Another episode in our adventures around Iceland is out, and you can watch it here. In the unedited version, you can hear us exclaiming about stuff we see off to the sides. You know…not on screen. Meanwhile, this desolate wasteland keeps endlessly appearing ahead of you on the video. At one point, I say to my husband, “Well, I guess Iceland doesn’t have to be dramatic around every corner” and I think that about covers the scenery in most of this video. But, my husband added some spooky, post-apocalyptic music, and with the alien landscape, I think it came out with a perfectly creepy vibe!
In real life, it actually was fun driving in this area. The fog hung so low, and the landscape just went on endlessly in the distance. If the road wasn’t there, you could get turned around and lost really easily in that expanse of empty land and thick fog. We felt like true adventurers, wondering what would appear around the next bend in the road, beyond the next bank of fog.
In addition, what you can’t see very well as we race by, is the rare moss of Iceland blanketing the landscape. It is fragile, unique, and beautiful. I had never seen fields of rock and moss like this before, so with the black sands endlessly in the distance, the greenish gray moss, and the fog, the views had a most definite haunted feel. Wasteland? Ghostly? Apocalyptic? I think you could watch this video and write some delightfully scary stories set in this part of Iceland.
We finished the Yoda Cave and drove to our hotel in Kirkjubæjarklaustur. We were so tired by the end of this day (remember, this video is part four!) that I also didn’t take very many photos. We had an ill-fated attempt to get gas in which some of the pumps seemed broken, and the weather had gone from sunshine to frigid drizzle and wind (check out the flags at the gas station.) We made a brief stop at the Hildishaugur Burial Mound. Irish hermits were the original settlers in this area, and when the pagan Hildir Eysteinsson attempted to move there, legend says he dropped dead immediately as pagans were strictly forbidden from living there.
We were incredibly ready to get settled into our room with a cup of tea at this point. We stayed at Hörgsland Guesthouse. They offer a main building which we stayed in, as well as little cabins. The area is charming, and the free breakfast included was the usual, delicious Icelandic breakfast that we had at most of our lodgings. We had skyr with toppings, cheese, vegetables, smoked meats and fish, juice, and coffee. The front desk also had a selection of alcohol you could purchase and bring to your room.
Some kind German soul had left their Netflix account logged into the television. So, we used our language skills to navigate the menu and got to watch an episode of Supernatural. If you are from Germany, went to Iceland, and found new episodes of a show you’d never watched on your queue, we apologize. We also found local news that included Icelandic sign language!
So, watch this video in the evening, if you’re having trouble sleeping, or if you just need to get into a trance-like state of mind. Tomorrow, in the world of these videos, was my anniversary. We head to a beach covered in ice, a glacial lagoon, a romantic dinner along the coast, and an overnight at a milk factory. See you then!