Sarah and I returned from Iceland the evening of the 10th, where we spent a week for our honeymoon. We arrived there the morning of the 4th, rented a Dacia Duster (small, diesel, Ford Escape-sized SUV), and drove to the south part of the island, then worked our way north and west toward a western peninsula, spending our last day and a half in and around Reykjavik before flying out on the 10th.
We had decided on Iceland for our honeymoon because it would be an adventurous, largely outdoors trip, they speak English, and it would be less likely that we would be able to travel there later in life.
Our first day took us from Keflavik airport southeast along the coast, past two large waterfalls. We arrived at our hotel mid-afternoon, exhausted after not really sleeping on the five-hour overnight flight and from hiking a couple miles during the waterfall stops.
For our second day, after a stop at the black sand beach at Vik, we worked back north toward the "Golden Circle", or group of popular natural sights within an hour or two from Reykjavik. These included Gulfoss Waterfall, large geysers at Geysir, thermal pools at Laugarvatn, and the wild geology at Thingvellir National Park, where we car camped. We had planned on tent camping, but the wind, temps in the 30s before windchill, and icy rain scared us too much. Luckily the Dacia's rear seat could fold down, and we spent the night relatively comfortably in our sleeping bags.
We roamed around Thingvellir first thing on the 6th. The fault line between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates is visible here, and it is a fascinating canyon. We drove toward the west coast from here, stopping in the small towns of Akranes and Borgarnes. The latter had a well-done settlement museum of Iceland's early history, when it was colonized by Norwegian Vikings. We continued north along the coast into the peninsula, looking for a campsite to stay in for the night. Most of them are not open until June, so we settled in the evening and called it a night.
The 7th was my favorite day of the trip. We got coffee in a small cafe in a tiny town called Arnarstapi toward the end of the peninsula, looked off its cliffs, and headed around the bend toward Vatnshellir lava cave. On this drive, we were distracted by an abandoned farmstead, cliffs, and a volcanic crater. In this part of the country, we would drive only a couple miles before we needed to pull off the road and see something else. At loose ends after finding the road to our next stop at a glacier still closed for the season, we headed toward the small, charming fishing town of Stykkisholmur. After seeing it's volcano museum, we inquired at a hostel about a room for the night and were happy to grab one to ourselves after two nights car camping. We were due for showers, and I couldn't quite stretch out in the Dacia. It was a good decision.
The next day took us to Reykjavik, with a stop in between at a noticeably unmarked waterfall. We had not seen any other natural landmarks that had not been well signed. Reykjavik has several museums and a large church that seems to also serve as a tourist landmark. We tried out a large thermal pool, and began to understand why these are to Iceland what the pubs are to Ireland: a central gathering space. We stayed at a perfect, and almost unbelievably priced Airbnb close to downtown. We stayed out late that evening, visiting with a couple from Minneapolis on a similar trip, and with an Icelandic lawyer with much more right wing opinions than I expected in a Scandinavian country. It was our latest night of the entire trip: even in early May, dusk isn't until 10:20, but it was still duskish at midnight.
Our last day, we saw the Culture House museum, which featured aspects of Icelandic history shown through art. Had we understood this better, we may have appreciated it more, but such as it was, much of it was over our heads. Fortified with a cup of coffee, we wandered the shops until we were due to head for the Blue Lagoon, Iceland's best known thermal pool. After our relaxing soak in its silica mud out in the one fully sunny day of the trip, we headed to our hotel in Keflavik, found our one large splurge meal of the trip, packed our stuff, and got ready for the trip home.
With the itinerary laid out, I will continue thoughts on the trip in a post to follow.
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