When we left the Westman Islands, our route took us across the rest of the south coast and then up the east coast, eventually to Akureyri in the northeast. Due to lodging availability, we needed to make the trip faster than we typically travel, which means that Sunday included a lot of sites. And wow – we both agreed at the end of the day that it may have been one of the most scenic travel days we have ever had.
Our ferry out of the Westman Islands left right on time at 9am and dropped us back on the mainland a little after 9:30. It was very foggy so we couldn’t really see anything as we crossed back to the mainland. Our first stop of the day was Skogafoss. Iceland has thousands of waterfalls all over the country and this is one of the more famous ones. It has nice views from below and then there are around 500 steps to climb to a platform to see it from the top. It was a nice start to the day.
After Skogafoss, we drove five minutes further and did a short hike to Kvernufoss. This one has gorgeous scenery as you make your way to the falls and it also has the rare benefit of being able to walk behind these falls. This is one of our favorite waterfalls we have seen anywhere in the country – just amazing scenery. See if you can find me behind the falls in one of the pictures.
We packed peanut butter sandwiches for the day – you never know when you’ll find food along the way and it helps the budget, so it all works out well on travel days like this. Our next stop was intended to be Dryholaey with great views along the coast and a picturesque arch in the sea, but today it was just too foggy to see anything. Onward to the next stop where we had our sandwiches and then hiked out to see Fjadrargljufur Canyon. This is a beautiful gorge formed during the Ice Age two million years ago. Have I mentioned how stunning this country’s scenery is? I mean it never ends.
After the canyon, we came to maybe our favorite natural site we’ve seen in Iceland to this point. It’s called Jokulsarlon and is commonly referred to as Diamond Beach. There is a lake that is filled with icebergs broken off the nearby glacier and then the current takes the icebergs and smaller chunks of ice through an outlet down to the sea. The icebergs can take up to five years to melt. Some of those chunks of ice wash up on the beach and the whole area is just stunning. We absolutely loved it!
We stopped for dinner at Hafid Bistro in the fishing village of Djupivogur. Kevin and Jenn ate here a couple of weeks ago and sent us a picture of the fish n chips. It looked so good, we had to try it. It did not disappoint. Great stop and perfect timing. We pulled into our AirBnB apartment in Eskifjordur at 9:45pm (still plenty light out).
Today, we continued to make our way around to Akureyri. We left a little after 10am and stopped at a nearby bakery to have a chocolate croissant, cinnamon roll, hot chocolate, and pomegranate tea for breakfast. We had two waterfall stops on our route today. The first was actually two falls in the same general area. Dettifoss Falls is one of the strongest falls in all of Europe. Lots of spray.
Less than a kilometer away, we walked to Selfoss to enjoy those just a little further upriver from Dettifoss.
We stopped in the town of Reykjahid for lunch. We wanted to grab sandwiches at one of the gas stations but they must have been sold out because we couldn’t find what we were looking for. There was a great little restaurant called Gamli Baerinn. They had a soup bar and bread. One soup was Icelandic Lamb Soup and the other was Vegetable Curry Soup – both very good and the bread was excellent.
Our last stop before arriving in Akureyri was the Godafoss waterfall. You would think they all start to run together but they don’t. They all have unique characteristics and always leave a lasting impression.
We arrived at our Akureyri home a little before 6pm and went grocery shopping. For dinner, we made kind of a chicken stir-fry with chicken breasts, onions, and orange peppers and we also had blueberries. Sandy left me to my own devices and I managed to get the oil hot enough and the apartment smoky enough that I triggered the smoke alarm. We got it to stop though – no harm, no foul.
It was a rather incredible two days of travelling along the Ring Road and it’s nice to now be in one spot for a little more than a week.