Westfjords

I haven't posted about the trip in 2 days so hopefully this covers it.  Most of the trip seemed to be driving, but the scenery is really amazing. The fjords are vast and high and the cliffs drop right into the sea, sometimes with waterfalls right into the ocean. Any humanity seem miniaturized when compared to this scenery.

Some highlights:
We went for a drive in search of a seal colony down some gravel road on the way to Drangsnes. Our plan was to have a little picnic while watching the seals. We found them but they didn't do much of anything exciting. We made our picnic lunch while sitting on a piece of driftwood and were almost blown away by the strong wind.

There was a seal museum where we learned a bit about why seals cry all the time. It's either because the seal you see crying is a transformed woman who had been the wife of a farmer and found a magical seal skin that would let her swim away into the sea. She cried because she missed her family and husband. The other explanation is that they constantly produce mucus to bathe their eyes when out of the water.

We stayed in a sweet little studio apartment guesthouse and had a good evening. We went to the ocean shore where there were 3 hot pots, natural jacuzzis for us to bathe in. We had the powerful and cold wind in our hair, the view of sea birds, and the warm water to relax in.

Today we drove to Isafjordur where we have another little studio airbnb. It's comfortable and we are getting ready for an all day kayaking trip tomorrow morning.

Today, we went to a witchcraft museum to learn about some of the magical practices in Iceland in the 17th century, as well as all the people prosecuted for witchcraft. Some of the stories were fun to hear. They basically boiled down to a systematic way to get rid of someone unpopular in town.  Accusations of witchcraft seemed easy enough to do.  The westfjords have a rich history of persecution and execution compared to the rest of Iceland.

For an afternoon snack, we got waffles for the first time in Iceland. We stopped in an old turf farmhouse where there are 3 ladies cooking up waffles, and that's all they have on the menu. It was pretty scrumptious.