big jeep with a trailer parked a couple of hundred metres from the place blocking the entrance and when walking towards the houses there were a malicious looking sheep approaching. There was a closed gate some 50 metres from the houses. Having reached the gate and taking a couple of pictures the sheep came “to close” so it was time for retraction.

6.       Bustarfell
… is quite the opposite to the previous. It’s a museum with nice turf houses and a small café. The staff welcomed you and they were proud of their place. You could take a good look inside in all the buildings which are connected with passageways. There were some “upgrade” in then 1960s, but that didn’t spoil then overall impression. It was a good turf house visit.

7.       Grenjaðarstaður
… is another good museum. You can enter the buildings and enjoy the maze (as in Bustarfell). This place was abandoned 1949 so it’s a bit rougher than Bustarfell, but also very nice place.

8.       Þverá (picture)
… is a bit harder to find, you don’t find the name on Google map but it’s some km south of Grenjaðarstaður on a dirt road. You drive up to a farm house and past it then there is an entrance for visitors. It is not a museum and it is not open for entering. The exterior is nice though.

9.       Grænavatn
… is quite close to Mývatn at the south end. The turf house is in the middle of a farm and it seems like trespassing to go there. We were satisfied with pictures from aprox. 50 metres before leaving.

10.   Laufás
… is a museum and probably you can enter, but we were to early so we enjoyed the exterior only, which was nice.

11.   Tyrfingsstaðir
… is a bit harder to find, but not impossible – also on a dirt road. It is “connected” to a farm, but if you drive just past the farm there is an entrance for visitors. It’s open for entering, but the inside is a mess, hardly anything authentic. The exterior is nice though.

12.   Glaumbær
… is a proper turf house museum where you can enjoy the exterior, the interior and a cup of coffee. Looks and feels authentic, and the passageway mazes are enjoying. A lot of details inside are nice - authentic enough, but probably collected from several periods of time. Still a pleasant visit. There is a combined ticket with the next turf house.

13.   Víðimýrarkirkja
… is a museum church which you can enter. It’s nice, looks authentic and maintained. Nice but quick visit.

14.   Árbær
… is an open air museum (as several others), but it’s settings is in a larger museum with other old houses. The surrounding is not the same as the other museums. They have some actors around which makes it nice, but there is something missing at authenticity.

 

### Randi & Svein Elias