I would like to pause for a moment to appreciate some of the delightful cars we have seen around this country.
This gem is parked near us in the hotel parking lot:
I regret not renting a ridiculous vehicle. Sort of. (Just kidding, we love Bjuster)
Today we make for the south of Iceland, which is touched by Vatnajökull, a massive glacier that covers 8% of Iceland. The land is incredibly dramatic, carved out by glaciers and rainfall and the weather changes at a moment’s notice. We planned on visiting Jökulsárlón, the iceberg lagoon, and then heading back to our accommodations.
Accommodations in this area of southeast Iceland were extremely thin when we were booking, and extremely expensive. I found a converted farm (which still has sheep) to stay at which fortunately was much less than $1000/night, which seemed to be the going rate for most of the open places at the time of booking…Pro tip: book early.
But first, something important: we must find and eat our reindeer. We set our sights on a cafe in Hofn which supposedly served a mean reindeer burger. Hofn was only 60 miles away from our location as the puffin flies, but because we must wind through fjords on the ring road, it would take us nearly 3 hours to reach it.
This part of the ring road also came with lots and lots of sheep. Sheep in Iceland have free range of everywhere, and this part of the road did not have many fences. We had seen many sheep previously, but the earlier ones had the sense to stay off the road.
Not the sheep of the Eastfjords. No – these sheep are defiant. Stupid. And plentiful (Also very cute). In the beginning of our day, we had to swerve around adorable sheep butts half parked on the road. They wouldn’t even move when you drove by.
Several other times, we had to slow down quickly or almost hit them, or our passing would make them run away.
We noticed the sheep here also are generally in groups of three. Is one the sheep supervisor? The sheepervisor? Is three sheep called shreep? (yes)
I googled this thing and apparently it is most common for Icelandic ewes to have twins so there you have it – it’s a mom and her kids we are nearly murdering (or maybe they are attempting to murder us for eating their kind). I found more Icelandic sheep facts on this site if you are very curious.
After many miles of scenic fjords, sharp turns, sheep, and one reindeer (yay!), we made it to Hofn for our reindeer lunch. The reindeer burger did not disappoint!
From Hofn, we went to Jökulsárlón, the iceberg lagoon just west of where we were staying. It is fair to say that Jökulsárlón was overrun with tourists – in buses, boats, vans. We gleefully joined them as we viewed the hordes viewing the blue, white, and black icebergs melting in the lagoon. We even saw seals!
Nearby, we watched cars cross a longer one-lane suspension bridge over the mouth of the river towards the sea. We had grown used to the one-lane bridges and now knew how to manage them – the car that arrives first has right-of-way. Generally this leads to alternating turns (or Rhett attempting to beat the other car to the bridge so we can have crossing dibs). However, this rule is not explained very well anywhere (at least, our rental car agency did not explain it) except the google.
This long bridge near a crowded tourist attraction very quickly became Idiot Bridge, with two drivers (and more behind them) barreling down the bridge unsafely, meeting in the middle, and waiting for one of them to back down and back up so the oncoming traffic could pass.
We must cross Idiot Bridge tomorrow. Excellent.
But seriously, why is there no signal by this bridge?
After our hiking stint at the iceberg lagoon, we viewed the icebergs against the nearby black sand beach and headed back to the hotel to check in.
Iceland has infinite daylight in the summer, so it doesn’t matter how long it takes us to go explore things usually. After our lobster dinner (lobster is also a thing in this area), we went to a nearby portion of the national park from the recommendation of the front desk lady. It was another glacier that touched another lake. It was also located 8km down an unpaved road in the national park.
Definitely did not disappoint – it was like Jökulsárlón but less blue, and we were the only four humans there. We saw a gang of sheep in the parking lot and one other car heading somewhere mysterious, and there were about 15 colorful kayaks lashed together on the lakeshore. We were alone with the sound of rushing water to keep us company.
Our final adventure of the day finished, we unwound with some games before our long drive tomorrow to explore the southern coast.
