Iceland Travelogue – Summer 2019

This summer we fitted in a break after almost two years. The children wanted to go to Antartica.

We have settled for Iceland and Greenland with a splatter of Copenhagen thrown in.

I am sorting through our pictures. At the onset of our trip, my “real” camera died. However, with mostly an i-phone, I have managed to capture most of our highlights. The husband did have his “real camera” which came in handy especially during the Greenland segment.

Iceland is a stunningly beautiful country. However, it seems to have become quite the tourist stop. I am glad we did this before Greenland, some of the things felt less touristy .

Read and view along for our 4-day itinerary.

Day One Husafell

After landing in Keflavik,  a small town that houses the airport and in case you are interested the Icelandic Museum of Rock and Roll.  We headed for the little town of Husafell. The drive was quite breathtaking and we had lunch at Husafell Bistro. I tasted my first dose of Icelandic Lamb Soup and am quite in love.

The carrot soup is also polling high and on my must experiment list. Husafell houses a lava waterfall Hraunfossar, in a small state park. It is a nice hike to the falls and you are rewarded with the peace and quite of the falls.

Husaffel is also the spot for Into the Glacier, an excursion that took us across snow trails and into the  Langjokull glacier, The tunnels in the glacier are man made, but it still is rugged and quite a stunning trip. After getting into the glacier and back. We warmed up taking soaks in the geothermal baths. Imagine something being naturally heated in the middle of such a cold Oasis. Nature is indeed amazing.

Reykjavik

All happy, we are off to Reykjavik – a beautiful city southwest of Iceland. And, yes it is the capital of Iceland.

 

Takeaways and Observations:

1. If you are a nature photographer, come prepared, there is a lot to capture.
2. There is a lot of active time, which is always good.
3. Restaurants in this town are good but sparse and close early.

Day Two: Reykjavik

One of the northernmost capital cities in Europe, this city is a beautiful walkable city, with views and panoramas. It touts itself as a city of festivals, we were thrilled to watch the Reykjavik pride parade.

After scoping out a few options, my son worked out a general mix and match walking tour.

This is a great option as

a. This is a highly walkable city and

b. Iceland is pretty expensive, so this makes it a good and inexpensive option.

Hallgrímskirkja – a striking Lutheran church in the center of town, is worth a stop. You can climb up the tower to get high views of the city. In fact, you can take an elevator, not do this by foot.

Walking down further,  you will reach the sea. Soak in the water and the mountains.

An iron sclupture that is rather striking and aptly called the Stone Voyager.

There is always food in the mix. Other than good Pizza, indulgent breakfasts, a stop worth mentionining is Icelandic Street Food. A simple menu of seriously good soups that are bottomless. Yes, all you can eat, you can start with one and finish them all. The soups on the list are Icelandic Lamb Soup (of course!), Shelfish soup,

 

The staff keep encouraging you to have more.

Along with the soup, you get waffles, macaroons and carrot cake pieces on the house. Oh yes, to complement the waffles, there is nutella, peanut butter and housemade preserves.

Some lively old time music, including bits of country music to go along with your food. Another find by Aadi and a good one, I might add.

Day Three and Four:  Driving up to Southern Iceland – Black Sand Beaches, Waterfalls and Geysirs

As I had mentioned, one of our highlights of vacation is breakfast, as it is not something that we always take time to enjoy. We stayed at Hotel Skogafoss, a beautiful spot in the middle of nowhere. Geothermally heated. Go green energy. Good food, bad coffee, with a stunning view of the falls. The drive is dotted with lots of vista points, fields with sheep and horses and waterfalls of all kinds.

Trivia: The Icelandic  horse is considered a heritage breed and if out off the country cannot be allowed in, and we thought that the US immigration laws were a problem.

We stopped at the Dyrholey National Park, named for a stone that is an arch with a view.  There is a lighthouse and supposed to be a spot for viewing puffins. We did not see any puffins, a note of disappointment for the kids. The weather was very bad and maybe scared these birds.

More Black Sand Beaches

There are many black sand beaches. Our stop pictured here is Reynisfjara, near the town of Vik and Dyrholey. The unespected consequence of bad weather is the almost black and white vista’s that you see here. The black sand is a result of all the volcanic rock powder. Interestingly, these beaches also have something called cheater waves, which are not mild.

Dinner stop at Vik was pretty good. Another recommended homey spot – Halldorskaffi. Another one of my on the road discoveries.  Highly recommend the dessert here.  better skyr cake. Can you tell I am a new fan?

Other interesting stops included churches, yarn stores and attempts at trying to stop to catch the horses.

 

At the centre of it all, is the national park called Pingvellir a national park connecting two continents, a pretty rugged landscape and views of the Manor house which is the prime minister’s official summer residence. As a note these stops are also on what is called the golden circle area.

Our last stop of significance is the Geysir Geothermal area, a lovely geothermal park. Lots of active and passive geysirs, the one that errupts faithfully is the Strokkur. There are other mini streams and bubbles here and there. The names for these geysirs are charming and thought out with a bit of whimsy.

What we did not cover were the lava caves and I will leave them for a later date. If you enjoyed this travelogue, do check me out on instagram,

Things are posted as life permits. Not a lot of travelogues, but here is one.