Iceland - ísland (June 2014) - Part 6

Read Part 1

Read Part 2

Read Part 3

Read Part 4

Read Part 5

June 20, 2014

Today my final destination was going to be Reykjavik at the end of the day, with some small pit stops along the way, at least this is what I thought.  My tour guide information was telling me I would drive through Selfoss and Hveragerði all the way to the big city, or stop by the Blue Lagoon on the Reykjanes Peninsula.

Left my Eystri Sólheimar accommodations early in the morning and I told myself if I saw the entrance to the C-47 Dakota airplane I would stop but I didn’t.  The weather was just beautiful and just leaving the area was breathtaking.  On my way back saw several now familiar places, Skógafoss been the most spectacular of all, but there was something bugging me.  According my map there was a waterfall that I kind of missed when I went to Seljalandsfoss, I also had decided I was going to try to go to the archipelago of Vestmannaeyjar, and the exit was right near Seljalandsfoss anyway.   After spending around 10 minutes looking for the waterfall I realized that I had already seen everything, and I did notice on my way in this girl asking for a ride. On my way out I stopped and told her I was driving to Westman Islands, to try to catch the ferry.

She decided to come along and this is how ladies and gentlemen I picked up my second hitchhiker in Iceland. An Austrian alternative earthy folk singer that was in town for the Midnight Sun Music Festival happening on June 20-22.  Yes, I totally forgot I was going to be in Reykjavik for the longest day of the year.  I guess I was supposed to picked up this girl in order to find out about this festival right? The problem was that because I spent 10 minutes in this mini detour we arrived 10 minutes too late to catch the ferry to Westman Islands.  The next one was only departing 3 hours later.  i should had checked the timetable, but you know what this is my vacation and who cares right?  The weather was just horrible, you could barely see the island from the shores and my hitchhiker had already moved on with another ride westwards. I thought about it and after talking to one of the attendants, she advised to walk around the black sand beach in the area, I decided to wait for the next ferry.

Guess what?  The walk around the black sand beach was just uplifting, even if it was raining, foggy and windy. Just looking at the ocean, seeing those birds that were still trying to kill you, it was just so peaceful.  By the time the next ferry was leaving (1:00pm) the weather had cleared already and you could see very clearly the majestic archipelago.  If I had taken the first ferry I would probably not been able to enjoy the islands as much as I did.  By the way, I left my car behind in the parking lot, you really don’t need your car in this place.

Let me tell you something, there is Iceland and there is this archipelago, they are so different.  Remember, these little islands were affected by the eruption of Eldfell volcano in 1973, which destroyed many buildings, the population was evacuated to the mainland for a couple of months, and according to the movie I saw about it Icelanders tried a new strategy to save the town, by applying billions of liters of sea water on the lava flow.  It is just fascinating to be able to actually climb the volcano that caused this disaster, and you actually have the option to climb a couple of other mountains, some are almost vertical climbs, kind of scary actually. The most important fishing fleet of the country is located in this place.

The town is very cosy, perfect to spend some relaxing time in a coffee after all your physical activity.  First thing you will do is to decide which volcano to climb, and I picked Eldfell. Not a too difficult hike, and there are many ways to get up to the top.  Just make sure to dress in layers, because it will get super windy at the top.  The view is just magnificence, you feel like you are part of the National Geographic documentary. Regardless which way you look, there is always something super interesting and you start wondering if you should stay overnight to bike around and get to see the other side of the island.  I know I said it before but nobody told the lambs they are not goats, seriously how are they able to climb those almost vertical hills?

Really enjoyed my time in this island, it was the best decision I made to wait for the next ferry instead of just driving back to the big city.  The weather was just perfect and I got to walk around a lot, to see more incredibly scenery of this nation.  If you are traveling to Iceland please make sure to add this archipelago to your itinerary, you won’t regret it. 

After a couple of hours touring Westman Islands I took the ferry back to the mainland and drove back to Reykjavik. Yes, I ended up driving through Selfoss and Hveragerði, I had dinner in one of those town, actually bought a sandwich (CDN 10.00) on a supermarket and eat it along the way.

I arrived a bit late to Gistiheimili Snorra guesthouse, and I really wanted to have a beer, but there was none there unless I went to a pub, and I was too tired to move.  What a great day this was, and now I was back in Reykjavik where I would spend my next 3 days exploring what is this place was all about.

Read Part 7

Iceland - ísland (June 2014) - Part 5

Read Part 1

Read Part 2

Read Part 3

Read Part 4

June 19, 2014

Vík is such a photogenic town, and if you are traveling eastward you have to go by this impressive valley before arriving to Vík,   The night before I stopped by to have dinner and I wish I had taken pictures because the weather was great.

I left the guesthouse early, and driving my little car thru the valley I just mentioned, I was following a car, there was another behind me and the wind was really strong.  Out of nowhere an object flew out of the mid size truck that was driving in the opposite direction.  The object hit the front of my car making an incredible loud noise. I was only able to safely stop when I arrived to Vík, and this is when I finally saw the damaged in my little Yaris.  Yankov didn’t look happy at all, specially since the bumper would have to be eventually replaced thanks to the newest fashion statement in my car: a bumper crack .

The weather was crappy as well, and the amazing pictures I was hoping to take while in town would have to wait until I returned later on the day.  Today my destination was the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon, where pretty much the Vatnajökull Glacier is melting in the ocean.

There were other things I wanted to do today, but the lagoon was the first stop.  Obviously I was trying to shrug off the incident with my car, gratefully I have a happy and optimistic personality, so here I was driving down road 1 trying to find something positive about what had just happened. 

The Lupine fields are impressive, and you will see them not longer after leaving Vík.  Fun fact: the Alaskan lupine was actually introduced in Iceland in 1945 as a mean to fertilize the soil and stop erosion. This purple invasive flower found the perfect place and conditions to flourish in the island.  It does look pretty and I saw it everywhere I went.

Along the way you will be busy admiring and enjoying the landscape, and you will stop many times.  I wished I had time to explore the area around Kirkjubæjarklaustur, this cute village with tons of hidden jewels.  The waterfall behind the village is so beautiful and too bad I missed the exit to see it up and close.

Remember how I felt when I saw the Sholheimajökull glacier?  Apparently I had seen anything yet because by the time I saw the Vatnajökull Glacier I literally had to stop the car. I think that’s the mother of all glaciers - then again I haven’t seen the ones in Canada.  It is impressive, massive, beautiful and breathtaking.  I should note I was not the only one stopping to admire this beast, safely of course.

Kept on driving and when I was in the middle of the lava desert of Skeiðarársandur I stopped the car in the side of the road, turned on the hazard lights and took some pictures of the glacier.  I had a schedule so I continue my journey, and I hadn’t driven 2 minutes after my last pit stop when a police car coming in the opposite direction turned on his lights and signaled to stop.

I knew I shouldn’t had stopped to take a picture, but I know I took all the precautions. The uniformed viking introduced himself and informed I was speeding, driving at 108km/h on a 90km/h area.  I guess the fascination of the glacier, me trying to forget about my earlier incident, and perhaps after my stop I tried to return to my cruising speed without realizing I had gone over the speed limit.

The officer invited me to the back seat of his cruiser, where a camera was going to record our conversation, it was very cozy and I definitely recommend the experience. The ticket was around USD 300.00 but if I paid immediately I would received a 25% discount.  Painful and costly let me tell you, but remember how I’m always trying to find a positive spin to everything that happens to me?  Well then, I informed the viking officer I wanted to report an earlier incident in the Vík area.  Initially the officer thought it was a dent on the car, but when he saw the crack in my Yankov the incident became serious and he wrote a report, took pictures and informed me I could get a copy of the report in any police station in the country. I wished I had shown my crack earlier, no pun intended, probably it would had saved me a speeding ticket.

The show must go on, and along the way some of the landscape looked like the surface of the moon.  I stopped in one of the rest areas and to my surprise behind the rocks I found the lagoon with icebergs.  It really doesn’t matter where you in Iceland, there is always something that will surprise you, just walk a bit to find it.  Drove another 5 minutes and made to the base of the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon.  Lots of cars and buses parked, and I didn’t drive this long just to watch the icebergs from the shore right?  There are different companies and I think they all charge more or less the same price. Meet some interesting characters and after the boat tour I decided to have my well deserved lunch.

You should go to the beach as well, there you will find those icebergs that were rejected by the ocean melting away in the sand.  Very peculiar view, and pay attention to those freaking South African birds, because they will keep trying to assassin you. 

Ingólfshöfði was the suggested next stop, the bird cliff in a private nature reserve, but this was a 3 hours tour, I love birds but I had other plans in my head, so I keep driving to the Skaftafell National Park.  Keep in mind now I was driving westwards towards Vík.

First thing I did was to stop at the Visitor Centre and informed myself about the hiking trails, and let me tell you they have all type of trails, you could spend days here, and they also have an excellent campground.  The beautiful Svartifos waterfall is located in this park and it was the first place I went. Beautiful basalt columns constantly washed by the river, stunning. Keep walking and you will reach the place where you have the magnificence panoramic view of the valley, the view of the lava fields, don’t forget to visit Sel, the old farms with grass roof.

I didn't find the hiking to be too difficult, and I spent more time in this park than I had initially planed. Specially since I decide to walk towards the base of the glacier. I probably spent over 3 hours in this park, and worth it.

Back to the road I went, extra careful with my speed and hoping to remember to exit in Kirkjubæjarklaustur, because that waterfall was vibrant. Unfortunately it didn’t go as planned and I missed the exit.  There were other attractions that I could had stopped along the way, but I was tired and just wanted to return to Vík, I had a picture date with the city.

When I finally made it to Vík, guess what?  Yes, it was raining and foggy, once again I wouldn’t have the opportunity to get the pictures I wanted.  I went for a walk in the famous black sandy beach, and even with the rain that place is magical, the colours the ocean, the freaking birds.  To end my visit to the town I went back to the same restaurant from the night before, near the supermarket, and had an amazing fish, recommendation from a fellow traveller I was meeting everywhere I went.

I thought about trying to hike to the C-47 Dakota airplane shell located not far away from the guesthouse I was staying.  The wreckage has been there since 1973 when it crash landed on Sólheimasandur’s black sandy beach - everyone survived.  I know is just a plane, but I thought it could be an amazing phone opportunity, specially since had stopped raining. I also thought about returning to Vík because of the nicer weather but instead decided to visit my bed for a good night of rest.

Read Part 6

Iceland - ísland (June 2014) - Part 4

Read Part 1

Read Part 2

Read Part 3

June 18, 2014: “What is expensive?” This was the main question asked after I returned to Montreal. I also got the “how cold is it?”  Expensive is definitely relative to where you are from and how big is your budget right?

Gas costs around CDN 2.50/liter compared Montreal's CDN 1.50/liter is a bit on the expensive side, but then some Europeans will claim to be “normal” pricing.  If I wanted to have a regular meal (fish/steak/lamb) with no drinks included the price was between CDN 25.00 to CDN 30.00. Burger, fries and soft drink was around CDN 20.00, finally if you wanted to pick up a sandwich from a super market that would probably cost you around CDN 10.00 - beer was around CDN 10.00 - that give you an idea of what I call expensive.  This was my vacation dammit and I was there to enjoy it so after day 2 I did not care anymore about prices, alright just a little bit.

You will hear a lot about the Golden Circle Tour in Iceland, pretty much is a “circle” that includes the attractions of Reykjavik plus Geysir, Gullfoss and Þingvellir National Park. This meant I had already started my visit to the circle the day before, and I was staying not far away from the Geysir area.  When I arrived at my hotel it was raining like there is no tomorrow, but in the morning everything was much better, I could actually see what was around me.

Today my final destination was going to be a bed near Vík, the southernmost village in Iceland. Road 365 lead me to the road 37 where my first stop of the day was waiting for me. Geysir is the father of the geysers, unfortunately it decided to become dormant many years ago. Strokkur is the performer of the family, and the smell of sulfur (rotten eggs) is eminent as soon as you step into the area.  While driving to Geysir some kamikaze lambs decided to through themselves in front of my Yaris but I was able to avoid the carnage of the lambs.  Then I looked to the left and I saw Lassie (a herding dog) running in front of at least 30 Icelandic horses, really? Lassie was working them man, the horses were following the dog like they knew honey was waiting for them at the end of the road. 

Confession of the day, I was happy I stop to see this natural wonder, but in reality I was not wowed by the experience.  It was cute and it was nice to see where all the geysers got their name from but I did not spend too much time in this area.

10 km further the golden waterfall was waiting for me, the famous Gullfoss.  I had seen pictures of this triangle of water love before, but there is nothing like seen it in person. There are 2 levels to visit this place, the wet one and the safe dry upper level.  You must walk in both because it is fascinating, specially when you see mothers pushing their new borns carriage to the wet level.

Gullfoss almost disappeared once upon the time, similar to what you see when the river vanishes into the earth.  What almost became a hydropower plant today is one of the most famous and visited waterfall in Iceland.  There are so many angles to photograph this natural beauty, I’m just glad I got to experience this place.

Drove south on road 30 until getting to the precious road 1, at this point I was looking for Urriðafoss, a waterfall located in the river Þjórsá in southwest Iceland. This waterfall will eventually disappear when the planned powerhouse is built. Not very impressive but good place to stretch my legs again.  Along the way I picked up this German kindergarden teacher, she was going to this earthy festival somewhere along my route, I was happy to help a fellow tourist.

Seljalandsfoss was my next destination along road 1, and what an incredible waterfall this is, there are other waterfalls in the same area, but this is the one you want to see. Get ready to get wet, and when I got there a photo shoot was under way, there were several cute models getting wet and all. Some Russian teenager tourists were also trying to prove their toughness I guess, because they decided to climb to the top of the waterfall.  I just loved this place, I got wet, I smiled, I screamed while getting wet, it was a dream come true guys, what else can I say eh?

Around 30 minutes drive from this location you will find the ferry that takes you to the Westman (Vestmannaeyjar) Islands, but I will talk about this place later on.  Back on road 1 towards east I went, until I saw one of the highest waterfalls in Iceland, Skógafoss.  By now you probably figured out “foss” means waterfall right?  

Lot of people camping in this area, and according to the legend some Viking buried a treasure in a cave behind the waterfall, I decided not to pursue the legend and climbed the steps that lead you to the top of the mountain instead.  There are around 25 different waterfalls if you decide to hike the area, and I think the most difficult part is getting to the top.  Just breathtaking view of the valley from the cliffs, which used to be the coastline many many moons ago.  Do not forget to bring your jacket because it could get windy at the top, and you don’t want to get windburned right?

After satisfying myself with this magnificence hike I was ready to keep going.  I had already decided my next stop was going to be the Cape Dyrhólaey and then the city of Vík. Driving I was again on road 1 when I saw it, I know we have them in Canada but I have never actually seen one. No too long after leaving Skógafoss you will see from the road the glacier called Sholheimajökull. I felt like mermaids were singing and calling me to drive there.  I had read it was a gravel road and rough, my original plan was to bypass this attraction but the first thing I did when I saw the entrance to road 221 was to turn and drive to the glacier.  There were some other cars driving the opposite direction, and you have to pay attention to the big 4x4 because some of them don’t slow down and there is always the dangerous your car will get hit by little stones.

My first glacier and I was not disappointed, I just sat there and looked at that enormous amount of ice that has been moving for thousand of years.  I overheard the instructors of a hiking group that they shouldn’t walk in some areas because it was summer already and they could plunge to their deaths in hidden holes.  Glaciers in Iceland have some dark layers and this is due to the volcanic ashes that follow each eruption.

Back to the main road I went until I existed on road 218 towards Dyrhólaey peninsula.  Depending when you visit puffins might meet you there because the cliffs are one of their nesting areas.  Fascinating place, they call it the door hole and you want to see it in different angles because you have the cliffs, then the black lava columns of the Reynisdrangar come out of the sea, the black sand beaches and towards inland you get to the see another glacier.  It is an overload of natural beauty.  I must admit, this was a long day and I was getting tired, so drove back to the main road and exited on road 215 to get my other angle of the area.  Walked on the black sand beach mixed with some type of pebbles and actually stayed there for a while.  Finally drove to the guesthouse I was staying that night, Eystri Sólheimar, cute place where I actually spent 2 nights.

Read Part 5