Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.07.2016, Blaðsíða 62

Having heard horrifying (yet
somewhat amusing) stories
about tourists getting stuck in
the mountains in their little VW
Beetles, my friends and I decided
to rent a four-wheel drive for a
road trip on a recent summer’s
day. We packed up some salmon
sandwiches and drinking water,
and off we went, heading for the
western parts of the country.
Our final destination was the
Snæfellsjökull National Park. It
was only a three-hour drive, but
we didn’t make it that far. Why,
you ask? Because the landscape
was so amazing that we had to
pull over every five kilometres to
take photos, and just enjoy it.
When we were driving on F-
roads (the narrow gravel highland
roads that are opened only dur-
ing the summer) it felt less like a
road trip than a lunar expedition.
There were ancient lava fields of
black rocks, covered with green
and gray moss. The landscape is
as extraterrestrial as it gets here
on Earth. Beside the road there
were glaciers and it was really fun
to stop the car in the middle of the
nowhere and go and have a sum-
mer snowball fight, wearing noth-
ing but thin blouses, jeans and
sneakers.
Having passed these challeng-
ing roads, we arrived at Hraun-
fossar. This series of waterfalls
is made up of rivulets streaming
from the Hallmundarhraun lava
field over a distance of about 900
metres. The lava field was formed
when hot lava erupted from one
of the volcanoes lying under the
glacier Langjökull, long ago. The
powerful water flowing down
along the cliffs made me feel fresh
and alive—it’s amazing how mag-
ical it felt.
From there the road took us to
the small town of Stykkishólmur.
The town was one of the filming
locations of Ben Stiller's movie
‘The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty’.
The town was just adorable and
it was really cool to just sit on the
pier and look at the ocean and the
sun. So there we were, waiting for
a night that never came. Also we
enjoyed a nice meal in the local
seafood restaurant.
In the midnight hour we drove
along the coastline towards
Grundarfjörður. Nothing indi-
cated that it was night—it was
still bright as we stopped for a
walk over a green field that glowed
under the golden sunbeams. I felt
like Gandalf walking in Middle
Earth, and felt blessed to see the
ocean shining under the midnight
sun.
We headed back to the capi-
tal under bright orange and
strawberry-pink skies. It finally
got dark when we entered to the
six-kilometre Hvalfjörður tun-
nel, which shortens the distance
from Reykjavík to the western and
northern parts of the island by 45
kilometres. But when we emerged,
it was bright once again. Darkness
has no place in Iceland’s summer
nights.
SHARE: gpv.is/extr
No Way In Hell Is
This Country On
Planet Earth
Getting distracted on the way to
Snæfellsnes
Words & Photos GEIDI RAUD
The road over Si-
g l u f j a r ð a r s k a r ð
(Siglufjörður pass)
is reopening after
being closed for the
past three sum-
mers. The dangerous mountain
road was laid in 1940 and served
the people of Siglufjörður until the
tunnel Strákagöng were built in in
1967. Today it functions as a popu-
lar hiking trail and is only open to
specially equipped vehicles. Local
touring company BogG Tours of-
fer trips for tourists (and locals!);
for further information contact
Fjallabyggð tourist information.
The roads into the highlands are
open and, unlike everything else
in Iceland, they’re ahead of sched-
ule. The highlands are one of the
least explored areas by tourists, as
they are only open a few weeks of
the year.
Even the roads in the east have
opened up, allowing travellers
into the Arctic Desert. Route F35,
from Gullfoss northwards almost
to Blönduós, has been cleared for
travel as well. Make sure you check
a map online before heading into
the highlands and remember:
shaded areas are not only illegal to
travel on, but very dangerous.
Brits make up one fifth of the tour-
ists visiting Iceland and with the
economic fallout of Brexit, this
number could be reduced signifi-
cantly. Visitors from Britain come
visit in the winter, taking advantage
of the cheap flights, but with the
pound in free-fall, this group may
be effected.
To combat this issue, Minister
of Foreign Affairs Lilja Alfreðsdót-
tir has already began discussions
to build new trade agreements with
Britain. However, bartenders in Ice-
land see a silver lining: fewer Brits
means fewer annoying stag parties,
and they never tip anyway.
Words York Underwood
& Helga Þórey Jónsdóttir
TRAVEL
NEWS
IN BRIEF
62 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 9 — 2016TRAVEL