Iceland, Höfn, Hornafjörður - 06/12/17

Our epic journey across the globe continues in Iceland. Our restless feet took us from Castlebar, Ireland, all the way to Höfn, Iceland, 836 miles away, a fishing city in the southeastern part of the country.
 Our love for nature, cold places and foreign culture lead us to one of the most exotic places on earth with an extraordinary biome diversity, which is explored in many productions (including HBO's Game of Thrones and the movie Interstellar) as filming location. Not only the scenery is exotic, but also their names, as the Icelandic language is one of the hardest to learn because of it's consonant use. Luckily for us, we have been preparing for that on the way.
Of the natural scenery and formations to see here is Vatnajökull, the largest icecap by volume in Europe, the Geysers 'Geysir', from which the word 'Geyser' is derived and Strokkur, which erupts every 8-10 minutes, and many active volcanoes and open lava fields, caves, forests, waterfalls, geothermal sites and much more.

We arrived in Iceland by the Höfn harbor (which is interesting, since Höfn means Harbor in Icelandic).

Höfn is a fishing town, the main economic activities are fishing and tourism.

Most of the sights in the city are actually the nature around Höfn itself. It's few visitor attractions include: Iceland Glacier Exhibition and Vatnajokull National Park (which expands well over 13.900 km²/5.36 sq mi, approximately 14% of Iceland), Europe's second largest national park, after Yugyd Va in Russia.
Vatnajökul park comprises great natural formations, including mountains, valleys, plateaus and volcanoes. The two greatest volcanic eruptions of historical times happened here in 934 and 1983.
Höfn is by far the largest settlement with over 2000 inhabitants, more precisely, 2400, according to the 2011 census.

Many, (too) Many, interesting facts:

• 55% of the population of Iceland has internet access, the highest proportion in the world. (per capita)

• The show Lazy town was created by Magnus Scheving in Iceland.

• The Sugar Cubes, Of monsters and Men, Mezzoforte, Björk, Emiliana Torrini and Rigur Ros are famous Icelandic Artists.

• The Movies: James Bond (Die Another Day and A View to a Kill), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and Batman Begins use Höfn as a filming location.

• Though geographically as big as England, Iceland’s population is tiny – at barely 323,000, it’s no bigger than many towns in other countries. Two out of three Icelanders live in and around the capital, Reykjavík.

• There are no surnames or family names in Iceland, instead, Icelanders carry their parents' name (father or mother) followed by a suffix: - dottir (daughter) or -son.

• Iceland sits atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the fault line where two of the Earth’s tectonic plates are slowly drifting apart. It is one of only TWO places in the entire world where you can see two of the earth's tectonic plates meeting above the earth's surface (the other is in Africa). The North American and Eurasian plates jut up out of the ground in Þingvellir, moving apart roughly 2 cm per year, as a result, Iceland is getting wider at a rate of roughly 1cm per year. Either side of this ridge, from the northeast to the southwest, earthquakes and volcanic activity are commonplace.

• There are over 125 volcanic mountains in the country, with expectancy of one eruption every four years. Though recently there has been at least 1 per year.

• There are no motorways or railways in Iceland. The country’s only main road, the Ringroad which circumnavigates the island, was completed in the 1970s following several unsuccessful attempts to bridge treacherous glacial rivers on the south coast.

• Iceland is home to the third-biggest glacier in the world, Vatnajökull, covering an area equal to that of the English county of Yorkshire. One of the country’s greatest sources of geothermal energy, the Grímsvötn caldera, sits directly beneath the ice cap.

• Thanks to the existence of countless medieval documents, many Icelanders can trace their ancestors back to the time of the Viking settlement, around 800 AD. Low immigration over the centuries means that today’s Icelanders have one of the purest gene pools in the world, providing an invaluable research opportunity for scientists.

Vatnajokull National Park

The views and places to see are just too unique and the travel experience too overwhelming to summarize. We can't decide if we speak of the trails and the atmosphere of the place or the actual tourist attractions. 

For some, the best experience is just getting to these points, and the fulfilling sense of exploration they get, others rather enjoy the felling of accomplishment from doing as expected and getting where they want to be, others may seem like they don't pay attention to their experiences as they are happening, but take great joy out of reliving and retelling their travelling stories. The guild encompasses each one of these traits and more, and from the vivacity of our experiences we could write a whole book of all the things we saw on the way here. - We shall remember that this is nothing more than a wonder created by our collective efforts, a gathering of thoughts retracing our path mentally. -  Suddenly a flashback of a documentary played in our mind palace.