This morning was the same routine as the past couple of days, breakfast at 8:00 AM, on the road by about 9:00 AM. Today we are headed up a gravel road behind our hotel. We heard the staff mention a glacier but we aren’t sure how far it is. The view of our guesthouse from the first ridge is incredible. We can see the entire farm, Highway 1 and in the distance, the ocean.
We made a number of stops along the gravel road. Over each ridge, we found another amazing view…glacier lakes, lava fields and several waterfalls. The road was curvy, dusty with steep drops off the side.
Finally Skalafellksjokull glacier. Skalafellksjokll connects to the much larger Vatnajokull ice cap.
Our glacier exploration took all morning. We hiked a bit on the gravel patches and spent a lot of time just starring at the massive amount of ice and snow. Our drive back to Highway 1 went quickly, the roller coaster road no longer intimidated us.
Next stop was the village of Hofn (pronounced more like Hop). Hofn sits on the coast of the Hornafjordour fjord, has 1,633 residents and is one of the larger towns we have been through since Reyjkavik. We stopped at Kaffi Hornid (Cafe = Kaffi), the first restaurant we saw. As it turns out, this kaffi was well rated in Frommers.
The weather was cool (mid-50’s), windy and overcast. We immediately fell into large bowls of lobster soup topped with fresh cream and large chunks of local lobster. We will not soon forget this meal!
After lingering over our soup and fresh bread, we drove through Hofn and then back to Highway 1 for an afternoon of exploring fjords.
After a few days of lava fields and glaciers, the fjords were incredible.
We briefly stopped in the village of Djupivogur, which is situated at the mouth of Berufjorour fjord, on the south coast. The town has 361 inhabitants and dates back to the 16th century. The town has it’s roots trading but it’s biggest industry is now fishing and fish processing.
More pictures of the fjords…
Andey Island
Vattarnes Lighthouse
Our day ended in East Iceland at Egilsstadir Guest House. Originally a family farm, the house became a guest house in 1889. It is located on the shores of Lake Logurinn where the sister of the Loch Ness monster is rumored to live.
The back of the guest house, which is actually the entrance. The front faces the lake.
The front of the guest house. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, another great meal of Arctic Char.
