The rainbow street at the end of a fjord — Iceland's ferry gateway from Europe, art residencies in Norwegian timber houses, and waterfalls off 900m valley walls
Seyðisfjörður is a small town in east Iceland — at the head of the Seyðisfjörður fjord, 26km from the Ring Road along a pass (Fjarðarheiði, 800m) that is snowbound in winter and spectacular in clear weather. The town was connected to the rest of Iceland by road only since 1976; before that it was accessible only by sea. The Smyril Line ferry from Denmark and the Faroe Islands docks here, making it the arrival point for visitors crossing from mainland Europe by ship. The town's most photographed element is Skálabrekka (the rainbow street) — the path leading to the Bláa Kirkjan (Blue Church, 18…
Seyðisfjörður was the most important commercial and communications centre in eastern Iceland through the 19th and early 20th centuries — a telegraph cable to Norway was laid in 1906, making it Iceland's first connection to the international telegraph network. The fjord's deep anchorage and the natural protection of the valley walls made it the main trading post and fishing base for east Iceland. The Bláa Kirkjan and the adjacent Skálabrekka were connected by the rainbow path, created spontaneously by local residents using leftover paint in 2016 and now one of Iceland's most recognised images.