Hvammstang to Ísafjörður 23 Aug 2026
Breakfast was slightly different than previous days. Instead of a buffet, each room had a box with various food in it, and there were plates with shared ham and cheese, as well as a coffee machine. After that, we settled in the vans for a long day on the road.
For our first leg of driving, we saw a rainbow over the fjord, and some in the van saw a whale spout and dorsal fin.
We pulled into Búðardalur in front of Eiríksstaðir, a living-history Viking site which interprets the farm traditionally associated with Erik the Red and his son Leif Erikson. Some of the group went into the museum, while others of us went on a short walk along the water. It was chilly with light rain, but we had a good walk, even seeing a rainbow when we turned back.
We stopped by a grocery store to get lunch for later, then it was back on the road. Soon we were on a steep, winding, unpaved road for quite a while. We eventually got to a driveway where we saw the Heiðarleikabúð Honesty Shop. It looks like a little free library but has goods for sale. There is a small box where you pay for items, thus the name “honesty shop”. This one had packages of dried goods (one person bought some dried mushrooms), and there were a lot of jams and jellies, such as dandelion and rhubarb.
As we pulled out, we started eating our lunches for the next long leg. We were back on unpaved roads.
Dynjandi
We continued on the unpaved road, and as we drew near to our next stop, we noticed several tour buses in the parking lot. The buses were from a cruise ship that was in Ísafjörður (where we would be overnight), and that particular part of the road was paved. It seems they are working hard on the infrastructure in the Westfjords to build up tourism access in the area.
Our time in Dynjandi was going to be short, since we were planning on spending more time there in the morning. Melody and I did a quick hike up to the top, taking a quick look at the other six falls on our way to the main falls, which drops about 330 feet and is about 100 feet wide. Not surprisingly, there were several people towards the bottom, and the crowds thinned quickly as we worked our way up.
We continued down to the bottom and had enough time to wait in the lines for the restrooms.
We continued on the unpaved road towards the Jón Sigurðsson Museum. Sigurðsson was a scholar and politician who led Iceland’s peaceful campaign for self-rule and independence from Denmark. He is considered the father of the nation, with his birthday celebrated as National Day.
On the property was a reconstructed turf farmhouse, a small church, and a small museum. Going through the turf house, we were surprised to see a small pump organ in there. There was also a not quite as small pump organ in the church.
Ísafjörður
Once we were done at the museum, it was back on the road, retracing our steps until we got closer to the falls. Even though we were on the other side of the fjord, we still got a clear look at the falls. We then started heading north, going through two more tunnels. The first tunnel, Dýrafjarðargöng, was almost four miles. The second tunnel, Vestfjarðagöng, started with a two-mile section of one-lane road, with pullouts coming the other way (so that traffic needed to pull out for us to pass), then completed with a 1.25-mile section of two-lane road. Apparently, that tunnel also has a third arm, so the tunnel system creates a Y.
We arrived in Ísafjörður and settled into our hotel rooms. For dinner, we walked over to Tjöruhúsið for dinner. The name of the restaurant means “The Tar House”, which is what the building used to be. The restaurant is a family-run seafood restaurant, and they have two dinner seatings each night. You sit at picnic tables with benches, and dinner is a buffet. Because they have timed seatings, that means everyone in the restaurant is going to the buffet at the same time. The owner made some remarks before we started, and gave some hints to try to make things go more smoothly (wait at the table rather than making a long line, don’t go back to previous things in the line to keep things moving, etc.).
The first course was seafood soup, which gave all of us a practice run at lining up. Our table happened to be well-positioned so we were practically first in line with our soup bowls. After we finished our soup, we were all keeping a keen eye for when they were done with putting out the main buffet. We saw a few people who tried to loiter around the serving table to be first in line, some directly, others who were taking pictures of the food while holding their plate. Fortunately it was only a few people so it didn’t really make a difference in the long run. Once again, our table was well-positioned, and there were so many dishes, it was hard to say no to each one. There were a few salads at the front, but the rest was various types of fresh fish, prepared in different ways. It was all quite good, and Melody and I were plenty full with one run through the line.
After dinner, a few of us took a stroll through town. Melody and I worked our way to the other end of town to the modern-looking church Ísafjarðarkirkja. Next to it was the Seamen’s Monument statue which commemorates fishermen from Ísafjörður who died at sea.
We then looped back to the water and walked back to our hotel for the night.
