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End of June TwoSheds and I went to Iceland for a week. Arriving Wednesday, had the evening and Thursday in Reykjavik then picked up a car for three days and drove around the island.
Returned the car Monday morning and had Monday and Tuesday in Reykjavik and on Wednesday morning packed our bags and went to the Blue Lagoon before leaving for the airport.
These are the initial plans for the trip:
Itinerary
And TwoSheds going through it:
Iceland trip 1
and
Iceland trip 2
Wednesday - Arriving
Arrived at the airport in the afternoon and went to our hotel then into Reykjavik which was a 15-20 minute walk. Looking for a place to eat, we came across Laekjarbrekka (http://www.laekjarbrekka.is/) which advertised among other things, a "Puffin feast". Three courses, two with puffin(s), for only £40 or so. We later found out that that's about average priced for food on Iceland. Photos on the food in the collection below :)
Later we visited Highlander, a Scottish bar. Photo of the toilet below is from there :)
Video clip of the light in the evening here:
Sunset video
Thursday- Reykjavik
Thursday we went to a place we still haven't quite identified but looks like a government building. It's the building across the water in the photos with the model of Iceland being inside the main hall.
From there we went to the Reykjavik National Museum. Walking back we saw a Chevelle drive past which might belong to Halldor Ragnarsson although it is still unconfirmed. There's a photo of it in the photos below.
In the evening we had dinner at Indian Mango. Had some surprisingly hot food :) Again left with a bill approaching £40! I asked the waitress were to go for a drink and she recommended "Kaffibarinn" where she worked evenings. We went straight there only to be met with a packed room and a guy in the corner beating the crap out of some drums. After fighting our way to the bar and getting drink we retreated to the back room. Our friendly waitress from the restaurant turned up not long after.
Oh, going to the bar we did run into an american car cruise going through the main street of Reykjavik. Didn't have my camera with me.
The bar had a dog who basically lived there. Had photos of him on the walls as well but the waitress couldn't remember his name. Seemed to live life on the edge there, sleeping on the floor with people constantly stepping over it :) We also spoke to another bar girl there who we ended up running into later during our holiday.
Photos from the first part of Reykjavik:
Reykjavik, first round
Friday - Golden Circle
I'd arranged for Avis to pick us up the following day but it meant we ended up being an hour late to pick up the car which turned out to be a diesel Land Cruiser. We still managed to get to Thingvellir before lunch where we went for a walk.
We then set off to get to the Geysir but after looking at the map decided to take the "Scenic" route. At the time we didn't actually know what this meant! We ended up on the F337 which starts with the photo of a sign saying 4x4 only! The photos do not tell how difficult this route was to drive :-)
We arrived at the Geysir. Managed to actually get a few shots of Stokkur going off as Geysir itself is dead.
Went from there to Gullfoss, the waterfall and after having had dinner at the Geysir Hotel we hit the ring road again. Arrived at Vik and phoned Skaftafell Hotel to book a room. Arrived there about midnight on the Friday.
Oh yes, on the road we stopped at a Shell station to buy some petrol canisters. Apparently they don't really exist, well, they managed to find a dusty one somewhere but they don't have the spouts! The manager suggested using a coke bottle instead. How odd :)
Thingvellir National Park
The F337
Geysirs
Gullfoss waterfall
Driving to Skaftafell
Saturday - Skaftafell
Skaftafell Hotel was very expensive, let's just leave it at that!
Skaftafell
We went to book a glacier walk. Wanted the 5 hour moderate one but they only had the 2 hour easy available. Very dissapointing. To kill time before the walk we went to Skaftafell airport for a tour flight. Almost couldn't find the airport or plane for all the nothingness! Plane turned out to be a 1975 of a make that no longer exists and was made by Morris Minor parts.
Was quite scary :-) The runway was nothing but gravel as well.
The glacier walk was dissapointing. Too much talking and we only walked about 200m across the bottom of the glacier.
Got back on the ring road late afternoon. Drove for hours and stopped at Hofn for a couple of hotdogs or four. Left again aiming to get to Viti via the F88, F910 and other roads. We would later realise how difficult these roads would be. Didn't help that some of them had been closed because of flooding.
Took us many, many hours and many ford crossings before arriving at a camp near Viti at 4am in the morning. Fortunately it was light all the time which made driving easier.
Driving to Viti
Sunday - Viti to Husavik
We slept in the back of the car for a couple of hours. Started driving towards Viti through the snow. We arrived at the carpark by the footpath that goes to thecrater but at this time the snow was too deep to make our way through and we couldn't even see the marked path properly!
Despite our dissapointment we had to turn around. Something odd happened driving through our campsite though. What had twenty minutes earlier been covered in snow was now dry land. Steam was coming off the roads as we drove them. What happened here?
We drove for hours, passed Vatn and arrived in Husavik in the afternoon. It turned out weather caused the whale and puffin tours to be cancelled! We had no choice but to drive back to Reykjavik.
Driving to Aukeyri
Monday - Reykjavik baths
Well, stopped at a petrol station to fill up before returning the car. For some reason both our credit cards failed so we got a free tank of fuel! Cool :) We returned the car including all the dirt but they never complained.
Went to the geo-thermal baths in Reykjavik after that. Again, highly recommended and not crap like the Blue Lagoon. And they're only £3
Wandered through the domestic zoo and then to Conditori Copenhagen, a Danish cake shop. Had dinner at the hotel resturant after a nap.
In the evening we went on a ghost walk with a mad Icelandic person. Good fun :) Then went back to Kaffibarinn for a couple of drinks but it was late before we left. The little bar girl was there again although not working and had brought her dog. She even let us look after it while she went outside for a while :)
Reykjavik, round 2
Tuesday - Reykjavik
Photos in the link for Monday. Started the day off by walking to the Saga museum and Perlan restaurant. Restaurant was closed though. Don't think we did much else that day.
In the evening we went out to have a meal. After being chased away from a restaurant by an ugly american we found the excellent Rossopomodoro italian restaurant. Highly recommended!
Tuesday - Reykjavik
Photos in the link for Monday. Went to the Blue Lagoon. End of holiday :)
henrik (@) morsing (.) cc
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