<- ->

BULANDSTINDUR

Region: East Iceland
Coordinates: 64.696888° N 14.2700509° W

Mt Bulandstindur is one of the most beautifully shaped mountains of the country and the symbol of the Djupivogur County between the two bays, Berufiord and Hamarsfiord. It is a pyramid shaped stack of basaltic strata, reaching 1069 m above sea level. The Castle of the Gods (Godaborg) is a 700 m high mountain ridge to the east of Mt Bulandstindur. Immediately after the acceptance of Christianity in the year 1000, the chieftains, who were also pagan priests, demolished the statues of the gods in their temples. The chieftain of this area had them taken up to this ridge and thrown over the edge. This mountain is counted among the few power centres of the country. The Buland Valley is to the south of Mt Bulandstindur and rising above its end is the highest elevation of the area, Mt Hrossatindur (1156m).

The abandoned farm Bulandsnes was a manor, the seat of County Sheriffs and medical practitioners. Buland is rather a large headland east of village Djupivogur. It consists mainly of barren and glacier eroded cliffs with bogs and swamps between them and many coves, which are gradually being filled with sand and silt. The cove Breidivogur on the southern side is the beach of Djupivogur and the outermost one is called Brandsvogur, named after the reverend and missionary Thangbrandur. In 1952, about 5 ha of land were fenced of for forestation purposes.

Nowhere else in the country are greater clusters of basaltic dykes than in this area and many of them are like pieces of art. The filling of sub terrain fissures during the active period of the Alftafiord central volcano a few million years ago, created them. Then the ice age set in and its glaciation carved at least 1,200 m from the surface and brought them into plain sight.

The Buland Islets are just south of the Buland Peninsula. Many of them are now landlocked because of the constant transport of sand and silt by the rivers. In earlier times, they were renowned for their bird breeding colonies and belonged to the farms Bulandsnes and Berufjordur.

Bulandstindur in Icelandic