Iceland!

 Monday, Sept 16

    We landed at Keflavik at about 6am. We got our rental car and went straight to the Blue Lagoon. The weather was cold and rainy and super windy. 

The Blue Lagoon was interesting, and nice to go to first thing off the plane. It didn't really wow us, but we enjoyed it. 

We drove on into Reykjavik and parked by our hotel, but we couldn't check in for several hours yet. We walked through the city center and found a food hall and had some pho for lunch. 

Sun Voyager sculpture on the waterfront

 

Next we walked along the waterfront, there is a nice path and sculptures along the way. However, it was very windy and sometimes rainy, and we were super exhausted, so we didn't enjoy as much as we might have. We ended our walk at Harpa concert hall, which is a beautiful building on the water, home to the Symphony Orchestra and the Opera. I had bought tickets to a show because I knew we'd be really tired and not be able to get into our hotel, so it seemed like a nice idea to sit and watch a show for a while. The show was called Circuleight. Here's how the Harpa website describes it:

CIRCULEIGHT features designs and real-time interactive visuals inspired by eight elements: lava, basalt, glacier, water, flora, algae, microorganism and volcanic gas.

Throughout the installation, audiences are fully immersed into this world through a powerful score of original music by renowned Icelandic composer, singer and songwriter Högni Egilsson.

So we went into this smallish room with seating in the center. The show was projected all around us on all four walls, and we could go up to the walls and make the elements move by waving our arms or whatever. It was pretty neat, but we mostly sat and watched the other people there interact with the projections because we were so tired. 

Circuleight

 

We left Harpa and went to our hotel and got checked in and took an hour nap. We simply had to. We went back out into the city center to look for dinner. It was so rainy and cold! We found a cute little restaurant and I ordered the 3-course dinner because I wanted to try all the things and I didn't know how much anything cost because it was listed in Kroner. And I did not get out my currency conversion app.  

Lobster tomato soup!

 

My three courses were: lobster soup; cod with potatoes and vegetables; berry skyrr for dessert. It was all tasty, though not outstanding. We went back to the hotel, tried to stay awake for a little while reading and doing crosswords, but finally crashed by 9.

Hallgrimskirkja- I just popped out of the front door of our hotel to take this photo.

Tuesday, Sept 17

 

A rainbow-painted street looking up towards the church

 

Adam looking out at Hallgrimskirkja from the 2nd floor common area in our hotel

 

We had a tasty breakfast in the hotel and then went out to do some exploring in Reykjavik. We walked to Tjörnin Pond, which is just a pond next to City Hall. There were some swans and mallards in the pond. We walked up to the cemetery above the pond to find a letterbox. The cemetery was really lovely, so green. Back down to City Hall, we stopped in and walked around an exhibit that was set up about bicycles. Then we went to Hallgrímskirkja, which is a famous landmark in Reykjavik and happened to be right next to our hotel. We looked around inside, and took the elevator up to the bell tower to get a view out over the whole city. 

 

The cemetery

 

Below is a statue of Leif Erickson. The white building on the corner is our hotel. Photo by Adam

We checked out of our hotel, and headed toward Thingvellir National Park. On the way we stopped for groceries for two nights at our air bnb, and lunch things. Thingvellir (þingvellir) is not only a beautiful park, it is the geologic meeting of the North American tectonic plate and the Eurasian plate. It is also very important in Icelandic history- it was chosen in 930 to be the meeting place of the world's oldest parliament, the Alþingi. Every July, delegates from all over the country would come and set up camp for 2 weeks and pass laws and hold court. 

Thingvellir

 

There is lots to see at the park, and unfortunately, lots of people to see it with. We saw the Drowning Pool, where women were drowned for such crimes as having a child out of wedlock or lying. 

We saw Lögberg, (Law Rock), where every year, the Law Speaker would recite 1/3 of the existing laws from memory to the assembled parliament. After the recitation, people could give a speech or share news. 

We saw Ӧxaráfoss, our first Icelandic waterfall. It was very beautiful. 

Oxarafoss!

 

We saw the government buildings, which includes the official summer residence of the Prime Minister of Iceland, an office for the park manager, and the historic þingvallakirkja (church). The church had some interesting plaques explaining that measurement used to be not standard- an Ell was the distance from your elbow to your fingertip. They standardized that measurement and marked it on the side of this church, and made a law that every church with a graveyard in Iceland had to have an official scale marked on it. 

The most interesting yardstick I've ever held at a National Park!

The Prime Minister's summer residence. Modest!

 

It was chilly and we were tired, so we went to our Airbnb next. It was so lovely! It was cozy and cute and out in the beautiful countryside. We had a bit of downtime, then ventured out for dinner in the pouring rain. We went to a place in a nearby town and I got a weird seafood pizza, and Adam got a delicious looking salmon cesear salad. 

Looking out from the back door at our Air bnb

 

We went in the hot tub at the aribnb and went to bed!

Wednesday, Sept 18

Today started out rainy, so we had a slow, lazy morning in the aribnb. After lunch, we headed out. 

First stop: Gullfoss. This is a big, impressive waterfall on the must-see list. In the driving rain, we saw it. With a ton of other people. 

Gullfoss. In the rain.

 

Next stop: Geysir. This is the sight of the original geyser! Geysir itself is dormant for now, but the whole area is geothermic and we got to see another geyser, Strokkur, erupt 3 times while we were there. The ground was covered in steaming vents, rivulets of boiling water, etc. I really like geothermal areas. We followed a trail up the hill behind Geysir, and as we reached the top, the sun came out! It was the first time we'd seen the sun since arriving! Everything stretched out below us in beautiful sunlight. The views were incredible! Yay!

Geysir geothermal area!

When the sun came out!!

 

Next: We wanted a snack, so we looked on the map and found a cafe nearby. We drove there, and there was a parking attendant, so we paid to park. We drove down the hill and discovered that the cafe was permanently closed, but the parking attendant was guarding a beautiful waterfall. This waterfall is called Faxafoss, and this was a highlight of the trip so far. There was no one else there. The sun was out, reflecting on the waterfall. We could walk down a path and stand right next to the waterfall- we could stick our hands in it if we wanted! There was a salmon run built next to it. You could also walk up a boardwalk and see the waterfall from above on the opposite side, or go up a path and see it from the top. Adam took a lot of pictures, I enjoyed the sun and quiet. 

 

But! We still wanted a snack! We looked on google again and drove to a place called Vínstofa Friðheima - Winebar & Bistro. As we pulled into the parking lot, we both said, "wait....." and quickly realized that this was the place we had wanted to go for lunch, but you have to make a reservation and they were booked out even when I was planning this trip in August. But besides their regular lunch restaurant, they also have a winebar, that also serves food! Yes!!! This place is a huge tomato greenhouse farm, powered with geothermal energy. We had tomato soup and the local cheese platter, and some wine. It was excellent, and the atmosphere was beautiful, and I even had my 'nice' sweater in the car to change into! This was definitely a highlight of the trip. 

5 local cheeses- a mozzarella with cherry tomatoes, a cheddar with sausages, a parmesan with coffee dusting, a brie with honey, and a blue cheese with strawberries, as well as homemade breadsticks. Tomato soup, fresh bread. All of this is local.

A horse grazing outside the wine bar - photo by Adam

Photo by Adam

 

We stuffed ourselves silly at our 'snack' break, so we went back to the airbnb, enjoyed the hot tub, skipped dinner, and went to bed.

Thursday, Sept 19

We woke up to sunshine! We cleaned up the airbnb and headed out. This morning we drove to the Landeyjahöfn port and took a ferry to the small islands of Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands). We spent the morning exploring the only town. They had a surprise volcanic eruption and lava flow in 1973, which consumed half of the town. So you can visit areas where parts of buildings are poking out of the lava, and you can climb up on the lava field and see markers that have been put in for where streets used to be, where houses used to be, etc. We went to the jetty and the old fort. This is also where all the puffins come in puffin season (which ends in August). It was quiet on the island, not full of tourists, mostly just regular people doing their lives. We had sandwiches in a little park and then took the ferry back to the mainland. 

This is on the lava field above the town. This sign marks a street that is now under the lava.

Hello from Iceland! The mainland is that glacier-capped peak way in the background. I am on top of the lava field

Here is where the lava flow stopped. Photo by Adam

 

Rick Steves had recommended seeing the Seljalandsfoss waterfall on a sunny afternoon if possible, so it would catch the light and make rainbows. Well, we had a sunny afternoon and we were only 10 minutes from the waterfall! It was a huge tall waterfall. It was very cool, it did catch the light and make rainbows. We also were able to walk behind it. There's a trail that goes away from the waterfall a short way and we took that, and saw some other small waterfalls, little caves, and things like that. 

Looking out from behind Seljalandsfoss

 

We then drove to our hotel, which was kinda weird because you do a virtual check in with your phone, so there was no staff there when we arrived. And also no guests. Just us. It was a basic room, but it had a great view, with a huge mountain looming behind the hotel and sheep fields out to the ocean in front. It was very quiet. Other guests eventually arrived, which made it less weird. We drove to a nearby restaurant for dinner (the only restaurant closer than 40 minutes), and it was fine, but nothing special. We went in the hot tub, of course, which was really only a warm tub. 

The view from the back of the hotel. And there's our trusty Dacia Duster!

The view from the warm tub was very pretty!

Friday, Sept 20

We had breakfast at our hotel, then headed out into a cloudy and rainy day. We went to a nearby town and got a couple of letterboxes, then visited the Lava Center, which is an interactive educational center to learn about volcanoes and lava. It was a good way to spend the morning. Learning about some of the big volcanoes in Iceland's recent history was interesting. We stopped at this very cute cafe right by our hotel, but we were right after a tour bus, so the cinnamon rolls were sold out and the coffee machine was broken! I got a Chai Latte and we shared it and ate our packed lunch. The sun came out!

Across the street from the cafe. Just a classic waterfall and sheep pasture.

The cafe

Next we went to Skógafoss. You can walk up to the waterfall, but the real experience is in climbing the zillion stairs to the top. Most people get there and look down and take some pictures, but there is a trail that keeps going on into the mountains, and we took it. There are a bunch of smaller waterfalls along the trail, and Adam took pictures of them. My favorite was one called Hestavađsfoss. It was just lovely and magical. 

Was I excited about climbing that staircase? I was not. But I made friends with an older couple from New York on the way up.

 

Hestavađsfoss - photo by Adam

From there we went to Reyinsfjara black sand beach. This place is quite popular with visitors because of the beautiful black sand and the very cool hexagonal basalt cliff. We went because you hate to miss something like that, but I was very nervous because there are sneaker waves on that beach that can snatch someone off the land and drag them out into the ocean with no warning. It was very, very windy when we got there, and there was a big sign that said the sneaker wave danger was only at medium. We quickly went down to the beach (in the safe zone, according to the map), saw the sand, took pictures of the basalt columns, and went away. 

Black beach this way. Dangerous sneaker waves also this way.

The black sand and the columnar basalt

 

We drove to Vik, a town nearby. We went to Vik's black sand beach, which doesn't have sneaker waves, but also doesn't have hexagonal basalt cliffs. We walked around a bit, took some pictures, took in the ocean. We went to dinner in a pub in Vik. I think every single other customer in the pub was American or maybe Canadian. 

A lovely little church on the way to Vik- photo by Adam

 

On the way back to our hotel we stopped off at Dyrhólaey point. This is a lighthouse at the top of a cliff looking out to sea. The wind was INSANE here. Very strong wind. We walked around as quickly as we could and got saw some beautiful views and ran back to the car before we were blown away. 

That view, though

 

Our weird hotel with no visible staff had left cake out for the guests, so I had cake and tea and went in the lukewarm tub.

Saturday, Sept 21

The sheep by our hotel came to say goodbye. I thought they were really cute and wanted to try to pet them. This is also the view out from our hotel- lovely, no??

 

We had breakfast and hit the road back to Reykjavik. It is about a 2 hour drive from where we were staying on the South coast. Our flight wasn't until the evening, so we went to the Perlan museum in Reykjavik for the morning. It was a very cool museum. We watched a movie about the Aurora Borealis (my #1 goal for this trip was to see the Northern Lights, and I was not able to see them.) We walked through the exhibit on the plants and animals of Iceland. Did you know the only native mammal in Iceland is the Arctic Fox!? They eat birds and birds eggs mostly. The Perlan also has an ice cave in it! We got to explore the ice cave, which was neat, but of course, cold. There is an observation deck around the whole outside roof of the Perlan, so we walked around that and looked out at the city. Then we had lunch in the revolving restaurant, we ended up sitting right by the museum geyser that goes off every so often! (human-made geyser, but still neat, it shoots up 5 stories).

The ice cave in the Perlan!

 

After the Perlan, we took our beloved Dacia Duster back to the car rental place, and headed to the airport. 

The international terminal at the Reykjavik airport is an absolute nightmare and the boarding process to get on our plane was a level of chaos I could never have imagined. But we left Iceland at about 6pm, flew over Greenland, which was beautiful and super interesting to see, and landed in Denver about 7pm the same day. Wow! What a trip!