Our hotel came with breakfast, European breakfast! That means Jon got his favorite salami, cheese, cucumbers and bread. I got my favorite yogurt and muesli or in this case skyr. Plus they had an automatic espresso machine that produced delicious lattes.
STOKKSNES is another black sand beach that we really wanted to go see. It has an iconic mountain range in the background. In fact our hotel had a picture of it hanging above our bed. Unfortunately the day started out rainy and windy due to the storm that was moving in. We drove to the parking lot but could not even see it. We waiting to see if the clouds would clear but they never did so we moved on.
Today was a choose your adventure day… We did not have anything major planned, except to get to Egilsstadir so we could head north in the morning. That did not mean it was a boring day. To get to Egilsstadir we drove through the fjords of East Iceland – mountains on one side and the Norwegian Sea on the other. As luck would have it the clouds gave way to sunny skies and we actually got to enjoy the beautiful scenery. I would’ve been very sad if it would’ve been too cloudy to see.
We didn’t always have to drive around the fjord. Sometimes they carved a tunnel. This one was over 5 km long.
We passed so many waterfalls coming off the mountains there were too many to count. It had been two days since we saw one up close so we decided to change that! We were getting waterfall withdrawal!
SEYÐISFJÖRÐUR is a charming town along a fjord. You can board a ferry and go to Denmark from here. It’s known for the Instagram famous church at the end of the rainbow brick road! We actually drove past the town we are staying to get here. This one is more picturesque! We are only staying at Egilstadir because it will lessen the drive tomorrow. We found one of three restaurants in town for dinner and then headed back over the mountain to our Airbnb. During the 30 minute drive, we put on some Jimmy Buffet music as a tribute. One of his songs, Far Side of the World, is where the title of our blog came from.
We’ve been moving every night. I thought is might get tiresome after awhile but I haven’t minded it at all. It’s been fun to explore a new area each night. It helps that the towns are not that big. The entire population of Iceland is less than Minneapolis. It also helps to stay super organized. I always put everything I take out of my suitcase back in exactly the same place. That way I know where it is each time.
Halfway Round the Planet, Part 2 