Grundarfjordur is an Icelandic village that one could argue has at least one foot in the past. It is not only one of the oldest settlements in all of Iceland, but its surrounding mountains, volcanoes, and lava fields are the type of landscape that served as a backdrop for the Icelandic sagas, culturally important 10th- and 11th-century mythic tales of early Icelandic settlers. Remarkably, over 1,000 years later, one can still walk the paths and climb the hills that inspired many of these tales, such as the 240-foot-tall Helgafell mountain, the volcanic rock formations of Arnarstapi, or the Vikings’ “Holy Hill” of Thor.
