Iceland—The Land of Fire and Ice but also Rain and Wind and Beauty

After more than a year of not being able to take an international trip, Glenna and I were chomping at the bit. We picked Iceland in June because it was one of the few countries that would take Americans without extensive quarantining. And what tourist can waste time doing that? As it was, we could get in with our vaccine certificates but we still had to have a rapid test and quarantine until we got the results. We both had just gotten negative results in the US, so we just went on our way—and, in fact, never heard from the Icelandic authorities (they said you were free to go if you didn’t hear from them after 24 hours—doesn’t seem very kind to tourists not to inform them). Iceland is almost entirely an outdoor country, so we weren’t concerned about infecting anyone, all things considered. 

Our Kia Niro

Tuesday-Wednesday. The first day of any trip is, of course, just getting there. It has always bugged me that tour companies advertise 10-day trips when in fact they are 8-day trips—or even 7 1/2. All three of our flights were delayed because of weather, so we arrived at Keflavik (via IAD and EWR) a little late. I had spent a lot of time worrying about my COVID shots not being spaced 19 days apart as their regulations stated, but nobody paid attention. We got a little cash but had read that cards are used almost everywhere; as it turns out there was nowhere we couldn’t use a credit card and we wound up spending our cash just to spend it. We were soon on our way in our Kia Niro (which turned out to be a fun little car to drive) with our annoying tests and the questions about where we were staying for our quarantine behind us. The flight from Newark is only five hours, so we didn’t get much sleep. But we did really well, only tiring when we were finished sightseeing and on our way to our hotel.

We had rain off and on all day, a harbinger of things to come. We had expected temps in the 50’s and the least rainy month; we got neither. Our second day we actually got to 61 degrees for a bit, but most days we had temps in the 40’s with rain and ferocious winds and actually sleet and snow two days. We early on decided that we just had to deal with it and go on. I wore water-resistant pants, shirt, sometimes sweater, down jacket, windbreaker with hood, woolen cap (one of my early purchases), gloves, wool socks, and waterproof hiking boots. We were never really cold (face sometimes), and we were pretty waterproof too. We had been advised by our friends Johnnie, Suzanne and Mary to dress the way we did, and we were really glad that we listened.

Me in my waterproof gear

Glenna in her winter wear

Glenna and I are both planners, so we knew where we were going each day and where we would stay. We had decided to get a portable wifi from the car rental company (Blue Car Rental, by the way—treated us very well) which was an absolute godsend and which we would recommend to anyone driving around a country other than ours. Glenna was able to use Google Maps to guide us, find gas stations, restaurants, and the sites we were visiting. She’s a great navigator, making it easy for me to do the driving which I am not normally wild about. The maximum speed limit on any road in the country is 90 kph, about 55 mph. We had read that you can sometimes get away with 100 kph except in the south where they have speed cameras. I didn’t have any errant charges on my credit card, so I guess I didn’t get caught.

We had decided that we were going to picnic for lunches instead of taking time to find a place to eat (which as it turned out would have been impossible most days anyway—we were definitely in remote places despite the fact that we were on the main road in the country, Route 1). So our first stop was a Netto grocery store where we picked up meat, cheese, bread, fruit and cookies which lasted pretty much the whole trip. Before we left, we stopped in to a bakery where we had an interesting donut and good hot chocolate, the first of several good cups of that.

Route 1, the principal route in the country

Then we were off to the Golden Circle, the typical day trip for people who are only in Iceland for a day. The first stop was Thingvellir, a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is notable for two reasons. First it is the place where the meeting of the gradually separating Eurasian and North American tectonic plates is more visible than anywhere else in the world. It’s a beautiful walk down the path between the two and on to waterfalls and meadows and the Oxara River with the Thingvallavatn Lake (vatn is Icelandic for lake) just to the south. 

The path through the separating tectonic plates

Icelandic flag flying in Thingvellir

Looking south toward Thingvallavatn

And north toward the mountains

A family of ducks heading for the water

We were fascinated with all the unusual flowers, particularly with how tiny they are. This turned out to be the case all over the country (except for the lupines). I speculated that the volcanic rock that covers most of the country is only hospitable to small plants. Glenna and I both love flowers, so we took lots and lots of flower pictures. There also are very few trees and they are not large. Some sort of spindly tree (trunk looks like a birch) is used as property boundaries in lowland areas, and we saw in a few places that fir trees had been deliberately planted.

Our first view of moss growing on the volcanic rock

Mountain avens--the national flower

More tiny flowers with glossy leaves

Spring time with the buds just blossoming

Yellow flower on the banks of the river

The spindly trees that are used as boundaries

The second thing that makes Thingvellir notable is that it is the ancient setting for the world’s first parliament (althingi), founded in 930 AD. People would travel up to two weeks once a year to Thingvellir from all over the island to make laws and hold law courts. Of course, it was a social occasion also for people who lived in very remote places and saw few people throughout the year. Indeed, it appears to be the case still. We encountered very few towns and generally saw single farms or maybe 3 or 4 near one another. 

Around 1000 AD Christianity was adopted here (the leader decided for everyone). Today there is a pretty church (from 1859) in the park on the site of the much older one which was built with a gift from the King of Norway soon after the year 1000. The summer residence of the prime minister is just steps away; it was built in 1930 to celebrate the millennium of the parliament.  Also nearby is the Icelandic National Cemetery where some prominent people are buried.

Church at Thingvellir on the site of a much older one

Prime minister's summer home with characteristic gable architecture

After our first lunch in the car, the next stop was Geysir and Strokkur, geothermal fields where puffs of smoke regularly push out of the earth and mud bubbles. For anyone who has been to Yellowstone NP, this place wasn’t very impressive (though a later one was), but the place name Geysir is where we get our word geyser.

Periodic eruption of Strokkur

Mud bubbling in Geysir puddle

Then it was on to our first of many waterfalls. This one was named Gullfoss (foss is Icelandic for waterfall), a very loud one which we saw only from above.

Gullfoss, the first of so many waterfalls

Our itinerary then directed us to Kerid Crater, but when we got there we decided not to make the trek up. We saw beautiful craters later, so that was okay. We instead started our longish drive to our hotel Englendingavik Homestay in Borgarnes, right on the ocean.

On the way to Borgarnes;
we drove along the side of the mountain and then through it

Englendingavik, our first night's stay

 
Our room was above the restaurant where we had planned to eat. We opened the door to a cacophony of voices—at least 50 women all talking at once. They were probably Scandinavian on a bus tour of Iceland. Luckily, when the staff had finished serving them, we were able to get their same meal which we ate in the room. It was really good--roast potatoes, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, leek and cod in a tasty gravy and wine. We soon fell asleep.

Our delicious and welcome cod and vegetables meal

Thursday began with a walk down to the water at our homestay to see the flora and fauna. We saw our first lupines, something which became an obsession with us. They are so pretty though they aren’t native. They were brought from Alaska in 1945 to add nitrogen to the soil and to help anchor other species in the constantly eroding soil. Some people consider them invasive since they spread so readily, but we loved seeing them. To me they were like heather on a Scottish moor.

Glenna in a very typical pose, taking a picture

More flowers on the rock

Lupines on the hillside; they were truly everywhere

One of the wonderful things about Iceland is the variety of terrain which was evident to us by this second day. First, the Icelandic name for Iceland is Island which means island, not ice land. There was plenty of snow and ice, but there was plenty of non-ice also. For long stretches there would be something that looks like a moonscape—jagged, black rocks jumbled together, a result of past volcanic eruptions, as far as the eye can see—or until your eye spots mountains in the distance. There are mountains all around the island, along the coast and inland. Many places the volcanic rock is covered with a soft green moss, a plant that we learned is protected. In the south (and the middle where almost no one goes) there are glaciers, one gigantic one that covers 8% of the land mass. There are waterfalls and thus rivers everywhere, a result of their long winters in the mountains and the spring runoff. And a few places there are actually green fields, both crops and fodder for sheep and Icelandic horses (smaller than ours). My guess is that these areas are less volcanic and are thus places where grasses can thrive. 

The sheep were very curious

The smaller Icelandic horses

Follow our trip--from KEF in the Reykanes Peninsula in the lower southwest to the Golden Circle east of Reykjavik which is up the peninsula from KEF, and then following the red road (Route 1) clockwise around the country, occasionally getting off and coming back, then back into the Reykanes Peninsula and up to Reykjavik to give up the car and back to KEF. You can see particularly the glaciers, including the enormous one in the southeast which I will talk about later. The only part we didn't cover (other than the middle where virtually no one goes) was the far northwest. We also visited the Westmann Islands off the south coast a little west of the southernmost point. 

Most of the electricity is generated by hydropower, but most of the houses and buildings are heated by geothermal power. They don’t have to go very far down to get intense heat. One business even bakes bread in the earth to sell to tourists. Geothermal power is so readily available that when they get too hot, they just open a window. 

Our first stop of the day was at Grabrok crater (a crater is the aftermath of a volcanic eruption, in this case 3400 years ago). It was 541 steps to the top (and yes, I counted them), and I did it! It was worth the climb. We could see down into the volcano which now is covered with the same moss we saw growing on the volcanic boulders in the lowlands. And we could see far into the distance. 

Grabrok crater from below

Moss on the purplish volcanic rock

Farm from the top of the crater--we most often saw single farms and then
perhaps not another one for a long time

Looking down into the moss-sided crater

Just more pretty flowers growing on the hardened lava

Glaumbaer farmstead, also with gables

Glaumbaer Folk Museum was our next stop. This was a connected set of early 18th century buildings (on the site of buildings going back to 874) with grass roofs (called turf houses), housing a home and the farm buildings. We have seen this farm setup in other countries, probably to keep the animals warm and close by in the winter. We often saw it later around Iceland also with this characteristic gable construction, maybe because it provides more roof line for the grass which is insulating. The exhibits inside gave us a glimpse of farm life as it used to be—and probably still is. We hadn’t seen any cows yet even though one of the exhibits was ice skates made of cow bone. I asked about that and was told that it is still too cold for cows outside; they typically don’t come out of the barns until July!

Grass roof

The long hallway, just to show how big the farmstead was

Bed boxes with curtains for warmth

After lunch in the car again, we went on to the town of Akureyri where we stopped at the Botanical Garden and walked around. 

A bit hard to see but the stop sign was in the shape of a heart

Besides being pretty and peaceful, it is a place of scientific research, proving that, in addition to indigenous plants, plants from temperate zones and high Arctic locations can grow there also. It was a gorgeous day, so Icelanders were out in force, strolling around the garden and having a snack and drink in the café as we did too.

Akureyri Botanical Gardens, a lovely oasis

Purple flowers--marker says primula

Daisies, I suppose

Capturing the tulips

Icelanders were enjoying their few hours of beautiful weather

One other benefit to tourists in Iceland is that almost all sites are free, including this garden. That fact somewhat offsets the high cost of food, lodging and transportation (car was about $900 for one week with the insurances and wifi—gas was extra). We didn’t stop anywhere else in Akureyri but just observed the buildings as we drove through. The hotels and apartment buildings we had seen thus far were distinctly plain and almost ugly, but here there were some pretty ones. 

Godafoss, another waterfall, was next. It was named thus because in the year 1000 Thorgeir, the Lawspeaker of the Althing, after adopting the Christian faith for all of Iceland, went home and threw his pagan idols into the falls. To get there we chose to drive around a mountain rather than take the tunnel through it because of the steep price and because yesterday we had been through a 6-km long free tunnel. This waterfall was wide but not tall, having five different sections. I’m always amazed by the tremendous force of falling water and think that that energy should be captured as is the case more and more now.

The wide Godafoss falls

Then it was on to Husavik, our stop for the night. It’s a cute little town in the north. Vik means inlet, and the town is on an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean. Not far north of it is the Arctic Circle.

We stayed in an adorable cottage outside of town at Laxhus. Later we saw that cottages such as this one are being built all over the country. Farmers are obviously supplementing their income by inviting tourists. In each one where we stayed there was a kitchen, sitting area, bedroom and bathroom; some were more equipped than others. But it was so much nicer than staying in an impersonal hotel. From this one we had a wonderful view of the mountains and the water—and sheep guarded by a very protective border collie.

Inside our cabin at Laxhus

Sheep right near our cottage with their protective border collie on left

View of Husavik harbor

We went into town for dinner at Salka Restaurant—delicious fish soup and bread and lamb with lots of vegetables. Also wine and a second beer that Glenna didn’t like. Then for an evening of fun. Most every decent sized town has a swimming pool where the water is heated geothermally. We went to the Husavik pool. We knew that Icelanders insist on showers before and after and that nudity is absolutely nothing to fret about; all you can do is go along. The pool had four sections, all at different temperatures. We visited them all. Even when the air is cool, the water keeps you warm. Back at our cottage, we were up late because it really is broad daylight at midnight and later. We never actually saw dark.

 

The very pretty Husavik church with a rainbow behind it

Dinner at Salka, fish soup and lamb

In foreground is swimming pool, looking into the sunset and
toward the mountains on the other side of the inlet

Friday we spent in the Myvatn area (a lake, as exhibited by the vatn in the name). The drive down the peninsula that Husavik is on was very pretty. We drove past many green fields and farms with very long barns (for the cows, I guess), and then the terrain changed as happened every day. Driving along the western side of the lake, we saw three border collies very quickly get a flock of sheep herded. We are always fascinated by them since we once had a border collie—big mistake in a suburban setting which we rectified by giving him to a boy who actually had sheep to herd.

View of west side of Lake Myvatn

The next site was really other-worldly—the Skutustaoir Pseudocraters. They are giant bubbles formed by exploding steam when burning lava encounters wetlands; now they are giant circular holes in the earth. Here we experienced the power of the Icelandic winds for the first time and how cold they can make you feel. 

The strange pseudocraters

The only cows I saw--across the road from the pseudocraters

We continued around the bottom of the lake and started up the east side, stopping occasionally as we did throughout the trip for pictures of sheep or nice scenery, in this case views of the lake. 

Nature makes odd formations sometimes

Our next stop was Dimmuborgir Lava Formations. When a volcano erupted 2300 years ago, it left odd-shaped volcanic projections. This place was probably my least favorite site we visited though we enjoyed the pretty flowers that flourish in the lava. The place is also associated with a goofy family group of trolls called the Yule Lads who are particularly active at Christmas time. We didn’t pay much attention to them.

Dimmuborgir Lava Formations--a bit overhyped

But we liked the flowers there

The Yule Lads publicity

We had been wanting soup (especially because it was so cold and windy), so instead of eating in the car we visited the gift shop and stopped in the café for two soups (vegetable in a cream curry sauce and vegetable and lamb) with wonderful Geysir bread (the rye that is cooked in the ground, but all the breads were great). We decided that that is their standard lunch because we saw it several times.

All you can eat soup and bread--yum

The next stop I really liked—the Namafjall Geothermal Area (fjall is a high and barren landscape). The high places here were odd brown cliffs (most places they were black or gray), and the low areas had smoking fumaroles which we could walk through and bubbling mud pots—much better than the one the first day. The sulfur crystals came in many pretty colors and of course smelled. Again it was incredibly windy and cold.

The brown cliffs at Namafjall

The bubbling mud pots

Many colors of the geothermal area

Me walking through the steam eruptions

We drove by a geothermal power plant with steam escaping everywhere and then on to Viti crater. This time the crater contained a beautiful shade of blue-green water. The wind here was even more ferocious, so we didn’t stay long.

The geothermal plant--hazy because of the miserable weather

Driving under the heat pipes

The beautiful blue-green of the water in the lagoon

Close-up of the crater

Then it was on to Dettifoss. The drive to and from it was sometimes desolate, sometimes mossy; in one place the landscape looked like crumbled pavement. Off and on through the afternoon we walked and drove through blinding, blowing sleet.

The barren volcanic landscape

This looked like a broken up highway to me

During the long and often uphill walk to Dettifoss it was at times snowing—and slippery from the mud. We viewed the falls first from the middle and then after another trek from the top. It was incredibly powerful.

Part of our walk to the waterfall

Top of Dettifoss

And the bottom 

On the middle part of the drive from the Myvatn area to Egilsstadir, there were absolutely no signs of civilization either animal or human (guidebooks tell you to gas up and get food before driving this stretch). Eventually we got back to farms and sheep—and more waterfalls, right along Route 1, all coming down from one mountain chain. We had to explore those also, of course, though it was quite a hike. I wondered what it was like up there where the falls originate.

The desolate portion of the drive

And then back to farms and pastures

Another waterfall right off Route 1

And, of course, pretty flowers

The rushing river 

Our teepee cabin at Egilsstadir

Given the weather today (the worst of the trip, maybe rivalled by Sunday) we had earlier made a decision which I had no regrets about. We had planned to drive to Seydisfjordu, a town and artist colony on the coast where the ferries from Europe land. To get there we would have had to take a treacherous mountain journey with many switchbacks and no guardrails (according to the guidebooks) and then repeat it in the morning. We decided this wasn’t the day to do that, so Glenna found us a place to stay in Egilsstadir at the foot of the mountains (Ormurinn Cottages). These were teepee-like cabins, again well equipped. That might we had good Icelandic pizza at a bar kind of place, Askur Pizzaria. Glenna had goose and local feta, and I had pepperoni, red sauce, onion and cheese. We got gas and a few more provisions before retiring to our tepee.

Saturday was better weather-wise with lots of driving. We were now on the eastern part of the island, and Route 1 took us all along the coast, through another 6-km tunnel and in and out of every inlet, all dotted with high mountains. There were a few small towns along the way. How they get supplies, I do not know, but I suspect by small plane.

The mountains of the Eastfjords

The long tunnel we drove through

Beautiful drive along the Atlantic

Snow-capped mountain, almost looks like an ocean liner

The tenacity of life--something which
I've always found quite remarkable

Striated mountains--always something different to see

Glenna in search of a picture

Back from taking the picture

Back to pasture land with mountains in the background

Earlier in the trip I had seen a building with a beautiful blue roof. I didn’t get a picture of it but was then looking for another one. Approaching a little town, Glenna spotted one on a little church (each town had a tiny church), so we stopped to get a picture. We pulled into a lot which turned out to be the parking area for a building housing a craft group. Today was the first day of their annual craft market, a showcase for the mainly woolens that the locals had made over the winter. That was fun. Glenna had intended to get an Icelandic sweater, and she found a beautiful one here. I’m sure they were glad we came ($200 for the sweater).

Pretty church with the blue roof in Breiddalsvik

Glenna's Icelandic sweater

Soon after we stopped in another little town that Glenna found for another soup (this time tomato with big vegetable chunks) and bread lunch at Longabud Café and this time with a piece of apple cake. The bread here was fabulous, some sort of hearty grain with their good butter. The town was cute, right on the water and with colorful houses.

Harbor in Djupivogur

We continued in and out of inlets to Hvalnes Lighthouse which reinforced our disappointment with their lighthouses—they were really boring compared to those we were used to in the Outer Banks. At one point Glenna spotted a reindeer which I didn’t see because I was driving.

Walls to keep the falling lava rock off the road

One of the very plain lighthouses

Two hours later we turned off Route 1 onto a gravel road around Vestrahorn mountain to the entrance which Glenna was really looking forward to because she had read about all the lupines here. Well, we had already seen many more lupines other places—thank goodness or the place would have been a total bust. As it was, we liked the tiny flowers and the area was at least pretty though we didn't see either the birds or the seals as advertised.

There were a few lupines at Vestrahorn

Another interesting flower growing on the lava rock

Vestrahorn Mountain

Then we had to scurry down the road (no more stops for pictures or sheep; we were way behind our schedule at this point) to get to Jokulsarlon (jokul is glacier and sarlon is lagoon in Icelandic). This spot is a part of the gigantic glacier Vatnajokull. Knowing we were cutting it close for the 4:20 RIB ride on the lagoon, Glenna called to get us a reservation. That one was full, so we waited for the 5:30 ride. RIB is rapid inflatable boat. It turns out that the boats used there were US Army discards from the Vietnam War; we sat on the inflated round edge and hung on for dear life. Later on Heimaey we had a different kind of boat, where we sat in the interior, straddling a hump.

Thirty years ago the glacier came right down to the ocean, but today it has receded 1.5 meters. Pieces of the glacier (icebergs) break off every day, some small pieces but others quite large chunks—though nothing like what the Titanic hit, I’m sure. Some of that melts, forming the lagoon that we see today. It covers 7 sq mi and is 932 feet deep, deeper than any of the lakes. We were told that the rate of chunks breaking off has been accelerating in the last several years. Anyway, the first site of the chunks floating in the lagoon was truly weird.

Icebergs in Jokulsarlon

More icebergs in Jokulsarlon

We walked around there for awhile and then went down to Diamond Beach just across the road. The lagoon has an outlet to the Atlantic Ocean, so there are smaller chunks of ice in the ocean also. The beach itself is volcanic and black with intermittent pieces of a lighter sand which sparkled, giving the beach its name, I’m sure. It was interesting to see how the chunks bent very far over with a big wave and then straightened up again. Very beautiful.

That's me sticking my finger in the Atlantic

Glenna doing the same

The black sand on the beach with lighter speckles

One of the ice chunks getting buffeted by the waves

Back over to the lagoon to get our flotation suits on. They were bulky but did keep us dry. We hiked out to the place where the RIBs were and put in. Those boats can go fast! We drove out to a beautiful blue iceberg which our driver said had not been nearly that pretty blue on his previous ride that day. The blue comes from the fact that the ice particles absorb the longer red and yellow wavelengths of light better than the shorter blue and green ones.

The very blue iceberg in Jokulsarlon

We then went out to the edge of the glacier to see it. In places it is 3000’ deep, but the part we saw above the waterline was just a few feet high.

The edge of the glacier Vatnajokull (see the map above)

We drove around some more to find seals, and we were lucky to come across some. They were sunning on the icebergs and weren’t at all worried about us. One was flopping around, trying very hard to get back in the water.

A seal perched on the iceberg

As we were coming back to shore, we actually saw a very large iceberg flip over. As parts break off, it can become unbalanced and turn over. Though it was a beautiful sight, I was pretty miserable on the ride. I actually worried about falling out of the RIB, and my hands were really cold and wet because I was holding on to the metal steering mechanism and the gloves, as we found out, were not waterproof—and a steady rain was coming down again.

An iceberg rolling over

At the end of the ride we took off our gear and set out for dinner. We ate in the beautiful Fosshotel dining room (a hotel I had originally booked and then decided it really was too expensive). We had another wonderful meal—seafood soup with bread, lamb with several vegetables and cod with several vegetables. Our most expensive meal at $117. At our hotel, Adventure Hotel Hof, we did our usual journal writing and reading and I did some laundry. This place was perfectly fine but rather banal after the cottages. But a nice bonus was that we got a bag of breakfast and lunch food for the next day.

Our seafood soup

Cod with vegetables

Lamb with vegetables

Sunday was pretty lousy weather-wise with lots of rain and again ferocious winds at times. It began with wind so strong that I almost couldn’t hold on to the car door. Down the road not too far was Skaftafell National Park where we had planned a hike. The first part of the hike was incredibly steep; my picture really doesn’t do it justice.

It doesn't look very steep but it really was

Purple flowers on the mountain

A flower we hadn't seen before

We decided not to go all the way up to Svartifoss but instead turned left and hiked up to another old settlement from 1910 called Sel. Again it was an incredibly isolated place, built between two fingers of the Skaftafellsjokull. The people went down to the ocean (a long way down) to collect driftwood to build their house and attached farm buildings. The house was built into the hillside and was very nice—parlor, large kitchen, and 2 bedrooms with 7 beds. There were also two outbuildings that I thought might have been where the food was preserved.

1910 farmstead at Sel

Seven beds in these two rooms

With the animals directly below

After that it was all downhill which isn’t always easy either. Sometimes the steps were very tall and I needed a hand from Glenna and other places the path was muddy and full of big rocks. But I was glad we did it. Along the way we saw two waterfalls and the rushing rivers they create, part of our decision not to go to Svartifoss.

Not Svartifoss but a waterfall which Glenna never tires of

Then in the pouring rain we were off to Vik, a town just meaning inlet without anyone’s name in front of it.

The perpetually changing landscape--desolate lava fields

And then green fields

And then the moss on the lava

The iconic picture of Vik is a little church with a red roof with a field of lupines in front of it. Well, that’s what it was. But getting a good picture of it was not happening. It was still pouring, and Glenna fell trying to walk partway down the slippery hill to get the picture she wanted—with the lupines in front and the church in the rear. She got one, just not the one she wanted. No blue sky behind, for one thing. Her photographer’s eye always notices the sky whereas I usually don’t. Somewhere in here was lunch in the car again.

The Vik church in the rain

And the view of it from down the hillside
that Glenna was determined to get

She was thoroughly discouraged by now and said we should just go to the hotel. I knew that wasn’t the right thing to do, no matter what the weather was like. So we set off for Reynisfjara Beach, again taking a detour off Route 1 on a long gravel path around the mountain. When we got there, she stayed in the car and I decided to see what I could see. On the way down to the beach, I literally was almost knocked over by the wind and driving rain. With the first gust I had to hold on tight to the sign I was reading and with the second I just had to brace myself. The beach was again black sand and pebbles. The distinctive feature here is the vertically striated rock of the mountainside. Very striking.

A cave at Reynisfjara Beach

The characteristic vertical striations

A close-up of the rock of the cliff

View down the beach in the rain

Dyrholaey Promontory wasn’t far away and the rain had receded somewhat, so we climbed to the top of that mountain on a steep gravel road and hiked to another plain lighthouse. But the real reason to be there is the view you get of the giant arch of black basalt rock projecting into the sea on the beach below—a lot like Durdle Door in Dorset, England for those who have been there though that rock is limestone.

Black basalt arch formed by nature

View from Dyrholaey Promontory

I didn’t want Glenna not to see Reynisfjara (or Vik again if she preferred), so I asked her if she wanted to go back. She chose Reynisfjara and got some good pictures since the rain had let up.

A happier Glenna at Reynisfjara Beach

As we travelled westward, the terrain kept changing again, in some places level areas of pure black lava on both sides of the road, in others the mossy rocks. There were a few fields of lupines, and always we weren’t far from mountains, some of these more covered with snow than any we had seen.

From green mountain side

To one totally covered in snow only a few miles away

We got to our cute room a few miles off Route 1. This place Kviholmi was essentially cabins hooked together, rather like our old motels though with a kitchen and sitting area. We stayed awhile and then were off to dinner at Gamla Fjosid, a place recommended by Rick Steves but also that Glenna had found independently. It was a cute, rustic sort of place furnished with antiques. We had vegetable beef soup with bread and a burger with fries and a salad. This place is known for its beef; they get all of it from a nearby farm. And it was delicious. Note that I don't say “Glenna got” and “I got” because we always share.

Gamla Fjosid restaurant

I haven’t said that so far we’d seen very few tourists anywhere. Sometimes we would go for miles without passing a car on the other side or seeing one ahead or behind us in our lane. This place, as all of them, only had a few people in it. We were happy to spend whatever it was to help their economy. We were back in the room earlier than usual though it was really hard to tell the hour since it is so light; it’s really easy to stay up very late. And I read that they do that in the summer, particularly in Reykjavik, partying to all hours. We had our usual tea and cookies before turning out the lights and trying our best to block out the light from outside. 

Monday we were up early to catch the Landeyjhofn ferry to the Westmann Islands, specifically to the island of Heimaey, the only one in the chain that is inhabited. The ferry had very few people onboard, and the trip was only 40 minutes. We had taken Dramamine in case the Atlantic was choppy. I don’t know if we needed it or not.

Heimaey harbor through the wet ferry window

In port we walked up the street where the ferry docked and came to a bakery where we got hot chocolate out of a machine and a pastry that I didn’t like much. Ugh.

Pretty street of houses on Heimaey

We didn’t have an hour by hour plan for the day, so we walked back down to the harbor to see about the RIB tour that we had booked and to figure out how we could see the island on land before that. We had just missed the bus tour of the island which was the only one running, so we opted for an expensive taxi to take us around. We went out to the southern peninsula where we were supposed to be able to see the puffins, something which all the marketing about the island touts. We did indeed see puffins flying about and perching on the rock from a shed constructed for that purpose, but they were so far away that only once did I even glimpse orange feet. That was disappointing.

The best we got of puffins--no orange in sight

Glenna was able to blow up one of her images so that you can actually 
see the puffins on the hillside. Still no orange though.

We travelled back to the north side to the region of the volcano Eldfell which erupted one night in January of 1973 totally without warning as an eruption had not occurred there in 5000 years. Though the destruction of property was widespread, only one life was lost. All the fishing boats were in port because the weather had been bad, so they were used to get people to the mainland. Our driver was 11 at the time and gave us her recollections of the night.

Eldfell Volcano which erupted in 1973

The black and red lava pebbles

On the side of the volcano is a pretty plot where more than 700 varieties of flowers were planted in the lava and cared for by a couple who volunteered for the task.

Some of the flowers planted in the garden

Then we drove past a pretty church whose interior was very simple, as others have been also, given to the Westmann Islands by Norway.

The small church given by Norway after the eruption

Then back to town for a good hot chocolate while waiting for our RIB tour. We had signed up for a two-hour ride but decided to change it to one hour, for me because of my miserable experience on the other RIB ride. But as I explained earlier, this boat had saddle seats which were much more comfortable and less scary. What amazed me was how well the boat took the Atlantic waves. We were told to bounce as you do when riding a horse, but I seldom needed to.

After getting into flotation suits again, we rode all around Heimaey and around a few of the smaller islands. Several times we stopped so the guide could  point out figures in the rock formations, just as I used to lie in the grass as a kid and find images in the clouds. Most were a bit of a stretch, the gorilla, the dinosaur, the eagle, but the most famous one, the elephant, is no stretch at all. It is an elephant head.

An example of the flotation suit

Someone's face is in there

But this resemblance is uncanny

Even though the islands are uninhabited by humans, each one has an outpost which is manned by one person who has a cabin big enough for a bed. They mostly care for the sheep who live there, I think. One outpost was only reachable by scaling a vertical cliff. A rope is permanently hung there for that effort. But imagine the effort of the person who had to plant that rope!

We heard for the second time the story of the Turkish pirates who came to the island in 1627 and captured about 250 of the islanders (and killing many more) and took them off into slavery.  We pulled into a cave where you can hear your echo. 

We drove by what they call Miami Beach which was a tiny beach of black pebbles amidst the soaring rocks where islanders come on “nice” days to sunbathe. Note that the average high temperature for the islands is 52 degrees F. 

Another feature of the trip was supposed to be puffins. That was completely downplayed. So once again we didn’t get to see a puffin close up.

Then it was lunch time. We had decided that we were going to eat our picnic food in our hotel room for dinner and that lunch would be our big meal. At Tanginn we had masala ghinga, an Indian dish with prawns, and a reindeer burger with fries and the most delicious appetizer, fried mozzarella cheese with jam. Both plates were huge.

Yummy fried mozzarella with jam

Afterward we climbed up (somehow this seemed steeper than some of our other climbs) to the Volcano Museum which was placed on the lower part of the volcano. Eruptions began on Jan 23, 1973 and continued for six months. Technology was not good enough at the time to detect the rumblings much ahead of time. Two-thirds of the residents eventually came back and rebuilt; the rest stayed on the mainland.

A whole hillside of lupines to photograph

The site for the museum was chosen to enclose one of the houses that had been destroyed by ash. They had left all the contents of the house scattered about and some of the ash in place so that we could see the devastation (it was totally covered initially; they had to dig it out). The museum was really well done, not an overwhelming amount of information but plenty of sound effects and interactive displays telling us about the volcano and its effects on the lives of the inhabitants. We had headsets which gave us the commentary, and there were a few short movies also.

The house filled with lava with the contents scattered

Another view of the house

Takk (thank you) for visiting

The Landeyjahofn ferry

Heimaey and Eldfell from the ferry

After returning to the mainland on the ferry about 5:40, we scurried off to Seljalandsfoss, yet another waterfall. But this one was one you can walk behind because of the erosion of the rock below the top. The guidebook had said the path to and away from the falls was treacherous, and they weren’t kidding. You had to go down to get to the platform rock behind the falls and then climb back up on the other side. What you were climbing on were huge jumbled lava rocks that were slippery from the splash of the waterfall. I can tell you that I wouldn’t have made it without holding on to Glenna’s hand in several places. But it was fun.

Seljalandsfoss

And from behind it

This night we stayed in another cabin, our favorite, Farmer’s Guesthouse, on another working farm with sheep and barns, presided over by a very personable gentleman. He even had a cat for Glenna to love on. I sent a picture to JR, and he said Asha would be jealous.

Another charming cabin

And the farm it was on

Glenna found a kitten

I knew Glenna was disappointed that she hadn’t gotten good sunset pictures at Seljalandsfoss from behind the falls. So she set out by herself to go back and try to get the sunset pictures (sunrise and sunset pictures are just her thing). It was raining enough that she soon decided that that was a fool’s errand, but she came upon lupines along the side of the road. She got absolutely stunning pictures of the lupines backlit by the sun. And when she got back she asked me if I had looked out to see the sunset. It was gorgeous; I have never seen such a sunset. So she was happy again.

Lupines backlit by the setting sun

More lupines

The gorgeous sunset

Tuesday was our day for the famous Blue Lagoon, the other site besides the Golden Circle that daytrippers do. But first we drove to Seltun Geothermal Field. We were now going down through the Reykjanes Peninsula and off Route 1. We passed another crater filled with beautifully-colored water.

Another pretty crater lake

Seltun wasn’t as spectacular as Namafjall, colorful but not as many fumaroles spewing steam into the air, and we had to stay on the path whereas before we could roam.

Colorful rocks at Seltun

Bubbling mud

Spectacular color

Steam hole with no steam

At Seljalandsfoss Glenna had heard people talking about hiking to the active volcano Fragradalsfjall that we would be passing somewhat near the next day. She thought she really would like to try to see it. But the hike was 5 hours in mountainous terrain which I told her I just couldn’t do. She considered doing it herself—because it really would have been cool. I got the idea of taking a helicopter ride over it which lands so you can walk about for 15 minutes or so. We got online to explore that possibility; we filled out a form and waited to hear. The cost was going to be more than $400 each, but I figured it was already an expensive trip and what’s another $900. As it turned out, they had no openings for the next day, so we didn’t get to go. We should have applied earlier obviously. There were three trails to it, and we'd read that one had to be closed because the lava was crossing the path. A couple of weeks later, I saw an article online that it had started to spew lava high into the air which it hadn’t been doing before, so high that it was seen in Reykjavik 20 miles away; previously it just gently poured out lava which rolled down the side of the volcano and quickly hardened, making the lava field that we’ve seen all over the country. But when it comes out it is in pretty colors which was attracting people to it.

What we would have seen from Reykjavik
if we had been there two weeks later

Again we were seeing the otherworldly moss on the lava rocks; earlier in the day we had passed lots of very flat farmland with grass fields. On our way to the Blue Lagoon, as on the way to Seltun on the other side of the mountain, we could see the clouds of steam coming off the volcano (though no color). We passed by the three parking lots and saw hikers setting out on their journey. I felt bad for Glenna, but at this point we were still hoping to hear from the helicopter company.

Mossy lava rock in Reykjanes Peninsula

Probably steam from the Fagradalshaum volcano in the background

The Blue Lagoon facility is really quite a place. Nice entrance, extensive dressing rooms and large pool with several sections. The water was probably not as hot as at the pool in Husavik. Along with our ticket came a free drink and a free mud facial. The drink we chose was very nice—a strawberry sparkling wine. There were ledges in the water along the edge where we could sit to drink. The mud bath was a white substance that we smeared on our faces and left for 10 minutes. We washed if off with water from the lagoon which seemed a bit odd. The package that we had picked didn’t allow us the green second stage, but the mud bath lady gave it to us anyway. With that one, she suggested that we visit the sauna which we did. There we were regaled by a probably 10-year old about how to navigate the sauna and the area just outside it all while he fed water to the hot rocks every few minutes to make more steam. We stayed a little longer and then figured we’d had enough. 

Me at Blue Lagoon

And Glenna

Our nice wine cooler

And here we are in our mud masks

We had a last lunch in the car before heading for Reykjavik. After having almost no traffic yet on our trip (for example never having encountered a car already in a roundabout), the last part of our car journey was a bit stressful—plenty of traffic, lots of roundabouts with cars in them, lots of turns and then finally the rental car return office near the water. We’d driven 972 miles; I did all the forward motion and Glenna drove back to our room after dinner twice and the one night back to get the lupine pictures. 

Another thing I haven’t mentioned yet is the amount of roadwork we encountered. They obviously are intent on improving their infrastructure! And they handled it very well. In some places they had built a side road while repairing the main road; in other places they did not. There was one difference between how we do it and how they do it that I noticed. We do a couple mile patch completely and then move on to the next patch. Instead they do a long patch with the first layer, then do that long patch with the second layer and so on—however many layers there are. That means that often we were driving slowly on the several mile first rough gravel layer. 

The return of the car was soon completed, and we were on our way in a taxi to our hotel, CenterHotel Plaza, not the one we had picked but one for some reason we had been moved to. It turned out to be a good location, and the hotel was fine and included a good Scandinavian style breakfast. Here there were lots of people; it seemed to be a hotel used by tour groups. All over the country the few tourists we had seen were young; here they were older but I don’t think we ever saw anyone as old as I am. I’d say I did pretty well.

After relaxing in the room for awhile, we went out in search of dinner. We walked around to get the lay of the land and then chose Reykjavik Fish Restaurant, having read that we should try their fish and chips. There were two huge pieces of fish, well fried as were the fries. Glenna thought a fish soup would be good and said fish stew rather than fish soup. The waiter nodded approvingly at her choice. It turned out to be almost inedible. It was not like anything we would call stew. It had more the consistency of baked mac and cheese without the mac or the cheese. It was fish, potato and way too much onion for Glenna’s taste in some very thick sauce. I ate part of it, but she could stomach only a few bites and pushed the rest to the sides of the bowl.

View up the main shopping street of Reykjavik

Pretty houses on the way

Fish and chips and the fish stew

In our wanderings we had seen a place called Lebowski’s. Glenna polled her friends on whether she should go, and the answer was yes. JR’s was a definite. I guess the Lebowski movie is a big cult favorite with her age group. She walked back to the hotel with me and then went back to Lebowski’s for a drink and then down to the harbor for a look. 

Before she left we tried to do my COVID test. The US requires a negative COVID test of everyone coming into the country no longer than 72 hours before entry. United had sent an email telling that they had partnered with Abbott Labs to provide a test that could be done online instead of trying to find a place in country to get a test. I bought it. It only came in 6’s but I figured JR and Glenna could use it for their Mexico trip in August. Well, that didn’t work. It turns out that the test is essentially a prescription and only for one person. Now how many people need 6 tests? So I had found a place in Reykjavik where Glenna could have her test, but I figured I’d already bought this thing so I might as well use it. We had to be online with someone to go through the preliminaries about my identification, etc. Then he watched me open the box and take out the three items and open them. He watched me swab my nose and mouth and then put the swab in a container and close it, a container which had a transparent gauge on it. All the while this was happening the hotel’s wifi kept going in and out. He couldn’t hear us; we couldn't hear him; his voice was garbled; the barcode on the test was so small that the phone camera couldn’t get it in focus. But we got through it. I then had to hang up with him and wait 15 minutes while the test “cooked”. Someone else would call me back to read the gauge. Well, that part just didn’t happen. She did call back, but just as she was going to read the gauge the wifi went out and didn’t come back. At this point Glenna was fit to be tied. I told her to go on to Lebowski’s and I would see if I could get an appointment at the clinic where she was going. So that was $175 down the drain. 

Well, I did get an appointment at 9:30, same time as Glenna. So the first thing we did on Wednesday after breakfast was get a taxi to the clinic. The taxi driver knew exactly what we were doing and even waited for us. It was incredibly efficient, only taking about 5 minutes. And we had our results in the afternoon. Live and learn.

The taxi driver told us these were yachts belonging to Russian billionaires

Back in the area of the hotel, we began our Rick Steves walking tour of Reykjavik after stopping into a quality craft shop with really pretty things. The walking tour was okay. Reykjavik isn’t London with history around every corner. But we saw a typical residential area, the spot where an ancient longhouse once stood, a statue of Skuli Magnusson, considered to be the founder of the town, City Hall with a large relief map of Iceland (I love those), the large pond right in the middle of town with wealthy homes on one shore, Parliament Square with the Lutheran Cathedral on one corner (again quite simple but beautiful in its way), various other streets with minor sites, and murals on the sides of buildings all around the city.

Typical house in the residential area

This tree won Tree of the Year in 2016,
probably because of its unusual size

Just a pretty bush

A house in the style of 1760's Reykjavik

Some graffiti

Relief map of Iceland in City Hall--see Vatnajokull in foreground

Faceless bureaucrat

Homes of the wealthy on Tjornin Pond

The Lutheran cathedral

And its simple interior

Just an interesting house

A highly decorated parking garage

Leifur Ericksson, gift from the USA

For me the best was last, the walk up Skolavooustigur Street with its many shops and restaurants to the top of the hill to Hallgrimskirkya Church, definitely the landmark of Reykjavik.

Outside the church is a statue of Leifur Ericksson given by the United States to Iceland on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of the first parliament in 930. On the statue it reads: “son of Iceland, discoverer of Vinland”.

I loved the church. It is in the shape of a volcano. The exterior is modelled after the vertical basalt columns that we saw, for example, at Reynisfjara Beach. The surface of the columns is rough like volcanic rock. The interior is minimalist and to me looks like an upside down ship. The ends of the pews mimic the facade.

Hallgrimskirkja Church

The rough surface of the columns which were made to look like the rocks at Reynisfjara Beach and other places with the vertical striations.

The elegant interior of the church

The ceiling which looks like the hull of a ship to me

The chancel

The pulpit

The pew ends in the shape of a volcano

We took the elevator and then 33 stairs up to the tower where we had fabulous 360 views of Reykjavik.

Looking toward Reykjavik harbor from the tower

Another view of the city from the tower

And another

On our walking tour we’d stopped at some stalls and gotten a few jewelry items. After the church we visited some souvenir shops and second hand shops at one of which Glenna got a dress (for me to alter). We enjoyed seeing the colorful houses in the area; characteristically they are clad in vertical corrugated iron plates and brightly painted.

Iron clad houses

Love all the colors

Another must-do food-wise in Reykjavik is to visit Beajarins Beztu Pylsur, the famous hot dog stand. That and drinks are all they sell. We ate ours there, and there was a steady stream of customers.

The famous hot dog stand

After walking around some more, we went back to the hotel for awhile. Then it was out again to have a momo snack which we had first had in Nepal and loved; these were good too. Then a walk to Harpa Concert Hall, another modern venue which not everyone likes, as some don’t the church. It is almost all glass. We walked all around it in the biting wind and inside where we saw almost no one.

Harpa Concert Hall from inside

Ceiling of Harpa

Looking up on the outside

Front of Harpa

Back of Harpa

Mural at a construction site

To get out of the elements, we stopped in to the cute Hamalava bookstore/café; I’ve always liked that combination. And here we had the best hot chocolate of the trip and sat for a long time, writing our journals and browsing among the books.

The bookstore/cafe

The rest of the afternoon I spent packing my bag and Glenna’s bag, fitting our hiking boots in with all our other things, including her bulky Icelandic sweater. I did a great job even if I do say so myself. While we worked we watched some BBC (yesterday was an early episode of Downton Abbey). Glenna said no international trip is complete without some BBC. 

Yesterday we’d seen a place we said we would come back to for dinner the next night. Well, when we got there it was closed already. We were bummed. But actually we found a great substitute, Hornid, an Italian eatery which was buzzing since so little was open. It was my best meal—seafood and vegetables in a cream sauce. For Glenna it was the usual spaghetti and meatballs. Even though we would be in New York on Thursday night, we figured this was the real last night and so time for our Bests and Worsts and Impressions which we do at the end of every trip. When Glenna was little, we always did a quiz with her which we called Where Were We When. She was great at remembering what we'd seen and done.

One effect of so many sites being free (with literally no gatekeeper or official around) was that we interacted with relatively few Icelanders compared to trips elsewhere. The people we did meet, in restaurants, some hotels and some tourist sites and tours, were almost all pleasant, upbeat, informative and helpful. Judging by their architecture, Icelanders seem to be plain, practical people with little fuss and a lot of what we think of as Scandinavian character. There is a connection, of course. Iceland was settled by Vikings of Danish and Norwegian descent. Their language is related to those of the Scandinavian countries, though, isolated as they are, their modern language is closer to Old Norse than the present day Scandinavian languages are. That makes it hard for us to pronounce their place names with all the consonants and some special characters. Luckily for Americans, virtually everyone speaks English and very well at that.

Street name

More of the Icelandic language

One odd thing is that not only did we not see many dogs or cats, we also did not see many kids.

One of the few times we saw kids,
this time in Hallgrimskirkja Church

Another character trait we observed is that they are very trusting. An added minor reason why we saw so few natives is that the keys to the places we stayed were put somewhere for us to pick up and leave the next morning or we were given a code in an email that opened a lockbox. We saw no one at most places where we stayed. 

Thursday was going back to the US day, if not going home day. We had arranged to take a bus to the airport. Again we saw plumes in the sky off to the left which had to have been the volcano (Keflavik airport is in the same Reykanes Peninsula). At security I was inspected thoroughly, and when we got to the gate area Glenna was inspected by agents hired by United. We have experienced that before—security for the airport and the airline. 

Glenna always takes the window so she can see what’s out there. She got some great pictures of Greenland. The three people behind us never shut up for one second; that was annoying but at least it wasn’t an 8-hour or more flight. 

Greenland from the air

Another view of Greenland

And another

At EWR we retrieved our bags and took a taxi to the Marriott which was literally across the road but placed where we couldn’t walk to get there. In five minutes we were in a shuttle back to the terminal so we could get the Air Train to the NJ Transit stop where we caught the train to Penn Station. 

Glenna’s first goal was to get to the Whitney Museum of American Art which neither of us had visited before via the subway. We got in free because of the reciprocal arrangement that lets employees of one museum visit another for free; sometimes they let a second person come along which the Whitney did. We were there specifically to see an exhibit of many of the very large works of Julie Mehretu, an American (but Ethiopian by birth) contemporary visual artist. We both found her works to be quite striking. Many of them have detailed black and white architectural drawings of streets with streaks and whirls of color on top of them with themes concerning urban sociopolitcal change.

You can see the architectural drawing underneath

I liked her use of color.

We also visited the permanent collection and a floor of crafts in art. This visit saved this trip from being the first one where Glenna didn’t visit an art museum!

There are wonderful views of the city from the upper floors. On one side we saw the just opened floating island park on Pier 55. On the other side we could see up to the Empire State Building and down to the World Trade Center.

Floating island park on Pier 55

Empire State Building from the Whitney

To sit down for awhile Glenna found a coffee shop (a favorite thing for JR and Glenna to do on their trips) not far away. It was a lovely spot. I had another hot chocolate. Then we walked the High Line which neither of us had done before even though it opened in 2009. I loved it up there. It was peaceful even though there were lots of people. They’ve done a wonderful job of planting a great variety of flowers and bushes, and it is kept up very well. And again there were great views of the city.

The path down the High Line

New York from the High Line

Flowers on the High Line

A large variety of plants on the High Line

We walked almost to the end but came down near where we were going to have dinner at Pepe Giallo with Glenna’s high school friend Larissa who lives in Brooklyn and is a lawyer for Merck. We hadn’t seen her since Glenna’s wedding, and in the meantime she had recently gotten married. So we had lots of catching up to do as we ate our wonderful Italian meal (Greek salad and lemon chicken with sauteed spinach for me). We sat a long time, and then Larissa walked back to Penn Station with us. She went off to Brooklyn and we returned to the Marriott.

Larissa and Glenna at Pepe Giallo

Friday we had to be up early to get our flight, first to DC and then to Greenville. We had time for another hot chocolate and a muffin at the gate (honestly I don't routinely have hot chocolate). Long walks in terminals but eventless flights. Rick and Doris picked us up and took us home. Glenna wanted to have lunch before she left for Columbia, so we had Latin food near my house. And then she was gone. I was let down as one can be at the end of an exhilarating trip and when your child leaves to go back to her own life. I didn’t feel like doing anything, and so I slept—until 9:47 PM. I guess all that moving about had finally caught up with me and I needed the rest. I walked 102,842 steps (the most in any one day was 16,073).

Even though we went to Iceland in large part because we were allowed in, it had been on our bucket list. Before researching it I didn’t know that so much of what we did would be outside. Nor, of course, did I know much about the weather other than it was a northern country. But we both felt it was a really good trip, that we persevered, not letting the weather stop us, and experienced a really beautiful country as a result. Glenna always asks where a trip is on our hierarchy of favorite trips. It’s always a hard question to answer. She always asks: Top5? Maybe so.

I used to buy lots of things on trips. Now I generally buy just a few things to remember the places. Here are my woolen cap which I really needed, an Icelandic Magical Symbol magnet that provides protection, power and strength, a puffin even though we didn't really get this view of them, an elephant (I collect them) I bought from a Kenyan who was building a school in his village, a pair of earrings with lava, and certainly the most characteristic thing of all, a piece of lava on a magnet.