New ZealandI thought a lot about how we were going to be able to see a lot in 5 days but not be too exhausted from driving all day. At first I wanted us to make the full circle around Iceland but priorities where changed so my brother and his fiancé could only join us for 5 days on the trip. No worries, we had plenty of things to see anyways. I also wasn’t sure of the travel time due to the weather conditions. If it was going to be stormy or not. I live in Canada so I know when not to drive and no way I was going to put my family at risk because we had to drive all the way around.
The strategy I adopted for the trip was to go the furthest east possible on the first day and coming back each day closer and closer to the airport. I had planned a few things to see on the way but we kept it open as the days went by and we discovered other things to see around.
I booked the hostels but made sure we could change them if we were going faster or slower.
The goal on day 1 was to reach Djúpivogur for the night and stop along the way on some places so we won’t have to stop there on the way back.
My brother, his fiancé and my sister picked me up at the airport at 7 AM when I arrived. I was totally jetlagged and I hadn’t slept in the plane. It is always difficult for me to adapt when I go back to France. I don’t know why but it is always harder even if I sleep on the plane.
This time, I didn’t even get to sleep! For those following my stories you might have seen but I saw my first Northern Light in the plane.
How could I sleep after that right? I wanted to see it for as long as I could, I didn’t want it to end. It was a magical moment as I thought it would be and dreamt about all these years.
Tired but happy to arrive, I met my family that were there for a few days already and we went to the rental car I had booked for the rest of the trip. (More info in this article)
We stopped at a grocery store on the way because we were not sure if we were going to find other grocery stores where we were going. We also wanted to be able to make sandwiches for all our lunches because we also were not sure about restaurants and more importantly, as the sun time is short in Iceland in winter, we didn’t want to loose time for lunch and a picnic is the best solution! To go with the cheapest we found was Bonus.
Then we took the road to the East. We made a few stops on the way.
At first I wanted us to stop at the famous waterfalls on the side of the road but the sun was still in the morning mode and the waterfalls were facing South so we decided to stop there on the way back at the end of a day.
The next stop was Vik. We missed the Dyrhólaey Lighthouse and Point of view but went back on our tracks afterwards to get there.
The point of view I wanted to get to was closed due to the snow but apparently you could get there by feet. Though we were not equipped for walking in the snow / ice (Well, I wasn’t…! Ironic right? As I live in Canada. Maybe I was too confident that there will not be much snow and that my Blundstone would be enough.).
Any way, the view we got from where we could go was incredible. The black sand contrasting with the snow and the blue of the water.
Vik it self is a cute little town. We did not stay long but we took a walk on the black sand beach. I had only seen black sand once before in New Zealand. Once again, the contrast between the black sand and the snow was beautiful.
In the back we could see those rocks in the water smashed by the powerful waves. I love the Ocean and this was a dreamland view.
After that we hopped back in the car in order to continue our drive. We passed through the plains of snow, wondering what it would look like in summer. It was so beautiful there in winter that I can’t even imagine I guess.
The road was pretty everywhere, driving straight to the feet of the mountains. It had a feeling of road trip that I hadn’t felt in a while and that I miss. Deeply. Especially right now that we are two months into the COVID-19 lockdown. I am so thankful that I have these memories right now.
Unfortunately for my brother, I slept almost all the way because of the jet lagged and he had to drive a lot. It was especially difficult when the night arrived and we couldn’t really see anything. We felt the strong wind around us. The road started to make turns as if we were in the mountain and with the wind, we had no doubt we were high up.
We finally got to the cottage and it was so difficult to get out of the car! I was afraid that the doors would fly away. Apparently damages to cars due to the wind is very high in Iceland so make you you get that included in your insurance.
The cottage was very nice even though we though it wouldn’t held the night because of the wind. We didn’t really spent time there during day time unfortunately but I bet it is a really nice place to spend few days away from everything.
We put alarm clocks every hour in order to check for the Northern Lights but there were too many clouds that night.
That is how we ended day one. With the promise of what we were going to see during our trip.
Here is a mix of all the pictures taken (or should I say uploaded up to this day):
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