Delving into the Dragon’s Dominion

With the start of a new job I have a new work schedule which allows for more time off and therefore more time to explore this mystical island. I now own a car (a 2006 Ford Escape) which means there are plenty more road trips planned for the future.

Now for a little bit of local advice: the best way to get around Iceland is with your own car. Public buses can be spotty at best and also very expensive (>$100USD from Reykjavík to Akureyri one way!), so hiring a car and splitting the costs with friends is the ideal way to travel and see the most of this country. Not only that, but it allows you to stop whenever and wherever you want – believe me you’ll want to do this because the scenery in some of the less travelled regions is breath-taking!

The first place we visited on my days off was the eastern region of Iceland.  This was not the first choice of destination – we originally planned to see the Snæfellsnes peninsula but as with most things in Iceland, the weather made the decision for us! The eastern region of Iceland looked to have the best weather (read: sunshine instead of constant clouds and rain), so we headed eastwards. This last week on the South Coast has been rather overcast and dreary so a break in the clouds and rain was more than overdue for us.

The name of this blog post is inspired by the guardian of eastern Iceland. Iceland has been traditionally broken up into four regions: North, South, East and West. Each region has it’s own ‘protector’ or ‘guardian’. The guardian of the eastern part of Iceland is the dragon. More information on this can be found here.

We began our trip on Saturday and headed out east passing through Vík to grab some fuel and camping supplies before beginning our journey proper. After stocking up we pulled onto the Nr. 1 road towards Kirkjubæjarklaustur. The drive from Vík to Kirkjubæjarklaustur is quite scenic, lots of mountains and black sand as well as moss-covered lava fields. Very extraterrestrial. We tanked up in Kirkjubæjarklaustur then headed further east towards Skaftafell in the Vatnajökull National Park. The scenery in this area of the country just keeps getting better and better. Taller peaks, bigger glaciers and extensive glacial flood plains that stretch out along the horizon as far as the eye can see. We made two quick stops at two different glacial lagoons along the way. The first stop at Fjallsárlón (English: Mountain Lagoon) and the second at the more famous Jökulsárlón (English: Glacier Lagoon), which is also where the well known Diamond Beach is located. The Diamond Beach is the coastal shoreline where Jökulsárlón drains into the ocean. At low tide one can be fortunate enough to find many smaller icebergs from the lagoon dotted along the shoreline giving an incredible contrast between pitch black volcanic sand and blueish-white ice.

After a much needed leg stretch and stroll around the lagoons we jumped back into the car and continued our drive along the Nr. 1 road. The next stop was the surprisingly large harbour town of Höfn. Majestic mountains surround this quaint town which is situated on a peninsula on the southeastern part of the island. Being a harbour town you can be sure that one of their biggest industries here is fishing, which they make a fortune off of! I can vouch for this firsthand after eating at one of the langoustine restaurants in town. A full langoustine meal will cost you 7900kr or roughly $80USD – and that’s just the meal! We didn’t go all out on the food here but rather just stuck with a simple langoustine baguette and langoustine pizza – both absolutely delectable – I would highly recommend this little restaurant to anyone stopping through here.

Following the early dinner we continued our travels further eastwards along the Nr. 1 road, which barely clings to the eastern coast of the island. Stark cliffs and beautiful fjords await you as you drive through this part of the country. We stopped briefly in a small town called Djúpivogur, which has some very curious egg sculptures. Next, we drove around the fjords and through another small town called Breiðdalsvík. Not much happening here other than fishing! We continued on through another small town called Stöðvarfjörður, which is most well known for it’s rock and mineral collection started by an old Icelandic woman. At this point we were getting tired so we made the decision to just drive on a little further and find a nice place by the fjord to pull in and set up camp.

We drove for another 20 minutes until we reached a picturesque little gravel road next to Fáskrúðsfjörður. We set up camp here – and by that I mean we put down our car seats, rolled out our mattresses inside the car and drifted off to sleep while the wind howled outside our 4×4!

The next morning we woke up, snacked a little then continued northwards along the main road towards our final destination: Egilsstaðir. This is the largest town in east Iceland and is right in the middle of a crossroads, which makes it convenient to get around to some of the fjords further east, such as Seyðisfjörður – where one can take a ferry to the Faroe Islands and Denmark. The Nr. 1 road of course continues through the town here but it’s at this point where you start to head more westwards rather than north and enter the northern part of the country. During our stop in Egilsstaðir we ate lunch at a gas station that has been converted into an American style diner from the 50s. The food and decor were spot on, however the service left a little to be desired.

After our meal we got on the road again and drove around Egilsstaðir to see what else the town had to offer before heading back south down the Nr. 1. Rather than just retracing our steps, we decided to take a ‘scenic shortcut’ through the mountains to bypass all the winding fjord roads. Travelling south out of Egilsstaðir we took the 95 road which eventually met up with the 939 or “Öxi” road as it is known. This is of course unpaved and basically a gravel track cut through the mountains, which means the scenery is truly out of this world. We passed by rivers, waterfalls, mountains and huge snow banks that had yet to melt out despite it being almost summer! Once we completed our climb uphill we were greeted with a spectacular view down the valley and into one of the many fjords on the east coast. Many pictures were taken from this vantage point before we hopped back into the car and joined back up to the Nr. 1 road for our return journey back south.

We stopped briefly in Höfn to pick up some groceries and fill up the car before continuing the long drive back home. The original plan was to drive all the way back home rather than camp another night, however we found a great spot to pull over on the south coast just outside of Vík, nestled between moss-covered lava fields. We fired up the grill and made some pylsur (Icelandic hot dogs) for dinner. The following day we packed up the car again and drove ourselves back home for some well deserved rest after our three day cross-country crusade.

I can’t wait for the next mission in October where we plan to complete the full ring road of the island so stay tuned!

Jökulsárlón

Höfn

Jökulsárlón

Grillin’ and chillin’

One of the horses not to be fed!

Diamond Beach

The east coast (South)

Fjallsárlón

Tiny orange lighthouse

Our chariot

Fjallsárlón

Snowbanks on the Öxi road

Jökulsárlón

The east coast (North)

Breiðdalsvík in the distance

Reindeer!

Tiny boat in Jökulsárlón

Bridge crossing at Jökulsárlón

The view from the top of the Öxi road

Mossy lava fields

Skaftafell

Egg sculptures

Langoustine baguette

Höfn harbour

Contemplation

Diamond Beach

The money shot

Straight to the point

Behind the scenes