From East Fjords to Höfn
- Day: Sunday, July 02
- Weather: Sun, 21 °C
- Distance in kilometers: 600 km
We set off to cross the Eastern Fjords, and on the way, we passed through a succession of charming villages: Reyðafjöður, Eskifjörður, and Neskaupstaður. We then made a short stop at Fáskrúðsfjöður, the most French of the Icelandic villages.
In fact, Fáskrúðsfjöður was built by French fishermen, and today, all street signs in the village have two languages, French/Icelandic. The town is even home to a commemorative museum dedicated to French fishermen.
Taking advantage of the sunshine, we had a lunch break in Breiðalsvík, enjoying sandwiches on the seafront (even though we were getting tired of skinka!). After the break, we hit the road again towards Höfn, such a peaceful drive that we even came across a reindeer grazing alone in a meadow just one meter from Road 1...
With such strong wind blowing, the reindeer didn't even seem to notice our presence, so we were free to take photos and film the beautiful creature. Later, the reindeer decided to cross the road in front of our car, so we had to wait while other intrigued tourists stopped to photograph him.
As the wind was blowing strongly, it was time to leave. I couldn't even hold my camera steady! We then made a short stop at the pretty church of Stafafell, which was surrounded by trees.
In the afternoon, we arrived in Höfn, left our things at the hotel, and then went for another walk. There wasn't much of interest in Höfn, so we decided to venture a bit further. We went to the glacial tongue of Fláajökull and continued to Jökulsarlón. The sun was half hidden and the strong wind was freezing.
But Jökulsarlón's colors were as magical as ever. It was almost 7PM when we decided to return to Höfn to eat, but on the way, we couldn't resist stopping at another local natural wonder: Skallafellsjökull.
The road wasn't in great condition, and we recommend a 4X4 as there were some challenging uphills and steep descents, especially when we saw the cliff and the potential fall... But with the right vehicle it was worth it as this glacier tongue is impressive, and you can even take snowmobile rides from there.
All these efforts had made us hungry! It was 9:00PM when we arrived in Höfn and stopped at the Hornið café to savor a delicious dish of lobster pasta (about 2,000 ISK).
