Western Iceland
11.7. – 2.8.15
Wind and Rain
Iceland is an outdoor land
Not only tourists – in summer there are more of them than locals – like to camp in the nature or on campgrounds with their tents and camping vehicles, but also the Icelander. We guess that every single Icelander owns a camper using it every summer weekend to enjoy nature with family and friends.
At least it’s what we see ;-)) Take the locals add the same amount (minimal) of tourists and you can imagine what’s happening here on the campgrounds. Luckily the camping sites are huge – at least for Swiss means – fitting the demand. So it’s never a problem to find a cosy nice little private corner. The Icelander though loves it to be close to each other, the closer the better. They don’t even shy away from complete strangers. One night a local family built their tent in the wind shadow of Globi not even using tent pegs but rather fixing it with Globi itself. In another location a local parked their camper just aside from a little tent of a French couple while they were hiking. When they came back they hardly could find their tent as it was hidden behind the awning of the camper from the Icelander.
Shopping
In Iceland we mainly buy our stuff in supermarkets. It seems that all shops are named supermarkets. In the villages you will anyway find only one shop. In Patreksfjördur it was time to re-fill our fridge. So we parked Globi and started our shop search. After a while we realised that we are standing in front of the local supermarket. There was no window, no advertising, nothing giving a hint that you find a good food store behind the walls. Even the door looked like a door you would normally expect in a private house. Very strange.
In Isafjördur einer kleinen Stadt in den Westfjords finden wir hingegen alles, sogar Kabel für unsern Compi und Kopfhörer, die wir zuhause vergessen haben. Es hat Bäckereien und Frisöre, ohne Termine, ganz wie daheim. Ich kann also nichts dafür, dass meine Haare nie gekürzt werden! Die Stadt hat uns auch mit Sonnenschein verwöhnt. Wir haben uns rundum wohl gefühlt. Ein wahres Bijou ist aber das Fischrestaurant Tjöruhusid, Erlebnisgastronomie auf Isländisch, einmalig und sehr empfehlenswert und das alles sogar grad gegenüber dem Camping.
On the other side we got more than we expected in Isafjördur – the main town of the west fjords – including cable for PC and headphones, which we both forgot at home. You find even nice bakeries and hair styling shops where you only get a free date in about 2 weeks time – like at home ;-)) So definitely not Peter’s fault if his hair gets never cut! On top of its services the town pampered us with a little sunshine. So we liked it a lot. And a little gold nugget you find close to the harbour museum: a typical fish restaurant – Tjöruhusid – with local fresh fish, pepared in many different ways offered in an old style house. You sit with other guests on long benches and get your food from the buffet. Iceland Event Grastronomy – perfect!
When we bought food it happened that we got here and there meat or fish that was somehow treated in a specific way – like it was cured or smoked. But if you cook it or grill it, it starts smelling like an old ashtray. Obviously they have different recipes for smoking meat than we have. After the disposal of these pieces our waste bin smelled for days like an ashtray.
Pure Nature
Landscapes and nature of Iceland are absolutely stunning. We don’t even try to describe it despite our really good language skills – as it would not do justice to the beauty of the country. A good reason to have a look at our pictures. Though even with the camera it’s hard to capture these foggy moods we experienced driving down road number 643 to Krossnes which was in parts similar to some of the landscapes we saw in Scottland.
We are right now in the middle of Summer even in Iceland. Nevertheless we find loads of snow areas in the highlands like on the Pjöfahraun track. And they are even for Globi and us being Swiss and used to driving on snow quite a challenge for us. Once Globi sinks so much that he seated solidly with his belly. All 6 tires up in the air! But hey we love to shovel….
In terms of weather you can get not only sunshine and roses. It’s raining quit often, not the whole day, not heavy but a steady drizzle. The weather changes often and fast. And therefore the forecasts seem to be a lottery. And as we experience one of the coldest summer since a long time we face normally temperatures below two digits. On top the wind – though anything below 10km/h is just a gentle breeze – often gets quite stormy which doesn’t help the temperatures.
That’s possibly also the reason why we caught a cold despite the many pullover and jackets we are wearing. So we rest here and there for a longer time trying to get rid of the cold.
