EASTFJORDS: Most unexpected HIDDEN GEM of Iceland

EASTFJORDS: Most unexpected HIDDEN GEM of Iceland

The Eastfjords, the road furthest from Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, a place where small fishing towns are the biggest settlements and the majestic fjords are far off from the usual tourist destinations. Visit one of my favorite parts of Iceland. Welcome to the Eastfjords. Hello, little town. This is the place where we’re gonna stay the night and there was actually this music festival that just ended today. So we will see if we can see some proof of that or maybe there is still some music. Remains to be seen. Borgarfjirdur Eystri calls itself the fjord of 100 people and 1,000 elves. Indeed, the little village Bakkageroi, one of the biggest settlements on the fjord, has only 99 inhabitants. But every summer, it hosts Braedslan, one of Iceland’s most well-known music festivals that had a Emiliana Torrini, Belle and Sebastian

And Damien rise as headliners in the past. That’s the balcony from our room. Another attraction of the village is more hidden, literally. Bakkageroi is the legendary home of the elves whose queen is said to reside in the Alfaborg, the Castle of the Elves. A small hill with a wonderful panoramic view is located in the middle of the town.

This is where the queen of the Eastfjords elves lives. Bakkageroi has a breathtaking surrounding with countless hiking opportunities to enjoy nature, but finally, also a hotel that I can highly recommend. Some rooms and parts of Blabjorg Guesthouse were still under construction when we visited, but the restaurant and the views from the room we got were one of a kind. My biggest recommendation

That I unfortunately didn’t take any videos of, try the Plokkfiskur in the restaurant, a traditional Icelandic fish dish. It was the best we had in all of Iceland. Yesterday when we arrived here it was super, super cold, like I was freezing

As much as I have not been freezing on this journey so far, but today the sun shines at least here. That’s not a promise because you can just turn around the next fjord and sun might be gone. So yeah, that’s how Iceland is and we’re having a quite short distance today.

We’re driving literally now to places where we have hotels or places to stay because everything is so booked. So we don’t have that much of choice where we’re going. We basically go where there’s ac commendation. We are going to a place now where we hopefully will see some puffins and it’s these very famous birds that are kind of iconic for Iceland. So they are actually a must-see and I hope we will be lucky because I actually don’t really know if it’s still nesting season.

I only know that the place that we are going to supposed to be one of the best ones to see the little puffins. Here we are. That’s the puffin parking I guess. Hafnarholmi is one of the best and easiest-to-reach places in all of Iceland to watch the famous puffins. At the newly built Hafnarhus, the harbor house, there is a nice cafe and you can enjoy art exhibitions and an excellent view over the surroundings. Hafnarholmi is not only a tourist destination,

But the quaint little harbor is still functioning as a small fishing marina. And if you are lucky, the local fishermen will just come back with their catches when you are walking by the harbor to see the puffins. Wow, they’re huge. Wow. And that’s the travel partner up there who refuses to go to the puffins. He goes to a coffee instead. Hafnarholmi offers perfect facilities to get close to the birds without disturbing them much or damaging their burrows. Around 10,000 pairs of puffins are said to nest here from mid-April to mid-August.

There’s a shelter and wooden platforms that allow you to get close to the little fun guys. Indeed so close that you even can see their poop that is all over the place. Puffins are monogamous. They usually mate for life and a couple can stay together for over 20 years. With 8 to 10 million puffins inhabiting the island, Iceland is home to more than 60% of the world’s entire Atlantic puffin population. This fact made Iceland the puffin watching capital of the world. Birdwatchers and scientists from all over the globe come to Iceland to see and study the species.

In Icelandic, the puffins are called lundi and they are kind of a national symbol for the Icelanders. Wow, these little puffins were so much nicer than I thought. I have to admit that seeing the puffins would not have necessarily been something on my to-do list for Iceland because I’m actually not that big a fan of all this animal tourism. But even better that we stayed at this village yesterday

And I guess already being here in this village, we had basically no other choice than seeing them and coming here, would otherwise have been a waste. And actually, I can highly recommend to do this. It was really, really nice. We continued our ride on Route 94,

Which was maybe not the most spectacular ride we had done so far, but the scenery was very peaceful and we enjoyed our ride in the morning sun. ♪ All the good times turn into memories ♪ ♪ And the revelry goes on ♪ ♪ Let’s have a good time ♪

♪ Night of the century ♪ ♪ Our best days could be done ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ – So guys, we have some decisions to take soon because the weather is so good today and I want to make at least one more detour here in the Eastfjords, meaning I want to ride into another fjord. And I think most of the fjords here

Are kind of like one-way road. So you ride in and ride out and I would actually prefer a nice gravel road with not so many people. So we will see if we are lucky and find that. Sometimes, just sometimes, the things you wish for become reality. On this day, they did. So we’re going into Mjoifjordur now. I don’t know if I’m pronouncing this right, probably not, but it’s a one-way road, so we have to ride in and back the same way.

And actually, we have already seen a lot of fjords, so we will see if this one is really worth it. But I think the road here is already a great start and like always, I’m curious. The mountain ranges that separate Mjoifjordur from the neighboring fjords Nordfjordur

And Seydisfjordur and that you traverse provide shelter and particularly good weather. According to the locals, Mjoifjordur is one of the sunniest places on the Eastfjords. But for us, the little mountain ride before dropping down to the fjord over several hairpins was the surprise of the day. Riding into this fjord so far is absolutely stunning. Crazy, beautiful views here. Wow, there are even hairpins here. Not so many of those we found in Iceland so far. I think only one that we did yesterday. And look down there, we see the fjord, absolutely beautiful. ♪ Gimme, gimme pink clouds ♪ ♪ Gimme circling carousels ♪ ♪ Gimme the horizon ♪

♪ Babe, I’m under your spell ♪ ♪ Don’t hold back on nothing ♪ ♪ I want everything and more ♪ ♪ I wanna adore you ♪ – Here along the fjords are all these little sites or historic things like this old ship here that was stranded here. And yeah, so you as well have some things to look at the site of the stunning nature. An American vessel dated back to World War II stranded on the edge of Mjoifjordur. 70 years of tides have been taking their toll, but the structure is still recognizable. I can’t believe how lucky we are and really how beautiful this is. I really think it’s one of my favorite rides so far.

Look how crazy close we are to the water. I wonder if this whole road is flooded sometimes in bad weather because it’s so close. It’s really, really spectacular to ride here. From the start of the gravel road to the only little settlement along the fjord, it is about 30 kilometers one way.

Incorporating the Icelandic word for narrow, mjoi, Mjoifjordur lives up to its name throughout its 18-kilometer length. The fjord is so incredibly beautiful that I can only refer to it as a hidden treasure that took us by the prize. Brekkuborg is a small fishing village with just a few houses. The first cold storage warehouse in Iceland was built here in 1895. Besides of the harbor, Brekkuborg has a church, a campground, and a cafe. Today is a very good day, it’s my travel partner’s birthday, and to celebrate the day,

We’re not gonna only have one waffle, but in all of our time riding together for the first time, two waffles. It’s gonna be a birthday waffle. Thank you. – Enjoy. – [Lea] That’s the birthday waffle. – [Travel Partner] Yeah. – Now we will see. From the town, you can continue to ride along the fjord. The road is getting smaller, leads you along some lovely small waterfalls and eventually takes you to a very special place of Iceland’s east. So this fjord is a dead end road and it turned out that the end of this dead end here

Is the most eastern point of Iceland. So here we are. Most eastern point. This whole ride into the fjord here was so breathtaking beautiful. I can’t even wait to ride up the mountain again. The good news when riding from Mjoifjordur back direction, the bigger paved connection routes, not only are you doing all the awesome riding again, you also have a stunning view on the waterfall along the way. So this is, and I think my travel partner and I agree for once, the most beautiful fjord that we have ridden so far in Iceland. Actually, we didn’t expect that much even though people told me the Westfjords are the most beautiful ones. I think this fjord here beats them.

I have no word for this. It’s just like a fairytale surrounding. Waterfalls are coming down, everything is green. You have a mountain to ride, you ride right on the water. It’s like motorcycle dreams coming true. I tell you, even though we are doing this a second time, this ride over the mountain here is stunning and it’s actually really fascinating that with the different light at the moment, you see there is a bit more shade now everywhere and the time of the day,

It really feels completely different than the first time. It’s very, very different atmospheres. ♪ Here’s to the future ♪ ♪ I’m feeling stronger ♪ ♪ We do belong here ♪ ♪ Look to the sky ♪ ♪ Here’s to the sooner ♪ ♪ Sooner or later ♪

♪ A day for you and me, forever and a day ♪ – [Lea] Guys, that was it. We are soon hitting the tarmac again and we have actually booked a room for tonight in a small town here on the Eastfjords. We did that while we had the waffles,

And for celebrating our last night here in the east before moving south to Iceland’s biggest attractions, we wanted to find a nice place and today it actually worked out. I guess it’s our lucky day, or maybe it’s because of the birthday of my travel partner.

From Mjoifjordur, we hit the Ring Road number one to continue our ride south, but only to soon turn into another fjord. So this is the next little town here on our journey. I guess it’s another day, another little town. And from a first impression,

It does feel a little bit more industrial than some of the other places we stayed but we will see. During the late 19th and early 20th century, Faskrudsfjordur was one of the main Icelandic fishing stations for the French, and the evidence is still visible today. Street signs appear in both Icelandic and French and traditional French games like petanque are still played during the town’s French Day Summer Festival

At the end of July. We stayed at the Fosshotel Eastfjords. The hotel was renovated in 2016 and is in a historic building from 1903 that was used as a hospital for French fishermen. The hotel was nice, but before all, I would like to recommend another place to you guys, the family-owned cafe Sumarlina because the food was good,

But also because the owner is a real character. Guys, if you ever travel to Iceland, I hope Mjoifjordur will be high on your list. And if you don’t, I hope you liked this episode and give it a thumbs up and comment. From the next episode on, we will start

To visit the part of Iceland you probably have heard most of: black beaches, dramatic mountains mirroring in the water and a climate that is full of surprises. Tune in next Thursday to join the ride.

Visit one of my favorite parts of Iceland – welcome to the Eastfjords.
The Eastfjords – the the road furthest from Icelands capital Reykjavík. A place where small fishing towns are the biggest settlements and the majestic Fjords are far off from the usual tourist destination. Enjoy a journey to the less visited places and secret hidden gems of the Eastfjords.

00:00 Intro to the magical Eastfjords
00:58 The home of elves – the fishing town Bakkagerði
03:37 Puffin watching – the best place to see Icelands iconic birds
07:24 The most beautiful Fjord of Iceland – Mjóifjörður
17:00 The end of a epic day – Fáskrúðsfjörður

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// Time of the journey: August 2022

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// Riding a Yamaha Ténéré 700 called Fox. Bought the Fox myself in 2019 in Germany.

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//Equipment & Gear:
– Klim Artemis Goretex Jacket (self bought)
– BMW Pants Enduroguard (self bought)
– BMW GS Gloves (self bought)
– Raingloves from another brand (can’t remember the name and they were terrible!!!)
– Alpinestar Toucan Boots (self bought)
– Klim Krios Pro Helmet (self bought)
– Leatt Neckbrace (given to me by Leatt as my self-bought neckbrace was still in Africa)

Watch the review for my helmets here:

//Filmed with:
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