"The greatest advantage for travelers to being born in the flat grasses of the Midwest is that the smallest relief in the landscape gives pleasure and joy. When, as in the East Fjords of Iceland, you arrive at a landscape that might even deserve the encomium of sublime, you enter a state of almost childish wonder. Can this much beauty be good for you?" - Bill Holm, Eccentric Islands, page 140
This past week I used my vacation time and went back to Reykjavik for a few
days and then on a whirlwind road trip to the south and east of Iceland. My
travel companions were Erin Johnson and her boyfriend Brian Kays, both fellow
Minnesotans. After having been in extremely quiet Hofsós for nearly the past
month, it felt strange and exhilarating to be back in bustling Reykjavik.
I spent two fun two days hanging out in the city, visiting one of the
amazing local pools (Laugardalslaug) and several fun restaurants and coffee
shops (and maybe a few bars). On Friday morning we got up early and picked up
our rental car. It was, in classic fashion here, not at all convenient, and
took far longer than planned. I do not recommend Sixt rental car company in
Reykjavik, for several reasons now. If anyone wants to hear a rant about rental
car companies, just let me know. Otherwise, I´ll leave it at this: they're
dumb.
We headed east along the south coast, getting in the road trip groove.
Our first destination was Landeyjahöfn, where the ferry travels back and forth
to Vestmannæyjar (the Westman Islands). We were going to be staying just one
night on Heimæy, the largest of the 15 islands that make up the Westman
Islands, and the only one that is populated (aside from a couple of and lonely,
but impressive looking houses on maybe two of the other smaller islands). We
didn't book passage on the ferry far enough in advance to bring the car along,
so we left it in the parking lot near the harbor and boarded the giant ship.
The ride across was only about 35 minutes long. The waves were insanely huge
and I mostly had to focus on not throwing up the whole time, but I did manage
to appreciate the views a little. I was very glad to get back onto solid
ground, and am seriously reconsidering my desire to go on a cruise someday.
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| Notice the house on the left side of the island. |
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| Close up of house- no clue how the owners get there... |
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| The ferry |
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| Road trip (and sea trip) crew |
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| Approaching the island |
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| Harbor at Heimæy |
The weather was cold and rainy when we arrived, but Brian and I decided to
go out and explore the island for an hour or so while Erin took a nap. I, like
a complete fool, had left my hiking boots in Hofsós, and so was left with the
choice of wearing either my not at all waterproof mesh-topped tennis shoes, or
my cute not at all waterproof leather ankle boots. Soaking wet, tennis
shoe-clad feet it is! I will forever associate Heimæy with the feeling of my
ice cold toes squishing in my rain-soaked tennis shoes, and moderate levels of
self loathing over having forgotten my hiking boots. Good times.
"Icelanders resemble Minnesotans (at
least of the last generation) in this regard: if nature has condemned you to
life in a continuously foul climate, you have no choice but to ignore it and
proceed with your plans. If you wait for the weather to improve before doing
anything, your bones will have crumbled to fine dust."
- Bill Holm, Eccentric Islands,
page 133
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| Island selfie. |
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| Golf course. Of course. |
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| Elephant rock on Heimæy |
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| Brian exploring the island |
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| Seal! |
The three of us spent the afternoon walking around the town and visiting
both the local pool and Eldheimar, the museum about the 1973 volcanic eruption
on Heimæy. http://eldheimar.is/en/about-museum/ It was
a really great, interactive museum with amazing photos and videos of the event
along with self guided audio thingies that automatically knew where you were in
the museum and would start to narrate the correct area depending on where you
walked. Brilliant. Highly recommended. Also highly recommended is the pool.
There were a variety of water slides at this one, a basketball hoop, and
several different pool areas and hot tubs. We experimented with water break
dancing in the shallow end, and played around for a good long time before
hunger drove us to go clean up and find a restaurant.
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| The remains of a house covered in the 1973 eruption |
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| Every town should have puffin street signs |
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| The town from on top of the lava field |
The ferry left the next morning at 8:30, so there was no sleeping in for
us. We had breakfast at the Bed and Breakfast and walked the short way to the
harbor with our bags. The ride was much more pleasant this time, as the waves
had died down significantly from the day before. I was only slightly nauseated
by the end of the ride.
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| Goodbye, Vestmannaeyjar. I'll be back some day. |
Our drive on Day 2 was a long one. We were destined
for Fáskruðsfjörður, where my cousins live. According to Google Maps it
was about 7-8 hours from where our car waited for us at Landeyjahöfn. We made
it in a timely 12 hours. This did, of course, include regular stops for staring
in awe at the gorgeous landscapes, and bathroom and lunch breaks. A favorite
stop that day was at Höfn, where the sun was shining brightly. We had
delightful lobster soup and homemade bread at a restaurant called Pakkhus. I
could have eaten my weight in that soup.
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| That's a chilly looking beach |
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| Classic glacier shot |
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| Happily awaiting their soup |
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| Lobster soup at Pakkhus in Höfn |
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| Höfn |
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| Höfn |
When we finally made it to Fáskruðsfjörður, some time
around 9pm, Bogga and Elvar welcomed us warmly and served us an AMAZING dinner
of grilled lamp and pork, veggies and tomato bread. And then for good measure
we had ice cream and meringue cake for dessert. I'm in desperate need of larger
pants.
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| Midnight walk in Fáskrúðsfjörður |
Starting around 11:30PM, we took a walk around town that was supposed to be
short, but ended up being almost 2 hours long. Elvar was an excellent tour
guide and shared many interesting things about the town that I hadn't heard
before. Bringing Erin and Brian there felt a little bit like bringing someone
to your hometown for the first time. "This is where I did this," and
"This is where my cousin So and So lives." There was that sense of
pride in sharing something that is special to you with someone else. "Velkomin
heim," my family said to me when we arrived. And that's exactly what it
feels like to be in Fáskruðsfjörður with these wonderful cousins. Home.
The next morning Elvar served us a great breakfast and gave us some
advice for things we could do on the drive back towards Reykjavik. I wish I
could have spent several more days (or weeks) there, but our road trip schedule
was very tight. It was hard to leave. We had several stops to make on the way
out of town. First we went for a quick visit to the French Museum/hotel where
Bogga was working. We chatted for a few minutes and then said a sad goodbye. We
then went to see my cousin Arna's new baby, Aron Ingi, on the way out of town,
and then to see Stebbi and Lisa at the shop. They served us norðurljós ís (northern
lights ice cream) and gave Erin and I beautiful canvas prints of some
photographs Stebbi had taken. These are all the best people in the world.
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| Visiting Bogga at work |
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| New cousin! So cute! |
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| Ice cream from Lisa and Stebbi |
On our Day 3 drive we meandered through several small villages that we
had either not explored in-depth enough the day before, or had skipped entirely
due to time constraints. We stopped to take pictures and check out strange or
interesting places that we saw on the map.
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| Fish hanging out to dry on the ship rail |
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| Stone egg sculptures in Djúpivogar |
By far the strangest thing on the entire road trip was the "Viking
Village" at Stokksnes. It was a beautiful area to explore, and
tucked in under the mountains is this bizarre, abandoned movie set.
It was built in 2010, but due to financial issues, the movie was never
made. Supposedly there is going to be a big movie shot there next year,
but they have a lot of work to do if that´s going to happen. The web link above
claims that the village is in "pristine condition," but I beg to
differ. The elements have been hard on the buildings, and half the land inside
the gates is flooded and covered in sheep poop. Not sure which Hollywood
starlet will be appearing in this movie, but she better bring sturdy
shoes.
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| Walking to the Viking Village movie set |
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| Stokksnes |
We had been disappointed by the lack of ice in Jökulsárlon, the glacier
lagoon when we had driven through on Saturday. We were just going to skip over
it on the way back on Sunday when suddenly Erin yells, "Hold up!"
Overnight the lagoon had been totally filled up with ice. It was incredible to
see and we parked and explored along the edge of the lagoon; listening to the
ice crackle and waiting to see any of the large chunks flip or flow out to the
river.
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| Jokulsárlon |
One of our last stops before reaching our hotel
was Svínafellsjökull. We got up close and personal to the glacier. We were
the only ones there at the time, and it was amazing to sit in silence and
listen to the sound of the water dripping off the ice and the rumble of the ice
as it shifted around in the glacier. Awe-inspiring.
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| Erin at Svínafellsjökull |
Our hotel for the last night was in Skogar, and we checked in just before midnight,
disappointed to find out that breakfast was NOT included in our stay like I had
thought, and we were not willing to pay the 2,050 kronur each price upgrade for
it. Icelandic breakfast is in my top 5 favorite meals of the day, so to not
have it provided at the hotel was crushing. We managed to recover from the
disappointment by going over to the waterfall just a few minutes from our
hotel. We were the only ones there, which was magical. This is usually a very
busy, touristy spot, so it was really nice to have it to ourselves. You can
walk right up close into the mist of the falls. It´s a very powerful feeling.
Day 4: The last day of the road trip we began by backtracking a little
bit to the town of Vík. We explored the black sand beach and the picturesque
church, and then drove down the road to Dyrhólaey, which is a giant sea arch.
It was so windy there I thought we might get blown clear off the cliff.
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| Dyrhólaey |
Conditions improved as we headed West. The sun came out and we got a
gorgeous view of the glaciers, particularly Eyjafjallajökull, seen below.
This is glacier that covers the volcano that famously erupted in 2010, causing
all sorts of trouble with air travel across the globe, not to mention
considerable difficulties for people living right underneath it.
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| Eyjafjallajökull |
If I had to choose a favorite activity of the trip, it might be our stop
at Seljavallalaug. It was incredible. We had to park the car and take a fairly
easy 20 minute hike into the valley to get to the pool. The pool was built
right into the side of the mountain in 1923. It is fed by a natural hot spring
that you can see leaking out of the rocks. The water was as warm as a bathtub,
but not quite as clean. Locals apparently clean the pool about once a year. It
gets coated in algae, and was pretty slimy. The view from the pool and the
whole experience of being there in the sunshine on that fabulous day was
absolutely amazing, and something I´ll remember forever.
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| Seljavallalaug |
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| Seljavallalaug |
Our road trip had come to an end. I took the bus back here to Hofsós the
next morning. I was exhausted from our travels and actually looking forward
to getting back to work and to the peacefulness of Hofsós. It was great
to get to see my friends and travel around, and I'm feeling very lucky for
having been able to do so.
I can't believe I´m halfway finished with my summer in Iceland. There are some
things and some people I find myself missing from Minnesota, but overall I'm
just thrilled to be here each day. If Iceland had Target stores and more
reasonably priced chicken at the grocery stores I would never be tempted to
leave.
