May is probably one of the best times of year to travel--school is out, it is just before peak tourist season, and the weather is still favorable. This year we decided to try something different and travel to Iceland--'exotic', yet just a hop away over the Atlantic from Boston. While many people are just starting to discover the richness and appeal of the island, it has not been developed enough to be considered comfortable and tamed. For example, the primary road around the island, Route 1 (ie. The Ring Road), is not even completely paved! Four-wheel drive is necessary to access the majority of the roads. For our holiday, we decided to take it easy and enjoy the more conventional routes via campervan.
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| A delay at Boston Logan was a blessing in disguise; we got to do some much needed trip planning in the comfort of the Lounge Club. |
Despite the delay we still arrived in Keflavik around 6:30 am on
Friday. We were quickly introduced to the unpredictable weather of
Iceland, which cycles between combinations of rain, strong wind, sleet,
hail, snow, and spots of sun, and during our stay it was always chilly
(mostly upper 30s and low 40s).
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| We
picked up our camper and naturally sought out a place to stretch our
legs. While waiting for the rain to diminish, we visited lighthouses and
some hardy shore birds at Garðskagi, the NW tip of Reykjans Peninsula. |
The rain continued, so we waited for the less-expensive grocery
store, Bonus, to open (shops open late, usually at 10 or 11 am!) and stocked up
on several days of previsions, including the ubiquitous bread, jam,
oats, corn flakes, pasta, apples, canned beans, and tetra-pack soy milk. Eating out in Iceland is incredibly expensive and the traditional cuisine isn't exactly fine dining (shark, smoked puffin, whale, dried cod, etc), so we were quite happy making our own snacks and meals for the week.
From here the famous geothermal spa, the Blue Lagoon, wasn't too far
away so we decided to see what all the hype was about. Many people who
have layovers in Keflavik spend many dollars getting bused 20 minutes to
the nearby resort and going for a dip and massage. While admittedly
the milky white, steaming water against a black lava rock setting is
visually stunning, and the bathwater-temp water is enticing against the
frigid air, the lagoon is overpriced (there are other, free hot pools all over
the island!) and it is, in fact, artificial. It didn't exist 40 years
ago!
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| The Blue Lagoon |
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| The glowing blue waters flowing into the Blue Lagoon are outflow from the nearby thermal power station. |
After a little more driving around the peninsula the sun finally broke through,
and we pulled over to the side of the road for a jog to Selatangar, an
abandoned and supposedly haunted fishing village.
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| The gravel road leading to Selatangar was surrounded by bizarre moss-covered lava rocks. |
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| Distinctive black lava rubble cover the coastline. |
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| We couldn't find the remains of the village but at least the view of the wind-swept coast was spectacular! |
Unfortunately there were no showers in sight so after the jog we put on our same clothes, made a lunch of our dinner from the night before, and continued eastward in the camper.
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| The next stop was the geothermal field Seltún. It was a lucky find since it wasn't listed in the guidebook I was reading at the moment and we spotted it just off the roadside. |
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| View of all the colorful, bubbling activity from the top of Seltún |
After a very long day, we made it to
Þingvellir
National Park. Conveniently, we were able to park our camper right near
the Info Center for the night. Since it was so early in the season they
just opened the camp shower that evening and the wash basin water was still turned off.
Making dinner was a chore since the freezing wind kept our little
butane burner from heating the pasta water. We ended up making dinner
on top of a washing machine in the enclosed drying room, and since it was too cold to stay outside we ate sitting inside the camper. Keepin' it classy.
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| Camping our first night in Þingvellir
National Park. This photo was taken around 10 pm and there was still tonnes of light out! It was hard to sleep every night, partly because of the cold, and partly because there were only about 3 hours of darkness each night and the camper didn't have curtains :o( |
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