We headed off South to a town called Stadur, where our non-English-Speaking-campsite monitor indicated we could stop at the N1 gas station to get more information on the Western Fjords. The lady who helped us at the gas station was beyond any expectations I had
and provided us with great advice and info! I had wanted to drive a bit up into the fjords and then take a ferry onto one of the branches where it is almost entirely a national park. However, the tourist seasons seems to have ended last week, so a lot of sites, restaurants, and ferries are shutting down! So, the ferry that I had wanted to take is no longer running…she did suggest a route for us to take in order to tackle the Snaefellsnes peninsula.
After a few hours of driving along the coast, we reached the town of Stykkisholmur. The town was rather cute and had two excellent looking restaurants: one that was closed (probably for the winter) and the other was so busy they weren’t really concerned about us at all! Oh well! We had a lovely lunch of stoners and tubes in a farmer’s field instead! It was kind of funny, actually, because not long after we parked, a herd of cows came up to check us out and walked around the car! Ironic as we were eating beef jerkey!
Before leaving the town, we stopped in a Lion’s Club run shop. The locals have a handicraft store, where the prices are much more reasonable than most of the other shops that we have visited. After much deliberation, I ended up buying these 4 glass plates each with a picture of a flower, puffin, horse, and mountain (actually the Snaefellnes glacier) on them. Cute little dessert plates – and I actually made up my mind because the artist was in the store – I am such a sucker
for meeting the people who make these things!
We also visited Helgafell, or “Holy Mountain”. It is a 73m high hill that, if climbed not looking back or speaking, will grant three wishes to the climber! The wishes have to be made facing East, at the grave of Gudrun Osvifursdottir. She is the heroine of the Laxdaela Saga and lived out her last years here as a hermit. The view from the top was lovely, as it overlooked the Breidafjordur bay. There are about 2700 islands in the bay! It would have been a little better if it hadn’t been so windy or cloudy, but we did our wish-hike none-the-less!
Because it was only just after noon, we decided to continue on to the next town along the peninsula, Grundarfjordur. It was rainy, cold, and the campsite looked uninviting, so we proceeded onto the next town, Olafsvik. It is one of the larger communities with just over 1000 people! The town was actually established as a trading town in 1687. The wind was not that great here, either, but the camp site has great facilities and there is a pool in town, so we decided to stay.
After setting up our tent in the least windy location we could find, we headed off to the pool. It was an interesting experience, as it looked like it was previously a gymnasium – the wood panneling was still on the walls, and I am sure that the hot tub was located in what was formerly a storage closet of some sort! It was an impressive re-model! The pool itself was only about 15m long, but they had good equipment, so I was able to get some lengths in! I am definitely starting to miss my work-outs!
It is now raining, and we are sitting in a restaurant for dinner (better than cooking in the rain and wind at the campsite!)…we’ve been hanging out here for over an hour because the kitchen didn’t open until 6pm! Ahhh…small towns! Quite the experience!
Hopefully another dose of awesome seafood for dinner!
Later
-Allison
No comments:
Post a Comment