Iceland Trip

Friday, July 24, 2015

Day 13 - Isafjordur and its surroundings

Today we decided that we would spend it visiting the town of Isafjordur and its surroundings.

Our breakfasts in Iceland are usually one of our stronger meals and we have been pleased with the level of choice and quality of the offer.

In this specific hotel they even had something we both used to have when we were young. It is supposed to be very good for you. As we never cared for it and we did. To have our parents making us take it, we have it a miss ...

As we walked the town we were struck again by the beautiful colors that abound and the diversity of the landscape. We clicked away ...

As we were walking we saw a sign pointing to a photography exhibition and we went into this warehouse that part had been restored and part was still under construction and saw the different works being exhibited.

We even met one of them that was also preparing prawn cocktails for the visitors.

We had heard about tourists from crew ships taking pictures of houses in Isafjordur, activity that, it seems,is not very pleasing to the locals.

We could not resist it as the houses are so well taken care of, that they scream "Picture, please". We obliged ...

We also went into the local bookstore, bakery and general purpose store.

It was time for lunch and we found a restaurant that as I was entering, I saw these two guys having chicken wings.

So we asked for an Icelandic soup to share, wings for me and fish for Paula. We had seen in Tripadvisory that this restaurant had a very good Icelandic soup. We liked it a lot.

We then went back to hotel, put on our motorcycle clothes and made our way south to the town of Sudavik where we wanted to visit the Artic fox center. We had been told that they had a 6-week old fox that had been captured after its family had been killed by hunters.

We really enjoyed this visit where we met the pup but also had opportunity to learn more about this animal that was on way to extinction but its population is now more stabilized.

We specially enjoyed talking to the young volunteers that come from all parts of the world to help in this center. They told us that in Novemeber of the year before the volunteering opportunities are put on the Internet and they are filled pretty quickly by people that want to travel to learn more about Iceland and of course help in this cause. Fascinating ...

We highly recommend a stop at this center.

The hot chocolate and waffles are great !

The center closes at 6pm but they serve food and let you stay there a bit longer. We left at about 6:45pm and it was starting to drizzle.

But we did not feel like going back to hotel so fast so we decided to ride to Bolungarvik which is the northerst town in the Westfjords.

It was a short and as usual interesting ride and we stopped to see at a distance the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve. We also learned about the greatest marine disaster in Iceland that happened not too far away of where we were at.

Another thing we noticed was a very big wall that separates the town from the mountain. It is a 710m snow avalanche barrier.

As we were leaving the town we noticed what looked like a nice place to see. It is the museum at Osvor.

After spending some excellent time enjoying nature at Osvor, we made our way back to Isafjordur and took some pics before entering the tunnel ...

Another outstanding day !

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Thursday, July 23, 2015

Day 12 - Hvammstangi to Isafjordur

Today we are quite excited as we will be entering the Westfjords. Since we have been preparing this trip we have heard that although the whole of Iceland is very beautiful, the Westfjords are unique.

They are off the normal beaten path for tourists so we expect to ride for many kms most of the time by ourselves. We also know that there are more gravel roads in this part of Iceland so we will need to be more careful with our riding and travel will also take longer as we usually reduce speed significantly on gravel roads to minimize bumps impacts.

So we woke up early and made our way from our cottage to the main house where we had a good breakfast. We also spoke with owners about living in Iceland and learned a number of things. One of the most interesting facts is that because of its volcanic nature, very hot water is available everywhere so majority of Iceland houses do not warm their water but rather have to cool it down as water comes out of the ground boiling hot. That also means that houses are set up with water heaters and thus heating is very cheap. On the other hand hot water usually has a strong sulphuric odor and the best way not to smell it is to have cold showers ...

We were also quite impressed to find towels made in Portugal ...

But before we left we took some pics as by the porch enjoying the fjord.

This area of Iceland is also well known because of its horses.

The Icelandic horse is a breed of horse developed in Iceland. Icelandic horses are long-lived and hardy. In their native country they have few diseases; Icelandic law prevents horses from being imported into the country and exported animals are not allowed to return. The breed is still used for traditional sheepherding work in its native country, as well as for leisure, showing, and racing.

Last night as we had past the town, Paula had spotted a woolen factory so before leaving Hvammstangi we went to see it.

"With Iceland being situated between the Atlantic and the Arctic Oceans, it is quite obvious that the weather is fairly cold.

Even though the Gulf Stream makes Iceland warmer, it is still cold and there is a large industry of wool makers and a large knitwear industry. Years of rearing sheep, producing wool, and creating knitwear, has helped make Iceland one of the greatest destinations for high-quality wool products.

One of the finest producers of wool products and knitwear is the Kidka Company, which is based in Hvammstangi. The production methods used by Kidka have been passed down from generation to generation over many years."

The wind had picked up dramatically. Actually we got the strongest winds of our trip in this area of Iceland. As we made our way first south and then further west, as usual, the views changed very rapidly. Blue skies turned to cloudy sky and back again to blue skies. And as expected, road conditions changed and gravel became more the norm and even asphalt roads were not as good quality. Sometimes we ride for miles and miles without seeing a car.

For lunch we stopped at Holmavik and warmed up.

The rest of the afternoon we thoroughly enjoyed riding the West Fjords. The landscape is impressive, with its winding roads along the various fjords. In earlier times, there were quite some farms in this area, but the distances in this area are rather large and there is not much flat land, which makes farming rather difficult. So nowadays there are no farms anymore in this area, it is mostly uninhabited.

We rode along the Strandir coast, an area with some agriculture. This area is also famous for the quantities of driftwood that are found along the coast.