sorry, only google translate 🙁

In order not to have to raise the tent again, we stayed the last two nights at the same campsite as on our first night in Iceland. Before taking a closer look at Reykjavik, we set off for the tourist spot near Reykjavik in the morning. A geothermal area with a hot river for swimming. After about 1 hour hiking we were then also at the river, which was already bespattered by at least 30 tourists. Imagine the whole time now to the main season in July or August before …

After a short bath in the rather lukewarm water, we set off, back to Reykjavik to explore the city. Actually there is not much to see, but it is already a pretty cute town with beautiful street art.

For the evening (after we cleaned the car and cleaned inside) we had a cake and local beer before we went to the last night in Iceland at -5 degrees in the tent. Almost fortunately the night was short and we broke our tents at 3:30 pm in Iceland, we had to catch our flight at 7:20 (or 7:45 clock for Mike and Michelle) and bring back the car before.

Just before the boarding followed the painful farewell of Mike and Michelle and we got back into our plane back to Munich. All in all, a great experience and for everyone who wants to experience Iceland off the beaten track (which is definitely the case in the summer), April and May is a brilliant season. However, we were also a little glad to leave the whole cold behind us 😉

Heißer Fluss / hot river in Reykjadalur

Interessante Umkleidekabinen / interesting change rooms

Reykjadalur Valley

Reykjavik

schöne Häuschen / cute houses

Hallgrimskirkja

See am Rathaus / lake next to the city hall

Straßenkunst / street art

 

sorry, only google translate 🙁

After a night in a somewhat oblique (we had to hide for cooking behind the building in the open) but for an unbeatable budget hotel, there were some waterfalls on the agenda for this day.

The first, Hraunfossar, is actually not a real waterfall, but an abundance of small groundwater streams pouring into a river over countless small waterfalls. The whole thing was only driven by a ravishing ravine, only about 100m further upstream.

Next we went to a waterfall, which is quite unspectacular, and the legend is spinny guarded by a troll. Accordingly, along the river are several funny statues of various trolls.

Lastly, a larger hike to Iceland’s second largest waterfall was on the agenda. After about 2 hours uphill through partly extreme wind blows we stood at the abyss and thus the beginning of the waterfall and looked about 200m in the depth …

Back at the car we went back to Reykjavik and after all the driving on gravel roads, we washed the car first, in order not to have to pay back the fees for the laundry …

Das Pony hatte die Ruhe weg / the pony was just chilling

Hraunfossar

Barnafoss

 

 

Mittagessen / Lunch Time

Auf dem Weg zum zweithöchsten Wasserfall Islands / on the way to the second highest waterfall in Iceland

Glymur

 

sorry, only google translate 🙁

The peninsula of Snaeffelsnes is often referred to as the “small island” because it includes everything from Iceland: mountains, glaciers, lava fields, volcanoes and cliffs. Again, however, the winter made us feel a little bit better, unfortunately we could not make one of the countless day-hikes as hoped for. Therefore, we drove through the national park with many stops and small walks along the sights.

Snæffelsnes Coastline

 

Snæfellsjökull

 

etwas Spaß am Kinderspielplatz / some fun at the play ground

 

 

 

Snæffelsnes Coastline

sorry, only google translate 🙁

After we could not reach the bird cliff the day before, we dared another try. At first everything went well, but then we stood with the car in front of a well 70cm deep and 5m wide snow drift. However, as the path behind it seemed to be passable, we decided to take a decision with a tin can and a cooking pot. Well 10 minutes later that was also done and we could go on, only about 1km later before the next, this time impassable drift. Even the tractor with shovel, which had now been brought in by us, had problems to pass this, which is why we decided to let the cliff become a cliff and instead look at the largest sandy beach in Iceland.

Already surreal, a picture book beach framed by snowy mountains, ice and glaciers. After we had been there for a while, we went back along the coast from the Westfjords and into the peninsula Snaeffelsnes where we expected some highlights for the next day …

Eine Nacht im Schnee / one night in the snow

Kerstin und Michelle schaufeln uns frei / Kerstin and Michelle dig us out

Der kam zu spät / he came to late...

Dann halt zum Strand / so we went off to the beach

 

 

 

 

sorry, only google translate 🙁

A further crossing of the pass was later to the south of the Westfjords, which had nothing to do with the hitherto seen parts of the fjords. Unfortunately, the largest bird cliff in Europe was denied us, because the road was impassable there. So we visited some fishing villages in the area and wanted to try our luck again the next day. We came across a sand peninsula in the middle of the fjord, which we spontaneously crossed.

The evening had a little surprise for us. After the only meaningful accommodation in the area was a closed campsite, we had the phone the evening before with the manager, which promised us to lock the rooms of the campsite. We had decided to hang wild camping on the nail, since the cooking and eating at minus temperatures was unbelievably unpleasant. Unfortunately, we could not reach the manager on our arrival for an hour. But when we almost wanted to give up, she announced herself, let us into the rooms and all without payment. How nice is that? Although the tents had already been built up, but it was supposed to be quite cold in the night and snow was predicted (which Mike and Michelle absolutely wanted to use to spend their first night in the snow), we decided simply in the rooms on the ground sleep.

Hot Pool in Drangsnes

Noch ein Gebirgspass / another mountain pass

Die Südseite der Westfjorde / the southern part of the west fjords

 

Die Statue des Reisenden / the statue of the traveller

Gestrandetes Schiff / beached ship

Patreksfjördur

Wieder Nordlichter / again northern lights

 

sorry, only google translate 🙁

After the previous day had gone so well, the winter now made us a breeze. For the pass which was to take us from Islafjördur to the south of the Westfjords was blocked and we had to go back the day before the journey.

But since we had more time than the previous day, we first went to Pingeyri to look for polar foxes, for we wanted to see a white polar guard. Unfortunately we could only discover a few footsteps, but we could admire a seal while playing in the water. Besides, the sunny morning offered us an indescribable sight of the fjords in the reflection of the water.

Back in Islafjördur we inquired after a few hikes, but as feared were through the deep snow most of the ways still impassable. We went nevertheless on a small snow-migration into a fiord to admire a supposedly frozen waterfall. However, the route was much more interesting than the destination … It was better when visiting the “Arctic Fox Research Center”, because two polar foxes lived there, which should actually be released after a little care, which however by a new law of the Icelandic Government.

The last day was a further hike along a peninsula, where polar foxes are often spotted. Directly when we got out of the car, we could already see the first, but unfortunately we were then hindered by a fenced horse heath and even the ascent into the mountains brought us no new sightings. A full success was the day anyway 🙂

Auf dem Weg nach Pingeyri / on the way to Pingeyri

 

Ein Seehund / a seal

und schicke Vögel / and fancy birds

auf den Spuren von Polarfüchsen / chasing arctic foxes

Arctic Fox Research Station

 

erste Schneewanderung / first time snow hiking

sorry, only google translate 🙁

After we already knew that the Westfjords were left by most tourists left, we were all the more pleased. The reason for the low visit are not the missing highlights, but the poor accessibility, especially in the winter months. Many roads lead through mountain passages, which are partially blocked over the entire winter months. We also had the slightest fear that the only way to get to Islafjördur (the largest city of the Westfjords with 3300 inhabitants) was only freed on the previous day. But for that we had a car with four-wheel drive added 🙂

So said done. After a last round trip of a fjord on the north coast with a bizarre rock formation in the sea and a short stopover to finally get rid of our Icelandponyfutter, we went into the Westfjords. Shortly after we had climbed the pass, we were dawned why the road is often times blocked. Because of the road was not much to see and we were driving only on a snow or ice layer. On the whole pass came a car and a clearing vehicle, otherwise we had the endless snow landscape for us alone. We felt almost like in the middle of Antarctica.

Once the pass was over, we were rewarded by an incomprehensible view of the Westfjords. And that was by no means all …

Due to the (even for Icelandic conditions) thin settlement, the Westfjords are famous for their wild animal life. As soon as we had half round the first fjord, we discovered a blue whale, which had made itself comfortable in the fjord. A few fjords further became even better! Although no one gave us really great chances, we escaped almost right next to the street a polar fox, which did not take for us a little to pose!

Hvitserkur

 

Nochmal Pony-Fütterung / again pony feeding time

 

erster Blick auf die Westfjorde / first view towards westfjords

 

Pass in die Westfjorde / mountain pass into the westfjords

Sieht aus wie in Grönland / looks as if we were in greenland

Blauwal / blue wale

sorry, only google translate 🙁

After the northern night but rather short night, the program for the next day was somewhat more relaxed. We drove by car along the coast and two fjords. The highlight should be our first hot pool in Iceland, which was built directly on the coast. We had decided to visit the famous “Blue Lagoon” in Reykjavik no visit, since it was just too expensive with 40 € to splash a little in the warm water. The pool we were on was the same architect as the Blue Lagoon, but in contrast we had the complete bathroom for us alone, including a beautiful view of the fjords!

Then we went on the coast until our final stop of the day Blonduos, which should be our gate to the Westfjords the next day.

Einspuriger Tunnel / One way tunnel

Hot Pool an der Küste / Hot Pool on the coast line

 

kleines Dorf auf dem Weg / small village on the way

 

Die Kirchen stehen auch überall rum / These churches are almost everywhere

 

Das ist mal ein Schneeräumer / This is a snow track :-O

sorry, only google translate 🙁

After we had already walked around half of Iceland, we stayed one day in Akureyri, the second largest city in Iceland with 18,000 inhabitants. On the agenda was a small trip to Husavik, the whale capital of the north. Here one has the best chances whales to sifting and we were told that the last days were again sighted blue whales. :-O

Accordingly, the anticipation of the tour was great, because how often do you have the opportunity to see the world’s largest mammal? If also with 80 € not really cheap (but still around worlds cheaper than anywhere else in the world, where we had tried so far), we took this tour on a medium sized cutter out into a small fjord in the Arctic Ocean. Mike and Tobi actually had to go there before swimming, but after they had determined the temperature of about 1 ° C, this idea died for now…

But back to the whale hunting: We caked with the cutter through the fjord and became seasick (at least to Tobi) until the tour guide was a “whale at 10 o’clock”. And off went hunting. You have to imagine this as follows: The whale dives 2-3 times, followed by a “water catch” for a whale typical water fountain, then you see the back and when diving the tail fin. Afterwards is for several minutes rest and it is again after a “Splash” look out. Pretty funny and once we came to the whale actually close enough to the size of the blue whale to be able to imagine.

After 3 hours on the sea we went back to Akureyri, where the weather was good. After we even had a clear, almost cloudless night, we set off after the darkness and at midnight we were finally able to observe the spectacle of the northern lights. Although the lights were relatively weak and we could only guess the green color, but in the photos it looks the better for it 🙂

Weg nach Husavik / drive to Husavik

 

Auf dem Boot / on the boat

 

Bis jetzt nur Landschaft / so far only landscape

und da ist er / and there it is

 

 

Der Fjord um Akureyri / the fjord at Akureyri

sorry, only google translate 🙁

After the previous day, we had planned to drive less. After we have learned, however, that we still have the chance to see parrot divers, the day developed into a giant ride. First 100km over gravel road and a mountain pass to a small fishing village (Borgarfjörður) where we hoped the parrot birds. Unfortunately, we were about 2-3 weeks too early, which is why we were denied this pleasure. Then back through the grazing Islandponys to the Dettifoss (another waterfall) where Mike and Michelle tried to build a snowman (see photos).

Then we went on to an active volcanic landscape on the lake “Myvatn”. The activity is by no means as impressive as Yellowstone or New Zealand but quite surprising for such a small island. Then again around the crater lake Myvatn through a cooled lava field and finally to our destination Akureyri. We passed another waterfall, the Godafoss (Waterfall of the Gods). What a day, but a wonderful ride spiked with one highlight after another 🙂

Unsere erste Gebirgsüberquerung in Island / our first mountain pass in Iceland

 

 

Borgarfjörður

Zwar keine Papageientaucher aber dafür lustige Möwen / unfortunately no puffins but cute sea gulls instead

 

Mike und Michelle hatten Spaß im Schnee / Mike and Michelle had fun in the snow

Ein einsames Pony / a lonely pony

Dafür gabs Karotten / We gave him some carrots