Tyler Reporting:
Our rental outside of Hofn, like our previous residence, was one of several small, identical pre-fab feeling cabins. This seems to be a common arrangement for Icelandic rentals these days, and as we continued around the Ring Road we noticed little clumps of identical cabins sprouting like mushrooms across the countryside. Presumably it is an easy way for people to make some extra money with their property, and help Iceland's rapidly developing tourist infrastructure.
These particular cabins, unlike the previous ones, were clean and modern inside. In addition, they sat on a small bluff, overlooking scenic landscape that would only make itself visible a day later when clouds finally bean to lift.
Our second cabin rental, and the view on the last day we were there.
Day 3:
Since this was our first day where we didn't need to be on the road, we decided to use it as an opportunity to rest of up a bit and explore around Hofn.
Our first destination saw Hofn's community pool. As people who read our previous Iceland entries might remember, one of our favorite parts of visiting Reykjavik was our near-daily trips to the local community pool. With a near unlimited supply of thermally heated water, pool culture is a central part of Icelandic culture. Pretty much every town larger than a couple hundred people has a community pool, generally featuring several hot tubs (hot pots) at different temperatures, a lap pool, kiddy pool and often a water slide or two. And Hofn was no exception.
As we'd hoped and expected, the kids loved our visit to the Hofn pool. While Sarah and I relaxed and soaked in the hot pots, the kids played and tookk countless trips down the water slides. Ok, maybe I did the water slides, too. In fact, the pool was such a hit, that promised visits to community pools would become the carrot that we'd use to entice the kids to make it through a day of sightseeing. "If you just let us take a look at this boring lavafield, we'll go to the pool this evening."
Because cameras aren't allowed inside the pools, though, you'll have to just imagine what they looked like. Just imagine if the YMCA designed a water park.
After our pool time, we took a 15 minute drive down the coast to Vesterhorn Mountain. Located on Stokkes Peninsula, Vesterhorn's serrated peaks rising dramatically from the black sand beaches are the source of countless iconic tourist photos of Iceland. But, as had been the case on the previous day, the clouds hung low like some sort of wooly dropped ceiling. So, our photos looked a little more like this...
Still, even without the dramatic mountains as a backdrop, the dark sand beaches, with their green grass-topped dunes, and the steel-grey seas made for some striking, moody exploring.
Definite edge-of-the-world vibes.
In addition to the natural views, the Vesterhorn beach features a Viking village. Not an actual village, but apparently a movie set. The village had been built for a movie that was going to be filmed here, but was aborted at the start of the pandemic. Now it serves more as a tourist attraction, allowing for some striking photos itself; and apparently it was featured in an episode of The Witcher.
Almost feels like stepping back in time... if you ignore the tractor parked just outside.
Soggy and cold, it was time to head back to Hofn, and warm up with dinner at Otto Matur & Drykkur. "Matur & Drykkur" means "food and drink." But, with Otto's name, and the opportunity to make "Otto mature" jokes... how could we pass it up.
Otto, looking very matur ...er, mature.
Sarah snapped this picture of one of the tables in Otto Matur & Drykkur which helps show the simple, yet considered, feel that was indicative of a lot of the places we visited on our trip.
We our bellies full of food, and fading quickly from a long day and lingering jet lag, we returned to the cabin to crash.
Day 4:
That morning, the clouds finally broke (see the cabin picture above), and it was time to hit the road again. Saying goodbye to our cabin, we climbed aboard the Rifter and hit the road, passing Vesterhorn and driving through what we thought was an impressively long tunnel (but at 1.3km long, it would only be the fourth most impressive tunnel), and began making our way up the East Coast.
This day's driving was dominated by one thing: Fjords. Lots of fjords. In and out of fjords. It wasn't uncommon to round a corner and the tip of a new fjord, look across at cars driving down the far side and think "well, there's where we'll be in 45 minutes or so." The whole time, dramatic mountains always rising to our left and ocean below us to our right.
Some of the striking mountain on the first half of the drive.
Sarah (and a distant Stella) with some of the coast spreading out behind them.
The Rifter and I, striking a dramatic pose to match the dramatic scenery.
While researching Iceland on Atlas Obscura, I remembered seeing and entry on a mysterious red chair mounted on a rock on a remote stretch of highway, so I probably surprised Sarah and the kids a bit when I suddenly announced "oh look! The chair!" I think that, ultimately, its a bit of tricky advertising by a nearby guesthouse, but it still makes a fun photo op.
The chair!
The East Coast of Iceland is dotted with this modest and brightly colored lighthouses. Needing an excuse to stretch out legs, we decided to hike out to this one.
Then it was time to drive through the third most impressive tunnel of the trip (5.9km long), before making the final push to our destination town of Eskifjörður. Arriving a little early to town, we decided to reward the kids with a trip to Eskifjörður's community pool. Then, refreshed, we checked in to our super cute, little red cabin which sat right at the fjord's edge. Quaint, clean with a stunning view, and a hot tub that looked like a boat, it may have been my favorite place we stayed in Iceland. It even had a semi-tamed artic fox living on the property.
Our cabin. You can't beat the location.
Never one to say no to a good pool, Otto tries out the hot tub boat.
The artic fox, which the kids named Rapscallion. It's not often you have a fox run up to greet you, when you arrive at a guest house.
Dinner that evening was just a quick walk down the waterfront to an old fishing building turned restaurant and museum, Randulf's Sea House. They specialized in locale cuisine, like reindeer and puffin, and provided Otto with a chance to try
Hákarl (fermented shark). The Hákarl wasn't as pungent as I remembered it from my previous time trying it, but Otto definitely was more a fan of the dried fish flakes (think fish jerky).
Otto with a piece of Hakarl. Definitely skeptical.
With dinner in us, it was off to bed. Tomorrow would bring another day of driving, this time crossing inland and headed to the Northern coast.
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