Day 4 - East Iceland

- Journey To The East -

Day 4 in Iceland, we traveled another milestone to East Iceland! Up till this day, the sky is still drizzling with thick clouds. Although it means good weather for driving, but also means NO AURORA for the night! The view on road was amazing as you see glaciers and waterfalls 360 degrees around you. The sheep population also seemed larger here (maybe due to less human populations here and less being hunted as food?). The government did a good job on fencing the wild sheep, but there are still cases of sheep being hit by car. Maybe this is why their government enforce the law of 90km/hour max along all routes. 

The first thing you need to do when you hit a sheep is to locate its owner. I have read a few blogs and bloggers did mentioned that once you were caught hit and run, there will be heavy fine instilled. So it is best to pay directly to the owner than paying via law. Side note, Icelandic sheep are not social friendly, they don't come near to human beings and definitely don't respond to your "Mekkk... Bahhhhh.. MekEkEkEkkk..." Trust me, I tried.

- Eggin í Gleðivík -

First pit stop, Eggin í Gleðivík (The Eggs from Merry Bay).

It is located in a small town Djúpivogur, also known as slow moving town. This is the place famous for craft products where a guy named Sigurður Guðmundsson crafted 34 eggs in year 2009. The attraction is located near fish factory and there are huge amount of seagulls. You will also see craft products with stone around the residential area. Most houses have different designs and arrange stones around their balcony. Video shown above as it was heavily pouring and in this weather we don't bother to get soaked for a photo. 

One thing interesting in the town is they don't have toilets in their convenience store. The convenience store size is 5 times bigger than the 7-11 we normally see but I guess Icelanders don't use the toilet too much? There is one toilet available near the pier, which location is available in the convenience store. And thank god it it FOC.

- Seyðisfjörður -

Blaa Kirkjan blue church 

Second pit stop, city tour around Seyðisfjörður.
Lonely Planet calls it, “the most historically and architecturally interesting town in East Iceland.” 

stunning view of multiple waterfalls landscape on route

Weather is cloudy and raining all day long so no blue skies. This is a small town with around 700 inhabitants. One of the attraction is the blue church where Icelander host cultural parties in July called LungA Art Festival. I would recommend travelers to stop by this town for its beautiful architecture 

Nearby, there is another attraction Tvísöngur sound sculpture. It looked like 5 different dome shaped coconut husk connecting to each other. It is said to amplifier 5 different tones of Iceland traditional music instrument five tone harmony. You may try singing in this dome and it should sound better than the echo in your bathroom.

- Gufufoss - 

Third pit stop, Gufufoss.

"Gufa" in Iceland means vapor, "Foss" means waterfall. The largest and most striking waterfall in Seyðisfjörður, just outside Egilsstaðir city. Parking area is relatively small and hard to spot at the road side. The car park or I should say emergency stop area is big enough to fit 2 cars at one time. 1 minute walk from parking and you will reach the waterfall, very misty and windy on the way. We tried to set up our tripod but the strong gale blew it away and it nearly smashed our camera. So it should be best to bring along heavy tripod or those very "atas" camera gear. 

Total distance traveled: 243km

Time spent on road: >4 hours due to strong gale