Eyjafjörður is one of Iceland’s longest fjords, 60 km long and 25 km wide at its widest. The fjord is located in the middle of northern Iceland. Compared to the rest of Iceland, the Eyjafjörður area, with its 25,000 inhabitants, is densely populated, the second highest population density after the Capital Region.
Northwest in Eyjafjörður (the fjord is named after the island of Hrisey), lies Hauganes (in the former municipality Árskógströnd). This small place with about 100 inhabitants does some tourism, including a campsite and whale watching. As expected, there are also opportunities for hot baths here, and Hauganes Hot Pot is a little gem! A simple arrangement, yes, the showers don’t always work, but the price is just right – you actually don’t need to buy a ticket to use the facility! However, there is a payment box where you are asked to donate an appropriate amount of money. Do this right away – in case the landlord suddenly appears, because he does! – and make your conscience feel good.
The facility consists of 4 plastic tubs with different temperatures, one is made for children and is shaped like a boat, it is actually a small boat. Everything is located on a beautiful, black beach, where you can refresh yourself in the not very warm fjord. Expect crystal clear water! Maybe some hikers in warm jackets will appear while you swim in the sea… In short, an absolutely splendid place, and nice people too! Hauganes Hot Pot is co-located with the campsite, and there is a charming restaurant nearby, with good food – Baccalá Bar.
From the bath you can see the mountain Kátlufjall, where the hideous woman Þorkatla is buried (Kátluhóll), but we will not cover her story here. Below the mountain, north of Hauganes, there is a place called Kálfskinni. Here, the Norwegian King Rørek of Hedmark was buried (in Icelandic called Hrærekur), the only Norwegian king buried in Iceland. Rørek fought against King Olav Haraldsson (later to become Saint Olav), when Olav in the year 1021 fought 5 kings before breakfast, ref Flatøybok volume 3:
The kings had no guards to resist, they were all captured and brought before the king. Rørek was a far-sighted man and hard-hearted. King Olav thought he could not be trusted, even though he made peace with him. He had Rørek blinded in both eyes and took him with him, for he feared his wisdom if he was unharmed, but still did not want to kill him for the sake of his brother, Øymund. Øymund was Olav’s foster brother.
This was the King Olav Trondheim choose to name it’s major hospital after! But of course: if people go around mutilating others, the hospital gets more customers, so maybe there is a logic here…
King Olav kept Rørek with him after this, and during the high mass on Ascension Day, the blind Rørek attacked the king:
And when the mass was in progress, the king stood up with raised hands and bowed to the altar. Then Rørek jumped up, quickly and violently. He stabbed King Olav with a kind of scissor knife they call a ‘ryting’. The stab hit the overcoat in the folds he had let fall. The clothes were cut into many pieces, but the king was not wounded.
The king then asked Torarin Nevjolvsson to take Rørek with him and give him to Leif Eiriksson in Greenland. The wind was poor during the trip, and he did not get further than Iceland, where Rørek lived for three winters before dying by sickness. Rørek was known for his unhappiness, but when you have lost your kingship, your kingdom, your sight and your country, it is okay to be a little irritated. In the end, there seems to have been a kind of reconciliation with his life situation:
Then Gudmund (from Mödruvellir) gave him lodging at a small farm called Kalvskinn (in Árskógströnd). There Rørek spent his third winter. There were few servants. Rørek said that since he had lost his kingdom, he had not liked any place as much as there. Here he was highly regarded by all the people.