Day 9:
This morning started with sugar. Lots of sugar. After spending a week and a half mildly disappointed by the lack of sweetness in a variety of Nordic foods, this sugar shock was almost enough to bring on a comatose state.
The culprit causing my insulin rush, a single caramel donut, was purchased at a bakery in the center of Akureyri for breakfast. Chelsea wisely stopped after trying a single bite and continued eating her own croissant. Two fresh hot chocolates accompanied our food (what do you expect from two girls who don’t really drink coffee?).
Akureyri turned out to be a sleepy town and most attractions did not open until 10am. We faced a six hour drive and decided not to linger. We did stop to see the main church (architecturally confused and not our cup of tea - it failed to meet the high standards set by the multi-colored mini steeples scattered accross the countryside). The church’s high vantage point provided the perfect overlook to spot a steel ship statue. Venturing closer, the art soon became our personal favorite gem of the city. The poetically minimalist ship appeared to float across sky in a sleek and stylistic embodiment of Nordic culture.
After Akureyri, the first leg of our drive led us to... *insert drum roll here* .... HVITSERKUR!!
Also known as the giant rock from my computer desktop that I’ve been waiting to see!!! The amount of exclamation points needed to properly encompass my excitement seems excessive, so I’ll leave it at mentioning their absence.
The massive black formation stood triumphantly in the crashing waves awaiting our arrival. Because of its proximity to shore, the dragon shaped beast managed a surprising entrance into our field of vision. The lurking structure was hidden from our view in the parking lot by a steep drop-off. We scrambled down to the equally dark sands at the base of the cliff for closer inspection.
Sharing our beach time with the landmark, a professional photographer instructed a women too fashionably bundled to be your average tourist. Her elven demeanor will likely encourage the sale of her beautiful wool coat and funky black shoes. In stark contrast to her disdainfully harsh expression, our giggling faces and jumping stances evidenced who had the better photo shoot.
Chelsea next treated me to an extra hot spot not originally on our itinerary, hrünnalaug (might of missed a few accents in there). The intimate tub settled beneath a “secret” waterfall next to a one-room cabin straight of a Tolkien novel - with Celtic dragons forming the gable. Moss covered rocks added to the fairy-tale effect of the experience. We consider Hrünnalaug as our brief dip into the Western Fjords since our travels could not fully venture into that section of the island. Next time.
More stories to come, our journey continues tomorrow in the western most finger of the island.
Logging off,
Audrey & Chelsea
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