Part 1: Reykjavík - Isafördur - Korpudalur
(click on the image to view it at a larger size)
Sunday, 27 June: We are off to West Fjords, north west Iceland, for 3 days. It turns out to be a bright, sunny day, and on our way from Reykjavík to Isafördur (40 minute flight) we could clearly see the Snaefellsjökull glacier (one of the seven wonders of the world - read Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth) as pictured right.

Isafördur being located right at the head of the Skutuls Fjord, any landing aircraft must come down the next valley, between steep mountains, then turn around and land on the little airstrip between the waterfront and another steep mountain. We had been told (warned?) in advance that during the decent the mountains are so close on both sides it feels as if one could touch them - and yes, it was an amazing experience, but we wouldn't like to try it in a bad weather...
10:40am: Our aircraft shortly after landing. The town of Isafördur can be seen on the other side of the water. Our friend Ásta came to meet us at the airport and drove us to Korpudalur, about 20 minutes away through a tunnel (the longest tunnel in Iceland, too!), at the head of the Önundar Fjord.

That's where we're going - Korpudalur is at the bottom of the middle mountain...

...and this is the hostel Ásta looks after every summer, while we sublet her Reykjavík flat.

In Iceland you take your shoes off when you enter a house or a flat, but some people seem to take their socks off too and place stones on them so that they won't fly away :-)

Admiring the view from the dining room window.
12pm: after a cup of coffee, we decide to go for a little walk...
...but it's so warm that we are soon sweating, and we give up our walk after an hour and head back to the hostel.

Two girls - Ásta's grandniece Hrafnhildur and her friend Inga - have just got up, and are taking some bedding outside, to doze off again in the sun, so we go and join them.

(Inga's hiding under the duvet)
But then the sun is glaring and it really is too hot here too, so we go inside to have a nap in our room for a couple of hours. When we get up in the late afternoon, it's nearly time for dinner.

6pm, and the sun is still so bright!
Haddock with leek & mushroom, rice, salad, orvieto classico...

...followed by strawberries (yes, Kousa is happy :-)


To Part 2 (Evening in Korpudalur)
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