Icelandic

For many years there was a Loran positioning station at Gufuskálar. The huge mast there is now used for broadcasting the National Broadcasting Service's long wave transmissions and the station buildings are now used as an international accident prevention college. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Gufuskálar is that some early remains of human habitation found there probably pre-date the first settlement of the country as recorded in written accounts. Hellissandur is one of the oldest fishing villages in Iceland. It has about 600 inhabitants. The old part of the village is close to the sea, where the settlement grew close to a very difficult landing site which was sheltered from the most violent breakers. In the old days they used to gut their catches in the cave Brennuhellir beneath the sheer lava cliffs. They then carried the catch up and raised the boats up on end against the cliffside, fastening them with pegs. A new harbour was built outside the village, in the bay Krossavík, in the middle of the 20th century; after being used for some years it was abandoned in the 1960s when, after changes in fishing techniques and vessel design, Rif became the main harbour for the area. The concrete harbour structure was largely built by hand by the seamen themselves. There is an impressive maritime museum in the memorial park in Hellissandur, with the sculpture Jöklarar by Ragnar Kjartansson. The public garden Tröð is next to the memorial park, surrounded by an old stone wall.

Between Rif and Hellissandur lies the old manor farm Ingjaldshóll, where the poet and political reformer Eggert Ólafsson grew up. The artist Páll á Húsafelli has raised a memorial to him and his bride Ingjbjörg at Ingjaldshóll in the form of two carved stones. The church at Ingjaldshóll is the oldest church in Europe built of concrete. About 150 people live at Rif, where the harbour was built in the 1950s and 1960s. It is an important fishing centre, with several processing plants. The largest nesting colony of Arctic terns in Iceland is found around Rif, and there is a lot of other bird life on and around the lagoons by the side of the main road. Hundreds of Red-necked phalaropes gather there in the later part of the summer, and bird-lovers can watch them from a special hide.

In the past there was a good natural harbour at Rifsós that was used by the ships of the time, and an important trading station developed there. English merchants traded there in the 15th century, to the annoyance of the Danes, who had a monopoly on Icelandic trade. Björn ríki Þorleifsson, an official at Skarð, was killed in a skirmish with them in 1467; according to tradition, he died by the stone "Björn's stone", which is still pointed out today. There is a theory that Christopher Columbus came to Rif with a British merchant ship ten years later, in 1477, and lived at Ingjaldshóll that winter, gathering information about earlier voyages to lands in the west. And then in 1492 he "discovered" America!

The road leads on from Rif round the cliff Enni (Ólafsvíkurenni) to Ólafsvík. For many years this was an extremely dangerous road due to falling stones; now it has been made safe. There is an airstrip with two runways and sophisticated equipment between Rif and Enni. With about 1,000 inhabitants, Ólafsvík is the largest village in Snæfellsbær. It is based on fishing, and has a large harbour. The site has its natural beauty too: small waterfalls drop from the mountain above the village and the streams still run through the village in their original channels.

An interesting museum covering the village's trading and occupational history has been set up in the warehouse building "Pakkhúsið", which itself dates from 1844. It also houses a tourist information service. East of Ólafsvík is Fróðárvík. It is at the farm site Fróðá that the terrifying haunting scenes of Eyrbyggja saga are set, and the road runs south from here to Staðarsveit across Fróðárheiði. Alternatively, one can continue along the northern coast of the peninsula to Búlandshöfði, Grundarfjörður and other parts of Breiðafjörður.