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Published: June 11th 2014
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We said goodbye to the West Fjords and its silent gravel roads and found our way on the busy but beautifully paved ring road. We made a detour to Hvammstangi where the lovely folks at the visitor information told us low tide was in an hour making for a good pit stop at Hvitserku, a 15 meter high funky rainbow shaped rock covered in bird shit. We were told it was one of three seal colonies on the peninsula and while it took us a few minutes to find them, we were thoroughly entertained by a number of seals who were curiously checking us out.
We booked an adorable cottage off air B & B in Skagastrond. The claim to fame is their country music bar which sadly was not open in May. We were in serious horse country, and in the morning I was pleasantly surprised to see that a colt had just been born in the pasture across from our cottage. The placenta still hanging from the mom made for great (gross?) photos.
We packed up the car and headed east with my requested stop in Hofsos, population 200, which had a infinity
pool and hot pot with an incredible view of Skagafjordur Bay. We stopped at the gas station for the guys to get lunch (hot dogs and hamburgers) and I indulged in the best soft serve ice cream I would have inIceland. Seriously… hot pool and ice cream – I loved Hofsos!
We decided to keep going around the Troll peninsula, a 200km detour that involved sketchy tunnels, fishy smelling towns, and run-in with one of the most entertaining men in Iceland (because he was drunk and claiming he owned both everything in the town and emerald mines in Brazil) when we stopped for coffee in Olafsfjordur.
We arrived in Akureyri, Iceland’s second largest urban area, which would be our base for the next three nights at
Akureyri Backpackers - a very cool hostel.
After surviving on gluten free rice crackers, granola bars, eggs and cheese for the previous few days I was overjoyed to be in an urban area with a dining scene. I grabbed my gluten free Icelandic translation card, ditched the penny-pinching boys and indulged in a three course meal at
Strikið restaurant . Tuna tartar in sesame and chili marinade
to start, panfried Arctic Char with asparagus, mashed potatoes, and dill oil as a main, and a strawberry skyr mousse coated in hazelnut with strawberry ice cream to finish. Price was a clean $66 and worth every ISK.
Saturday was a chill day where Josh and I both refused to drive the car anywhere; we had such a good parking spot in front of the hostel – why would we want to move it?
We stopped in at the top-rated ice cream shop inIceland, chatted with some locals, and chilled with people in the hostel before heading out on the town. People don’t go out until midnight, not sure if the rumour that it is too pricey to drink is true, or because the bars are open until 6 a.m. that you need to pace yourself. I can tell you – it is weird to come out of the bar at 3 am to broad daylight.
Sunday was sightseeing day and we let Arianne Dee jump in the car with us. We drove almost two hours before finding our way to the snowy parking lot on the western side of Dettifoss,
the most powerful waterfall inEurope. The falls were at the beginning of the 2012 film Prometheus, but unfortunately the alien stood on the other side of the falls and we couldn’t go there.
My casual hiking shoes were not waterproof and after walking around in snow for an hour my feet were wet and freezing.
We headed back towards Myvatn – one of the weirdest geographical areas I have ever seen. We were treated to a stinky egg smell at the steaming hot bubbly mud pools at Hverir before Arianne helped us find a geothermal cave with 43 degree water. It wasn’t the one that John Snow lost his maidenhood in, but it was still amazing. My cold toes eventually warmed up and chillin in the cave ended up being one of the coolest things I did in northernIceland.
We stopped at the Cowshed Restaurant –Vogafjos where I had the best tasting lamb I have ever had in my life. I savoured each bite as little lambs ripped around the yard outside the window – a truly farm to fork experience.
We stopped at Krafla crater where the
guys ripped to the top in 7 minutes and then stopped in at Hofdi to check out the lava tubes coming out of the water (but mainly because Arianne said part of game of thrones season 3 was filmed there).
Although we were hitting our waterfall threshold for the day, we stopped at Goddafoss, conveniently located on the side of the road, for a group shot in the full sunlight at 11 pm. Made our way back to Akureyri for ice cream at the drive through. We left at 10 am and arrived back at the hostel at 11:30 p.m.
We packed up the car, said our goodbyes to our new friends at the hostel, and tried to stop at some thrift shops to get some wooly Icelandic sweaters, but no luck! None of them opened until 4 pm – random. We drove northeast, scrapping the whale watching trip in Husavik because the weather was crap and I didn’t feel like spending $65 to vomit all afternoon.
Instead we set off for theArctic Circle– or as close as we could possibly get to it. We stopped in Kopasker briefly, long enough
for me to get creeped out by scene of scarecrows set up in farmer’s field. The town was a ghost town, which was upsetting because we really wanted ice cream at the gas station.
Josh took over driving what would win the award for the worst road inIceland. No tourists take this road, but we were treated to the occasional farm house. According to Wikipedia - Hraunhafnartangi lighthouse is the northernmost lighthouse in Iceland. It is located about 800 meters south of the Arctic Circle. You would think this was a point of interest, but nope. We had to park on the side of the road and walk through a field of mossy mounds and rocks for a few kms as birds screamed above our heads; very entertaining.
We finally made our way back to pavement and had to drive through Porshofn to get to our farm hostel. Josh was tricked by a badly marked speed bump. I saw it coming at the last second but being tired and used to yelling out when there were potholes – the warning that came out of my mouth was Pot! Pot! Bump! He didn’t quite make
the connection and we learned how good/bad the suspension was on our little car. Let’s just say it made Simon wake up from his nap in the back seat.
Rested our weary bones at
Ytra Lon hostel , an isolated farm with horses and sheep owned by an Icelandic-Dutch family, for the night; the owner was actually wearing wooden Dutch shoes! I got a room to myself – free from the snoring sounds of Josh and Simon.
Totally worth the price of the pot, pot, bump.
(check out more pics below)
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