Day 19 - Back to the real world

Today was the day I was leaving Iceland. I was quite sad because there was so much more I wanted to see in this unusually beautiful country. And I didn't know when I would see E and her family again. And it also meant that my holiday was almost over and I would have to go back to work.

I got up early-ish (8:30am) because I had to pack my stuff. My flight was at 11:20am. The advantage of living a stone throw from the airport is that you don't have to spend a half a day getting there and waiting when the plane is late. And it's even better when your fiance works at the airport. He called us to be at the airport at 11am but then the plane was late due to the bad weather in Reykjavík so we got regular updates on the situation and waited in the comfort of E's living room. Finally the plane was on the way to Ísafjörður and I was on the way to the airport, which was about a size of a smaller bus station. In this part of the world people seem to use the planes like we use buses. The plane from Reykjavík landed at 1:10pm, the fuel hose was connected, luggage unloaded and loaded and we were boarding the plane at 1:18pm!!! All that with two members of staff!!! I was impressed.

Here is me just before getting on the plane.

The flight was a little bumpy when going through the clouds but not too bad. It took only 40 minutes and we were landing in snowy Reykjavík. From there I took a taxi to the bus station to catch my bus to Keflavík airport. As we were getting closer to the airport, the sun made its appearance. We could also see the steam from the Blue Lagoon. After arriving to the Keflavík airport I checked my bag in, went through the security and then just wasted my time walking through various duty free shops. The atmosphere was rather calm and relaxed compare to any UK airports. The actual flight to London Heathrow was quite pleasant. As we were leaving at 5pm, I knew there is no chance to see the northern lights this time so I decided to watch a movie. But when we got above the clouds I had this fantastic view from my window. The sun was setting and the moon and a first star were out already. All the colours were beautiful together.

Day 18 - The sun and the northern lights finally appeared

This morning we could see some blue sky for the first time of my stay here.

We decided to go back to Bolungarvík, the town where I was almost blown away a few days ago. This time it was much more pleasant.

Even the sun came out at some point.
On the way there we stopped at Ósvör open air museum. It's a reconstructed fishing station with a fisherman's hut, a salting house, a hut to dry the fish and a couple of other buildings. It is open only during the summer season so there was nobody there the fish was hanging there to dry. There was no gate or a fence so I walked around it, it was on a pretty small area. After we came back we picked E's little girl from the nursery and drove partly through the same tunnel as yesterday but we took the turning for Suðureyri about half way through the tunnel. Suðureyri is a small fishing village where visitors can get involved in the regular village life, they can go out on working fishing boats and visit the fish factory. That's obviously during the summer season. At this time of the year it seemed like a sleepy little village by a beautiful fjord.
When we got back to Ísafjörður E suggested that I should climb another mountain. This time it wasn't for the view over the town. She wanted me to experience the feeling of being close to a plane, which turns around those mountains before landing at the local airport. I climbed about half way up and waited for the plane to arrive. Unfortunately the wind changed and the plane was landing another direction so it didn't come anywhere close to the mountain I was standing on. Well, it was a good workout and I got a nice view of the town from a different angle. For dinner we had roasted lobster tails with garlic for starter, an Icelandic fish dish for the main course and pancakes with cream for dessert. It was a very nice "going away" dinner.
Later in the evening E's fiance thought that this could be the night when we could see the northern lights. I've always wanted to see them but the weather was against me. It's been always cloudy and relatively warm and they can be seen only when the sky is clear and it's freezing. So we took the chance and drove out of the town lights. The sky was mostly clear with thousands of stars but there were also few clouds around. After a short time something started to appear. Not very strong at first but then they got stronger. They looked more like long thin clouds than the stripes of colour as you see it on pictures or tv. They moved very slowly and then they faded and new ones appeared. It was a surreal experience. I kept taking pictures of them. The strange thing was that when I watched them they were milky colour but they are green on the photos!! After about an hour of standing in the freezing cold, dark night and watching the lights dancing we went back home. It was my last night here and the last chance to see them. When I flew from London to Reykjavik a week ago, about an hour before we landed the cabin lights were switched off even though they are normally on during the flight. I looked out of the window and saw a light strip of something like a long thin cloud and then another one above it. It moved very slowly and gradually faded away. There was no way there were clouds out there at 36,000 feet at 11pm. The northern lights were saying "hello" to me but I wasn't sure it was them because they were not coloured. And now they were saying "good bye" to me.

And here is a proof that I was there... :-)

Day 17 - More beautiful scenery... and a seal

Today seemed the brightest day so far, we could even see the mountains on the other side of the town, which I didn't know were there. Also the roads were clean and mostly dry so we decided to go to Þingeyri. That's the village where the funeral took place on Friday and the family members couldn't get through the mountains unless they followed the plough. Well, we didn't have that problem. But before we headed off to Þingeyri, E mentioned that sometimes seals make appearance in town. I thought she was joking. She drove around a little lagoon just off the fjord and there it was. I couldn't believe it. Just about 30 metres from the road there was a seal lying on the ice. We got out of the car and started taking pictures. I walked riht to the edge of the water and put the tripod up. The seal didn't move. Maybe it was used to attention. Every time a car went by, the seal just watched it.When I took enough pictures we finally went to explore the other side of the mountains, where we got by driving through a 5km long tunnel. As we got out of the tunnel, the view which openned in front of us was spectacular. We drove to one of the fjords and stopped to take more photos.

Then we continued on our way to Þingeyri with a stop by the church in Mýrar where E wants to get married. It was closed so we couldn't get in but the view from there was fantastic. Then we finally got to Þingeyri, a small village nesting at the bottom of a mountain range. There really wasn't that much to see, maybe in summer it would be more lively. The surroundings were beautiful though.When we got back to Ísafjörður we got changed and went to climb a mountain. Well, not to the top of one of the mountains surrounding the town but only the "lady troll's seat" in it. It was still pretty high and rather steep. There was no path and as we were getting closer to the top, it was more rocky and the snow was deeper in places. E gave up about half way up but I was determined to reach the top. After about 40 minutes of hard work I got there. And it was worth it. The view was amazing.

Day 16 - Driving along the fjords

After the night out I slept till 11 o'clock. I felt a bit hungover after three Bacardi and Sprite mixers, I'm not really used to drinking anymore. But after breakfast/lunch and a shower I felt much better.

Today it seemed a little brighter outside, we could even see the mountains a bit further from here, and mainly, the wind had dropped. We decided to drive to another town called Suðavík. It's only a small community with a school, a church and a small harbour. In January 1995 several houses were swept by an avalanche and 14 people died. The whole village was moved about a mile down the road and nobody is allowed to live in the old village during winter. There wasn't much to see there, apart from a few nice looking houses, resembling the Canadian log cabins, which were apparently delivered in parts and assembled on site. The more interesting was the drive there along the fjord. We had to stop a few times for me to take photos, of course.;-)

The way they dry the fish:And the shark's chunks:On the way back I took a few pictures of Ísafjörðdur's landmarks.

The church:

The library (it was an old hospital):

Sólgata (The sunny street - no sun there, unfortunately):

When we got back, we were invited to E's parents for the best pancakes I've ever had and real hot chocolate with whipped cream. My diet has gone completely...

In the evening we ate the leftovers from last night's þorroblot dinner and just chilled out watching tv. Hope that another power cut doesn't stop us from finishing the Bucket list...