The view from the porch of my hotel in Djúpivogur.
I am not complaining about the rain. I totally expected to have ‘weather’ and I’m thankful that it hasn’t, for example caused the road to close. There is one road and no alternate routes so if The Road (aka The Ring Road) closes you have to turn around and find a place to wait.
Also I’m not complaining about the rain because its letting me have a half-day of rest and right now that feels like a great idea. Now I’m going to write about FOOD!
This is a typical stop at a market. I eat that pepper like an apple because the quality of the fruit is risky. Even the bananas can be risky, not yet ripe but already bruised inside. Most of the gas stations have mini-marts attached, like a 7-11 where you can get a variety of packaged goods.
My favorite is the tuna sandwich. And it’s the exact same tuna sandwich everywhere so far. Like there’s a sandwich place in Reykjavik that supplies everyone, or so it seems. Just yesterday I went into one of the gas stations for a tuna sandwich and the guy said the delivery from ‘town’ wasn’t here yet, it usually comes around 11. So I went to the market (this was in Vik, a place large enough to Have a market) and the guy there said the exact same thing, they’re waiting for the delivery from town, which is how I ended up with Spicy Chicken. They do a smoked arctic char and egg sandwich that is actually my favorite but I’ve only found it once.
Which brings us to the topic of bread. Bread is an important part of every meal. I think I’ve had it twice every day that I’ve been here, rolls, sandwich bread, freshly sliced loaf bread, and all this bread in every form is soft. There are no crunchy crusts. Even when it looks like it might be crunchy, but no. HOWEVER, they are, every single one, delicious. How/why I don’t know but every day I look forward to some new style of soft bread.
Following are pictures of a typical breakfast buffet. The guesthouses that offer breakfast have the same ingredients but fewer options, one kind of cheese, one kind of smoked lamb..etc. And these are the ingredients that make up every salad and every sandwich. (Except for my tuna sandwich!)
They also have a few kinds of cereal with the option of milk or Icelandic yogurt called skyr which I’m loving when I can find it without added sugar or flavoring. I think Whole Foods carries skyr so I’m excited to check it out. Coffee-tea-juice too.
I didn’t try all the meats, and I didn’t try the pancakes which was an oversight. Maybe they’re different? Everything I did eat was very good.
Some days this would be it, breakfast at my guesthouse and late lunch from the market with a street snack or two added in – like a pastry from the bakery or a hot dog from the stand. Or I’d have an early lunch from the market and soup or an appetizer from a restaurant.
I have been to many restaurants. This is day nine of my trip and that’s a lot of eating to account for. Most importantly for me when eating in a restaurant is to remember that basically what ingredients they have locally is fish, lamb, and skyr. Even wikipedia doesn’t have much to add. Fish-Lamb-Skyr. My campaign to eat local fresh fish every day has slipped even when I ‘count’ smoked arctic char used in the salads and appetizer plates.
It’s a lot about the soups. Every place seems to have at least two. You can guess! Fish Soup and Lamb Soup. I’ve eaten several varieties of both and yes, they are delicious.
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I did do a couple things today – Lonely Planet says you absolutely must check out The Viking Café, so I did of course. You can pay a little for the privilege of driving around…
…which I didn’t do having just driven on the longest dirt road yet to get there.
Those red cabins are a design you see around often and there were probably 10-15 clustered around here. They call them ‘bag cabins’ meaning you bring your sleeping bag and enjoy an evening indoors. I’m not sure if they have bathrooms.
I took myself to Hotel Framtid early so I could rest, and it’s been one treat after another. Thanks to one of the cooks, a Honduran(!), who let me in early, then thanks to the restaurant manager who said not so many people order the brennivin so enjoy it’s on the house, and then when I noticed there was a sauna downstairs the hotel manager kicked it off so it would be ready after dinner. What a pleasant afternoon and evening!
This is a hotel restaurant meal and I think in light of international guests they rather unsuccessfully attempted a salad.