On the 4th day of your road trip, we backtracked a little bit to visit Jökulsárlón again in daylight, and a few other places we skipped the day before. We decided to skip Skaftafell due to lack of time and since we’d been there so often. But if you haven’t hiked in Skaftafell and visited Svartifoss, I would suggest making time for it. After our detour, we continued along Vatnajökull National Park to Höfn and then towards the Southern Eastfjords.
Þórbergssetur
We had a late breakfast and a nice chat with the owner and hostess of Hali Country Hotel. We were the only guests there. The hostess told us she’s married to Þórbergur Þórðarson’s (of Þórbergssetur) great-nephew, so it’s all in the family. She also told us so many interesting stories about the area, both the nature and the people. It was so strange to hear stories of how extremely isolated this part of Iceland was, until the year 1974, when Skeiðarárbrú bridge was built, connecting the East to the South, and completing the Ring Road.
Þórbergssetur Centre is located in the same building as the breakfast hall. It’s a heritage museum and a unique exhibition of the district Suðursveit and the writer Þórbergur Þórðarson (1888-1974), one of Iceland’s most exceptional artists. As most Icelanders, I knew who Þórbergur Þórðarson was, but I didn’t know he had been such a philosophical and spiritual person, and that he’d been an Esperanto speaker and a yoga practitioner! Þórbergssetur centre is such an interesting experience, that I cannot recommend enough for culture buffs.
“In Suðursveit the old mystique held its ground at the turn of the century. Around there, hidden worlds and hidden beings were a reality, as invincible as the visible worlds.”
– Þórbergur Þórðarson
Jökulsárlón (again)
We had such a great time at Hali, that is was already noon when we got on the road. Our first stop was the glacier lagoon, Jökulsárlón. We’d visited it the night before, but we wanted to stop by again during daylight.
Breiðamerkursandur
Since we were at Jökulsárlón, we decided to make a quick stop at Breiðamerkursandur, more precisely the coast line Vestri-Fellsfjara. Breiðamerkursandur is a vast outwash plain between the districts of Öræfi and Suðursveit, created by glaciers and glacial rivers. The glacial river Jökulsá á Breiðamerkursandi carries icebergs from the glacier lagoon Jökulsárlón towards the ocean, where the tide brings them back to shore. This coastline is therefore covered in chunks of ice, glistering like diamonds in the sun. In recent years, tourists have started calling this area of Breiðamerkursandur The Diamond Beach.
Hofskirkja
Hofskirkja is the youngest turf church in Iceland, built in 1884. It’s one of only six turf churches still standing, all of which are preserved as historical monuments. The church has been in the keeping of The National Museum of Iceland since 1951, and still serves as a parish church. Close to Hofskirkja are the excavated ruins of the farm Gröf. Gröf was buried under ashes and pumice during the 1362 eruption in Öræfajökull.
Sandfell
Sandfell can be easily spotted from The Ring Road, because of the gate to the old churchyard. In Icelandic we call those gates sáluhlið, which literally translates as “gate of souls”. I always think it’s curious when you see those gates, but nothing else around (at least from a distance). Then you know, there’s history there.
Now an abandoned farmstead, Sandfell had a church until 1914. The remains of both farm and church can be seen there. The first person who lived at Sandfell was the settler Þorgerður. She was the only woman among the settlers of Iceland recorded to have staked out a property to settle on. Sandfell is also where the most accessible route to Hvannadalshnjúkur starts. Hvannadalshnjúkur is the highest mountain in Iceland.
Brunnhóll ice cream
Our plan was to stop twice for ice cream on this day, first at Flatey Farm and then at Brunnhóll Farm, even though these two places are only 8 km apart, you can’t have too much ice cream! Unfortunately Flatey was closed due to the pandemic, which made us worry that perhaps Brunnhóll would be closed too and we wouldn’t get any ice cream! When we got to Brunnhóll it did seem closed at first, but we rang the bell in the reception and before long we were greeted by a friendly hostess, surprised to see travellers during these weird times, who told us of course we could get some ice cream.
Brunnhóll is a family run dairy farm, a guesthouse and most importantly, they have homemade ice cream. I had a scoop of mint ice cream and it was absolutely delicious. The ice cream at Brunnhóll is called Jöklaís (“Glacier ice cream”), because of the farm’s proximity to Vatnajökull glacier.
Reindeer
Just before we reached Höfn, we spotted reindeer for the first time on this roadtrip. Despite having seen reindeer plenty of times, and we would go on to see reindeer 7 more times on this trip, it never gets old! They are so beautiful and fit so perfectly into Icelandic nature, despite having only been in Iceland for some 250 years.
The reindeer in Hornafjörður come down to the lowlands in October to mate, and at the end of April the females return to the mountains to give birth. Males and juveniles remain in the lowlands until June, so that’s probably the reindeer we were spotting. In Hornafjörður, the reindeer are usually closer to the road than anywhere else in Iceland, which is important to keep in mind while driving there.
Höfn í Hornafirði
Höfn is a small town on the coast of Hornafjörður fjord. First we decided to go to Handraðinn, a market run by local women with handcraft from the area. We were amazed by all the beautiful knitwear, ceramics and the various art offered. Definitely a good place to buy some authentic handmade souvenirs, and we didn’t leave empty handed. My sister bought a cute candle in the shape of a sheep (which she will definitely never actually burn), and my daughter got a cute hand-knitted woollen hat, which you can see her wearing in the next photos.
Next we went down to the harbour, where we visited Gamlabúð, a visitor centre, as well as an exhibition about the region’s geology, history and culture. At the exhibition we learned a lot about Vatnajökull glacier and its role in the lives of the people in the area, and we also learned a lot about the reindeer in the Hornafjörður area.
Before leaving Höfn, we had some great pizza at Íshúsið Pizzeria. Located by the harbour, Íshúsið (“The House of Ice”) is in the same place as an ice house in the past, which was used to store ice bergs from nearby glaciers to cool the fish from the harbour. My sister had the lobster pizza. Íshúsið is known to have great lobster, caught by locals in the area. After our meal we stopped by the grocery store to stock up on some emergency food, so we wouldn’t have to go hungry again, in case everything was closed.
Stokksnes
Our next stop was Stokksnes, and on the way there we spotted reindeer again. Stokksnes is a headland, most famous for the dramatic mountain Vestrahorn. There’s an abandoned farm in Stokksnes, called Horn. The abandoned farm has now been turned into a large cliff, as it’s in the middle of an abandoned movie set of a viking movie that was never made. If you walk behind the fake cliff, you can still see the old farm building. But wandering around the viking village movie set is an interesting experience of its own.
After spending some time hiking around Stokksnes, we headed back to Route 1, where we drove through the Almannaskarð Tunnel. The 1300 meter long tunnel was the first of many tunnels we drove through on our road trip. The tunnel was opened in 2005, but before that time we had to drive through the dangerous Almannaskarð mountain road to reach the East Fjords. The old mountain road is now closed for cars, but can be used to hike up the mountain and enjoy the beautiful views of Hornafjörður and the glaciers.
Papaós & Papatættur
Shortly after exiting the tunnel, we took a right turn off Route 1 and found ourselves in Syðri-Fjörður. In Syðri-Fjörður, the sunrise can’t be seen from the end of September until early March. At the end of the fjord are the so-called Papatættur, remains of what is thought to be the dwellings of Papar. Papar were Irish hermits, who lived in Iceland before the Norse settlement. The remains are a protected archaeological site. But unfortunately they haven’t been excavated or researched much yet. Archaeology receives very little funding in Iceland, and all over the country our history lies buried under the ground.
A millennium later, when the Papar were long gone, Papaós was settled again. Visting Papaós now, it’s hard to believe that this remote deserted place was Iceland’s main trading centre for more than 30 years. In the late 19th century, there was a small commercial community in Papaós with several houses, outhouses, warehouses and a general store. But at the end of the 19th century the general store at Papaós was moved to Höfn í Hornafirði. The store and several of the houses at Papaós were taken apart and floated on a large raft to Höfn. The settlement was re-constructed in Höfn, where it stands today still, with some of the old houses.
Hvalnes
Hvalnes is a small peninsula with a picturesque orange lighthouse, built in 1954. It’s also a good place to view the mountain Eystrahorn. When we were at Hvalnes, we got a phone call from Hótel Framtíð in Djúpivogur, our next accommodation, asking for our approximate arrival time. Aparently we were the only guests in the hotel. During the phone call we were attacked by an arctic tern (honestly, my least favourite bird by far!). So we had to run for cover in the car to finish our phone call. We drove pretty much straight to Djúpivogur after our stop at Hvalnes. Except for one stop when we spotted reindeer for the third time during this road trip.
Hvalnesskriður & Þvottárskriður
This is where we used to drive on narrow gravel roads with no protective rail back in the day. The route was paved with asphalt in 2008, so if you drove there before that time, you know how creepy it used to be. Nowadays, sometimes this road closes due to landslides or falling rocks, or avalanches during winter. But most of the time it’s a beautiful route to drive with a few safe places where you can park the car and enjoy the view.
We reached Djúpivogur around 10 pm and were greeted by the friendly host at Hótel Framtíð. The hotel is located in a charming place by the harbour. We had a really cozy room at the hotel. As the only guests in the hotel, we got to decide when we wanted to have breakfast the next morning. We decided late, since we’re not morning people.
