17 - North Iceland roadtrip - day 1

Dear readers,

Last night I had a wonderfull dinner with an Icelandic family. I have met them through my grandparents and they are so lovely. They invited me over for a traditional Icelandic dinner: salted lamb soup with carrots and potatoes. After dinner me and the "younger" generation went out together. The four of us got the bus downtown and our first spot was a cocktail bar named "Miami". The drinks were very good, and very expensive (around 15-18 euros for a cocktail). But, they did make them look very fancy and they tasted delicious.

After the cocktail bar we went to a bar called "the smokin puffin" for some karaoke. This place is "okay". It just opened and i feel like it's not doing very well as it wasn't busy at all.
Around 2 am we left to go home and I still had to pack my bag for the next morning. I've become a pro at packing my bagpack for roadtrips so it was no problem. I have made a list with all the stuff I like to take with me so it only takes about 15 minutes to pack my bag!

The next morning i woke up after 5 hours of sleep. My mind was just thinking COFFEE. Laura came to pick me up with the car and dropped her stuff off at my place (I met her through an app called "couchsurfing"). After stopping at my place we picked up the others (Ella, Barbara and Jake).

At around 9 we set off to the North. We stopped at a beautiful lake. There was also a large stone which looks like a thist. We took some pics and carried on to look at some waterfalls. They were all very nice, easily accesible and not crowded at all. I really enjoyed them! Their names are Fossárrétt and Bárðarfoss. I really recommend taking the time to walk up, along the waterfall. Then you get a better view of them and you even come across more waterfalls. The latter waterfall looked like it was a "staircase" and the water was so clear! Beautiful!

We had already stopped at quite some places so we decided to drive for a bit further now (2 hours). On the way to the next stop (which was a farm, Barbara knew the farmer from her last roadtrip) we stopped at a placed called Grábrókargígum (try pronouncing that, haha!). Here you can walk up (a lot) of wooden stairs. It takes you to the top of a vulcano named Grábrók and you can walk all along the ridge. Up here you also have a stunning view of another smaller vulcano named Grábrókarfell. The moss on this vulcano gives the vulcano a beautiful greenish colour.

We arrived at the farm at around 3 o' clock. The sun was shining very bright and the surroundings of the farm were gorgeous! Such a calm place. There were two really friendly dogs, a cat, sheep, goats and 85 horses. The owner showed us around, gave us coffee and tea and even sang some songs to us! He was really good! If you're in the area, definitely take a visit here, he loves having people! He also has a hottub with a stunning view, there is a waterfall on his land and he does horse riding tours. We stayed here around two hours and then it was time for us to leave as we still had to drive for quite a bit.

On the way to our guesthouse we made a stop at a wonderful canyon: Kolugljúfur canyon. I really recommended this place. The canyon is huge and you can walk all along it. At the top of the canyon there is a beautiful multiple-layered waterfall. The sun was starting to

set which gave the sky a beautiful colour. It was just magical.

At the guesthouse we cooked pasta and played some (drinking) games. I am already excited for tomorrow! We are going to stay in Akureyri for two nights.

Love, Camille