This morning, we met a family from Belgium with their 1 year old son in the kitchen. We let them finish up before Uncle and Auntie made us a big breakfast. They heated the leftover spaghetti to make a warm tuna pasta dish. We also had hotdogs, toast, instant noodles, carrots, cucumbers and cold lemon iced tea. Once fed, we packed up and headed over to Skógar (literally means forest), a small village with a population of roughly 25 people! This region was highly affected by the eruption of the Eyjafjalla volcano in 2010.
On the way to Skógar, we stopped to take pictures in front of Þorvaldseyri, a large farm sitting at the foot of the glacier-topped volcano. It has belonged in the same family since 1906. The main type of farming includes dairy, meat and grain production. There was an information centre (previously a small farm building) across the street from the farm. It was actually covered in 10 cm of volcanic ash after the Eyjafjalla erupted. The centre has one room for displays and another to show video footage of the eruption. They also sold souvenirs and iceland tshirts that had sayings such as ‘Eyjafjallajökull – Is so easy to pronounce “Ay-uh-fyat-luh-YOE-kuutl-uh”’ and ‘Iceland..Where Active Volcanoes Kick Ash!’
It was easy to find the horse riding farm with the simple map the Malaysian couple gave us. We passed Skogafoss waterfall on the left and turned left on the next road. When we got to the farm, we asked some young teenagers if they had horse tours available and what the cost was. Originally they were asking for 4500 ISK per person, but dad asked for a discount since we were a large group of 6. We agreed to pay in cash and got a 15% discount at 3833 ISK per person (27000 ISK total)! We were booked for a 1 hour horse trip! They asked us to come back an hour later (1:15pm) so they could get the horses ready for us. Dad jokingly told the teens to bring out an old, slow horse for Auntie to comfortably ride on!
To pass the time, we decided to visit the Skógar museum. We also set out two blankets in front of Skogafoss waterfall and had a picnic for lunch. It was a beautiful location with both the sights and sounds of a powerful waterfall. Everyone had a ham sandwich with some carrots and cucumber, chips brought from both Canada and Iceland and a choice of Coke Zero or Appelsin (local orange soda).
After an eventful 1.5 hour ride, we headed back to Skógar museum. Dad brought out our portable stove and boiled some water so we could all enjoy a hot cup of tea. It was much needed and tasted especially good in the cold and windy parking lot. We explored the museums until closing time but still didn’t manage to see everything.
We knew that our accommodations for the night was close by, but the GPS was showing another location much further away. We decided not to trust those directions and ask the locals instead. We only had the print out of confirmation with the hotel name and address but everyone knew where it was. Actually, we were the ones that were confused about the location and had to stop and ask several times. To our surprise, Drangshlid was only one road away from Skogafoss!
Our rooms were located in a converted cowshed. They were spacious with large windows. The washrooms were open concept with stone tiling on the floor and walls. Uncle and Auntie decided to eat at the restaurant on site. We took the 20 minute drive to Vik to get gas, do some grocery shopping and eat at a burger joint.
The drive to town passed by some fields before we went up the mountain and over it to Vik. Katie and Heidi both noted a church that looked like it came from Carcassonne, the board game. Both the gas station and grocery store were easy to locate once we arrived in Vik. We ate at Vikurskali, a fast food pitstop beside Strondin restaurant. We ordered a chicken burger, an egg burger, asparagus soup and lamb fillet. We got in line right before a bus load of people arrived for dinner so the wait was not long. It was nice to have family time. We were very satisfied with all the food.
When we got back to Drangshild, Uncle and Auntie were enjoying their coffee after dessert and a full course meal. It was perfect timing! We went back to our rooms together to collect swim suits and towels. Even though it was nearing 10pm, we still had things to do on our itinerary! We visited an old swimming pool and Skogafoss before we called it a night. Auntie and Uncle even went back to the restaurant to enjoy another cup of tea! Our family would have loved to use some wi-fi but we were all too knackered.
