Iceland 2010 trip, Day 8, July 25th: Reykjavik to Isafjordur

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10am. Reykjavik City Hostel...

Got up at 8:30am, and made a breakfast of bacon, eggs, mushrooms, tomatos, cheese (from the fridge), onions, cereal, and milk (from fridge). Cut up the carrots, wash apples, and make a PBJ sandwich for the road. We also found some leftover bread that is similar to the great bread from the restaurant last night.

I've noticed that in Iceland, light switches turn on when you flip the switch down (usually opposite in US)…


Our two pink baskets of food in one of the kitchen fridges. Common food is left in labeled bins/shelves. Wendy prepares breakfast in the kitchen...


More bins of free/leftover food on the shelves. Found some muesli there. Our egg/bacon/cheese/veggie breakfast...

11:19pm, isafjordur.

We hit the road at 10:10am, and manage to drive to the ring road without issue this time. It's cloudy with patches of blue in the sky. Heading north, we pass some roundabouts on the way out of the city. 30 minutes later, I follow signs for route 1 with a dotted line box around the number. Turns out the dotted box means "alternate route", and we end up driving around a 80km fjord instead of taking the 5km tunnel under! A good 40 minute long-cut… Scenic though. We stop at a Bonus grocery store, but it's closed on Sunday, so we visit a bakery, and find some of the good bread, rugbread (prounced "rue-bread"). We excitedly buy it for 315isk, but it's not that tasty…


A couple of pics from our 80km wrong turn that led us around a huge fjord. Got to admire a field of painted hay bales, and some fjord scenery though...


View from the road, early on our road-trip...


We stopped at this bakery/cafe and bought some bread...

One of the amusements of the drive is watching Wendy's head bob and flop as she's starting to doze off in the car. 90km speed limit on the paved roads. 80km on gravel/dirt roads. Found a speed camera. Was going over 90km. Hope I was within the buffer zone…

We head north, and take the east route to the westfjords. It's a scenic coastal drive, with some mountain passes. Stop in Hus… for some info/bathroom/gas (buy gas station gift card, since the pumps don't take foreign credit card). Info center guy confirms our drive time estimates (takes a long time to drive in fjord country, since the coastline is riddled with deep fjords). This information center is right next to a museum of Iceland withcraft/sorcery, which has the restrooms.


A little church off the road. Lots of small churches scattered about the countryside in Iceland...


Some sheep and horses grazing along the shoreline...


A look across the sea at our first destination today. The town of Dangsnes is near the tip of the landmass sticking out into the ocean. Still a ways to go...

We find some radio stations on the car tuner, but most have Icelandic talking. The car came with a 20 song sampler CD of Iceland music (we didn't bring any, only a tape adapter for an Ipod, but no tape player in this car). Not that great… Too bad we didn't buy some cheap CDs at the Reykjavik flea market. We eat snacks in the car: Fish cakes with cheese, salad, and grape tomatoes. Dehydrated veggie chips too.

We head north to Dangsnes, in search of some hot pools mentioned in Lonely Planet. We know it's across the road from a church. The town is small, and we drive through without seeing it. After a couple drive-bys, we stop and ask someone from a campground, who says we need to shower at the camp WC, and the tubs are along the sea. We drive looking, but can't find them again, and consider giving up. We ask a woman at the shower area, and this time Wendy figures it out, and we find the church at a different part of town, where there are 3 hot tubs filled with geo thermal water, across the road . We were expecting the pools to be natural, like Landmannlauger, so it slightly disappointing. Again we debate whether to hop in, and decide to take a dip, having driven this far and spending 30 minutes in town searching for them. Cool views. The sign at the tub says we need to shower first. We head back to the campground showers, and then spend 30 min in tubs. Each tub has varying temperature.


Dangsnes is known for having a large rock pillar (1st pic), and free public geo-thermally heated hot tubs (2nd pic)...


The water temp of each pool got progressively hotter, from bottom to top (1st pic). The middle tub was the best...


Almost feels like I'm back in the tub, looking at this pick...

Cars passing by stop and stare at us, relaxing in the tubs. One guy asks us info about showering. We leave before they come back, and head towards Isafjordur, ~250km away (~3hrs). I eat my PBJ.


Hopefully this pic helps prevent confusion for others that seek the hot pools/baths of Dangsnes. The church is the modern looking building across the street...

The mostly paved road, climbs a pass, then contours around 4 huge fjords. I drove 110km/hr most of the way (not much traffic in these parts). The roads are straight along the fjords, but still take a long time to traverse. Great views emerged across the sea and up the peninsula. After 3 hrs, we reach Isafjordur, a charming sea town nestled amidst the mountains, which reminds us of Lofoten, Norway.


We'll be driving out to the farther peninsula in the distance. Remember this pic when you look at the map a couple pictures down...


A look driving down along one of the deep fjords, just to drive all the way back on the other side. Sure is an effort to reach Isafjordur...


View from a rest area along the way...


This map has Isafjordur circled in orange. We drove from the south east, winding in and out of many long fjords. We would end up driving almost all of the dark black roads, reaching Latrabjarg (arrow in bottom left) tomorrow, to view the puffin cliffs...


A look northeast from the rest area...


Finally we reach the last fjord of the day, and see Isafjorder on the north side...


A look at Isafjordur from the end of the fjord (and a guy on a motorbike in the field)...

After ~400 miles of driving today, we've arrived at the biggest town in the Westfjords: Isafjordur (2900 people). Need to find a place to stay. Wendy has been researching guide books and pamphlets all day, and leads us to a few hostels and guesthouses. After checking out 3-4 places, we find a great 2-bed room (sleeping bag required), with a private washbasin, and shared bathrooms/showers/kitchen, for 7000isk (~$54). Great deal! Wendy is very psyched.


There was a courtyard next to our guesthouse. Wendy walks to the blue-roofed guesthouse...

We put the food from the car in the fridge, and walk across town checking out 3 restaurants Wendy has researched. The last restaurant is next to a Folk Museum on the western edge of town, so we make the walk down, passing several blocks of cold/lifeless industrial buildings (which almost convince us nothing interesting could be in the area), when the dull buildings give way to an open pier with several traditional wooden structures around it. Sounds of a joyous feast are eminating from one of the more rustic buildings, and sure enough, this is our targetted destination. The restaurant is serving a seafood buffet, and it looks great! A bit expensive at 4000isk/person ($32), but what a chance to try some fresh Icelandic seafood fare. Despite a filling seafood buffet last night, we go for another tonight, and it is delicious. Great salads, and several varieties of whitefish cooked divinely. And a tasty fish soup. Lots of FISH!


A view of the Folk Museum buildings, with the restaurant being the right most wooden structure...


What a buffet! One of the best ever, with several mouth watering fish dishes...


We were quite happy stumbling upon this eatery...

The master fisherman, a 65 year old classic charicature of a salty old seaman, proudly displayed the latest catch of the evening, a monster catfish with sharp teeth. He saw me with a camera, and waved me into the kitchen, where I watched him filet the whole thing in seconds. This fisherman of legend went on to speak unintelligible Icelandic stories of his exploits, which a young kitchen worker translated to me. He's caught 2.5 tons of fish (not sure over what span of time), and that he's so skilled with his knife that he cuts 6 fishes before anyone else is finished sharpening their blade. He kept sticking the knife out in front of me to admire it, saying it was sharp as a razor, which he showed by cutting a few blades of his hair. I tried conveying amazement in simple English, before returning back to my table. Wow, I certainly got a flavor of life as a fisherman in Isafjord. All the fish at the restaurant was caught from the sea today. We taste it all, but notice the pans are not getting replenished, as the restaureant is soon closing. We fill our bellies well, with what is offered, but missed out on some stuff. In the end, we are given a discount, 2500isk/person, a great deal for such a fine fililng meal! Isafjordur has been a spectacular deal so far.


The head fisherman, and owner of the restaurant, proudly displayed his latest catch, and gave me an intimate kitchen experience. He told several stories about his fishing and knife history (as translated by a young employee)...

We walk back across town, admiring the reflection of the sunlit clouds in the peaceful sea, at 10:30pm. Children are playing on the docks. We feel as though we captured an essence of the enchanting sea town tonight.


Children on a dock outside of the restaurant...


Another view as we start to walk back towards our guesthouse...


We walked all the way to the east edge of town, and took in the views facing the open sea...


Still a bit of sunlight out at 10:30pm...


Time to head back to the guesthouse. The town was small enough to walk anywhere in minutes...

Back at the guesthouse, Wendy makes some tea, and I try one of the Iceland beers I bought at a grocery store earlier (a Pilnser). The beer tastes a lot like Budweiser, and I only drink half of it (I did just come from a buffet). Time to shower and try to get to bed before 1:30am (been hard to do since the trek ended). At least we don't have to plan the itinerary anymore, though still need to find places to stay each night, while we'll have to do on the fly, like today. Spent 50 minutes writing this journal entry. Planning to sleep in, cook breakfast, and spend another day in the Westfjords to see the puffin cliffs tomorrow.

Isafjordur will no doubt be a memorable and enchanting place for us. Would be great to spend another day here, but more Iceland awaits…

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