One thing about Iceland – they don’t make it easy with the names !
We are in the east of Iceland now after a mostly driving day – but certainly not without more fantastic scenery. Weather-wise, we had the best of it in the early part of the day and even that was without a lot of sun. But I think that’s the thing about Iceland – you won’t get too many days the same which in some ways just changes the type of awesome experience on the day !
After a good breakfast in the hotel (and thankfully hot water in the room as they had run out last night !), there was a relatively short drive to our first stop – the Stokksnes peninsula. This was basically just a farm originally and then a movie set of a Viking village was built on the land. The movie was never actually shot so they just decided to open the area to visitors – probably more lucrative than the farming ! The setting is below a gigantic mountain – Vestrahorn and the black sand bay just adds to the location !
Driving into Vestrahorn – looking back at the glacier
The Viking film set under Vestrahorn mountain
Looking across the black sand bay to Vestrahorn
And a great movie location it is 😁 – if you haven’t seen the film, click here to have a look.
Leaving Stokksnes, we drove through a long tunnel through the mountain and not long after came across a rather unique attraction – a very large red chair sitting on a rocky outcrop ! Mind you, sitting on the chair and just taking in the view is probably not a bad way to go !
Not a bad view !
The drive today stuck mainly to the coast and with the large fjords cutting into the coast made getting what are really short distances a long drive around the edges – however the scenery is not too shabby ! Our next stop was the little town of Djupivogur – a small fishing village. In town is an art installation – 34 huge granite eggs which represent the eggs of each of the nesting birds in the area. Many are migrating birds which fly to Iceland to lay their eggs.
We took the opportunity to have a bit of lunch here – a tasty goulash soup and bread hit the spot for a cold day ! The building housing the restaurant – Langabud – is an historic log building dating back to the late 1700’s.
The rest of the drive was fairly wet however the low cloud around the mountains made for some great viewing along the way. At one stage after hugging the coast for a long period of time, we headed inland through the mountains – and at one stage literally “through the mountain”, through a 6 kilometer long tunnel !
The view across the mouth of one of the fjords
Our final destination was Seyðisfjörður. The town sits at the innermost point of a fjord and the way in and out by road is over Fjarðarheiði mountain pass which connects Seyðisfjörður to the rest of Iceland. Not that we could see much on the way in – we had stopped at Egilsstadir on the other side of the mountain to collect some dinner provisions and the rain and fog just got thicker as we got higher up the mountain. Our AirBNB apartment is very nice – The Old School House – and comfortable.
Our Seydisfjordur AirBNB – the lower level of the Old School House
More tomorrow …
Today’s Tour Trivia – Owning a pet snake, lizard or turtle is against the law in Iceland
I’m enjoying comparing your photography with Adrienne’s – you both have very different viewpoints which I’m loving. The tour trivia is golden!!!