Iceland Trip October 2017
Day 1
From Reykjavik to Hellisandur
Arrival Date: September 29th, 2017
We left Halifax, Nova Scotia 9:30pm, September 28th and arrived into Reykjavik at approximately 4:45am on September 29th. Booking the cheap flight was a great idea, but not the arriving before everything opens. LOL
We sat around for a few hours and then took a bus to the bus garage drop off point and received a taxi to CampEasy. After about an hour we were on the road in our Campervan and heading to our first destination.
We drove in a clockwise direction around Iceland, but not by choice. There was a bridge out near Vik which would not be open for a number of days, which would mean that if we drove to Vik we would have to turn back around on the road we just came on. We decided to go clockwise and hope the bridge would be repaired by the time we reached that area. Going clockwise turned out to be, what I believe, the best direction to take because of how each day progressed, the weather and the fact the bridge WAS repaired by the time we reached it.
WESTERN REGION
Raudfeldsgja
Our first stop was at this waterfall that can only be seen from a short distance inside the crevice.
According to Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rau%C3%B0feldsgj%C3%A1], Raudfeldsgja is a natural wonder, but is also a place named in an Iceland saga written over 600 years ago about an event that took place 12 centuries ago. This saga was about a father who lost his daughter, angered by this lost he threw his two sons over the cliff into this ravine.
Abandoned Building
Dafverdara Homestead
There was something special about this abandoned structure to us, and we all thought if these old walls could talk, what a story they would have. This photo was taken near the monument marking families that had once owned this farm "To the Memories of Hjonin from Dagverdara". It was not until returning home that I learned that the son of Hallgrimur was considered the last Sorcerer in Iceland. An obituary [written in Icelandic] by son Stefán Hallgrímsson from Dagverðará about his parents HELGA Halldorsdottir [1903-1991] og HALLGRÍMUR Olafsson [1888-1981]. The story of these parents can be found here. http://www.mbl.is/greinasafn/grein/737184/
It should be noted that in Iceland the last name Halldorsdottir represents daughter of Halldors and Olafsson rerpresents son of Olafs. This can be said for all Icelandic names [See Wikipedia site for more detail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_name].
Snaefellsjoekull National Park
Londrangar [Svalpufa - Pufubjarg]
This was a beautiful last stop which was at the first part of the Park. Sun setting with the clouds made for an incredible photo of the basalt cliff from the Londrangar View Point. The Londrangar are a pair of rock pinnacles that are shown in the picture in the background. These pinnacles are remnants from a bigger crater that have eroded away. This information, and more details can be found at Wikipedia website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%B3ndrangar
Snaefellsjokull
View of Snaefellsjokull volcano in background
This was the view looking behind the Londrangar. What an incredibly beautiful area. So much time could be spent in this area and it was only our first day!
After leaving this site, we drove through the National Park and arrived at our first campsite in Hellissandur. The sun was just starting to go down when we arrived at our destination. To our surprise the campsite was open and an individual stopped by the camper to collect money. We were charged approximately $15.00Cdn per person to stay at the campgrounds.
