PostcardsFromM

Day 2 felt like a dream. Witnessing whales in the wild and ending the day with soaking in a warm geothermal spa overlooking the ocean. I did think about just staying here and doing it all over again. But we were keen to see what else Iceland had to offer, so here’s Day 3.

More Waterfalls

To start the day of, we decided to visit another waterfall, but one that we’d already heard of – Goðafoss. It was only a 35-minute car ride from Húsavík. When we got there, we realised straight away that it was a more touristy spot, even though there weren’t too many people around. But as soon as we got out of the car, the waterfall had our intention. More precisely its noise. Before we could even see it, we heard the water falling and hitting the lower stream. We followed the noise down the path and ended up in front of this massive waterfall that looked just like something out of a dream. Embeded in a wide open lava field, the water streams down in a half circle. It’s incredible to stand there and watch it. I tried to capture it in pictures, but I don’t think they do it justice. You’ve got to see it yourself. We spent some time wandering around and seeing different angles of the waterfall, before deciding to head off.

Volcano and a bit of an eggy smell

Next on our list was Lake Mývatn and its surroundings. I have to say, we didn’t spend a lot of time at the lake itself. We kept on driving to Hverfjall Crater instead. The plan was to do the volcano trail up. The hike took us about 30 minutes, with little picture taking breaks and for me to catch my breath, since, as I mentioned in a post earlier, I’m very unfit. But the walk up wasn’t too bad even for me and the view from the top was definitely worth it. It was a cloudy day, but you could still see the lake and the Dimmuborgir rock formations. We also decided to continue our walk around the crater rim. It took us an hour to do the full circle, but every minute of it was worth it. We headed back down and carried on to the next stop. Only a 15 minutes’ drive later we arrived at Námaskarð. And let me tell you, we could already smell it. Even if Google Maps hadn’t worked, we would have found our way to this place. It’s a pretty distinctive egg smell, the kind that burns into your nose and lingers for days. We parked up and after questioning our stop choices, we got out of the car and started to walk to this moon-like area where steam was coming out of. Even though the landscape was stunning and nice to look at, the smell was just a bit too strong for us. Especially for me, as I’m sensitive when it comes to certain smells and egg is one of them. So we turned around and got back in our car. Námaskarð 1 and M 0, for now at least.

Even more waterfalls

After leaving that interesting smell and landscape behind us, we returned to a more familiar territory. A hilly landscape with a bunch of little waterfalls close together. All in all, driving here was a great experience. Before heading to our next stop, we wanted to get some grocery shopping done for the next few days. So we quickly stopped in Egilsstaðir, before continuing our trip to Hengifoss. We got to the parking lot and, thanks to the well-marked path, it was really easy to find the starting point for the hike. We followed some steps up through a gate and carried on walking for a bit. It took us about 40 minutes to get to a wooden platform, which lead us the rest of the way to Hengifoss. A stunning waterfall surrounded by red clay and black basalt walls. Another hike that paid off. Even though I nearly fell into the water during the walk since we had at some point change to walking on some rocks in the water to keep on moving, since the rest was a little bit flooded. But it was worth it, since we got to see two waterfalls in one hike. You’ll also get to see another stunning waterfall, Litlanesfoss, on the way to Hengifoss.

And to top the experience off, there’s a little food truck parked right next to the parking lot across a little bridge. So when we got back, we decided to check it out and I went for the waffles with cream and rhubarb jam, which was just what I needed. My boyfriend went for the traditional Icelandic lamb meat soup with bread and butter, and he really enjoyed as well. Just so you know, my boyfriend and I are mostly vegetarians, but when we travel, we like to try some of the local dishes, which sometimes have meat in them. But if I remember correctly, there was also a vegan option for the soup, so you’ll definitely find something to eat at the food truck. I really liked that everything was homemade and you could taste the love.

Village dream

The last stop for day 3 was Seyðisfjörður, a little village in the east. The drive there itself was scenic, but arriving in this sleepy, colorful village was something else. I fell in love with this little, calm spot. Everyone was really nice and welcoming. We wandered through the streets and obviously followed the rainbow street to the little blue church. On the way there a little shop selling hand-knitted wool sweaters caught my eye and I knew, that I wanted to check it out. So I popped back into the shop and saw two women knitting and chatting away behind the till. After looking around for a bit, I found this green sweater, which I really liked and had to get. So I paid for it and got a free bag with it, which I still use for grocery shopping and other things. Sadly I don’t remember the name of the shop, but since the village isn’t that big and it was on the Rainbow Road, you should be able to find it fairly easy. I can highly recommend checking it out. The women were really lovely, and the quality is amazing. Happy with my purchase, we continued our stroll through the village and sat down for a while to take it all in. My boyfriend then had to get me out of this village, before I would decide to stay here forever and we wouldn’t continue our road trip. That’s why we sadly didn’t end up spending our night here. Instead we drove back to Egilsstaðir to stay there. Writing this now, I don’t know why we decided to do Hengifoss first and then drive back to Seyðisfjörður and only to come back again. Well, they were scenic drives, so it doesn’t really matter.

Today’s Route & Facts

• Husavik to Egilsstaðir
• Main attractions: Goðafoss, Hverfjall, Námaskarð, Hengifoss, Litlanesfoss, Seyðisfjörður
• Highlight of the day: my new Icelandic wool sweater
• Hours spent in the car: 5h 13 min
• Kilometers made: 393 km
• Days more to go: 7
• Waterfalls seen: way too many to count and every single one of them beautiful

Tomorrow’s Plan

Now that we’ve reached the east of Iceland, it’s time to head south and check out some black beaches, an old Viking village and finally some more Icelandic horses.

So, stay tuned for the next part,

M.

What was your favourite waterfall in Iceland or which one would you love to see? I’m excited to see your answers!