I unzipped the tent this morning to a beautifully sunny glacier! It was so fun to just lie there and look at the mountain as I was still curled up in my sleeping bag! Made me happy. This was after a very, very windy night – Darren took his shoe lace to tie two parts of the fly together because they were making so much noise! So, it was a great relief to have so much sun and lack of wind upon awakening!
After brekkie and packing everything up, we headed up the nearby mountain to the waterfall, Svartifoss. It is known as the Black Waterfall because the rocks around it are so black. The rocks around the falls are columnar shaped and look as though they were placed there by hand. It was an easy hike to the falls and we were more or less the only people present! These falls are, by far, my favourite thus far! The waterfall was so peaceful and unique… it had a good ‘feel’ to it!
We started our drive heading East until we hit the ever-so-popular Jökulsarlon. The icebergs from this glacier-filled lake come from the glacier Breidamerkurjokull. There were a tonne of floating icebergs in the bay and several that were floating out towards the ocean. It was a spectacular sight to s
ee! We then walked along the black sand beach and saw many “beached” glaciers that were sparkling away in the sun. They looked like cracked glass lying on the black sand. It was pretty cool. We also lucked out and saw a bunch of seals that were wave-diving near the shore. They were obviously having a great time! Definitely way too cold for me to be playing in the water!!
Around 1pm or so we stopped in the little town of Hofn. This cute little town has a population of 1600 and is one of the few harbour towns in the southeast. Our marvellous book suggested a few restaurants, and because it was so cute and we didn’t want to leave, we decided to eat lunch/dinner (aka Linner or Lupper) at Kaffi Hornid. It was a spectacular meal! Laogostina (sp) is a speciality here…lobster! So, we decided that it was just going to have to be a pricy meal! The restaurant was located in this cute wooden cabin-like building, it was wonderfully warm and cozy, and they let us charge batteries in their power outlets! All good things. I had the lobster pasta with homemade bread and I thought I actually was going to die it was so absolutely incredible! The sauce was amazing and there was so much lobster in my pasta dish, I couldn’t even count it! The most amazing 30$ on seafood I think I have ever had. Darren had a lobster and salad on a bun thing that looked equally amazing. We also both had hot chocolate (which they do incredibly well here) and were so stuffed when we left…seriously the best food ever!
More driving along the ocean presented a bay with hundreds of swans! We decided that we should get a closer look at them, so we hopped a barbed-wire fence and headed towards the ocean. There were a dozen or more streams to cross and by the time we reached the ocean, the birds had swum away (duh!). The funniest part was that over the next corner, there was a look-out over the bay, where there were a tonne more swans, all within perfect photo range! At least we got a good walk, I suppose!
We drove for another couple of hours in order to reach our destination for this evening, a tiny town called Djupivogur. It is a fishing village located on the edge of one of the fjords and there are probably no more than 20 families living here! Of course, there is a pool and a camp ground. We walked around the town after our swim and discovered that the local supermarket is open for one hour a day – except on Saturdays, when it is open for two hours. It is a great campsite, however, with a sitting area and a kitchen inside! It is nice to have a couch for an evening!
There are interesting people at our campsite this evening. Because everyone is hanging out inside, using the kitchen facilities, we have run into a few more people than we normally do. One couple is from Holland. They came over from the ferry that goes from the Eastern Fjords to Denmark once weekly and have been cycling for the past 4 weeks! The wind here is horrific; I definitely wouldn’t want to be cycling in this! The guy said that they cycled for 8 hours today and only went 60km! That’s pretty intense. They have the coolest tent – the front wheel of the bike comes off and the tent is supported by the seat of the bike as the forks of the bike are used to support it on the ground. Pretty cool.
We bought a Toblerone and pop for dessert today…off to enjoy with our indoor comforts!
Later
-Allison
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