I'm finally going to write up a little something about my family's trip to Iceland this past August, and share some photos.
Day 1
We arrived at the airport early in the morning and by 8 am we were on the road, looking for breakfast. We did not feel or look the best after a restless flight. On the way to Reykjavík, we found a small hotel and were able to eat breakfast there. We stopped by a nature reserve on the peninsula, and got our first taste of rugged Icelandic beauty. We also got absolutely drenched when it started raining without warning. When we arrived in Reykjavík, we parked the car and took a much-needed nap.
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| Our first stop in Iceland: a lake on the Reykjanes peninsula. |
After waking, we got lunch at a seafood place and explored the city a little. We went into a few shops, saw the famous church, and grabbed a flight of Icelandic beer. Then we headed out for our first place to stay, a cute little cabin across the fjord from Borganes.
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| The famous church in Reykjavík. |
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| Our lovely little cabin near Borganes. |
Day 2
We toured the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, to the north of Borganes. This was one of my favorite days of the trip, and we saw a huge variety of landscapes, from sandy beaches, to ravines, to cliffs, to glaciers. We also had a lovely dinner; I had a huge pot of locally caught mussels.
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| One of the sandy beaches on the south side of the peninsula. |
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| We climbed up into the ravine. |
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| We drove up into the hills to get closer to the mountain. |
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| Sea birds were everywhere around the coast. |
After this trip, I realized that we missed out on the famous Kirkjufell mountain on the north side of the peninsula. Next time...
Day 3
Þingvellir national park. The park is a must-see attraction in Iceland and one of the most popular. At the park, you can walk through the mid-Atlantic rift, at one of the only places it's on land. The park also has a lot of historical significance, as Iceland's early government convened on the site.
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| This is the boundary of the North American and Eurasian plates! So cool! |
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| Most of the historic churches in Iceland have this same look. |
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| The waterfall on the grounds of the park. |
After the rain hit, we headed back to Borganes and spent the rest of the day in town, which ended up being really fun! We went to the Saga museum, and a new family inside-joke was born. Then we had probably our best dining experience of the trip, in the restaurant just upstairs of the museum.
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| We really enjoyed the town of Borganes, and being rained out was a chance to explore it. |
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| Snorri. |
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| Smoked trout on rye bread appetizer. |
Day 4
On the way south from Borganes (to the place where we stayed for the second half of our trip, a country house near Hella) we spent several hours in Hveragerði, the hot-spring capital of Iceland, and possibly the world. Hveragerði was one of my favorite destinations. We visited the geothermal park, where there's a small geyser, and some hot springs and hot mud to soak your feet in. This town also featured a lot of geothermally-heated greenhouses.
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| Geothermally-heated greenhouse. |
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| Icelandic campfire? |
We got lunch from one of two restaurants in town that use geothermal steam to cook their food. Traditionally, rye-bread was cooked by being buried in the earth! At the restaurant, I happened to pick up a map of town that led us on a little adventure. After seeing the park and stream, we headed for the hills, in search of the "hot river." We packed our swim suits and hiked a few kilometers into the hills. Eventually, we came to a valley with several impressive geothermal features. Just beyond that, was the "hot river" -- a stream fed by hot springs, that's the perfect temperature to soak in.
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| The geothermal restaurant |
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| On the hike to the hot river. |
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| Cool geothermal feature. |
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| Love that steam. |
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| This valley was out-of-this-world cool. |
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| Finally, the hot river! |
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| So relaxing. |
This was absolutely one of my favorite parts of the trip, and it was all by chance. I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't grabbed the map from the restaurant, and even with the map, we didn't know exactly what the "hot river" was. All we had to go on was a little cartoon drawing of figures sitting in a stream. The hike was a little long... but well worth it.
Day 5
On our fifth day, we made our way east along the south coast, to Vík, and then back. Along the way, we saw lots of sights. Seljalandsfoss was the first waterfall we came upon. You can walk all the way around it, along the cliff, and the view from behind is beautiful. However, you will get very wet -- we brought some rain suits, so we were prepared.
Then, we passed the famous volcano, Eyjafjallajökull. We saw it from a lot of angles during the day—we could even see it from our rental home!—but one pull-off on the side of the road offered a very good view, and some photos from the eruption.
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| This dairy farm is located at the base of the volcano. |
Around lunch time, we arrived at Skógafoss, one of the most famous waterfalls in Iceland. This waterfall is also one end of a famous five-day-long hike in Iceland. So, we hiked a little ways up past the waterfall. I would love to do that hike someday!
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| The main attraction: Skógafoss. |
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| Hiking up along the stream, past Skógafoss, offered a lot of good views. |
We saw part of a glacier, fairly close just by parking and walking in a ways. Then, close to Vík, we stopped at a wildlife reserve, and saw the black sand beach. Unfortunately, we missed visiting it. Another item for my next visit! We got another very good dinner in Vík.
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| They offer guided glacier walks here. |
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| The famous black sand beach is visible at the horizon line. |
On the way back to our place, we stopped again at Seljalandsfoss, briefly, and the lighting was beautiful at 9:30pm.
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| Seriously, just look at these sunset colors, and the hint of a rainbow. |
Day 6
Our last full day in Iceland was bittersweet. We saw some of the biggest golden-circle attractions that we hadn't visited yet: Gullfoss and Geysir. Gullfoss is incredible, especially when you hike down close to it.
Geysir was fun as well; we saw the active geyser, Strokkur, erupt. The other geothermal features in the immediate area are really cool too.
Then we had an adventure in the interior, trying to find a few things. We didn't have a lot of luck, but it was fun just driving through the interior. We saw a hydro-electric dam and some wind turbines. The landscape was pretty bleak here; moss-covered lava fields. We stopped as close as we could to the very-active volcano Hekla.
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| Hekla, surrounded by lava fields. |
Then we headed back a little early because we had a date with our neighbors; they took us horse-riding! It was great to chat with them about their horses, and about their experience living in Iceland. And their adorable farm dog came along with us! The ride was sufficiently long -- I was, uh,
very sore the next day -- and we got to try going at faster speeds. At one point, my horse just took off, and I was hanging on for dear life. Eventually he stopped to eat some grass.
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| Look at that dog! |
The Icelandic horses are a unique type of horse because they've been isolated from other horses for so long. They actually have a fourth gait, while other horses only have three. Their unique gait is a medium speed, and has a more back-and-forth rocking motion than up-and-down. This makes it more comfortable to ride for long distances.
We had a little outdoor fire that evening, and stayed outside until late at night, drinking some Einstok. At nearly midnight, we noticed a few of the horses were close to the fence behind our house, so we went to see them.
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| They came to say goodbye. |
