HELGAFELL

Make your wishes at Holy Mountain

Helgafell "Holy mountain" is a small mountain on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. The mountain is 73 metres (240 ft) high, with a breathtaking panoramic view across Breiðafjordur Bay. A viewing dial is at the top.

Folklore advises anyone climbing the mountain for the first time to walk straight up without looking back or speaking and three wishes will be granted. The wishes have to be of good intent and the wisher tells no one and faces east when making them.

A small remnant of a wall on the mountain top is dated 1184 and was a part of a nearby monastery built at this time.

A temple in honour of Þór “Thor” was built there by Þórólfr Mostrarskegg, the first settler of the area. His biography is described in literary form with fictional and mythical elements in Eyrbyggja saga.

Helgafell also appears in the Laxdæla saga as the location where the heroine Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir last lived and is supposedly where she is buried.