Day 2
From Hellissandur to Stykkisholmur
Date: September 30th, 2017
Got up in the morning and went for a short walk before breakfast. Walking behind the campsite and up a small ridge this was the view. You could not see any of this from where we were camped. What a beautiful start to the day. Snowcapped mountains with green moss covered rocks in the foreground.
Olafsvik
First stop on Day 2, September 30th
Olafsvik was a very quiet community. We stopped by a unique designed Church, observed a waterfall behind the town with a stream running directly through the town to the harbour. A very quaint community.
To learn a little history about this town check out the Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93lafsv%C3%ADk
Black sandy beach
Just outside of Olafsvik was this beautiful black sandy beach showing the town of Olafsvik in the background.
The interesting thing is to see the path that was carved in by tourists that walked out to this point most likely for a selfie. The blackish clay and grass were very slippery with a cliff on each side of this point, meaning that one slip and there is a minimal possibility of survival. It was certainly not worth taking a selfie on, besides the scenery was much more enjoyable from my location.
Also, the path worn takes away from the natural beauty of the area, and this has been a huge concern for the Icelanders. Many tourists walk off the trails and create paths in the old moss that took years to grow and will take many years to replace. Please, tourists be aware of where you are walking and avoid the damage you could do to a beautiful country.
Abandoned Building
Near Kirkjufell Mountain
On our way to the next exciting location, the sky mostly cleared for a beautiful day! As we rounded a corner, a vehicle was stopped in the middle of the road and a tourist was partly down a ditch taking a photo! This was the ultimate in laziness and unnecessary. This guy could have caused a serious accident just to save a few steps by pulling off the road. We drove to the a road side entrance, pulled off the road and walked up to take a photo of these old ruins, horses and Kirkjufell Mountain. Tourists! Please be responsible and pull off the road so everyone has a safe holiday. If you can't pull off, don't get out of your vehicle in the middle of the road, it is not worth it!
Kirkjufellsfoss
Amazing Reflections and Falls
As we rounded the corner we stopped at this incredible location. Interesting the parking lot is so small that when a tour bus parked it blocked over half the cars in. No one was upset as this difficult to say the least and the site was worth it. We ended up parking on the other side of the little causeway, which turned out to be the best spot to capture the reflections.
Bjarnarhöfn Shark Museum
Eating Fermented Shark! Hakarl.
This was quite a unique stop. When you enter the building they have a display of their families heritage. Outside near the water is our first siting of Iceland ponies ... excellent backdrop for taking photos of these beautiful farm animals.
All three of us indicated that we would not attempt to eat the fermented shark (Hakarl), but we couldn't resist. LOL
This is a delicacy in Iceland and truly an interesting process. Here is a little more information about Hakarl.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1karl
When you go behind the musuem you can visit this shark drying building. Yes, that is shark drying before the next stage in the process of preparing this national dish. Often served at Icelandic weddings.
Stykkishólmur
Lighthouse and panoramic view
We stopped, and camped, at this amazing town https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stykkish%C3%B3lmur
The nearby mountain of Helgafell is the burial place of Guðrún Ósvífursdóttir, a saga about an Icelandic heroine. The saga is believed to be of historical significance, and is quite interesting (to read this saga, connect with the link below).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gu%C3%B0r%C3%BAn_%C3%93sv%C3%ADfrsd%C3%B3ttir
Stykkishólmur
Sunset to End Our Day
Before we set up camp we took a drive up a back road and found a beautiful spot to stop and have supper. While Ron was preparing supper, Ken and I took a stroll and came across sheep on the banks, certainly photo worthy. Ron cooked an amazing fish with vegetables ... what a meal and incredible ambiance. This was a delight for the end of our day.
