Day 7: Let's Tölt

We kicked off our last full day in Iceland by trying to find a steam valley.  This is where the Varmá river, up in the hills, is hot like a jacuzzi and is a popular spot for relaxation.  Unfortunately we took a few wrong turns trying to get out of town and ended up turning around before finding the steam valley.  Oh, and it began to snow (better solid precipitation than liquid!). 

The warm Varmá river

A picturesque farm at the edge of town

I don't know what is stranger: snow in late May or snow while the sun is fully out? 

(Sun again).  Here is the town's famous geothermically heated swimming pool--it was once the largest pool in Iceland.  Too bad it was closed, it would have been fun to have a soak!

Back at camp, more sun and snow...  The funny thing was that we saw little kids from the elementary school across the street running laps around the block, even while it was hailing! Several of the kids wore short-sleeve t-shirts!  Icelanders are a hardy stock.

This is our little camper.  Not quite as well-equipped as the camper we rented in Australia, but it did have wifi! 

It would have been nice to sit outside for more meals, but the camper was handy when the weather was brutal.

If it weren't hailing we would be out hiking to the steam valley.

Back at the town's visitor center, you could look right into a fissure separating North America from Europe.

We left Hveragerði feeling slightly defeated by the weather.  We kept our arrangements, however, to go horseback riding.  We went with Íslenski Hesturinn, a stable about 35 km west of Hveragerði, just within Reykjavik city limits.  These guys and their little Icelandic horses were awesome and unlike any trail ride I had before.  First, the owner gave us a long talk about Icelandic horses and how they are special.  When we finally got on the saddle (from the left or right side of the horse) we spent time making a connection with our horses, riding them around in the corals and learning how to handle the reigns.    

Getting to know our horses

Even though technically we were inside the city limits, the volcanic scenery made us feel like we were in the rugged interior.

Ósk (Wish) and I had a nice connection :o)   I am glad they provided us with rain gear because it was actually hailing just seconds ago !

The tour was often by tölt, a silky-smooth gait special to the Icelandic horse.

The Icelandic horses may be small but they have big personalities with friendly dispositions.

After our exciting half-day horse experience we drove just 10 minutes to the center of Reykjavik.  We found a suitable place to camp on the edge of town.  The guidebook described it as having all the chaos of a refugee camp, but since it was still early in the season it was relatively quite, plus since the camp facilities were still closed we were able to use the fancy adjoining HI facilities instead!

After checking in and making a mug of tea, we went to town.

Sun Voyager, a modern icon of Reykjavik

The only thing in Iceland I really wanted to try (in addition to the thick dairy product, skyr) was a hot dog, sometimes called "The Icelandic National Food".  Usually people get them at petrol stations, but Reykjavik has a hot dog stand, Baejarins Beztu Pylsur, famous for serving "the world's best hotdog."

Unfortunately we only had a couple hours to explore Reykjavik.  For being such a small city there were lots of interesting sites.  It would have been nice to have just a little more time there! 

The tallest building in Iceland is the Lutheran church, Hallgrímskirkja, shaped like those crazy basalt columns that are scattered over the island.

While wandering town we noticed Eurovision was on!  It would have been fun to watch it, especially since we were in Europe.

Our final evening in Iceland.  Finally, there was some sun to make the most of the long day (it was about 10:30 pm here). 

Day 6: Cold Rain and Hothouses

It rained all night long as usual, and luckily, also as usual, it cleared up enough by morning for us to get out running.  Instead of following the road around the driving range we took the steep gravel road up the Reynisfjall mountain.  Since it was still drizzling I decided to leave my camera behind, essentially the only time during the trip I did not have my camera close at hand.  Wouldn't you know it, when we reached the top, we found puffins!  It was still early enough in the morning they were by their burrows on the cliff.  They are curious and don't mind visitors and let us get very close.  Seeing them within arm's distance (and not fighting!) was a very happy moment.  I just wish I was able to take some photos :o(

The view of Reynisfjall from the hostel parking lot.  You can see the winding gravel road to the top. They are puffins up there, I swear!

Breakfast at the hostel was not your typical continental breakfast.  We ate our weight in homemade breads, smoked trout, eggs from their free-range chickens, yogurt, and fresh waffles covered in local jams and exotic syrups.  After pasta and beans for the past several days we were hungry!

We said goodbye to the puffins and chickens and followed the Ring Road northwest, stopping to view some sights from the roadside. 

South Iceland has about 200 man-made caves located on 90 farms.  This one was probably used to store hay.  Another cave perpendicular to it (not visible from this angle) was used as a smithy.

Eventually we made our way to the town of Hveragerði.  This town is famous for being built on top of geothermal activity and for harnessing the subterranean heat for daily use.  Many greenhouses were built utilizing the heat to grow exotic produce such as tomatoes, and the town is considered the horticultural and gardening center of Iceland. 

While waiting for the rain to end we stocked up on some provisions at Bonus and meandered around the shopping center.  

I liked the climbing wall for the kiddos!

We took a little walking tour of Hveragerði.  Notice anything unusual?  Never mind the steam coming out of the drainage ditches, but see all the trees!  Since the townspeople love horticulture so much they actually made efforts to plant trees!  

Yup, just steam coming out of the ground...  Supposedly mud springs just pop up here and there.

The river Varmá runs through town--and it is actually a little warm!

One of the many geothermal hothouses.  Quite a few were missing glass panes, perhaps from the numerous earthquakes?

Lots of homes had their own little greenhouses.  This one doesn't look very successful.

Harnessing the geothermal energy

This restaurant specializes in "earth cooking", ie. using underground ovens!

We ended up camping at a site right on the edge of town.  It was a little awkward being right across from an elementary school and we could hear someone playing basketball all night.  After getting to bed around 11:30pm the sun was still lingering and this person was still shooting hoops.  It then suddenly began to hail and we figured they would finally stop.  Nope!  When the hail ceased the basketball playing started back up!  I suppose it is true that since the sun only comes out a couple hours in the winter, Icelanders like to make the most of the long summer days.

Our camp dinner.  Don't be fooled by the veggies; those were a special treat!

Day 5: Glaciers at the End of Our Road

After a particularly cold and damp night in the camper and falling asleep to the sounds of sheep bleating, we went out for what ended up being yet another surprising and rewarding jog.  The gravel road through the soft pastures of Svínafell led behind a hill and quickly became very scrubby. 

Old, sunken hay stacks hint at what used to be here.

The road disintegrated to moss and rubble so we pointed ourselves in the direction of an unexpected glacier tongue. The glacial river showed signs of a washed-away bridge.  I wonder when was the last time someone came out here?  It seemed totally abandoned!

Heading back to the Svínafell campsite.

We took our cold showers, had breakfast, and continued west along the Ring Road toward the glacier lagoon, Jökulsárlón.  It wasn't necessary to go all the way to the visitor center since several other lakes gave just as amazing views.   

Fjallsárlón, the glacier lake south of Jökulsárlón.  These lakes are formed by the melting glacier.

We could hear the icebergs creak and groan.

I couldn't resist sampling some 1000 year old glacier ice that had washed ashore.

A trail led from the lake Breiðárlón to Jökulsárlón.  Jökulsárlón did not exist 75 years ago, when the glacier reached all the way to the sea. 

It was strange and depressing to see the smaller icebergs that had broken off the glacier Breiðamerkurjökull and were now floating away into the sea.

Ice boulders that had washed onto the black sand beach.

Here we had lunch--in the camper, of course, with the company of Albert the Greak Auk.

After lunch by the quickly melting glacier we turned around to head back southwest along the Ring Road.  It was a bit too much to drive around the entire Ring Road so we just went about a third of the way and did it out-and-back.  The nice thing about this was that we could stop at the places we missed!

Skaftafellsjökull

Skaftafellsjökull

The glacier runoff

Núpsstaður, a peaceful farm with some old turf buildings, including a church from 1650.  Unfortunately the road to it was closed :o( 

A turf building along the road, built into the hill.  It appeared to be sheltering the remains of an old boat.

More basalt columns at Dverghamrar (Dwarf Rocks)

Heading back west we stayed at our trusty hostel in Vík.  It was pricey to stay the first night but the nice fellow working let us pay just for breakfast and we could also camp and use the facilities (loyal customer discount!).

Emailing Mom from the warm, dry comfort of the indoors!

Day 4: The Wasteland

Vík is in the rainiest area of Iceland (as if we didn't have enough rain already!) so we considered ourselves lucky to keep dry during our morning jogging tour. 

Running in Vík involved the ubiquitous gravel road.  This one ended up leading down to the closed campground and through a driving range by the side of a cliff. 

The hostel had a flock of chickens that ran around freely through the carpark.  These ladies provided eggs for breakfast.

After leaving the hostel we headed northeast along The Ring Road (Vík is the southernmost point).  This area is stunning as it is miles and miles of moss-covered lava rocks formed by the Laki eruption in 1783. 

The region of Laki lava flow.  

This place is kinda weird.

After a pit stop in the village of Kirkjubæjarklaustur (that is probably the longest Icelandic name we came across!) we let ourselves into the nearby field Kirkjugólf, home to many happy sheep. 

In addition to sheep, Kirkjugólf is famous for the Church Floor.  These hexagonal "tiles" are actually the tops of basalt columns, which are quite numerous on the island.  I enjoyed viewing them from this top-down angle.

We continued eastward and watched the landscape continue to change...

This bleak, black 'desert' is Skeiðarársandur, the largest sandur in the world.  In 1362 a volcano beneath the glacier Öræfajökull erupted and the subsequent jökulhlaup (flooding caused by volcanic eruption beneath ice) laid waste to the entire district. This area then became known as Öræfi (Wasteland).  It doesn't take much imagination to see why.

Skeiðarársandur continued for miles.

Eventually glacial rivers (from melted runoff) led to their glacial tongues.  The icecap, Vatnajökull, lies to the north, and is one of the largest icecaps in Europe. 

We made our way to Skaftafell National Park.  We scoped out their sprawling campsite, decided instead to stay at a more peaceful one a few miles down the road, then returned to Skaftafell for some hikes.  We had originally planned to do some longer hikes but those paths were closed due to snow.  It was just as well since the spotty weather made hiking a little stressful.  I was really kicking myself for not being better equipped for rain! 

The premier waterfall in the park, Svartifoss, gets its name Black Falls from the elegant amphitheater of underhanging basalt columns. 

The Sjonarsker viewing area during our hike gave a clear view of rain in the region of our campground...

Another beautiful (though also crude) campground, Svínafell.  The warm water for the showers were not yet turned on but at least the bathroom was heated!

The nice, big kitchen!

We spent the evening chatting with a young couple from the UK.  It is fun to meet interesting people when traveling :o)