Axelle is still drinking the river water.
I woke up beyond excited to head into Fjord country today, but apparently Axelle did not share my enthusiasm for a 9am alarm. It was my usual, "gentle awakening" alarm that plays a peaceful melody which starts very quiet and slowly gets louder, but Axelle reported feeling anything BUT gently awakened. Bless her. On a fun note though, no one ever came and asked us to pay like the sign in the dining hall said, so we left the seaside campsite and headed west. Second campsite we acquired for free--go us. (But maybe that's just a life bonus for not having a shower)
We first stopped at a canyon waterfall that was a beautiful (and I assured my parents wasn’t a far fall if I had been blown over by a wind), and hiked around the edge on both sides for an hour or so. Axelle had lots of fun running down the rocks on different spots acceptable to climb, and Nathan--being the amazing group mom that he is--followed behind her making sure to remind her that he would not jump after her if she fell.
Overall the canyon falls were stunning, but it seemed like quite the travel-influencer hot spot, as many people were there with drones and cameras. It was nice in the beginning, because it made us filming and taking photos seem totally fine, but it got old after a while, and we decided to head back to the car to press onward. I guess considering this blog, that makes US travel influencers, lmao. We're definitely influencers for something, but not mature traveling.
About an hour down the road we found a hidden falls on google maps attractions that had us park next to a breeding farm with the cutest herd of almost entirely pinto foals. The walk to the falls was past a cabin (that looked slightly lived in but also slightly deserted? Jury is out on that one.) and through a small canyon. We sat for a while when we got to the waterfall, and Axelle began to consume more river water before we took some videos and photos. I wish it was warmer as I'd love to swim here--it had super easy entry and exit points, and also seemed hidden so it was like a private swimming pool of sorts. Some German tourists soon
stumbled upon us (clearly in search for the waterfall as its on google maps duh, and clearly German as they were saying a maximum of 3 words to each other as I find is a German standard of communication when out and about) so we took that as our sign to depart. For lunch we stopped at a deluxe gas station/restaurant type establishment, and ate a killer burger (not sure if it was genuinely good or we were just starved for decent food). Axelle had her heart set on the bacon cheese burger, but was very sad to find out that the clerk mistook her order for the vegan burger. I told her it was to make up for all of the river water she was drinking--her system needed something to soak up the bacteria.
From here, we officially began to get into fjord country. At first, the drive wasn't much to speak of, and we'd be lying if we said it was living up to what we had heard from fellow travelers and bloggers. At one point I stopped at a small gas station and go pirouette cookies and juice and it hit me how remote we were--THAT felt nice. :) Even though my jaw isn't constantly on the floor right now, the solitude and shrouded sky feels magical. By the late afternoon we landed at the museum of sorcery, which was totally wacky. We stared at a pair of skinned human legs that were worn as pants in the magical community to bring blessings or curses, some weird rib bone worm thing that would steal milk from other farmers if you allowed it to grow attached to your body, and a lot of runes.
It was a pretty small museum for what I’m sure wasn’t so humble of a magical practice—and the front desk girl was funny. The tiny shop next to the museum looked precious, but was closed and it made me so so sad. I feel like it was a spot my mother would have liked a lot, and I enjoy the idea of shopping from local Icelanders rather than the bigger companies.
I found a campsite about an hour or so away as we began to make a plan for the evening, and Axelle found the coolest heated swimming pool overlooking a fjord about halfway between where we were and where we needed to go, so we went for it! It ended up being absolutely amazing,
and a pool I had seen on social media a couple times before. Photos just don't do it justice, but if there had been a little more cloud coverage it would've been my top stop of the trip. We had it completely to ourselves for about 20m as we messed around, but as logically makes sense, tons of people began showing up around happy hour times (with beers in hand and speakers on blast) so we collected our things and made towards camp.
From that point on, the driving views were jaw dropping. Between my potentially unhealthy volume level of Hozier/Aurora in my earbuds, and eyes practically stuck onto the window glass, I felt like I was in a completely different reality than this morning. I officially understand the hype now. The south coast is paved, accessible, and truly inspiring to drive, but the rugged dirt roads of the western fjords that hug cliffsides and shoot down mountainsides into viewpoints that would make any heart flutter add that extra tinge of adrenaline making them take the cake over the southern coast in my book.
We pulled into our campsite at dinner time, and all I can say is the space is objectively beautiful—it has a river through it, a large waterfall behind it, and looks out over an impressive fjord. There's not a person alive who I believe could claim it not to just be factually stunning. Keeping in mind we are road tripping during the peak of vacation seasons, it ended up being the most crowded one we’ve been in though. I feel like in September or something, it would be beyond anything you could ever hope to experience. We quickly set up the car in a corner spot, and Nathan and I set off to the small dining hall to prepare a dinner of high quality--tomato pasta. He helped me chop some onions and garlic to add at least some flavor to it, and we opened some sardines I found at the gas station this morning as an appetizer.
At this point the sardines taste 5 star. We enjoyed dinner outside on a picnic table of questionable structure, with the cascading waterfall in the background, and as Axelle washed the dishes, Nathan and I went to clean the interior of the car. It had to be done at some point, plus it makes it feel better to sleep in I think. The showers were free (woohoo) so we each took long, hot showers since we still smelled a little like the swimming pool from earlier, and enjoyed some tea before tucking in. Axelle and I watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty--a classic for anyone making the trip to Icelandia, and realized how many of the filming spots we recognized. We agreed this is another campsite Iti would have loved--and I can't wait for the adventures we have in store for tomorrow.
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