We slept in, enjoyed a scenic breakfast in our cabin and then made our way into Stykkisholmur to check out the cute fishing village and port as well as pick up a few treats at the local bakery. We made our way counter clock-wise around the Snaefellsness Peninsula to the national park protecting the Snaefellsjokull glacier. After the West Fjords, Snaefellsness didn’t impress us to the grandness we had just left behind, but we had to remind ourselves how quickly we’ve become desensitized to ASTOUNDING beauty in this country. I think we were all a bit tired and cranky and needed a break.
Month: June 2017
Day 7: Westfjords Part II
We took a side trip to Sudureyi as per the local guidebook’s recommendation to feed the “friendly codfish the greet the town’s visitors”, but weren’t able to locate the pond that they were living in (the only pond we found was really shallow and appear to be in somebody’s back yard). Oh well, scenic drive. The route to this town involved a trip through a 9km long (and in parts one-way!) tunnel with a fork in it to choose which town you wanted to go to. Talk about crazy, but there were plenty of pullouts. Guess it made more sense to go through the mountain, rather than build precarious, avalanche-prone roads around them.
Day 6: Drive to the Westfjiords Part 1
It was really difficult to leave our idyllic cottage in Hvammtangi, but we knew we had a long drive ahead of us, so we did our best to mobilize at a reasonable time. On the way out of town, however, Audrey spotted a wool shop and wanted to check out their wares. Autumn got a pair of mittens, Audrey a hat and sweater. JD took Autumn to the back to check out the weaving looms that you were welcome to watch as the ladies turned out the most beautiful knitwear you could imagine.
Day 5: The North
We awoke this morning to a wonderful spread of fresh bread, waffles (Autumn’s favorite!), fruit, cereal, meat, cheese and coffee. We had high hopes of going whale watching in Husavik, where 11 different species of whale are seen every summer (including BLUE WHALES!). We called ahead to confirm if there was space on the 11am tour (seems impossible between jetlag and yummy breakfasts to mobilize quickly in the mornings, but that’s alright given that there’s no daylight cutoff at the end of the day)! Both companies we called had space, but warned us of really rough seas (they had to cancel most of yesterday’s tours), which would make it not ideal for adults, let alone a nearly 2 year old! We were bummed, but appreciated their honesty, so we decided instead to backtrack slightly to Myvatn to check out some of the stuff we ran out of time to do yesterday. We did the scenic road around the lake that is home to over 115 species of birdlife, many of which only live in that area. Of particular note were some of the cool duck species and these giant geese/swans that we’ve seen all over the northern portions of the island. We admired the lava fields and hiked up to Hverfjall cone/crater. It was a bit blustery up top, but the 360 degree views of the surrounding Martian landscape were totally worth it!
Day 4: Myvatn
We enjoyed a spread of toast, cheese, cereal, juice, coffee and swapped stories with a lovely newlywed couple from Ireland and another couple from Scotland. We felt the need to walk off breakfast a bit so we strolled the village once more and Autumn requested a repeat visit to the playground. (Interesting observation: their playgrounds seem to have much more “active” play and climbing elements…fitter kids and less helicopter parenting?). We drove the mountain pass back out of the Seydisfjirdour valley and were pleasantly surprised by the breathtaking views that were obstructed yesterday due to the weather. We took some photos and tried not to freeze in the cool, damp near 0C temps.
Day 3: East Fjiords
We set out from Hofn and snaked our way along the coast, into and out of cove after cove (I’ll reserve the word fjiord for when we finally hit the big ones on the east coast. We saw a couple of neat waterfalls along the way (what would warrant a road side attraction complete with snack bar and gift shop in the states doesn’t even have a sign or a name in this country – there are just TOO many waterfalls!!!).
We stopped for lunch in this sweet little village named Djup??? – definitely a stopover for many a tour bus, but the old wooden fishing cottages were adorable. We had some fish soup and traditional Icelandic bread and butter plus coffee… much needed since it was a blustery 40F! Autumn enjoyed the opportunity to stretch her legs down by the fishing docks before we continued on to Seydisfjirdour.
New Jersey and Southern Iceland
We took off Friday afternoon to start making our way up to NJ – we have a wedding to attend, so we booked our flights into and out of Newark, NJ. Autumn slept most of the car ride (yay for coordinating car trips with nap time), and we stopped for a picnic dinner at the most AMAZING playground we’ve ever seen in Harrisonburg, VA. (For those interested, it was called “A Dream Come True” playground. The weather was perfect and we had a blast on the slides, ramps and kick bikes they provided for the children.
We drove an hour further and took a break for the night in Winchester, VA. We then drove the remaining four hours up to Union, NJ to visit Audrey’s great Aunt Terri. She hadn’t seen Autumn in a year and was amazed at all the cool new tricks she’s learned since our last visit. We went to a good old-fashioned Jersey diner for a monstrous dinner before our flight. Terri’s neighbor was kind enough to shuttle us to the airport, which was a relief, given we were managing two weeks’ worth of luggage plus a hiking backpack and car seat.
