Blogs from Höfn, South, Iceland, Europe - page 2

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Europe » Iceland » South » Höfn July 8th 2018

We left Reykjavik in our Toyota Rav IV after filling up with Diesel at the nearby N1 gas station. Navigating the numerous roundabouts to leave the city wasn’t too difficult and we were soon on the open highway on a cool, windy and drizzly day. We chose to circle the country heading east first, along the south side of the island with the coast more or less on our right. In this direction, we found ourselves spotting waterfalls regularly, crashing down off of the hills and cliffs that were constantly along our left side. Our first stop after 90 minutes or so was Seljandfoss waterfall. Clearly visible from the highway, this group of 3 waterfalls was quite impressive. All of the tourist sites or points of interest are signed, but only small signs located at the ... read more
Skogafoss
Chris and Adrienne soaking in Seljavallalaug
Puffin on the cliffs at Dyrholaey

Europe » Iceland » South » Höfn June 26th 2018

Waterfalls and glaciers and icebergs and more hot springs! And more rain...but the morning I did a boat our of the glacier lagoon, the sun appeared! The glaciers and icebergs were one of my favorite things in Iceland - there's a huge icecap here (largest in Europe, and outside of the polar regions) called Vatnajokull. It has tons of glacier "arms" that reach down towards the ocean - they're huge, stunning, and often end in "lagoons" with icebergs. In new things learned about icebergs, they are constantly moving/shifting/flipping. If the ice has recently been underwater, it appears blue; if it's been above water for awhile, it gets whiter. Anything black/brown is sediment it picked up as part of the glacier. This site won't let me post videos, but a few big ones flipped while I was ... read more
Seljalandsfoss
Seljalandsfoss
Seljalandsfoss

Europe » Iceland » South » Höfn June 11th 2017

Day 4. Time is flying and yet we also agree that if we wrapped up the trip now we'd be fulfilled. Today was special even by Iceland standards. They call this place the land of fire and ice. Don't know about the fire part - no active volcanoes at the moment thank god - but we got to experience the ice part first hand today. Started out with an amphibian boat (aka frog boat) on the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. Icebergs calve off the main Vatnajökull glacier (the largest glacier in Europe) at an increasingly alarming rate and float into this Lagoon that didn't exist 80 years ago. The good folks of Iceland live the impacts of global warming every day. It makes for amazing pictures as white and blue icebergs laced with dark stripes of volcanic ... read more
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Europe » Iceland » South » Höfn June 10th 2017

So its my turn (Ginger) to jot down our adventures for the day. I may not be near as witty but definitely funnier than my wonderful husband. Where are we? I woke up at 7:30 thinking it was at least 10am and no way of telling. No alarm clock, no dinging of a text, no wall clock and the sun had rose but then again it never sat. I decided to venture out on my own in search of a grocery store or something that I could grab eggs, pb&j, milk etc. So after 1.5 hrs later passing by roundabouts I've already seen I decided to hit the gas station/convience store. $50 later (things aren't cheap) I headed back to our airbnb with no Google, maps or cell phone, to find family still sleeping. Made some ... read more
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Europe » Iceland » South » Höfn June 6th 2017

Heute konnte ich bis kurz nach 09:00 ausschlafen und war dann beim Frühstück einer der wenigen letzten. Trotzdem war ich der erste beim Bus nachdem wir an Land gegangen sind. Das verstehe ich unter perfektem Timing. Es gab am Hafen auch viele Abenteuerurlauber, die Autos gemietet haben oder mit dem Fahrrad, Motorrad oder als Anhalter unterwegs waren. Hier habe ich mich wieder geärgert, dass ich mit diesem Gruftieclub auf Tour war. Aber ich habe es bisher überlebt. Das freche ältere Ehepaar, welches mir gestern für eine Stunde meinen Platz weg genommen hat, hat durch Herunterfallen seinen Fotoapparat eingebüßt. Ich müsste lügen, wenn ich sagen würde, dass ich mit ihnen Mitleid habe. Jeder türkische Kleinkriminelle zeigt mehr Respekt vor seinen Mitmenschen. Vom Hafen sind wir über einen teilweise schneebedeckten Pass zur sogenannten Ringstraße, die um Island herum ... read more
Die Gletscherzungen des riesigen Vatnajökull.
Ankunft mit dem Schiff in Seydisfjördur.
Von der Küste über den Fjardarheidi-Pass zur Ringstraße.

Europe » Iceland » South » Höfn May 5th 2017

The day started with a quick tour of Reykjavik and then we left the city to go further south. We pass many areas of large greenhouse installations using geo-thermal heating and hydro-electricity growing the fresh vegetables for Iceland. The landscape is desolate and vegetation sparse. The result of 1000s of years of volcanic activity. The countryside then changed to fertile farmland. We then visited the Gulfoss waterfalls where huge volumes of water spray and fall. We then moved onto Iceland's largest geyser which spouts every 8 minutes or so. Then more waterfalls and a black sand beach with its sea stone arch. The whole day we were driving with the huge glaciers in sight including the one which erupted in 2010 which caused chaos in Europe with ash. Interestingly Iceland had no ash but severe flooding ... read more
Troll in charge
Black sand beach
Sunset over Vik

Europe » Iceland » South » Höfn September 3rd 2016

It is possible to get used to anything, even driving on the right hand side of the road. One way bridges and pull over tunnels continue to be challenging, but the thing that make driving in Iceland most difficult is sheep. There are a lot of sheep in Iceland, great wooly mops with curly horns and attitude. There are lots of roads that sheep wander beside, sit on and cross carefully in small groups. Travelling in Iceland is easy. Very easy. English is used by locals and tourists alike. Even the automatic petrol pumps have an English option. Supermarkets are full of familiar foods imported from Europe. Locals favor chocolate with salty liquorice, sweet cakes lashed with cream, hot chips (fries) and hotdogs. Everything is expensive because it is imported (think fruit in Japan or petrol ... read more
Super Jeep
One Way Tunnel
Self Service Petrol

Europe » Iceland » South » Höfn September 6th 2015

Dalsie dva dni za nami. Pomaly koncime juznu cast a prechadzame na vychodne fjordy. Urobili sme si turu k vyhladu na najvacsi Islandsky ladovec Vatnajökull a k ustiu Jökulsárlón kde sa jedna jeho cast rozpada do mora. Okrem par zabludenych tulenov su tam aj nadherne krystalovo ciste kusky ladu priamo na plazi ktore si clovek moze rovno chytit do ruk. Da sa s nimi zazit celkom velka zabava. Nase nadsenie postrehlo aj par okolitých turistov a nechalo sa inspirovat pozami pri foteni. :-) Okrem toho sa uz len kochame vyhladmi ci uz na more alebo hory a obcas zastavime pri nahodnom bezmennom vodopade, majaku alebo comkolvek zaujímavom. Pocasie nam zatial az neislandsky praje. Jeden den nam sprchlo hned na zaciatku ale odvtedy mame krasne. Nasu Toyotu sme uz prehlasili za off-road kedze okrem hlavnych ciest vsetky ... read more
Trosku vyplasena Evka a este viac vyplaseny kon :-)
Dalsi nahodny vodopad po ceste
Evka, trosky mosta a vyhlad na ladovec

Europe » Iceland » South » Höfn July 4th 2015

Malheureusement, il fallait déjà quitter notre petit chalet et son emplacement idyllique pour reprendre la route vers l’est, d’un glacier à l’autre. Le premier arrêt est le Solheimajokull, un petit glacier à environ un kilomètre de l’autoroute. La meilleur description est celle de Michèle : « c’est comme si quelqu’un avait dessiné un glacier au fusain ». Un mélange de blanc, de gris et de noir en raison de la cendre des volcans. Le deuxième arrêt sont les falaises de Dyrholaey, dans lesquelles beaucoup d’oiseaux font leurs nids. C’est ridiculement venteux et frigorifique. Au bas des falaises se trouve une plage de sable noir (encore les volcans…) qui serait apparemment l’une des plus belles du monde. Le verdict du groupe est que c’est loin d’être le cas, mais la météo maussade n’aidait probablement pas. Finalement, on ... read more
Glacier Solheimajokull
Puffin à Dyrholaey
Plage noire de Dyrholaey

Europe » Iceland » South » Höfn August 5th 2014

Today was a quiet day today after spending yesterday on the road. We visited Höfn this morning, a fishing village with about a population of under 1,700. Apparently this is the largest settlement in the area and it has shops, two banks and numerous hotels and places to eat but it is still smaller than the village where we live. But the civic pride was obvious: it was very well kept with lots to see, beautiful views and flower planters everywhere, which is quite rare in Iceland. We then went further round the coast to take the old route 1 road before they tunnelled through the mountain where the road now runs. The old road is steep, narrow and carved into the rock face, which is mainly loose screed and has a sheer drop on one ... read more
Black headed gull
How do I look?
Oyster catchers at Stokksnes




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