Iceland (6/30-7/8)
Landed in Iceland with Grace and had
to sadly say goodbye to her by her gate for her flight to Los Angeles. It was
sad leaving my travel buddy since we have been with each other 24/7 for the
past 5.5 weeks. Couldn’t have done this with trip anyone else.
Day 1 (6/30)
I met up with my parents (Lisa and
John) outside the airport. They had already picked up the rental car and tablet
which would be our guide. The planned route was a circle around Iceland
starting in southern Iceland.
We set off for the famous Blue
Lagoon. Blue Lagoon been here since 1226 but was built into the facilities it
is today in 1980s. The water is warmed from the center of the earth and cools
as it rises. At the surface it was 100 degrees. Iceland has tons of geothermic
activity with steam venting from various areas all over the south west region.
At the Blue Lagoon we enjoyed the warm waters and two different special face
masks from the silica and algae found in the hot springs. It was a very
beautiful and relaxing way to start the trip!
We then made our way to our hotel
stopping along the way to see various rock formations from volcano lava
flows as well as horses (they are pony sized, but technically Icelandic horses,
everywhere). There are only 300,000 people who live in Iceland. It seems so
empty. Also, it’s the summer here and the high is 52 degrees (mostly in 40s).
The sun rises at 3am and sets at 12am. The first night we stayed in Hverageroi
town (lots of greenhouses here) and grabbed a late dinner. Everything here is
so expensive!! Pro-tip: Bring food from home!
Day 2 (7/1)
John was my history buff teaching me
about the Vikings. Originally, the first people here were monks/hermits from
Ireland. Then around 850AD, the Vikings landed in Iceland. In 1000 AD,
Christianity came here. There are various old churches around the island. Lots
of houses had their own church. Also fun fact: the Vikings found North America
about 500 years before Columbus. They went to Canada, but hey, someone knew
about it. Next fun fact: very few trees are in Iceland. The Vikings took them
all down to make their boats and also other causes. In recent years the country
has had trouble trying to grow them back again.
We woke up early to explore
Pingvallavegur Park. In this park, it is possible to swim between continents.
This is because the tectonic plates between North America and Europe meet here.
The swimming was sold out so we could not snorkel and look down into the
cristal clear water into the rift to see the depths of the earth. Apparently,
some people get vertigo swimming here.
Instead of swimming, we walked in the
rift (at least the parts that are on land). In the rift, we saw “Law Rock”
where the Icelanders would meet for policy and festivities. The rift is very
visible since a cliff face stands out on one side.
Warning! There are a ton gnats. They
swarm like crazy and get on your face. Everyone is constantly swatting the air
around their faces. Pro tip: bring big spray or mosquito netting.
On the loop through the park we
stopped at the Geysir area and saw Strokkur erupt twice before heading to
Gullfoss waterfalls. After we were pretty hungry and tried going to Frioheimar
for their tomato soup, but it was too full. The restaurant is in a greenhouse
where you sit near the rows of tomato vines. We continued the loop by stopping
at Kerio Crater (magma chamber collapse). The center had pretty blue water
contrasting against the red and black sand walls.
In Selfoss, we stopped for pizza and
after grabbing groceries (it’s too expensive! $14 for a scoop of ice cream!).
We were now along the south shore of Iceland and could see the famous glacier
capped volcano that disrupted airways in 2010. Eyjafjallajökull volcano and
glacier can been seen for miles around. It was a brilliant view for our drive
to the “do-not-miss” Seljalandsfoss Waterfall! WARNING: they do not tell you
but you will get wet! Rain gear is the move. This water fall was spectacular since
you can literally get a 360-degree view of it as you go behind/under it. There
are tons of waterfalls in Iceland! The next waterfall was Skogafoss! We climbed
529 steps to the top of the waterfall. According to legend, a Viking (or was he
a leprechaun?) hid his gold under/ behind the waterfall.
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| You can walk behind this waterfall! |
As we drove towards Vik, we quickly
went up to the Myrdalsjokull Glacier (4th largest glacier) before driving to
Dyrholaey Rock Formation. (Dang this spelling/language thing is getting to me).
This rock formation is over the ocean with a natural archway that a ship can go
through. It was raining a lot so I sprinted to see the view of the rock. Then
sprinted back to the car already soaked. Good thing the sun doesn’t set until
midnight because these are long days! Finally finished this amazing day.
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| Natural Arch |
If you are reading, go get another
cup of coffee because there are 7 more days to come!
Day 3 (7/2)
We set out on our day trip from Vik.
Slight change up in format for today’s information.
First Stop: Black sand beach and
Reynisdramgar Cliffs (stair step looking rock cliffs). You could also see the
natural arch of the Dyrholaey Rock Formation in the distance. We saw some
puffins here!
Second Stop: Fjaorargljufur Canyon
which is 2 million years old and is believed to be formed at the end of the
last ice age. After walking along the top and getting views of the waterfalls,
we had a picnic lunch from the groceries we had purchased.
Third Stop: More waterfalls
(Systrafoss) and some hiking at Kirkjubaejarklaustur Village.
Fourth Stop: Off roading to a cave
(Hjörleifshöfoi) in a cliff. After seeing the natural cliff, we continued to
drive down the very long black beach until we finally hit the water. Definitely
not beach weather!
Fifth Stop: Plane wreck on the beach
(40 min walk each way to the plane across black sand and rocks in the wind).
The plane was a US military plane that crash landed. All the people
survived.
Day 4 (7/3)
We headed out early with a long day
of activities and parks ahead. Today was not cloudy like the day before so we
were actually able to see the massive glacier capping the volcano by Vik. I
have been to glacier national park in the US, but this glacier was a different
story! For the first part of the morning, we traveled on the same road as the
day before.
You can see the glacier capping the volcano in the background
We continued to Skaftafell National
Park to hike to see once again... ANOTHER WATERFALL! There seems to be a
consistent theme here. The short hike brings you to Svartifoss Waterfall (Black
Falls). You also have amazing views another glacier, this time the largest
glacier, Vatnajökull. When the volcanos erupt all of the ice melts on the
glacier and causes bad flooding. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen! The glacier,
ice cap glacier, covers 8% of the country. We went up close to one of the
outlet glaciers. The ice is so thick!!
The highlight of the day: Jökulsárlón
Glacial Lagoon!! This place was amazing. Chunks of glacier fall off into this
lagoon where they can be seen as beautiful, blue, black, and white icebergs. We
went on a zodiac into the lagoon and got up close and personal with some of the
icebergs. We traveled over 7km on the lagoon to the glacier hoping to see some
ice fall into the water. Unfortunately, we did not see it fall down. But I did
get to hold a chunk of the glacier bay the Zodiac driver plucked from the
lagoon and the blue ice of the glacier chunks. It was not sunny, so we did not
see any seals. Apparently, seals are at the top of the food chain here since
whales and sharks do not enter the bay due to the low river flow out to sea.
This is a must see and I definitely recommend getting on the boat into the
lagoon. Btw: this is a natural lagoon that has been here before the first
people lived here. So ice from the glacier has been falling off for centuries.
The only thing is the size of the lagoon has grown more rapidly in the past 40
years, so it’s safe to say that global warming is causing more rapid
melting.
Day 5 (7/4)
Happy 4th of July!
Started the morning early continuing
on the ring road around Iceland. It has been a rainy and cloudy day.
Unfortunately, we can’t see any of the eastern fjords. We stopped for beer and
lunch in Breiodalsvik (a small fishing village).
The day was mostly spent in the car.
The clouds and rain limited our view so there is not much to write. We saw
Gunnarsson’s, a Icelandic poet’s, house towards the end of the day. We still
managed to end the end at 8pm. So, moving on!
Day 6 (7/5)
We continued our drive and went off
of main 1 road to see some turf farms (buildings covered in grass). Along the
way, we drove on dirty/gravel roads in the black and brown highlands of eastern
Iceland. It looked like another planet (like in interstellar). Desolate and
inhospitable. Nothing grows on these hills. We went to the Moordrualur Farm, a
mini oasis in this harsh landscape. We warmed up with hot coco and “happy
marriage cake”. I also made friends with a lamb, or maybe it was a goat, but
named is lammy anyway. We got to pet him/her. Very friendly little lammy.
We joined back up with the main road
to then go off-roading once again to get to Dettifoss Waterfall. It has the
greatest volume of any waterfall in Europe. Although it was out of the way,
this powerful waterfall was pretty cool to see.
We ended in Myvatn Lake where there are
tons of different geological things: volcanos, hot springs, craters, and lava
fields. We saw natural baths in a cave under an old lava flow that people used
to use until the water got too hot to bath in. Then we went to the baths
ourselves at NatureBath. It was a good way to end the cold and wet day.
Day 7 (7/6)
Today is partially cloudy with some
blue skies! Geographically we are now in northern Iceland. Apparently, the
weather is actually warmer here than in other parts. We definitely felt it
today! We started the day exploring the area and hiking up and around the
largest explosion crater on the planet, Hverfjall. This hike gave us panoramic
views of the surrounding area. Many of the surrounding mountains have flat or
rounded tops... it’s pretty odd... I don’t know why.
Next we explored a
geothermal area. The bubbling wasn’t just hot water but thick clay-like
material. The smell! My gosh! The smell was terrible. Way worse than rotten
egg. We got out of there pretty fast.
We continued the drive around the
ring road and made it to, what do you know, ANOTHER WATERFALL. This one is
called Godafoss. Since the sun was out, it made the waterfall extra
beautiful.
We had lunch in the northern capital
of Iceland, Akureyri. It was our first actual city this entire time! They had a
shopping district and everything! We had a long drive to our final destination,
so we continued the drive along the sun lit fjords. The weather makes a
huge difference!
Highlight of the day: horseback
riding at Lytingsstadir. Laura took us around the area on an hour ride where we
got to canter and trot. So much fun. It was exciting to finally be able to ride
the horses we have been seeing for days. Laura even let us put the horses back
in paddock. Great way to spend the afternoon. The day ended with a long 3-hour
drive to our hotel. Luckily, we made it to a restaurant, Veidistadurinn, that
still served us even though it closed at 9pm which was the time we arrived. The
food was pretty good too! Our hotel is on the westside, so we are getting
closer to the end.
Day 8 (7/7)
Today we headed to Reykjavik. We went
the long way along the coast to see some fishing towns and a glacier caped
volcano.
First, history time! We went to the
viking Eric the Red’s Icelandic House ruins. Eric the Red was the one who gave
Greenland its name (to attract people) and had it settled for the first time in
985AD. 25 ships set out for Greenland and only 11 made it to settle it. Lastly,
Eric the Red’s son was the one who “first set foot” on North America.
Unfortunately, the rain was back
today. It did not inhibit the view though as much as the previous days of the
trip. We stopped at a shark museum and “farm house.” It is Icelandic tradition
to eat fermented shark since the Vikings did it. At the museum they told us
about the sharks and the process of fermenting. The sharks they eat are called
Greenland Sharks. They are very slow and live to be at least 300. The family on
this farm for 400 years has passed down the tradition of fermenting sharks.
They used to catch their own and now they buy from fishermen. The shark will
kill you if you eat it right away. So they ferment it, which basically means
leaving it to dry out a bit after cutting it up. They store the meat in a shed
for 6 weeks before hanging it to dry in a “dry house,” basically just hanging
racks with a roof. At no point is the meat cooked. Just left out naturally for
the toxins to leave the meat. Icelanders eat it as a snack. We tried some of
the shark. I hated it. Very chewy and odd taste.
For the past few days, I
have had a stomach bug. So sorry if the story telling is not as exciting! Not
the way I would have liked to end this crazy adventure but still have had an
amazing time in Iceland.
Day 9 (7/8)
Half day left before flight to
Pittsburgh. Not sure I am ready to put away my backpack just yet, but the time
has come.
Reykjavik is a huge city. It's such a
contrast from what we have seen the past 8 days. We spent the morning exploring
by walking the city center.
Iceland is full of natural and
geographical beauty. A road trip along the ring road will mean lots of off-roading,
late days, and thousands of waterfalls! I also realized I never talked about
what we ate. The food was mainly lamb chops, Arctic char, pizza and hamburgers.
It was a great adventure and I am grateful to have done it with my
parents.
Thanks for reading! Summary of
travels and funny moments that Grace and I had to come soon.
To be continued,
Emily
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