The Drive to Hofn

July 31 was as uneventful as a day in Iceland could be.  We had along drive from Myvatn to Hofn (pronounced "Huppin"), and could not afford to make many stops along the way.  But the drive was pleasant.  With plenty of beauty.  Like this:

Looks like a nice little waterfall.  But please note for perspective the tiny people at the bottom.

After a few hours we passed through the town of Egilsstathir.  We stopped off and had some coffee and shared a slice of rhubarb-vanilla pie that was spectacularly good.  Stephanie said without hyperbole that it was the best pie she ever tasted.  I will not insult my grandmother Millie by agreeing, but it was awesome.

There was some kind of youth sporting event happening in Egilsstathir that seemed to be some kind of junior Olympics for the whole region.  There was soccer and track and all kinds of stuff going on.  Leaving Egilsstathir, I made a wrong turn and we ended up on a dirt road.

The longer we drove on this road the more treacherous it became, and I was little concerned that we might harm the car car and get charged for the damage.  But in the end we made it through and the road spilled us into Berufjorthur, which was a truly glorious fjord.

Shortly after, we reconnected with the Hringraut.  We were now on the south-east coast of Iceland, enjoying the scenery from inside our car as the weather turned nasty outside.

 

 There were hundreds of swans or geese floating in the ocean, apparently unbothered by the bad weather.  

 I was feeling a bit claustrophobic up after several hours of driving, so I got out at a rest stop to snap some pictures on the black-sand beach. 

Hard to believe that was the best picture that I could get.  The wind kept blowing the camera over.

When we got to Hofn, we found our guesthouse, Arnanes.

We would thoroughly enjoy two nights at Arnanes, sleeping in the basement with a shared bathroom, but enjoying the comfortable beds, a room decorated with home-made art, and extravagantly good food.  

The lobster appetizer was yummy.  Icelandic lobsters are small but unbelievably good.