Day 3 - The Sickening Amount of Kodak Moments in the Eastfjords and the Douchebag Truckers of Iceland

Day 3

Svartifoss, Jökulsárlón, Hot-pots in Hoffell, Djúpivogur and Seyðisfjörður



Svartifoss

We woke up the next morning at Skaftafell, enjoying the view of the mountain peaks yet again. Before we left, we decided to head into the Vatnajökull National Park to see Svartifoss, or the Black Falls. After a short hike early in the morning we arrived at the waterfall. Quite the black view.

 We took the usual foss-selfi and headed back. Another waterfall passed on the way, but this one much smaller and less impressive. (As can be seen on our foss-selfi.)


Disgust with the inferior fall.

The first destination of the day would be that of the Glacier Lagoon, Jökulsárlón in Icelandic. (Pure mumbo-jumbo.) The drive was filled with the characteristic landscape of South Iceland, big mountain peaks and glaciers on the left and endless plains on the right.
We arrived at the Glacier Lagoon and went out to explore the mysterious Lagoon. To be honest, the Jökulsárlón is just a lake with big chunks of ice from the nearby glacier floating around. That is it. But I'd be damned if it wasn't some of the most entrancing scenery I've seen in Iceland.
The ice chunks had a magical blue light and we enjoyed a walk around the lakeside and then left.

Glacier Lagoon, chunks of ice in water. Simple.

We drove off towards the East Fjords, but we didn't really have any destination in mind. All we knew was that we really didn't wanna pay for a campsite again, but we didn't wanna get hunted down either.
Before we left Reykjavik I had went into full planning mode with very large maps and a plethora of guide books. Jakob did not share my enthusiasm regarding this aspect of the trip. I had, however, listed every single natural hot-pot on my map on beforehand and we were nearing one of them. So we stopped at Hoffell, a small little village in the middle of nothing. Vast emptiness towards the ocean and the mountains on our sides. We found the amazing hot-pots, consisting of a couple of small hot pools with a shack for changing. We relaxed in the hot water to the sound of the wind and banter from a couple of American tourists.

"Where the midnight sun and the hot springs flow."

The South had risen and we were ready to leave it behind in all its nature-filled glory. The mountains started getting darker and darker and suddenly we were driving through a tunnel and then we were in the East Fjords!
The road was carved into the mountain side as we drove with the blue ocean on our right side and crippling heights at our left.

We arrived at Djúpivogur, a small town by the sea and found a café to rest and obtain the much needed Wi-Fi. After a cop of coffee and a Panini, we moved on towards wherever we could sleep. 

It's a long way down if you wanna drive fast.


What followed next can be described as driving through one big fucking National Geographic shoot. We were presented with a sickening amount of picture opportunities. (Something which I took use of too many times, straight out of the car window while driving.)


Jakob inspecting the damages of the Douchebag Truckers of Iceland

It was like driving through the collected Instagram photos of a thousand tourists. The beauty was amazing as we drove along the big wide fjords in the most lovely weather. We were assured that grand beauty like this could not last. And it did not.
Suddenly we noticed huge dust clouds on the other side of the fjord. The car hit gravel road as the big object was closing in. Then it hit us, a huge truck train, (several trucks) was headin' our way with at least 100kmh on damn gravel road. The gravel was flying through the air like bullets as the first one passed us. And our paranoia for our windshield grew for each passing truck. The douchebag truckers of Iceland showed no damn remorse for our poor Red Shark.

We found it interesting how we were not passed by any trucks until that point, like it was some kind of East Icelandic Conspiracy. (Tinfoil hat off.)
The rest of the trip proceeded with amazing views of the Fjords and trying to avoid splatting sheep. Those pesky animals just waited for the chance to end their life at our poor car's expense. The reindeer we saw were more cautious.

Money shot

We finally hit the road that led into the country and away from the amazing reindeer-filled Fjords, but we did not miss it for long. Soon after we hit the main city (a small town in any other country) Egilsstadir, and turned East again for the small quirky village of Seyðisfjörður. (Also the place where the ferries from Norway and Denmark arrives.)


Driving down to the village of Seyðisfjörður

To get there we drove way too high up (Us Danes have a small tolerance for heights.) to cross what seemed to be a mountain. The view from the top was breathtaking looking down into the valley of Egillstadir with the sun setting over the mountains.
We started driving down the slopes to Seyðisfjörður late evening (23:00). We arrived at the small town and decided to drive out of town on the southern road to find a good (Meaning free) camping site. Thanks to Jakob's excellent ability to stop the car at the right place, we found a superb spot. (All this despite my growing fear of being hunted away by a crazy shotgun-wielding Icelandic farmer or having the tent eaten by sheep. Actually both.)
We settled down for the night at the Fjords and cooked the usual Tex-Mex pot. (At this point we were practically living off snacks and rice, adulting the right way!)
Next morning would lead us Beyond the Wall up to Northern Iceland

Our campsite for the night, beautiful and free! (Don't inform the authorities about that)