Iceland Day 6: Hvitserkur to Stykkishólmur

Another "last one out" start but we weren't in any rush.  We went up to Hvitserkur itself.  It's a rock formation out in the sea -- I think all of these are called trolls by the Icelandic people.  This is a location where seals breed and bask.  We did see a large group across an inlet but no one especially close apart from an inquisitive pup that swam nearby.  But the biggest "highlight" was the attack of the Arctic terns.  I had they were territorial and would swoop down onto you.  And they did, getting within a few inches!  Check out the video!  I was bold and just strode out thinking that they wouldn't actually hit you.  But I learned later that they do actually peck people's head -- people have needed stitches!  Ignorance is bliss!

We drove on around the peninsula and had lunch at a quaint cottage called <>.  There was a turret and it had been built by a Scot.  We both had a spicy seafood soup.  It was quite good.  This was the first time I had anything spicy here.  Not that it was too spicy.  The seafood in this country has been very good!

We tried one more stop at a Viking ruin but when we got there we didn't find anything apart from a modern-era church.  So we ccontinued on to Stykkishólmur.

It was rather nice to get to a town before 10pm.  (Remember that it's never truly dark here and sunset isn't until after midnight.)  After checking-in, we walked down to the harbor and then up the hill to the lighthouse.  I tried a photosphere panaromic picture. Not sure if I can post that here...

In an effort to spend time with the locals we went up to the local bar to watch the Euro 2016 game -- Turkey vs. Spain.  Apparently until recently it was legal for a Turk to be murdered in Iceland.  This dated back to the Turkish Robbery Act when the Ottoman Empire raided Iceland for slaves.  So most people were cheering for Spain.  I had been looking for a beer that uses part of a whale as flavoring but they didn't have it.

We had a nice dinner of blue mussels and saltwater catfish before spending the evening at the hotel bar, talking to the bartender and a couple of his friends that showed up.  It was just five of us so it was kinda fun.  It was one of the first chances to meet the locals...