Unlike the trip to Italy last year, I left this trip to Iceland without a set itinerary. I did this on purpose mainly because of weather. While I had been watching the weather forcast for weeks before the actual trip, I noticed that the weather changed alot from one day to the next. I didn’t want to nail down tickets to the Lagoons without knowing that I’ll be able to be outside to enjoy it! What I did do though was mark out locations that I labled as ‘must see’ and then others labled as ‘want to see’! In this way, it gave me more flexibility to tie things together while on the road exploring. This worked out well because we got to see alot even though there was one evening that a massive storm did roll in thwarting our plans. but that story for later.
When you first fly into Keflavik, the view you get looks completely like black dirt or rocks. No vegetation. It appears like you are flying onto the moon or another planet! Even though I had been researching multiple places that I was interested in seeing, somehow it had escaped me that the most active part of the island as far as volcanoes are not far from the airport. For a person who really loves her garden, flowers and vegetation, I had to do a second glance!
Like all other trips we have ever taken, this trip had unplanned issues too! When I first started with the planning stage, my dream was to use a car top tent and drive around the island waking up in these beautiful spots and sunrise to take pictures and eat breakfast right at the locations. Sounds great, doesn’t it? And while my dream is definitely doable, the difficulty really lies in the fact that I chose to do this trip in April, not July or August. I chose April though because of the chance of seeing the Aurora Lights. I was trying to choose and get the best of both worlds. In wintertime there is 24hr twilight but you get the ability to see the Auroras. In summer, its 24hrs of daylight, And April is the last month to really have a chance to see the Auroras because of the extended daylight hours.
Seeing as how I hadn’t made any set plans, the first thing I really wanted to do was go to the Sky Lagoon, relax and enjoy the 7 Steps! When you arrive, you purchase the steps or anything else you want to do and they give you a waterproof wristband that you use to charge your drinks or food. It also opens your locker once you claim one.
So the first step is to relax in the Lagoon. Enjoy the view, drink a couple drinks, relax! The second as it shows was a cold plunge pool! I did do it but I walked in and out so fast, that the picture wasn’t good! LOL The 3rd step is the sauna. It’s a beautiful sauna with a huge picture window overlooking the bay. I could have stayed for much longer but it would have cooked my phone! $th step is to walk through the cold mist. After the first shock, it was great! Next step is to get the body scrub and go sit in the steam bath. My skin was so soft. I felt so alive after this! Once you eave the steam room, you shower and go back into the Lagoon for drinks and food in the cafe’.
After the Sky Lagoon, we had extra time before we could check into our AirBnb so we drove a little further up the road to Kerid Crater. This old volcano is actually a part of three in a row. This one was the only one to be holding a lake, the rest are covered in moss. You can walk around all of these craters though so long as you stick to the paths, if you don’t you actually kill the moss and it never grows back. Iceland has put up many signs asking people to stay on paths to help maintain the beauty here that is so finicky. The main path follows the crest of this crater and then there is a path all the way into it down to the waterline.
The following morning, I woke us up 2 hours before sunrise because my goal was to get Gullfoss to watch the morning sunrise. The view was beautiful, worth the bonechilling spray that was coming off that waterfall all over the path. This is the first place where I regretted bringing the certain pair of sneakers that I did! LOL These had no traction at all and I ended up doing the splits over a pair of rocks because of these shoes. This waterfall is a must see, it’s amazingly beautiful. Just make sure you are completely bundled up if you are from warm climates like I am, because the chill is for real! LOL
One thing that OI had read about Iceland: try the pastries! They also said to try the hotdogs. I would have loved to do that too but my son isn’t into hotdogs or sausages or anything like that so…. I didn’t really have the opportunity. But one thing that I really enjoyed while I was there is that almost every gas station had their own equivalent to a coffee station too. Every where I went almost I could order an espresso and some kind of pastry. This was breakfast quite often while we were here because the ‘business’ hours are like the old times. Even restaurants close at like 9pm so if you don’t have your dinner planned out… you are out of luck! This pastry that I have here was delish! It’s cheese filled and sooo very good! Even my son liked this one!
Seljalandsfoss is a one of three waterfalls that line a cliff that seems to just rise right straight up from the valley. You drive across the very wide river bed. It’s mostly dry, flat and rocky but your anticipation mounts as you see the waterfalls from a distance. Many people walk behind this waterfall and peek out from behind. I would have too except that I didn’t have a rain poncho on me, I had left that in the suitcase at the Airbnb!
If you just drive the entire island on Route 1, you will get so many places to see! The next stop that we went to was Skogafoss. The big waterfall pictured here was my favorite for obvious reasons! LOL But this is actually a system of waterfalls. You hike up the mountain and follow that river back for some spectacular views. I plan on doing that on my next return trip!
The final stop this day was was Reynisfjara Beach, or Black Sand Beach. This was a beautiful, though very dangerous spot. They tell you not to turn your back on the ocean here because of the sneaker waves, they even have a warning signal out to show the how bad the danger is. So my taking a picture this close to the surf was definitely breathtaking!
The next day, I had originally planned on going up to the north end of the island but I started seeing signs for Thingvellir National Park. While I had read some people recommending going there, those recommendations really didn’t do the area justice! I loved hiking all around the park, seeing the waterfall, the two continental plates and the history.
We ended up spending all day, hiking around the park and then heading to Mika’s for dinner.
The next morning, we woke up early again, this time to head up to the northern eastern end of the island, just like we originally started doing the previous day. The goal was to see Kirkjufell. This time we drove all the way up there and got some great pictures. It’s much more wild up on this end with very isolated towns. And that is saying something in Iceland where the towns and gas stations are pretty far apart. When we were done walking around and had gotten cold from the stiff breeze coming off the ocean, Justin asked if we could got to Reykjavik for dinner. So off we went.
That dinner and visit in Reykjavik was very quick though. As we were parking, the wind was kicking up causing there to be white caps on the little lake in the center of the city. We ate quickly and then hightailed it as fast as possible back to the Airbnb. This was a white knuckle drive though. When you drive Route 1 from Reykjavik to Selfoss, you are driving right over the top of a mountain. So between the extremely low clouds making it white out conditions, pounding rain and winds that gusted to around 40 mph, my rental car with the rooftop tent wanted to be all over the road!
The last morning, we checked out of the Airbnb and drove back to Reykjavik. We made this the day to walk around the city, check out the shops, drink coffee in the coffee shops. There were 2 places I wanted to visit here: one was Cafe Loki so I could taste the dried fish, fermented shark and have a shot of Brennivin. The other place was the history museum. Justin voted for one more swim before we left. And true to Iceland, Reykjavik had a public heated pool where you could do your 7 steps or relax. This is also were they give swim lessons for children. No pictures are allowed inside here though for privacy reasons of course! It was a great last day before we had to fly hoe the next morning!
The next morning, We drove the car back to Camping Cars nd the great guy drove us up to the airport to fly home. I can’t wait to get a chance to go back, I will definitely use their cars again!!
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