Day 4, July 2: We left the base camp of Kerlingarfjoll around 10:30 to drive to Friðheimar - a famous tomato restaurant in Iceland. We were a little bit early for our reservation so we walked around the greenhouse. The restaurant is famous for the their tomato soup so that is what we had for lunch. It was really good soup (and the cucumber salsa that accompanied the soup was superb), but probably too touristy to go back.
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| Tomato greenhouse before lunch |
After lunch we had two short stops before our hotel, a reconstructed viking farmstead and Gjáin gorge. Sadly it was raining, but on the plus side not crowded. The gorge was truly amazing- the pictures didn't really do it justice.
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| In front of the viking farmstead |
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| Filip at the bottom |
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| One of the many waterfalls in the gorge |
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| Micki in front of the waterfall |
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| The gorge from the top |
After the gorge we felt like we were running out of time so we headed to our hotel, Hotel Ranga where we had selected the Antartica Suite for irony.
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| The Antartica Suite |
Day 5, July 3: Today's adventure was a trip to a neighboring island Haimaey (the largest of the Vestmannaeyjar islands) which was only accessible by ferry. We had a private tour set up for the first two hours, where we saw Elephant Rock, a puffin colony, and the Eldfell Volcano. We learned a lot about the Jan 23, 1973 eruption of Eldfell and the impact on the town. On the day of the eruption, all residents were quickly evacuated via fishing boats and not allowed to return until July 6 when the eruption stopped. All but one person- a looter- survived. Our guide pointed out that they were preparing for their annual celebration of end of the eruption over the weekend. Our guide's grandparents lived on the island both then and now so she was an excellent resource.
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| Puffin from one of the largest colonies in Iceland |
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| In front of volcanic rock from the 1973 eruption |
After the tour we went to lunch and did some light shopping in the Icewear shop and then took the ferry back. We were disappointed that we didn't have time to a hike as the hiking looked incredible.
After the ferry ride we went back to the Ranga Hotel where we enjoyed our dinner.
Day 6, July 4: We were scheduled for a full day jeep tour with a hike in Þósmörk Valley- we met our guide, Carlos at 8:45 and hopped into a massive jeep (which was really a kitted-up Sprinter). Carlos told us the car's name was Freyja and would often pat her and say "good job Freyja" after a challenging maneuver. We went off-road past threatening signs about not driving without a proper car. Our first stop was to see an outlet glacier that formed after the E-15 volcano in 2010 and then we off again through several water crossings before getting out of the jeep and starting our 4mile out-and-back hike. The destination was to a different outlet glacier and an ice cave.
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Micki and Freyja
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On the hike
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| On the way to the outlet glacier |
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| Hike destination |
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The outlet glacier
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| The ice cave |
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| Carlos describing features of the ice cave to Filip |
On our way back to the base camp, Carlos made one more stop when he saw an empty parking lot to show us a cave.
Dinner was at the Ranga hotel and the food continued to be good, although we are looking forward to trying something new.
Day 7, July 5: Today's primary activity was glacier hiking but we also had several small stops along the way, the first one being a waterfall you could walk behind and the second a 60m waterfall.
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Seljalandsfoss Waterfall
 | Skógafoss Waterfall - we got our rain gear out for this one
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Glacier hiking was unique - after spending about 30 minutes getting our gear (harness, helmet, pick axe and crampons) we headed toward the glacier. Just before walking on the glacier, our guide, Diana, gave excellent instructions on how to put the crampons on. Walking on the glacier was surreal - with the first step it felt like you were going to slide off but we quickly realized it was like Spiderman- we were held firmly in place. We walked around the glacier with Diana pointing out features of the glacier, including identifying which ash came from which volcano. Just as we were turning around to head back it started to rain, so we got to experience wet glacier hiking (it wasn't very different).
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| From the glacier - this was a color photo |
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| Mid-hike |
Our next stop along the way was at Reynisfjara Beach- which had one main highlight- the hexagonal basalt rocks that enclose the beach.
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| Reynisfjara Beach |
Our final stop for the day (whew - we were exhausted) was Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon. The canyon was impressive, but the crowds were not. We arrived around 5pm so the crowds were thinning but there were still enough people to remove some of the tranquility.
Our hotel for the night was Fosshotel Nupar with a room overlooking expansive lava fields. We both had the Arctic Char for dinner and it was excellent.
Day 8, July 6: In the morning we went for a 4.7m hike in Skaftafell Nature Reserve and saw many waterfalls and admired the outlet glacier from afar, only to be surprised when we reached it. The hike itself was nice- although the first 1/4 was along artificial ground (some kind of plastic erosion protector) and the last 1/4 was poorly maintained, but we were happy to get away from the crowds for at least part of it and the views were outstanding.
Svartifoss - about 1/2 way into the hike
Views of the glacier from the hike
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| We were surprised when we reached this lagoon over the ridge |
Our next adventure was to see the Fjallsárlón Glacier Lagoon on a zodiac - and it was a ton of fun. We lucked out because it was a very warm day so the cool breeze felt great. We also heard and saw chunks of ice falling from the glacier into the lagoon.
We then drove to the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon about 30 minutes away from the first Lagoon to compare the two - there were definitely bigger bergs in the second one but both were pretty amazing. We also flew the kite.
We were looking at the views of the lagoon and realized we had an amazing view of the glacier too
We made it to our hotel, the Fosshótel Vatnajökull around 4pm and enjoyed the views on the back deck with a happy hour drink followed by dinner in the restaurant- food was good, staff was friendly.
View from our hotel room at Fosshotel Vatnojokull
Day 9, July 7: Today we had a long drive (~3.5 hours) mostly along the coast with amazing Iceland views. We decided to skip most of the planned activities in lieu of a hike in the largest forest in Iceland. The hike was pleasant enough, but nothing spectacular as we have come to expect the last week. Fortunately the weather could not have been better. After our hike we drove to the coastline to our Hotel for the next two nights, Hotel Aldan.
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| These were probably the tallest trees we saw in the forest |
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| Views of the glacier over the treetops in the forest |
The hotel was actually a small house in a very, very small town (~400 people), Seyðisförður, and our room was in the center on the second floor. It was a very modest room, but the shower was hot and the bed comfortable. We had dinner in the hotel restaurant which was actually a restaurant down the street from the hotel. After walking around the town before dinner- particularly given its size - and that almost everything was closed, we were pleasantly surprised by how good our dinner was. We both had the catch of the day- which was cod today.
Day 10, July 8: Today we saw 2 sites: the Rjúkandi Waterfall and the Stuðlagil Canyon. After the sites we had a reservation at the Vök baths for a quick dip. The waterfall was a quick stop on our way to the canyon with a short walk. The canyon had 2 parking lots, one that was just above a viewing spot and one about 1.5m away that allowed you to walk-in to the canyon (we opted for the second- although it seemed that almost everyone else - with the exception of the big buses- did too).
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Rjúkandi Waterfall
 | Stuðlagil Canyon
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 | Filip on the rocks in the canyon
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Micki on the rocks in the canyon
Together in front of the volcanic basalt columns
Filicki sticker top left
At the Vök baths - temp was about 41 in the bath and about 0 in the lake
Our night (as well as dinner) was spent at the Hotel Aldan for a second night and perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was a huge cruise ship in the Seyðisförður port - there was must have been 10x as many people coming off the ship as residents in this town!
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