So, on the first day, we covered the sights of Iceland closest to the airport and the city of Keflavik. From here, we drove west in the afternoon. It was still quite a drive (I think about 3 hours) to Snaefellsjokull National Park. Here is the 1446m high Snaefellsjokull glacier. We stopped under it in the town of Arnastapi. Just before the city, we looked at cute waterfall without a name . It was blowing like crazy people We went for a walk along the cliffs in Arnastapi. The cliffs and cliffs and rocks in the middle of the sea were full of birds. Not auks, we'll get to those later. White birds nest, fly and raise their young on the cliffs, in some places everything is white from poop . The granite coast is full of small towers and islands against which the waves crash. In between, without knowing it, you walk across a natural bridge. My mother and I had absolutely no idea until we got to the other side. From here, exhausted, we set off in search of a campsite for the night. There was no more rain, thank God. Along the way, we saw a small hill in the middle of nowhere with some kind of glowing path . Below, parked cars, which we also joined. The shining path was iron stairs. We climbed them to our first Icelandic crater: Saxholl. A smaller, also poorly marked crater, something to try. From here, straight to the campsite in the town of Rif.
Aaa, sweet! Shelter! Crazy! Closed kitchen! We quickly made soup, spread it, took our first shower (mmm, hot water) and went to bed. In the morning, the sun! The sun! Wonderful weather. It really warmed up the tents. Urban took a nap while we started preparing breakfast (the poor guy later got into the habit of staying up a little longer (He slept , he already needed it). We ate outdoors, on the soft green grass. Otherwise, the campsites are poorer, not nearly as good as we are used to in Croatia or even in Switzerland. They have a few plots with soft grass, a bench and a table. There are toilets and showers in the A closed kitchen is a luxury, and if it has its own electric burner , it is an even greater luxury.
We said goodbye to Rif right away in the morning and drove to this famous Kirkjufell waterfall. When we parked I couldn't believe it, after yesterday's waterfall these were just rapids. Small rapids that merge beautifully into the river. In the background is the really famous Kirkjufell hill (463m). Nice, I won't say no. Of course we took pictures too, we quickly got away from the professional photographers. Nice view but, just, when you see waterfalls that compare to Niagara Falls, it was just a rapid. From here, we had a long journey north. Grateful for our SUV, we took a few shortcuts and avoided driving through a dozen fjords. I think we drove for about 7 hours, some on asphalt, some on macadam . The final stop was Húsavík. In between we found the perfect spot for lunch. Clean running water, a nearby meadow and benches in the woods, and the sun was shining in the sky. This was the only time we took off our short sleeves. The ride was quite interesting, with lots of Icelandic horses along the way. The landscape was constantly changing: from sandy black lava deserts to green fjords, blue sea to flat artificial meadows. Many sheep along the way. Every 200km a single house, usually a farm. Higher up in the mountains, white snow and below it again green expanses. Seaside towns with boats that take tourists out to sea who want to see whales and individual cruise ships, we encountered all this on the way. We just drove past the second largest city, Akureyri.
Before Húsavík, we stopped at the Godafoss waterfall in the afternoon. Another impressive waterfall. Wide rapids and a river canyon. Beautiful! Worth a stop!
Then Husavik. We arrived in the evening and were enchanted by this romantic seaside town, more on that next time,
N