Justins World

We woke up to sunshine and a panoramic view of four glaciers. The overnight rain had passed and all was well in Iceland. We drove down to the harbour for a view of the glaciers and the boats.   We then headed back into town to grab some last minute skyr and a pastry.  I’ve become addicted to skyr.  Its kind of like yoghurt but more of a curdled milk product, its like an ice cream without the ice. Hard to describe, but I bought three more for the next three days and they may not be enough.

We then headed to a headland just north of Hofn called Stokksnes.  We found an amazing black sand beach and a headland being smashed upon by rough seas.  It was serene and stunning.  The black beach also had sand and not pebbles, the reality is the whole coastline of Iceland is probably black due to the volcanic origins on the island.

Also at Stokksnes besides the Viking cafe and toilets, was an old viking film set. The lady said someone was going to use it and fix it up for a film next year.  In some ways the years of weathering probably makes it look more authentic.  When you look at the stunning scenery around the film set its easy to understand why they filmed here.

We jumped back into the car and we headed to the Eastern Fjords of Iceland. At this stage it was 12pm and we could still see Hofn across the bay.  We also had not had lunch and almost 2 hours later we found the town of Djúpivogur for lunch.  We stopped at the first place with a short sprint to get inside and order before a tour bus unloaded tourist hell on us.  Worse still it was a french tourist bus and they seem to have great difficulty as so few speak English and generally cause chaos and confusion.  Lunch was edible, but nothing great, I’ve had three days of Icelandic hamburgers for lunch.  I’m not complaining, but the variety is lacking in some of these places.

We kept driving around the coastline, which was stunning but potentially monotonous by driving into a fjord and around up the other side before driving into the next fjord.  The excitement came when I saw two reindeer running along a beach in the fjord.  Unfortunately there was no where to pullover to photograph this marvel of nature.  Back to the fjord driving, the last one was made easier by using the 5.9km tunnel straight through to our destination of Reyðarfjörður (I have no idea how to pronounce it).

Our hosts in out AirBnb are a lovely Icelander-Costa Rican couple with 4 cats to keep us company. They cooked us a delicious dinner and its a change with fighting for the bathroom in a guesthouse.  We have 2 nights coming up on a wifi-free farm, so you might get some free time from me for a few days!