I’m flying from Boston to Reykjavik on Iceland Air and I’m surprised when the pilot tells us the flight time is just 4 hours 40 minutes. I’m arriving at 6am so a nights sleep is not gonna happen, plus the lady beside me keeps the light on and knits for the whole flight!!!
The international airport, Keflavík, is about a 45 minute drive from Reykjavík so I’ve done a bit of research on what’s close by that I can visit while I wait for my friend Nina and her daughter Kate to arrive. They’re getting in at 2pm so it’s a lot of time to fill on very little sleep!! I pick up a hire car (that takes a few minutes!!) and head off to drive a loop of the Reykjanes peninsula. I realise pretty quickly that the road I’m on is the road that was recently covered with volcanic rock when there was a volcanic eruption on 1st April (just 4 weeks ago). I’d say there are plenty of jobs for roadworkers in this country!!
The scenery feels like you could be on another planet and beyond the black lava rocks there are steaming fields – vents for the steam rising from the volcanic earth.
I follow my trusted google maps toward Volcano Fagradalsjall which was dormant until 2021. I hike to Stórhóll viewpoint which gets closest to the black volcanic crater of the 2021 eruption. The trail to the viewpoint passes right next to its cooled black lava flow. The black lava field still steams from the residual heat. It’s very cold and windy and there’s no one around at this early hour.
I’m really enjoying the hike even if I am knackered and it’s freezing. It’s brilliant to be out here, seeing the sights with no one around. Love it!
At the top looking down, I wonder how this looked when it was hot and flowing downhill…. Mad!!
After a couple of hours hiking I return back to the car and drive toward my next stop. On the way I see a few cars turned off and a sign for Brimketill (Surf cauldron). I pull in to have a look. According to the sign, Brimketill is an extraordinary pool on the seaside of the westernmost part of Stagarberg. It was formed due to the constant beating of the waves against the lava rock coast. The lava around Brimketill is extremely rough, cracked and with high, sharp edges and surfaces. It was likely formed in the Reykjanes Fires in 1210-1240. I walk across some sand and watch the waves crashing against the pool.
Only a few minutes further down the road I reach my destination, the “Bridge between Continents”. At first it looks a little out of place, spaning what appears to be a dried up river bed, a sand-filled cleft which seems puzzling in a country that isn’t associated with dry weather. But then you figure out that this isn’t a river after all. Instead, it’s a visible tear in the landscape, tangible proof that Iceland is divided by a rugged plate boundary. Here, the land on which you stand is slowly pulling apart. On one side of the bridge is the North American plate; on the other, the Eurasian. Though you can’t see or feel it, the ground beneath your feet is moving.
I step out onto the bridge and in the space of 15 or so metres, I have walked from Europe to North America! The Eurasian plate is Earth’s largest continental tectonic plate and approximately 75% of the human population lives on it. The North American plate is drifting to the west away from the Eurasian plate, widening the Atlantic Ocean in the process. Fascinating!
I drive through the “town” of Hafnir. Not a shop, cafe or school in sight but they do have a sign to tell you where you are!
I’m struggling to keep my eyes open so I head back to the airport to wait for the girls to arrive. The pick up is easy, as surprise surprise, the airport is tiny. All loaded into the car, we drive the forty minutes or so to Reykjavík. We are delighted to get a free parking space just around the corner from our apartment and without delay we head out to explore. Our apartment is right beside Haligrams church which is the biggest church in Iceland and was built to resemble a volcanic formation. It’s impressive from the outside but unadorned inside.
We continue on to Rainbow street, a popular spot for tourists, although there’s not too many around as the high season has yet to kick off. Happy Days!
We continue toward the water (which is the North Atlantic Ocean by the way), to the iconic Harpa Concert Hall.
We’re very lucky with the weather and it’s lovely walking around here and looking out to the ocean…
There are plenty of options for food and we chose a brightly decorated restaurant called Salka Valka, with a varied menu. I try the local fish pie and it’s really good.
Reykjavík has a lot of bakeries and there’s one in particular I want to visit that was on “Somebody Feed Phil”. [I just watched the episode with Renee in Portland and took notes]. It’s called Braud and next morning we take a short walk there to get some pastries for breakfast.
The cinnamon bun is definitely the winner, it’s warm and gooey and delicious. We try the famous “happy wedding cake” (on the right in the picture below) but it’s not very exciting.
Happy with our bakery haul, we get on the road as today we are driving, what is known as the Golden Circle. This is a popular loop drive which covers the main tourist highlights. The scenery as we drive is stunning and we stop a few times along the way for some photo opps.
Our first official stop is Pingvellir (or Thingvellir) National Park. From the year 930 to 1798 this was home to the Icelandic parliament. It covers a large area including the largest lake in Iceland and we get a good aerial view from the visitors centre.
We descend to what is called Law Rock where the Lawspeaker stood and recited the country’s laws to the masses (today the population is less than 400,000 and the “masses” were significantly smaller back then).
In olden times drowning was widely used as a method of execution. People were drowned in marshes, in fresh water and in the sea. 😱 We continue to Pingvellir church, a tiny wooden church built in 1859. It’s very picturesque in this setting.
Walking further around the park we visit Oxararfos – a waterfall where a lot of those executions happened 😱.
We head back to the car and continue on. By the way there are no entry fees to any of the places we visit but you have to pay for parking everywhere you stop. There’s a camera as you enter, and a barcode to scan where you reference your car registration to make the payment. It’s very efficient. Kate finds another waterfall along the route and it turns out to be absolutely spectacular. It’s called Brúarfoss and it’s Iceland’s Bluest Waterfall. It is stunning.
Our next stop is the Geysir Hot Springs Area. We have some lunch in the visitor centre first. I have a lamb stew which is more of a broth and costs nearly €30!! That’s Iceland for you!!
Onwards to the geothermal area which is across the road! We pass a steaming hot mud pool on our way.
We can see the main geyser has erupted as it’s only a short walk from the main road, but we don’t have to wait long until it gushes again. Now before I did some research I thought we were viewing what is known as the great Geysir but that’s been dormant for years!! We are actually watching Strokkur geysir which erupts every 5 to 10 minutes. Unlike Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park where you could be hanging around for an hour waiting.
We walk a full circle around and see it gush from another vantage point. Although we are waiting for it to erupt, I still scream when it happens!!
Next we head to Gullfoss which has a 32-meter drop, divided into two stages: an upper 11-meter drop and a lower 21-meter drop. It’s huge and stunning!
We walk to the lower drop and then upward to the higher drop where we get lots of spray on us.
Gullfoss means Golden Falls, named due to the rainbow-tinged spray hanging over this magnificent canyon. We are lucky enough to see a rainbow as we walk toward and away from the highest part of the falls.
We’ve seen plenty for today and decide to head back home for a little rest before dinner. Our apartment is in such a good location and it’s a short walk to “Bastard Brew and Food” where we have some good food and a couple of expensive drinks!!
After a good nights sleep and a lot of book reading – the girls are reading the same book and one is clearly trying to pass the other out…. I’ve also read the book so there’s a lot of discussion on it – we head for another bakery. This one is called Brikk and was recommended by our host so we happily stock up on an assortment of pastries. This cinnamon bun is even better than yesterday’s!
The weather is really bad as we leave the city and visibility on the road is treacherous as we (I) slowly drive through a dense fog and lashing rain. It clears a bit and although it’s still raining we stop to view Kerid crater.
We zip up our raincoats and hike up the steps (not many) so we can walk along the perimeter of the cauldron and look down to the amazing blue lake nestled among red volcanic rock – it’s stunning. It’s estimated that this volcano erupted 6,500 years ago!
As we pass through Hella, we stop for a cup of tea at the American SchoolBus Café. There’s a whole story about how the Romanian guy who owns it refurbished it and got it to Iceland. It’s very on trend!
It’s time to tuck into those pastries!!
Continuing on the road we head for another giant waterfall, SELJALANDSFOSS!
Apparently this one features in a movie that Bjork starred in back in the 90’s, I must check it out. And in case you’re wondering we did not bump into Bjork on our travels 🥲.
We are able to walk behind the 60 metre drop….. there’s a lot of splashes and it’s great fun.
There’s another “doss” a short walk away – it’s called Gljufrabúi but it’s known as the secret waterfall. The falls are partially obscured by the cliff rock.
If you don’t mind getting a bit wet (and we don’t), you can walk through the narrow canyon to a small pool and get a great view and a good soaking.
We love it….
As we are happily driving around this amazing island and admiring the varied landscape, we see what looks like a small house built into a cave. We’ve got to stop for a look. The name on the parking sign (you gotta pay for parking at all the stops) is Rútshelli. Apparently there are upwards of 200 of these mari-made caves on 90 farms in South Iceland, and 41 of them have been declared protected sites. They are virtually unknown elsewhere in the country. There are many stories around how they were used, this one was mostly used to store hay.
We drive approximately 30km to another giant waterfall – Skógafoss. At this stage we might be getting waterfall fatigue so we are happy with the view from here and then carry on. It is fairly magnificent mind you.
There is just so much beautiful scenery all around this south part of the island and it changes quite dramatically as we cover more ground.
Next to check off the list is a glacier. It’s a little over half an hour to Sólheimajökull glacier so that’s where we are heading. There’s an easy path that takes us quite close so we get a good view.
We walk down to the river where we see giant blocks of ice that have calved from the glacier… it’s impressive to see and strange to fathom that although it’s cold here, the weather is sunny and quite warm only a short distance away!
Back in the car, we head southeast toward Vik and Vikurfjara Black Sand Beach. The beach’s distinctive black sands result from lava cooling rapidly upon meeting the ocean. Apparently this beach is known for sneaker waves but we are safe today. It certainly is an unusual beach with a dramatic coastal view.
The beach sits alongside the town of Vik and from here we look up to see the Reyniskirkja wooden church which dates to 1929. The red roof really stands out and makes for a beautiful photo.
We drive up to the church and check out the view back down to the beach and the town – it really is a charming place .
We’ve had a long day and it’s a couple of hours drive home so when we pass through a decent size town, we stop for some grub. The restaurant has some Asian fusion going on and fills the gap needed. It’s dark by the time we get home and there’s just time for a glass of wine and some photo sharing before bed!
Next morning Nina hits the bakery and brings us back some treats! Today is our last day and we have a booking at the Blue Lagoon. We’re very excited! The first views of the blue water, as we make our way to the parking lot, are remarkable.
We get one drink (alcoholic if you’re so inclined and yes we are!) and two face masks with our entry fee. We then float around for two hours between different sections of the pool and various sauna and steam rooms.
We are very chill by the time we’re leaving.
On the way back to the city we drive to the Perlan museum which is built around 6 former water tanks situated on a foresty hill overlooking the city. Unfortunately it’s overcast so we don’t get a view of Reykjavík.
For our final dinner we are going to Café Loki, a family run restaurant specialising in traditional Icelandic home style food.
I go for the Icelandic plate Loki which has Rye bread slices, with mashed fish (Plokkfiskur) & smoked trout, flatbread with smoked lamb, dried fish with butter and a taste of fermented shark. By the way it costs around €38.
We take a walk around the old town to round off our Iceland trip. It’s such an easy charming town to explore.
Now if you’ve read some of my other blogs, you might know that I love a pedestrian crossing sign – or as we like to call it at home, the green man (even if he’s not green). Look how dapper this fella is in his cool hat – I love it!
And speaking of hats, one last photo before we rest up ahead of a 4:30am wake up call for our journey home!!
Iceland, I understand why you’re a bucket list destination for many people. This has been one of my favourite places to visit and I hope to visit again some day.
odohertyelaine 