Iceland

 

ICELAND 2022

Leigh and I along with Vera flew to Iceland in mid September.  The arc of the trip was researched by Leigh and included getting a car, driving along the southern coast, driving the 'golden circle, and ending up in Reykjavik for 2 days staying in guesthouses and apartments along the way.  It worked out beautifully.

The southern coast drive to the first waterfall (Seljalandsfoss) may not be for everyone.  We thought it was cool, but the landscape is sparce and on the day we did it right after getting of the plane, it was foggy, and visibility wasn't great.  But as soon as you leave the airport, the landscape of iceland starts to reveal itself.  

This was our first of many waterfalls, only a short walk from the parking lot and you can walk behind the waterfall if you want (Leigh and Vera did, I didn't).  Make sure you have a good shell!

Eating is expensive in Iceland but tipping is not yet customary,  It's just not done (so say all the books and there's never an option to add a tip).  Leigh picked out the first stop and it was brilliant.  From the outside it doesn't look like much, but the inside is beautiful.  It's called Gamla fjosid which apparently translates as the old cow house.  Which it used to be.  Leigh and Vera got the Volcano Soup, I got the steak sandwich.

After being up for about 24 hours, we were tired.  It's a 7 hour flight plus a 7 hour time shift -- so we left around 4pmish or so from Seattle and and got there at 6amish then set out to have a full day.   Liegh had made arrangements to stay at the Lindartun guest house, which proved to be a great stop.  We started a routine of having a large lunch followed by eating in at night after provisioning at a grocery store.  It worked well.

While  we had our general arc of the trip in place, we balanced weather and route and called an audible to put off the golden circle for a day and take a ferry over to the Westman Islands.  With no specific plans, that was a fascinating stop.  The story of the 1973 eruption portrays nature at its worst and people at their best. The primary attractions are walking around town seeing both the destruction and the rebuilding, the museum, and hiking in the hills above the town.  A great day.

The harbor on Heimaey is a working harbor.  Threatened by the 1973 lava flow it's a vital working component of the islands economy.

Picture taken from the museum and highlighting the 1973 eruption.  The museum highlights the resilience of the town -- Turkish raiders hit the city in 1627, taking 234 captives back to Algiers.  Later in the early 1800's 60 - 70% of the babies born on the island would die within a year of birth.  Thanks to a young midwife and a Danish doctor, the problem was finally identified as neonatal tetanus infections owing to a lack of sanitary methods with handling the babies clothing.  This discovery on the islands helped other small communities battling the same problem.

Inside the small church near the harbor

We hiked up an unnamed peak above the harbor..  Steep but relatively short, the views are great.  I had wanted to hike up home rock, but we bumped into a climber from Quebec who had just come down -- time was not in our favor owing to the return ferry trip and he described safety concerns clinging onto ladders needed for the ascent with the building wind.

Leaving the island on the ferry.  We missed the puffins, but also missed hoards of tourists.  The timing of the trip was well planned.

Our 2nd night was spent in the town of Hveragerði, (or here) which could be used as a base for touring.  We ended up spending 2 nights in this area (the other in Selfross), but that first night we stayed in the 'Inn Boutique' - an excellent choice and arguably the best placed we stayed at the entire trip (they were all good, but this one was especially nice).

I didn't get any pictures of that place (I should have) but it was an ideal jumping off point for the 'golden circle'.  We ended up taking a bit of a short cut over routes 431 and 435 rather than take route 1 all the way back -- it says it's for 4 wheel drive only, but it wasn't all that bad and we saw sedans as well.  It's narrow, but smooth and easy.  Our first destination was 'Thingvellir', a national park.  The history is too detailed to go into, but this is an absolute 'must see', and reading about it in advance helps the experience.  Between the early 'parliament' of early inhabitants, the geological significance, and the views, it's a national treasure.

There are nice paths to walk around and it's easy walking.  

Next on to Gullfross (or here).  The 'Golden Falls'.  Couple of different parking lots and viewing areas, but again easy access.

Next stop was Geysir on the golden circle.  Although it's another example of geo thermal activity and yes, there's a geyser that shoots steam in the air every 10 minutes or so, it was my least favorite stop.  It's kinda cool, but there's nothing particularly stunning about it,  It shoots steam in the air. There are some great shots at either sunset or sunrise on line, but, well, it wasn't sunrise or sunset.  But steam does shoot in the air.

The last stop of the day was 'Secret Lagoon' (or Gamla Lagoon).  The oldest swimming pool in Iceland.  After driving around, I was a bit tired so I stood this one out, but Leigh and Vera went in and had a nice soak and had a great time.  I had an excellent nap and explored the new Rav4 we had rented for the trip.

Above is a shot Leigh took of Secret Lagoon

That night we stayed in Selfross at a guest house in a camping/RV park.  The cabin had its own hot tub which we made use of both that night and again in the morning.  The soaks were great.

At this point in the trip, the weather was changing.  It had been good to great, but a storm was blowing in that night with winds around 50 MPH.  We decided on a hike up to Hot Springs above Heveragerdi, to the Reykjadalur hot springs.  The link provided is an accurate portrayal of the hike, but has a negative view (the writer complained of bugs, we didn't see any)..  Ours was positive.  This is a modest hike for those who hike a lot.  It's about 5 miles round trip with a fair amount of elevation gain.  If you're not used to hiking up hills, this may not be for you.  My hunch is the reviewer did this review in summer.  Our day was misty with on again / off again rain.  Dressed properly, it was great.  We did have a choice of turning back about half way up, but Leigh wanted to press on and it was good we did.  We didn't take a soak, but it was nice exercise with nice views.  

Signs telling was what to do and what not to do.  

A weather system was blowing in with expected wind gusts of up to 50 mph hitting just after midnight.  During the hike it was evident the weather was changing, but we had sufficient window to make the hike, get back, have lunch at the bottom then press on to Reykjavik, where we would spend our two final days in Iceland.

Scenes from Reykjavik.  The town is relatively compact and very walkable.  We stuck to the older school style of shopping and museums, but there are other attractions using technology that might be fun if one was so inclined -- like the 'fly over iceland' attraction or the Perlan Museum.

 A couple of the streets were walking only which made for relaxed shopping.

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The Lutheran Church, Hallgrimskirkja, affords a great view of the city.  We were there on a Sunday, which forces the ushers to wear multiple hats.  The church converts from a church to a tourist attraction and back a couple of times Sunday morning.  The ushers wait until the last parishioner leaves the church then start letting the tourists in.

Leif Erikson is prominent in iceland.

One of the Cafe's we were in.  

On the 2nd morning Leigh and Vera left early to catch a plan to Ireland, I walked the city, hit the Maritime Museum and flew out that evening.

All and all a great trip blending outside activities with inside ones.  A nice trip to see interesting and awesome forces of nature as well as gain some insight into the icelandic culture and the tenacity of humans in general.  A great trip with an arc that Leigh designed that suited us well.

One last pastoral view from our first morning in Iceland