As well as some old parts, there is also a very cool new theatre on the waterfront.
We had planned to try and walk to a little hot spring along the coast from the harbour, but the biting wind and long drive ahead put us off, as it was already past midday. Instead, we set the sat nav to north and followed the only road out of town towards the snowy mountains.
A new (5km) tunnel crossed under one of the fjords which saved us the hour and a half drive around.
As usual, we don't just go to the normal tourist hot spots. A bit more of Clare's research suggested that after a few hours of driving, we would be passing quite close to a remote hot spring. 'Quite close' still involved a small bit of 'off-roading', so we carefully left the tarmac and gingerly edged our way out into the deserted plains...
Right on cue, we found the place to leave the car and followed a small track to the hot spring. The air temperature was only two degrees above freezing and an icy wind was whipping across the wasteland off the distant snow capped peaks. It didn't seem like the obvious place to be stripping off for a swim.
There were a few friendly folk there when we arrived, which was good as it reassured us that we were in the right place and that it was safe to get in! Having had the good sense to get changed in the warmth of the car, all that was left to do was whip our jackets and trousers off as get in as fast as possible!
It must have been a double figure wind chill as we stepped into the tingling 40 degree water.
Hard to believe that we could be so warm in such a cold place!
After a few minutes, we were warm enough to sit up and take in the views. What had been a painfully cold wind was now reduced to a pleasant cooling breeze.
The guys that were in when we arrived, soon got out and left us to ourselves out in the wilderness.
Which was rather lucky really, given the woefully inadequate travel towel that I had with me!
It didn't take long to cool back down though and as soon as we were out, it was a race to get back into warm clothes.
And even then, we still ran back to the shelter of the car!
From then on, it was back on the open road. We had checked the road conditions online and tried to go a non-snowy way, but luckily realised early enough, that the non-snowy route was also unpaved! The best way seemed to be to follow the main ring road, which was on a 'slightly wintery' conditions warning. Well, to the non-Icelandicer, this seemed pretty wintery to me! As we climbed over high passes, the roads became sheets of ice and even with our studded tyres, the car skidded alarmingly at times. There was a big drop off either side of the road and we were reminded to concentrate hard as we passed a recovery truck winching a vehicle from a snowdrift down below. It was a nerve-wracking time and not helped by the poor visability, gales and driving snow...
Eventually, we both heaved a sigh of relief as we pulled off the road, into our stop for the night. A cosy little cabin in the small town of Blondous. When we got out of the car, the sides were coated in iron hard ice that we couldn't chip off!
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