Illugastaðir
We left our stay (Tjorn) slightly after 10am. We had a leisurely breakfast and waited for the mist to lift before departing. We drove a short distancemof 8km (15 minutes) and arrived at Illusgastadir for some “seal watching”.
Parking at Illugastadir was free. From the carpark there was a path leading toward the beach where we understood we would be able to see some seals. We walked for about 15 minutes (800m) and came to a “seal watching hut”.
Illugastaðir was a farm on the Vatnsnes peninsula, where seals often rest on the nearby coastal rocks. It was developed to accommodate seal watching tourism. The “seal watching hut” (a hide / blind) allowed visitors to “hide” from the seals so as not to scare them away.
The seals were on an outcrop just a short distance from the hut. It was a colony of seals and apparently this place was one of Iceland best places for seal watching. The seals were lazily sunbathing hardly moving a flipper at all!
Kolugljufur
After “Illugastadir Seal Watching” we drove about 49km (1 hour) to Kolugjufur Canyon. Before the canyon we drove passed the town of Hvammstangi, in the town was the “Icelandic Seal Center”.
We had original planned to spend sometimes at the center to catch some sights of seals. But we were told by our host at Tjorn (where we stayed the night before) that there “Illugastadir Seal Watching” was a better place to watch seals. There was no other interesting “stuff” in town so we drove straight on till we reached Ring Road 1. At the interestion with Ring Road left we turned left till Road 715 then another 6 km to Kolugljufur Canyon.
We parked our car at a carpark (no charge) and walked across a bridge. The canyon was 40-50 metres deep and a little over 1 km long.
We walked into the canyon to had a better view of the falls. Kolufossar waterfalls was a series of 7 to 8 waterfalls side by side. We wondered if this series of waterfalls would merged into one gigantic falls in times of heavy flow.
There was a legend that a giantess by the name Kola lived in this canyon which was named after her. We walked away from the falls to explore the canyon. There were observation decks to look down into the green canyon. We loved the fresh green vegetation that covered the walls of the canyon cliffs. This place reminded us a bit of Fjadrargljufur Canyon which we visited on 10 days ago.
Holmavik
After Kolugljufur Canyon was a long drive to Holmavik where we stayed for a night. It was “over two hours” drive of about 155 km. Along the route there was no “great” sights and the “Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft” at final destination, Holmavik, was of no interest to us.
We chose Holmavik to stay the night because it was a “town” which would be convenient for us to “stock up” grocery, enjoy some human activities and midway to Isafjordur
Holmavik was a small town on the east coast of Westfjords Region. It was the largest town in an area called Strandir. This area went through a witch-craze period where 16 men and 1 woman were burnt at the stake. The “Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft” was sited in this town.
We were not keen on the history of Iceland Witchcraft but would love to sit down to a nice great cup of coffee. Unfortunately the Bistro we visited was not serving coffee on that day!
Our Stay for the Night
We found our stay, Steinhusid, easily. It was a two levels building with a cafe/restaurant on the ground level. We arrived 15 minute to 4 pm but was told that our room was not ready till after 4pm. We had booked a standard double room for Eur187 a night with no breakfast and no ensuite toilet.
Our room was on the 2nd level and the shared bathroom was on the lower level. The bathroom looked pretty new, nice and decent.
We were disappointed with the shared kitchen. There was no guest shared kitchen! We were allowed to use one device which was the microwave in a “tiny” corner that was part of the cafe/restaurant kitchen. At another corner was a toaster and a electric kettle.
This was a great “misrepresentation” as the picture in this listing showed a nice fully equipped kitchen which we realised on arrival that it was for guest renting an apartment!
