#stokksnes
Timelapse of sunrise on Good Friday at Vestrahorn in Southeastern Iceland
Day 4
So remember that the night before into the wee hours of the morning, I was sitting in my rental car, freezing my ass off and hoping I’d see some some auroras. But sadly, the moon was too bright, and the clouds blocked a lot of the view of the night sky. At this point, it’s 2:00 AM, and I decided to move my car from the random parking lot on the side of the road to the Vestrahorn Viking Café, which is where you have to go to access this area known as Stokksnes, which is private land where you are afforded a spectacular view of the Vestrahorn mountains.
I had read online that the owners of this place own the land at Stokksnes. So, they aggressively charge you $8 USD for admission to the land. Prior to my trip, I was really worried that they may not let people onto the Stokksnes land since the café itself doesn’t open until 9AM, and sunrise is WAY before that. Obviously, I got there at 2:00 AM and was completely confused because there were boulders blocking one entrance to Stokksnes. Another area around the cafe had an electronic arm that blocked the way as well, kind of like at an apartment complex. So I was really worried by this point. I was already disappointed that I didn’t get to see the Northern Lights. And part of the reason for driving 4 hours overnight was to make sure I’d get to watch the sunrise from Stokksnes. I had a real fear and frustration that all of this was going to be for naught. But there wasn’t much I could do at that point except try to nap and see if I could figure something out in a couple of hours.
After about 2 hours of trying to sleep (but really not sleeping at all since it was 0 degrees C outside)and feeling a little sick, I decided to leave the Vestrahorn Café and try to park somewhere else to catch the sunrise somewhere else. As I was driving out, I saw two cars coming in, and was intrigued. I kept driving away from the café for another 5 minutes, and then decided to U-turn back. I got there but didn’t see the two cars from earlier. After some digging, I realized that there was a way to get through the electronic arm and get to Stokksnes the whole entire time. All I had to do was walk up to the café door, where there was an ATM-like system on the wall. You insert your credit card, and it charges you and prints out a little receipt with a QR code on it. You drive up to the gate, and there’s a scanner that scans your QR code, which then lifts the gate and lets you in. I totally should have looked into all of this earlier, but I had no idea and was so delirious. But finally, I was on my way into Stokksnes!
I drove about 1km, where I then saw the two cars from earlier parked in a little dirt area. I walked up some of the sand dunes and staked out my spot to photograph and view the sunrise along with 6-8 other photographers. They were kind of obnoxious, actually, yelling and hollering at each other trying to get getting everyone in their group to pose in the foreground and take cool pictures. When I’m in such a beautiful and natural place like Vestrahorn, I want to enjoy it without disturbance. I became extremely frustrated, but after about 30 minutes, thank the LAWD they stopped running around and got quieter, photographing the sunrise.
“Vestra” means west, and so Vestrahorn means “West Horn.” There’s also an Eystrahorn, which means obviously then “East Horn.” It’s not exactly clear what the “west” and “east” are with respect to though. But let me tell you, there’s no mystery about Vestrahorn’s magic and beauty. As I stood atop a sand dune with other small dunes in front of me and these beautiful mountains not too far away in the distance, I was in heaven. It felt like I was living a fairy tale dream. I couldn’t believe that I was right on the coast, with waves and water washing ashore, and then towering 454 meters (1489 feet) out from sea level was this picturesque structure. You know when you’re a kid and you draw pictures of mountains, you sketch a lot of dramatic triangles. In reality, most mountains don’t exactly look like a bunch of consecutive triangle shapes. This did. It was just so surreal being here and seeing this mountain and others tower over the landscape, with their jagged edges scraping the clouds above. As I watched the sun slowly rise over the horizon, there was a light pinkish and reddish hue to the sky and clouds, very subtle on the base of Vestrahorn. Clouds streamed across the sky, and peaks of sun would shine across the sand dunes, giving the yellow grasses an almost reddish glow. Sea fog would occasionally roll in and shroud Vestrahorns base for a few minutes before dissipating and continuing the cycle over and over again. As I sat perched on the dune, I just stood there, breathing in the cool fresh air and watching the sun illuminate the mountain in different ways as the sun rose higher in the sky. I decided to go for a stroll along the beach, taking my time and really milking every moment. All of the exhaustion I had from being up all night kind of just melted away. As the waves rolled in and calmly receded into the sea, it left a mirrored reflection of the sky and Vestrahorn. I really couldn’t get over how beautiful it all was.
After finishing up at around 10 or so, I made my way back to the town of Höfn to see if I could maybe pass some time before I had to go my AirBnB. But, that day happened to be Good Friday, a super religious holiday throughout the Christian world (very much so in Iceland) that happens the Friday before Easter. Everything is closed, including restaurants and grocery stores. So, I strolled around, parked my car in a grocery store parking lot, took a nap and watched some Netflix when I awoke. I walked around Höfn for about an hour. It’s a small town with a decent amount of restaurants and shops. It’s quite walkable, with sidewalks throughout the town. Eventually, I got back to my car and drove to go to my AirBnB.
Things were a wee bit awkward at first. I got there at 2:45 instead of 4:00 which is when I told her I’d arrive. There was a sign on the door that instructed guests to come in because it said she would be out with her daughter. But she was definitely there at the house, and I could hear the shower running with a woman talking to a laughing baby. I was already like.. oh shoot, she’s gonna come out naked with her daughter not knowing I’m there, and it’s going to be hella weird. And of course, that’s pretty much what happened. I had to announce myself loudly from the other side of the house so that she would know I was there.. but her daughter ran out naked and she was not clothed as she peaked out the door to say hello to me. After talking to her, she saw my camera and actually asked me to take pics of her AIrBnB so that she could update her listing. She offered my room for free for the favor but actually ended up paying me 100 Euros… like wtf.. that’s awesome. So I took pictures, and sent them to her.
I eventually took a much-needed nap, and when I woke up, there were other people coming in. I was sitting at the dinner table with my laptop, when three people came over to eat dinner. We have Jennifer, Grace, and Judd from Manila, Phillippines. They made Nongshim Spicy Ramen, which I just so happened to bring with me from Georgia as well. So, I whipped out my ramen, and ate it as well. Soon, we were joined by three other people: Garland, Jennifer and Mi-Rae from New York City and Alpharetta, GA. We all talked about our travels throughout Iceland, showed off our awesome pictures, and gave tips and advice for the rest of the trip. Judd and Garland are photographers, so we talked about that for a while too. We all exchanged our social media info, and stalked each other briefly on Instagram, of course. By that time, it was a little past midnight, so we all headed to bed.
This was by far the best night yet (and probably even the best night ever of the entire trip)! *
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Daily Travel Photo : Stokksnes, Iceland
Photograph by Karsten Wrobel, imageBROKER/Corbis
A bike rider pedals over the water-smoothed sand on the volcanic beach at Stokksnes, Iceland. The craggy, nearly 1,500-feet-high Vestrahorn mountain, a main landmark of southeastern Iceland, looms before her.
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