a travel log : Iceland : post 5/5

This post covers: Hofn, Kirkjubaejarklaustur, Vik, Skogar, Hella

This week I'll be sharing images and words from our latest Icelandic adventure.

We ate in Hofn then shopped at the local handverk shop.  It was connected to the N1 gas station (logo below).  I wanted tons of sweaters in there but I came away with a pin cushion and lots of ideas.

The camping area sign.  This is for tents and for campers/motor homes.  Usually there are hookups for the campers at the campgrounds.  Also, Iceland is awesome with the signs.  Most towns on the map have a visitor's center that offer maps and info.  Iceland is set up really well for tourists.  

 

 

Glacier Bay / Jokulsarlon Glacier

 

We soon got the South Iceland.  We were really looking forward to seeing Glacier Bay.  We were enjoying the scenery (although it was looking gloomy) not being covered with the ash cloud, when we saw some weird blue things on top of the hills up in the distance.  Then all of a sudden, off to the right of the road, was Glacier Bay!  It was pretty remarkable.  I have seen nothing like it.  White, clear and crystally blue chunks of ice just sticking high up in the air.  We weren't expecting there to be so much ash covering them from the Grimsvotn eruption 10 days or so earlier.

The image above is pretty crazy.  Its of a really long bridge that is 6.5 miles East of Vik that is over dry ground.  It was swept away after a flash flood from the nearby glaciers.  There is nothing that grows around since it is for runoff from when volcanic eruptions melt portions of the glacier and cause flooding.  It is designed to allow road access even if there is flooding.  The land is clear in this area (a rather large area of just nothing but black sand) and the water/flooding can flow freely to the ocean.  Pretty crazy that this country is so prepared for volcanoes!  But I'm impressed with how they are.

 Check out the steam from all the hot springs and the little turf houses next to the white house below.  Awesome!

We stayed at Hotel Laki in Kirkjubaejarkaustur and since it was cloudy and rainy we didn't really notice the ash until the next day.  It was so sunny that we could finally see clearly how much ash was let off my the volcano in the area just north of the Hotel.  It was pretty remarkable how much ash there was.  Zack golfed for free at the hotel since the grass was in terrible shape being burried in several inches of ash.  There was ash actually overflowing in the holes on the course.  We helped them clean out one of the holes when we collected some ash for ourselves to bring home. :-)

The land is usually completely lush and green.  All of the above images show lots of dirt in the areas, that dirt is in fact ash.  Crazy.  I want to mention that Hotel Laki / Hotel Efri-Vik in Kirkjubaeharkaustur was very nice, they are really eco friendly and they had very good food, including a very generous breakfast buffet.  Golf and other activities are available and the land surrounding is just gorgeous.

 

Vik. Beautiful, Vik.  Its where, we drove to when the volcano erupted before we turned around.   We had made a full circle around Iceland.  We were pretty excited.  Not to mention the absolute beauty of South Iceland.  We shopped again at the handverk shop there and discovered their factory in the back.  Pretty cool.  And we had no idea when we were there before how close we were to the ocean. Its like 2 minutes from the road!  

The black sand beaches are magical and you have to see them!  This beach was absolutely gorgeous.  I wanted to put on fancy dresses and have a photoshoot (dumb, I know).  It was so clear and the water so blue and the little shore plants so lush and green, it was just gorgeous!  You can take a 2.5 hour drive from Reykjavik to get there.  It would totally be worth a little road trip to the black sand beaches of Vik!

 

After our day in Vik, we drove to check out a hotel I'd heard about called Hotel Anna.  It sounded so cute and affordable, but it was a bit much when we and the weather were feeling like it was a good tent night.  We just ate there.  It was really great but expensive food.  We loved the location and the atmosphere.  Its sort of early 19th century like.  Really nice.  I especially loved the bathroom doors (see image above).

That night, one of our last, we slept by another waterfall, Skogafoss.  It was pretty magical hearing the harsh wind out side  with the distant sound of the falls at night and then in the morning, just the quiet of the waterfall, waking us up.  It was pretty awesome!  The South of Iceland is so GREEN in the summer months.  Its an easy drive from Reykjavik, so make sure you don't pass it up.  

We went to a couple museums that were affordable or free and that was pretty fun.  We saw some cool stuff including lots and lots of sheep bones the kids used as toys, tools, embroidery and yarn work, and even a 2 headed stuffed sheep.  We only went to a few museums, as we wanted to spend most of our time outside, taking pictures and relaxing.  Oh, and did I mention, as you drive from the Jokulsarlon / Glacier Bay, you can actually see parts of the glacier spilling out from on top of the mountains.  Its pretty rad. 

We did to to the Eyjafjallajokull museum.  (Remember the volcano that caused all of European air travel to halt for a while?  This is the volcano I am speaking of.)  It is run by the family who's farm was spared by the volcano and flooding damage.  There is a worth-your-money short documentary you can see there of live footage before, during and after the eruption.  Its pretty remarkable, the story and it was really cool to see the farm and meet the owner's wife.  The Eyjafjallajokull Egloss Museum is definitely worth a visit.

Next up, my favorite handverk shop of them all in Hekla.  The ladies in there were the coolest.  And I met a couple of the women that knit the sweaters.  That was pretty cool.  I love that they are real people with real hobbies.  Anyway, if you want a custom-made knit with real Icelandic wool sweater from them just let me know.  We talked and they said I can order anytime!  Seriously.  And a sidenote: I loved their floor.

I haven't mentioned but the sheep were EVERYWHERE!  There are like 50 times more sheep in Iceland than there are people and a million times more sheep in Iceland than there are trees.  *Both exagerations but there are tons of people, not many people, and very few trees.*

 We soon were back in Hafnarfjordur, where we met up with Unnur and our other friends.  It was so great to be back in their company.  They are the greatest, such cool people.  We had planned and hoped to spend more time with them but the road trip only got longer as we drove and we ran out of time.  No regrets, just wishing we had more time with them.  * Unnur is a very cool girl, I mean, come on, she's Icelandic.  Need I say more?  She started a blog about Iceland .  I am sure you will enjoy learning a thing or too about Iceland from a true local's point of view. *

Back home (at Unnur's house) we packed until the wee hours of the morning.  We still hadn't gotten used to the never ending lightness outside.  It took way too long and we had way too much stuff.  In the morning we were ready to go home but sad to leave the beautiful country and our long 14 day vacation behind.  We felt pretty good seeing the rainbows as we drove.  That was cool.  And as you see from the image above, we drove: 3418 km = 2124 miles.  That is a lot of Iceland fun!  

Once we were at the airport (we love the Iceland airport, its the best, hands down) we sailed through customs and then ate a really expensive breakfast.  We boarded and within a few minutes both boys were asleep.  We were into the flight about 45 mins when (I was awake) I felt us drop fast.  We then straitened out but continued to decend rather quickly.  It was definitely not a normal takeoff procedure.  I wasn't worried but just anxious to hear what had happened. 

We got word from the captain and it turned out that the cabin pressure failed and despite their efforts to get it back up and running, we were going to have to turn around and return to the airport.  That was pretty crazy!  So, back we went, to the airport with the most expensive food to wait for some news of what was happening.  We ended up eating another really expensive meal, playing with the baby in their convenient and nice children's area until 5 hours later we were on our way.  5 hours after that, we were back home.  (Its always nice to come home but this time, it wasn't so pleasant. )  

Next, I want to visit Iceland around Christmas time.  They have fun festivals and traditions and I would love to be apart of it all.  But for now, I am looking forward to Unnur's visit to NYC next month to see us!

*  If you have questions or would like suggestions for planning your trip to Iceland, I'd be happy to share what I know.  Also if you have something to share about traveling in Iceland, please share it in the comments or email me.  Thanks for reading!