Vopnafjörður, September 4, 2024

Today is the last day in Iceland and we have arrived in the village of Vopnafjörður. Upon arrival, it was still heavily overcast, but by the afternoon the cloud cover had decreased and it became pleasant. The village itself has about 400 residents, and the whole district has around 700 inhabitants. The locals are satisfied with their place. They believe they have everything they need: a primary school, grocery and liquor store, snack bar, post office, gas station, doctor's office, and police station.

First, we explored the area and stumbled upon a hiking path leading to the golf course. This was very attractive and even, unusually for Iceland, passed through small forests.

After the hike, we had tea at the snack bar by the gas station and then went on our organized tour. This took us to the obligatory waterfalls, rock formations, and beautiful coasts. From a distance, the shores with the driftwood (apparently mostly from deforestation in Siberia) look picturesque. However, if you go down there, the driftwood is interspersed with plastic as well as, not least, fishing nets and other debris. The quantities are simply astonishing. Waste is indeed properly sorted and disposed of in Iceland. Much of the plastic is old and likely from far away. But there is also soft plastic that does not last long and plastic with readable Icelandic labels. Disheartening.