Our first night sleeping in the campervan was surprisingly very cozy! On our way to Hvitserkur Rock, Joey saw a little sign that pointed towards a wool factory shop. He knew this was something I was looking for, so it was a definite stop. Everything was so beautiful so it was pretty difficult to choose, but I ended up getting a really cute wool hat, which I found to be necessary after the first day of being here (yes, even during summer…).
After our little detour, we found another excuse to stop when some local Icelandic horses were looking lonely on the side of the road. After spending some quality time with more 4-legged friends, we continued on towards Hvitserkur Rock. The road that leads to the famous rock is not paved, but if you take it slow, even 2-wheel drive vehicles are fine…and it’s definitely a must-see when in Northern Iceland.
Once you get to Hvitserkur, there are two options, take a short hike to the elevated viewpoint, or a slightly longer hike down to the beach and over to the rock itself. We didn’t know that the beach trail was an option until after Joey climbed down a rock cliff with very clear danger signs (it was allowed, but dangerous).
We got back on the road to search for a somewhat hidden waterfall called Reykjafoss. It’s not the easiest to find, but once we did, we weren’t disappointed! It was incredibly windy today, so walking towards the edge of the cliff to snap some pictures of the waterfalls felt a little dangerous, but that didn’t stop Joey from getting amazing shots of it!
After we got our fill of some great waterfall views, we heard from a few fellow travelers that there is a nice little natural hot pot/steam bath just beyond the falls, but we have plenty in our near future so we decided to continue on the Ring Road towards the town of Akureyri. Our first stop in Akureyri was to have some ice cream at the locally famous Brynja.
They only serve three soft-serve flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, and you have the option of topping it off with some local Icelandic candy/chocolates. The ice cream itself was so delicious and vastly different than the soft serve back in the U.S.! It’s lighter, icier, and creamier all at the same time!
While outside of the ice cream shop, Joey saw a car advertising a local hamburger place…and if you’ve followed us on all our trips, then you know we have a thing for trying hamburgers around the world! We weren’t quite ready for dinner and we were a little ahead of schedule, so we decided to check one of the things off on tomorrow’s itinerary (Goðafoss). We have a lot to do tomorrow, so we were really glad to make the impromptu trip AND it seemed like the evening was the better time to go (keep in mind there’s full sunlight even throughout the evenings, and it seemed that Goðafoss was much less crowded because of the time, but we don’t know for sure).
Goðafoss itself was absolutely incredible and you can even walk right up to the top of the waterfall where the water seems calmer (until it rushes off the edge of the cliff of course)! Goðafoss was impressive, but the story behind it is equally impressive. One thing you most certainly can’t pass up in Iceland (or anywhere you travel) is the local folklore. Icelandic sagas are so intriguing and are full of so much history, so we definitely recommend taking the time to learn what some of these natural formations meant to people of the past. Living in the US we often lose prospective of how ancient some civilations are, or were.
After taking in all the beauty of Goðafoss, we were finally ready for dinner, so we backtracked a little bit to Akureyri to have a delicious lamb burger at Hamborgarafabrikkan (a first for the both of us!).
By the time we finished up it was around 10pm, so we decided to start making our way to our campsite for the night, Systragil. We chose this campsite because it sits at a convenient halfway point between the town of Akureyri and Húsavík. The road between Akureyri and Goðafoss on the other hand is quite the drive. If you enjoy curving mountainous roads then this is the place for you.
Tomorrow we have a great adventure planned, including a whale watching tour in famous Húsavík, so stay posted!