Our fifth day in Iceland was kind of a mixed bag. On one hand, we'd been in Iceland for five days, the country was awesome, we'd loved every minute and every thing we'd done, and it had been a completely unique and interesting vacation. Not only those things, but now we were getting to drive around the rest of the country, a goal we didn't think we'd be able to achieve!
On the other hand, we had to leave.
Though neither of us wanted to leave (expect so maybe we could stop hemorrhaging money) we did make our last day there as long as possible. We had left Husavik by 8 AM to make sure we had plenty of time. Since the weather on the ocean was so bad that we couldn't go whale watching, the weather on land was pretty terrible too. Cold, arctic rain was pouring down, and the temperature outside was maybe 38. Coupled with the rain, it was damn cold and we were both glad we were in the car and not on a boat in the Arctic Ocean.
The first place we stopped was Detifoss, the largest waterfall in Europe. Did I mention earlier it was almost freezing and raining buckets? Yeah, that didn't stop at Detifoss. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was worse due to the mist coming off the waterfall. It was really pretty, but I'm not much of a waterfall person. I can't swim, so water is just kind of a deadly asshole to me. I'm not normally awestruck, just annoyed that if I get too close, it'll kill me. By the time we got to the waterfall, we were quite literally dripping wet and freezing cold.The path, made of rocks, was more of a creek, and I slipped on the rocks a couple of times. Detifoss is probably really pretty, and maybe I'll see pictures and realize what I missed, but that experience was downright terrible!
Our second stop was a town called Egilssadir. We mailed some postcards and grabbed some food and coffee. One of our hosts in Husavik told Sam about a great shortcut that was not only incredibly gorgeous, but would save us 90 kilometers! Unfortunately, we had some issuses finding it, but it still saved us plenty of time and was really incredible. The road is called 939, and while it isn't the nicest road you'll ever drive on, it is too pretty for words to explain.
We didn't stop again until we got to Southern Iceland. That sounds like a long time, but Iceland is so small that it didn't take that long. We stopped in Hofn to grab some lunch. The Guidebook recommended Kaffi Hornid, saying it had "great character" and good food. Eh. I wouldn't say it was bad, but it certainly wasn't the glowing recommendation the guidebook bestowed upon it. We walked in to some French girls arguing with the waitress about being overcharged. I don't know what character the guidebook was talking about. It was an okay restaurant, but nothing that stands out. I had tomato soup and bread- the bread was great, the tomato soup was unlimited, and I had my fill. Sam had an $18 cheeseburger- pretty common price for Iceland- and said it was really good.
Our next problem was the car. A clause in our rental agreement said that we couldn't take the car off-roading, or on any "F" roads, which are the roads in Iceland that mean you need a four-wheel drive to go on them. While we definitely didn't, the car looked like we'd been driving it through every mud puddle in Iceland- and the handle had fallen off one of the doors. Uh oh. We figured if we returned it clean, it might look better, and we also really needed to wash the windows. Iceland doesn't have windshield wiper fluid and squeegees at every gas pump like the US does, so we were at a bit of a loss. Then we looked across the parking lot and saw the coolest invention for hand-washing a car ever invented. I'm probably way behind the times on this, but I'm going to ghetto-rig this for the next time I wash my car. This thing was pretty much a deck brush with the soap and water coming out of the handle in between the bristles. I know this is a really lame thing to talk about on a travel blog, and these things are probably everywhere, but I have never seen them and I am completely amazed. Okay, enough about car brushes.
Besides the cool factor of saying that I drove all the way around Iceland, Jokulsarlon, the next place we stopped, was the reason I am really glad we got to see the southern part of the country. Jokulsarlon is this place where pieces of a glacier are breaking off, slowly melting, and moving out to the ocean. The glacier pieces/icebergs are either this gorgeous blue color or striped with sediment from when the glacier froze. The wind was incredible- it almost knocked me over a couple of times. My one regret is that we didn't take a boat ride among the glaciers. It is supposed to be great, although freezing, and not very expensive. Unfortunately, we just didn't have time. That can also go on the list of things to do next time- or the list of reasons to return to Iceland!
Sadly, our next stop was Keplavik, the airport. What looked like a barren, empty landscape at touchdown now looked like a bustling metropolis compared to the rest of Iceland. Our plane left at 1 AM and took 2 hours and 45 minutes. With the time change, we arrived in Copenhagen a little after 6 AM, completely exhausted.
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