Best of Iceland: Great Memories to Cherish(Part 4)
Our story of a road trip around the entire country in 10 days — in the middle of Icelandic Winter! This part covers a beautiful sunrise at Eskifjordur, an outdoor jacuzzi and how we coped with a broken car key in the middle of a snowstorm!
Thank you for following me on this journey around Iceland! Links at the bottom if you missed the previous posts. In this post, we continue from where left the last time — at Eskifjordur.
Iceland is a land of extremes. While it is often one of the coldest places on Earth, it can also be one of the most beautiful places on Earth. The picturesque scenery never ceases to amaze me.
We had a long and tiring day driving to Eskifjordur and arrived at our AirBnB accommodation late in the night. It was totally dark and we didn’t get to see the landscape around us. The sleep was good and the morning was even better. Actually, it was one of the best!
Our apartment was at the tip of a fjord and gorgeous mountains on three sides and sea on the other. The sun rose out of the sea. I’m trying to find the right word to describe the feeling — surreal, majestic, beautiful, magical. I think it was all of them. Look at the pictures if you don’t believe me.
After soaking in the view, it was time to get ready. But then we noticed this jacuzzi outdoors and wondered how it might feel. We tried it after some reluctance. I had underestimated how nice it would be to sit in water at +32 degrees when it is -20 degrees outside. It was the most exciting jacuzzi experience I’ve ever had!
After spending some time in Eskifjordur, we hit the road and drove to Akureyri. Along the way, we stopped at Myvatn nature baths for a couple of hours. The Blue Lagoon near Reykjavik is overrated and pricey. Many other options in Iceland offer a similar experience. This area is one of Iceland’s most active geothermal areas and is definitely worth visiting if you are nearby.
Reykjahlo, where we were driving to settle for the night, was north enough to keep our hopes alive of seeing the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis). It was only natural that we kept looking up and wondering if anything was happening. Unfortunately, we did not see the lights and it was a bit disappointing.
We had another long day of driving ahead of us the following day — about 400km back to Reykjavik. We were hoping that the weather would be better than the previous day, but heavy snowfall started just as soon as we set off on our journey.
Our tank was half empty and we decided to fill it up at the adjacent gas station. The car design needed the key to open the fuel tank lid for some weird reason.
I tried to open the lid, and it was tough. At -20 odd degrees and in the middle of a snowstorm, I couldn’t feel my fingers. I saw my fingers but didn’t feel them at all. I tried again with a little more force and it felt strange. And there it was, one half of the key in my hand and the other half in the keyhole.
We were stuck! In the middle of a snowstorm, with a car that cannot move. It was about 11 AM.
There was a silver lining though, we called the car rental company and they managed to send a replacement key via the next flight that was due to take off in about an hour. Someone drove from Akureyri airport to where we were (Reykjahlo) and we got the keys back at around 4 PM. You don’t want to know how much this cost us!
We decided that any driving for the day was not possible and booked an extra night at the same place.
We were lucky. The accommodation was only 200 meters from the gas station. But we couldn’t walk in the snowstorm and the staff had to come and pick us up. The team who picked us up kept muttering, ‘’I think we are on the road, but I’m not entirely sure’’.
We had given up hope of seeing the Northern Lights and were prepared to return to Reykjavik. We convinced ourselves that this was Iceland’s way of saying ‘’You cannot see it all in one go, come again another day’’.
I also added a video incase you want to see more pictures from the trip!
But then the Northern Lights had other plans. More on that in the next (and final) post, where we ticked off one more from the bucket list! Enjoy the pictures now, no Pexels on this one (all pictures from the author)!
I’ve also added a quick time lapse video (so you can drive with us through Iceland)! You might like it!
Previous episodes of this trip down the memory lane:
Part 1: Hello Reykjavik, and the plan
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