Blogs from Northwest, Iceland, Europe - page 6

Since the weather was not great for doing the backpacking trail, we decided instead to take this 2-day drive. This peninsula is suppose to be a mini-Iceland, all sorts of landscapes in this tiny area. We had booked the car from hostel, they claim to give good rate. We picked it up in the morning, then we had to get the bus tickets for hike. From there we had hard time getting back on the highway as we were not really prepared with maps or anything. Once on the highway, it was smooth ride. There is not much traffic there. The highway near Reykjavik is full of roundabouts. Once out of the "city" area it soon got really green and beautiful. Of course all the rain was making the green even deeper. For outward journey, we ... read more

Isafjordur, Iceland--Monday, June 9th Before we left home for this cruise, we googled around to learn about the next two communities in Iceland we were to visit. This community is located on the west coast and the other, for our visit tomorrow, is located on the far north coast of Iceland. Isafjordur we learned was very tiny, with a population of about 2,600. It is the largest town on the peninsula of Westfjords and is located on a spit of sand, in the Skutulsfjorour fjord that meets the waters of the larger Isafjaroardjup fjord. Think you can pronounce these names?? We sure can’t. Anyway, the maps of the place showed that the cruise ship docked close to the village and we could walk a few blocks and be in the midst of it so, we didn’t ... read more

Why Iceland? When Icelandair announced direct flights to Reykjavik last year I had to book. Never one to resist a good deal, I was overjoyed when my Australian friend Josh who I met on the Inca trail and travelled with in Bolivia, BA, and Brazil, who is currently living in Berlin, said he would come meet me. His German friend Simon asked to join, and so a trio was created. Funny how a date we chose, nine months ago, to fly out would also be the day that Icelandair's pilots would decide to strike. Thankfully my flight wasn't cancelled and instead was just 5 hours late. Add in an eight month old baby in the seat behind me and it was wonderful red eye. I was so out of it when I arrived that I left ... read more

This day started in Akureyri. We were up and out of our hotel early and we were able to walk around and enjoy this picturesque city, before hoping into the car for our next adventure. The area we were travelling through is known for horse breeding. The Icelandic Horse is a unique breed of horse and is recognized as such world-wide. They are smaller than the horses we're used to seeing in North America but their manes are quite voluminous. Along our route we decided to pull over to the side of the road to snap a few pics of some horses we saw grazing in a field. As luck would have it one of the horses was quite friendly and he wandered over to us to say hello. We got to spend quite a bit ... read more

An Italian out-door club coming to Iceland end of April and are doing a tour around the country before joining a ski-weekend in Isafjordur. The bus was playing tricks on us just before the tour started so had to be fixed the day before. One thing off the check-list. My driver broke his leg a week before the tour, another driver hired on the last minute – one more thing off the check-list. We, thirty five people, set off in the morning, all skis fitted into the bus and the group was hoping there would be snow somewhere in the hills on our way so they could do some walks. No snow on the southern part except the glaciers that were all white and pretty, but too far away. The first day was good, the weather ... read more

Tuesday 30th July, 2013. Isafyordur, Westfjords, Iceland. Isafjordur (population 3,000) is the largest town and regional centre of the Westfjords peninsula in the northwest corner of Iceland. It is located on a narrow sand and gravel hook-shaped spit extending out into Skutulsfjordur, an inlet of the much larger Isafjardardjup. The municipality, known as Isafjardarbaer, also includes the neighbouring villages of Hnifsdalur, Sudureyri, Flateyri and Thingeyri. The Westfjords were certainly populated at least a 1000 years ago and a small settlement existed in the 19th centrury along the shores of Skutulsfjordur. Little was known about this and other villages until the 17th century when the Westfjords achieved notoriety in Iceland with a number of witch and wizard trials - the last wizards were burnt at the stake in 1656. A trading post was well established in the ... read more