Rjukandi to Hofn, September 7, 2019

The WC is for the four rooms upstairs and today it is a bit congested.  It doesn’t matter, though, because we aren’t planning to leave until ten.  We just have to stop to see the country’s highest mountain and get to tonight’s guest house, Glacier World Guest House.

Such an intense color!

We get everything packed up and head back to Skalinn’s for breakfast.  Today I think I’ll have something different and the eggs Florentine sound perfect.  This may be the best Hollandaise sauce ever!  Marilyn has opted for a repeat of yesterday and our buddy behind the counter remembers what she had!

We’re both stuffed and ready to venture forth into the gray and drizzly day.  About all today has on tap is driving, so it’s the perfect day to have our first rain.  And it’s really more of a heavy mist, and not at all like a Florida thunderstorm.  The wind, though, can be treacherous at times.

There’s not a lot to tempt a camera, what with the limited visibility and the overall grayness;  but we do see somethings of interest, like the eggs of Merry Bay!  Turns out that is an art installation!  And the orange lighthouses.  And the general store at Kaupfelajid.

Cute little lighthouse!

We are leaving Western Iceland and the moss-covered basalt and entering Southern Iceland, with its glaciers and pebble mounds along the road.

This one must be under repair!

We make it to our guesthouse, which is actually outside Hofn by quite a bit, in an area called Holler.  It has a restaurant but their buffet is 5500 Kroners and that’s really steep when we won’t be able to do it justice, so we put some things in our room and head back toward Hofn.  We are looking for lobster soup which is supposed to be a local specialty.  We stop at a hotel with a restaurant sign and go in, only to find that the restaurant part is closed.  There is an older couple from St. Louis who chat for quite a while;  but they tell us that there are a lot of restaurants at the end of the main road into Hofn.  Of course they think that road in One, and it’s really Ninety-Nine, so who knows?

We stop at a local eatery and it’s exactly what we were looking for.  It’s casual and the wait staff is eager to laugh with us!  And they have lobster everything!  Including our soup!  And it’s less than half the price of the buffet. 

The soup is utterly scrumptious!  It says it has lobster tails, cream, and burnt white chocolate!!  I could eat it every day for a year!  I also ask our waiter if they have the birch liqueur I’ve hear about.  It only came in huge bottles at the vinbudin and I wasn’t willing to buy it without knowing what it tasted like!  He brings back a tray with every Icelandic alcohol they have and one is actually a liqueur, though not the birch one.  This is an Icelandic licorice-based liqueur with wild berries and sea salt!  I order a shot and I think it’s pretty good, although Marilyn thinks it tastes like medicine!!

Their surf and turf is with lamb!

Opal's the liqueur

He was such fun!

He says Opal is the party starter and surely I want another one!

We finish our soup, down to the last drop!  Time to climb back into the trusty Hyundai and settle in for the night. (No, not in the car!)  It will be an early morning, as we have to be on the road before nine in order to get to our amphibian boat for our glacier adventure!

PS . Here's a photo of me in the steam at "mini Yellowstone"

And the sulfur fumes will clear out your sinuses!