Blogs from Northwest, Iceland, Europe - page 7

We made it to Borgarnes yesterday after landing at Keflavik airport and renting a used car... Gary found a company that rents used cars. The one we have been assigned is a 10+ year old Nissan. It will definitely do the trip and costs about 1/2 of a regular rental car. On the way here we saw some great scenery especially as we went around Hvalfjordur with one way bridges and almost no traffic. The folks that are out and about are mostly interested in the beauty and probably taking a few hikes. We arrived in Borgarnes, found our hostel and did some exploring. We found a great little museum, The Settlement Center, that discusses the settlement of Iceland. It had an audio guide that walked you through the various small rooms. But by then jet ... read more

The ceiling of the turf-roofed Litlibær, or Little Farm, was so low my hair brushed against it. But when I sat down in the drawing room, sipping a hot cup of coffee and looking out the small, multi-paned window to the fjord and snow-flecked mountains beyond, I felt quite at home. I chatted with the sixteen-year old great-great grandson of the man who had built the original farm, and who now helped greet visitors from far flung corners of the globe curious to see what an old Icelandic farmhouse, built on an isolated fjord in an isolated corner of an isolated country, was like. I smiled as he explained his plans to travel the world – Canada to the US and down through Latin America, then over to South Africa and northwards; what a much more ... read more

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maKAzaoBks8 We were heading back to Reykjavik from Akureyri in a roundabout way as we still had two days left. The drive took us across northern Iceland travelling west and then down the western coast. Throughout this portion of the drive we noticed that decorating many of the deserted farmhouses was what appeared to be Banksy graffiti! Not too far after setting off we were distracted by signs for a seal museum, we weren’t sure what to expect from this i.e. whether it would have anything to do with seal hunting. We weren’t particularly bothered with the seal museum but we had read that seals could be seen off the coast nearby to the museum. This did result in a 2 hour detour across quite rough gravel roads but we had plenty of time. After what ... read more

Our days are so busy that time for blogging is little. Right now (June 19) we are at a guesthouse in the middle of nowhere near a the cliffs of Latrabjarg. The beach is shell-sand, almost white. The arctic terns nest outside our windows, the plovers can be heard, the wagtails twitter, nature and hardly anything but nature. Yesterday was full of activities. First we went to a museum on fishing in Osvor. Then to have view over Isafjordur at the old ski-restaurant, that is not in use any more after the avalanche back 1994. The holiday home area suffered from that when quite many little cottages where completely destroyed one night in April. Now for a hike up to the waterfall and the forest where you can almost get lost. Lunch is at our little ... read more

Westfjords today. It was snowing in the mountains last night, but sunny as we woke up. Now we are heading to the mountains, through the Valleys. One of the Sagas took place here. We spotted lots of seals as we got into the fjords. Seven fjords we had to drive before we finally got to our resting place for the night - Isafjordur. Today is Icelands National Independence Day so we manage to get to the celebration downtown.... read more