Final Iceland Observations

As we sit here drinking a tall boy and waiting on our overnight train to Slovenia from Zurich, here are some final observations on our nine days in the country of Iceland   • First and foremost, the landscape and scenery are beautiful! Around every road corner, there is another “wow”. • The Icelandic people are wonderful. Their second language taught in school is English and they are all completely proficient at it. Plus, they are all courteous and polite...we never encountered a rude native. • Clean, clean, clean. We never saw one piece of trash anywhere and we traveled almost 1,400km across the country. This was evident by the pride the Icelandic people took in their work. • Silent, silent, silent. We NEVER heard one car horn honk the entire time. In fact, we never heard any noise except late Saturday night coming from a bar near our hotel in Reykjavik. These people do know how to party! • The entire country is connected. The smallest coffee or food stand has wireless. There’s really no need for currency...be it parking, food, bar, or museum admission, a tap of the card will pay the bill. • We never saw a billboard! • Unfortunately, the country is expensive...particularly food. A pizza and a few beers could cost the equivalent of $100. • The country is proud of itself. Roads are kept, street signs and maps are up to date, and personal properties are pristine. .We only saw one policeman during our entire stay. Very safe country.   So, with that we end the first segment of ATW70. Tomorrow Friday, May 23rd we head to Zurich, Switzerland for one night so we can stage ourselves the following night to catch the overnight train to the country of Slovenia. This will be the first of three countries comprising the second segment, “The Balkans”. Stay tuned!!

Day 8 and 9 The Golden Circle and Spa Day

Our final two days of touring included the Golden Circle route and a trip to one of the many hot spring resorts scattered round the country. We woke up early for a hearty breakfast before we hit the road for another day of hiking and seeing the sites. It’s unusually warm here  and our room was somewhat uncomfortable until about midnight. We survived with two fans and a small window cracked for a small breeze. We wore shorts for today’s touring and were so glad we did. First stop was Pingvellir national Park. The park lies in a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. To its south lies Þingvallavatn, the largest natural lake in Iceland. Thingvellir National Park in Iceland holds immense historical significance, serving as the location for the Althing, one of the world's oldest parliaments, established around 930 AD. The Althing convened at Þingvellir until 1798, and it played a crucial role in shaping Icelandic laws and customs. Major events in Iceland's history, including the transition to Christianity and the establishment of the republic, have occurred at Þingvellir, making it a national shrine Click here to read more about it.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Eingvellir?wprov=sfti1#From_commonwealth_to_foreign_rule. Funny story, a woman from Norway approached Andrea and asked her in broken English just how she knew to pack shorts. The poor woman was in long sleeves and pants and was sweating profusely. Andrea explained that we were on a long trip and had to plan for many climates and just so happened we had shorts in our suitcases. She was relieved to know that she hadn’t misread the forecast and walked away shaking her head. 

View of Lake Þingvallavatn

This is the drowning pool. after the Great Verdict was passed in 1564, it was decreed that women should be drowned for exposing an infant to die, or incest or fornication. A total of 18 women were drowned here. 

Built in 1859, still active and there was a wedding here the day before we visited. 

The prime ministers summer residence. 

Walking between two tectonic plates. 

The boardwalk was built around a lava rock 

From the park we ventured on to the highly active Geyser Hot Spring Area with boiling mud pits and exploding geysers. A favorite is  Strokkur geyser, which spouts water 100 ft into the air every few minutes. Geologists believe the geothermal field has a surface area of approximately 1.1 sq mi. The area became active more than 1000 years ago and consists of more than a dozen hot water blow holes. The oldest account of the Geysir area dates back to 1294 AD. Earthquakes in southern Iceland caused changes in the geothermal area and created several new hot springs. After several blows of steam we moved on to one of the most amazing waterfalls in all of Iceland. 

Strokkur Geyser

Boiling mud pit

There she blows. Watch this video to see the Geyser eruption. 

Gullfoss falls is a waterfall located in the canyon of the Hvítá river. Gullfoss is a two-tiered waterfall with a total height of 105 feet. The first tier is a shorter cascade around 36 feet tall, and the second tier is a much steeper at 69 feet. It was very windy and we got soaked but it was so worth it! 

Another funny story, after retuning from viewing the falls there was a man and wife sitting and he said rather loudly
“Florida” to which Andrea replied “nope, South Carolina” they laughed and said with her tan they knew it was somewhere 
in the south. He was former navy and had not been here in 35 years. Very nice couple and we chatted with them for 
quite a while. 

Somewhere between the park and the geysers we noticed the low pressure tire warning light was on. We  found a gas station with an air pump but without a tire gage we had a difficult time determining  which tire was low. Much to our good fortune,  a high school student who was studying to be an auto mechanic pulled up and just happened to have a tire gage . Turns out the tires weren’t  low but the cars tire pressure gage was malfunctioning and a quick reset and we were in our way. Bill offered to buy the kid a Coke but he declined. The Golden Circle route is a must see in Iceland. 

The next day we made our way back to Keflavik for an early flight on Friday to Switzerland. On our way we stopped at Hvammsvick Hot Springs for a late morning/ early afternoon soaking. This place did not disappoint! Very peaceful, clean and not crowded. Andrea did the cold plunge in the Atlantic in 48.2 degree water, that’s Fahrenheit by the way. Felt great! This was actually our first cold day in Iceland so it was the perfect day to soak in the hot springs. We tried to book the famous Blue Lagoon but it was sold out. Much to our surprise we found this hidden gem. Bonus, we got the comfort package that included a free drink. It was a great time. Wheels up 8:45 am for our next destination. 

Braving the cold plunge! 

Day 7 Vik to Selfoss

Our hotel for the evening was called the Volcano Hotel and had beautiful views of  the ocean. It was the perfect distance from the town of Vic and we enjoyed an extended after dinner happy hour sitting in the makeshift lounge drinking wine and surfing the net. Best part: black out curtains! Finally a good nights sleep with little light shining thru. The next morning the owners son took good care of us and cooked us some scrambled eggs that accompanied croissants, meats and cheeses, yogurts and real orange juice! Enough to fill our bellies for a day of hiking and sightseeing. We set our sites on the Skógafoss waterfall, about a 40 minute drive from Vic. 

The volcano hotel, our room was the end right. Very cozy

Ocean view from our hotel 

We arrived at Skógafoss and promptly paid the $7 parking fee. All these sites have no entrance fee but paid parking instead. It’s easy to do thru their app called Parka and don’t think you can beat the system since they have cameras filming you entering and leaving and will send a bill to your rental car agency if you miss a payment! Skogafoss is widely considered to be one of Iceland's most beautiful waterfalls. It is situated on the river of Skógá, which originates from both Eyjafjallajkull glacier and the westernmost part of Myrdalsjökull glacier. The two sources merge by the Kambfjöll mountains, forming the river Skógá, which runs through the Skógárgil canyon until descending from-the edge of the moor as the Skógafoss waterfall. Skógafoss, and the river above and below the waterfall, was declared a protected natural monument in 1987.

As Skógá approaches the edge of the moor, the river runs over a layer of hard rock until rushing down in a beautifully shaped, 15 metre wide and 62 metre high waterfall. The cliffs are ancient coastal cliffs, which were formed by marine erosion at the end of the last ice age. There was along climb to the top of the falls which Andrea did while Bill watched from the safety of the parking lot. 

While taking photos Andrea spotted a fellowship Ohio State fan and quickly shouted O-H to which she replied I-O. They became fast friends and she ended up being from Green, Ohio not to far from where Andrea grew up. Amy and her husband were on their 30th anniversary traveling around Iceland via camper. We shared stories and took each others pics and enjoyed the waterfall. 

Andrea and Amy

The bottom 

The top! 

It was a long way to the top and probably would have done Bill in for the day, that new knee has been getting a workout! 

We left Skógáfoss in search of the volcano that wreaked havoc on our first around the world trip in 2010. If you recall the Eyjafallkokul Volano erupted late April 2010 and spread volcanic ash all over Europe. We had planned on starting the trip in Ireland but all flights had been cancelled. The best Delta could do was to fly us to Athens, Greece and then on the Paris for the start of our original trip. It all worked out.

We made a quick trip out to view the ocean and Westman Islands before stopping to view another waterfall. This one was less crowded and just as beautiful! 

You can reach these islands via car ferry. 

This was on private property but were allowed access as long as you didn’t let the sheep out. 

We ended the day arriving into Selfoss in search of a laundromat. The best we could find was in a campground that had one washer and one dryer. Great.. or so she said. The first load of clothes took 90 minutes to wash. They were washed and rinsed 4 times. Surely there was an issue. Andrea contacted the owner of the machines via FB messenger (the campground manager was sweet but those weren’t her machines) and luckily he was located about 15 minutes away. He came to us and checked out the machine and said he had programmed them wrong. Swiped his credit card and gave us a free wash. Great customer service!  Unfortunately the dryer only lasted 45 minutes and we had to hang our clothes in our hotel in Selfoss to dry. They dried fairly quickly since it’s hot as blazes here and the room only has a tiny window and no air con. We snatched up two fans from the front desk to at least make it bearable. Glad to have clean clothes for the next leg of our journey.

We followed these instructions and still needed assistance. 

Waiting and waiting and waiting. 

 

Makeshift clothesline

Day 5 & 6 Traveling the Southern ring road from Seyoisfjorour to Vik

Since the sun never sets we were up early and hit the gravel road to find a couple of water falls that a Scotsman told us about at dinner the night before. We almost turned around because the road wasn’t the best but we eventually found them and was so glad we did. Peaceful, beautiful setting! 

Enjoy this video of the waterfall! 

After spending about an hour hiking around we set out to reach our destination for the evening, Hofn, which sits on the edge of Vatnajokull glacier, the largest glacier in Iceland and it's also the largest glacier mass in Europe. It covers an area of roughly between 8100 sq. km and 8300 sq. km, and it's about 1000m thick at its thickest point. In order to get there we had to zigzag along the coast in and out of fjords covered in fog. It was a beautful drive. 

There were many fish hatcheries along the way

The fog was beautiful rolling in 

Adding a stone to a Cairn with the purpose of bringing good luck. 

Many reindeer in these parts

The coast is beautiful 

After a full day of driving with many stops along the way, we finally arrived to Hofn. Our hotel, we’ll use that term loosely,  it was located on an old farm in a container type building. Very modern and cozy!  Lots of sheep bleating and little lambs running about. We had the most beautiful view of the Skaftafell Glacier. 

Andrea enjoys eating lamb but after watching these little ones play has reconsidered her food choices

. 

An old barn on the property. 

Chilling out watching the glacier move. 

An abandoned tractor on our walk around the farm.

After a good nights sleep and wake up call of sheep bleating outside our door, we enjoyed the hotels buffet breakfast consisting of meats, cheeses, hard boiled eggs, yogurt and croissants  and a white milky juice that  neither one of us could determine what it was. Water and coffee was our friend. Our destination for the evening was Vik, with many planned hiking and viewing stops along the way. 

Andrea woke up at 3am to this view. Sunrise or sunset? 

Many of the beaches have black sand, remnants of Volcanic ash. 

 One of the stops was, Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon. Its still blue waters are dotted with icebergs from the surrounding glacier. The glacier lagoon flows thru a narrow waterway into the Atlantic Ocean leaving chunks of ice on the black sand beach. It was amazing! 

After touring the lagoon, we made our way over to the Atlantic side where Andrea held an iceberg in her hands and Bill licked one. 

Icebergs floating in the Atlantic. 

No, it did not stick to his tongue. 

Chunks of icebergs were scattered  all over the beach. 

After a quick stop at a waterfall, our next planned stop was Fjadrargljufur Canyon. The canyon has steep walls and winding water and is up to 100m deep and 2 kilometers long. Its origins date back to the ice age, about 2 million years ago. It was created by progressive erosion by flowing waters from glaciers. It was about a two mile hike and Bill’s new knee carried him the whole way! Fun fact, in 2019 they closed the canyon due to an overwhelming amount of visitors after Justin Bieber filmed his music video “I’ll Show You” here. Yes, we googled it and it’s actually filmed all over Iceland. Lots of sites we have seen. 

This waterfall was on private property but they allowed you to admire it from afar. 

Hiking up to the canyon overlook. 

The canyon 

The water was so blue and the walls were very steep. 

Bill braved one of the overlooks. 

View from the bottom of the canyon 

We continued on to Vik. A sweet little community on the coast. We bought provisions for the next day, a 12 pack of beer and a bottle of wine which cost $86. Using her conversion calculator Andrea quickly realized we were double charged for the beer, the clerk rang up 24 and not 12 cans. So after much ado, she credited back a 12 pack. No problem, except buying ice. You would think in Iceland there would be a lot of ice! Well, it’s usually warm right now so the campers are swarming the countryside and buying up bags of ice like gold. Andrea finally talked a restaurant owner into filling up a plastic bag full of ice from their restaurant so we could chill down our beer. Andrea tried to pay for it but the owner said “water is free in Iceland”! So, we opened the 12 pack to fill the cooler and realize we bought 16 ounce cans of beer rather than 10 ounce ergo the double charge. Oops. 

High up on the hill in Vik was this pretty church. The views from here were amazing! It’s one of the most photographed churches in Iceland. Great day today!