Getting to Reykjavik

We arrived in Iceland on a short Iceland Air flight from Dulles. Iceland Air is wonderful, but the day after a red-eye left my wife dragging. We saw the sun rise as we landed.

 
We grabbed our rental car from Go Iceland car rentals (which took 2 hours....)  and we were on our way to first grab a local SIM card (Síminn had great service). The plan had been to see most of the museums and sites around Reykjavik, but the sleepies are real. Still, we ate a skimpy subway sandwich, saw a viking longhouse museum (Landnámssýningin/The Settlement Exhibition), and had a relaxing soak at Sundhöllin pool. A quick trip to icelandic supermarket Bonus, and we were on our way (try skyr, a delicious yogurt).

Finally we crossed under the HWY 1 tunnel underneath Hvalfjörður Fjord and we were in Akranes for the evening. 

Geysir

This is the original geyser - the word geysir is an old norse verb 'to gush'. Unfortunately, the original geyser has become nearly inactive, however its sister geyser 'Strokkur' blows a 40 meter column of water every 5-10 minutes.

Gullfoss Waterfall

Gullfoss is an enormoss waterfall pushing 5,000 cubic feet of water each second over its edge! It covers everything is a heavy mist that produces full-time rainbows.

Although technically done with the 'Golden Circle', we extended our evening with a hike to a warm river fed by naturally-occurring hot springs. Reykjadalur Hot Spring Thermal River is probably about 6 miles round-trip, but worth the hike!

We finished the day at Riverside GuestHouse in Hella, a good kickoff point for a counter-clockwise trip around the country on the ring road.

Seljalandsfoss Waterfall

We stopped by Seljalandsfoss, a tall waterfall framed by basalt columns. For an interesting viewpoint you can walk behind it. This waterfall gets a lot of visitor, but many overlook the short slot canyon Gljufrabui next door with a misty waterfall of its own.

Iceland (especially the south coast) is covered with waterfalls, but Skógafoss in particular is worth the stop. This waterfall is huge and seems to get bigger as you get closer. See the beautiful curtain of water!

In the past, Iceland was very poor and populated by subsistence farmers tending sheep. It was also very short on wood. This led farmers to build out entryways using stone on the front of naturally occurring cave and rock outcroppings. This type of structure served as a barn.

Sólheimajökull Glacier

A short way from the highway is Sólheimajökull Glacier. This glacier is located in a silty valley, and is receding steadily at about 160 ft each year. When we visited, there were tour companies taking some tourists out on the glacier with protective gear. Without such gear, we stopped just short of the slick ice and climbing areas. 

GETTING TO THE ISLAND

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ISLAND AREA