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| Emma made herself at home in Iceland |
When we first started dating Steve bought me the book "1000 places to visit before you die." In it, there is an interesting assortment of must see places from the expected iconic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and Golden Gate Bridge to the lesser well known barbeque restaurant in Kansas City. There must easily be more than 40 places listed in England alone, but for Iceland there is one, only one "place" worth noting, the Ring Road. Well, we drove it, all 860 miles, counterclockwise around the island in 6 days with a 14 month old. And for me it was one of the best, if not, the best place I visited during the 21 months we lived in Europe. And now I understand, if the book were to list out all of the noteworthy places along the Ring Road we saw that week, it would have needed to included hundreds of places.
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| View over Gulfoss |
Our trip to Iceland started on Monday, September 16. It was also our last day in Switzerland as we had planned our trip to be on our "way" home. Although Iceland is still technically part of Europe it is the closest part of Europe to the states, as it is a couple hours by plane west of continental Europe. And it actually was "on the way" as many flight paths take route nearly directly over Iceland (hence the reason why so many flights were cancelled a few years back when one of Iceland's volcanoes erupted). But enough about the logistics... After just having run Jungfrau Marathon two days earlier, taking the 2.5 hour train ride back to Zurich the day prior, saying goodbye to all of our friends, handing off our cats to friends that were going to watch and then ship them back to the U.S. for us, and packing and cleaning up the last few things in our temporary apartment, we got a couple hours of sleep and rushed (I somewhat hobbled) out the door to make our very early morning flight to Reykjavik, Iceland on Monday morning.
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| Love these two and the big Icelandic sky |
While it was a big effort to get there with all of our luggage (including the airline trying to lose our stroller) and the logistics, we knew the second our plane started the descent over the island that this trip was going to be well worth it. We could already make out the dramatic and rugged scenery from above. What we couldn't see from above was the wind! As soon as we stepped outside the airport to get our rental car we nearly got blown away, I'm not kidding, I fully believed if I set Emma down she would have flown away in the 40 or 50 mile an hour winds.
So with Steve behind the wheel we set out to find lunch and try to not get blown off the side of the road. When we rented the car we had asked the man helping us to recommend somewhere to stop that was in the direction we were headed and then we laughed when 10 minutes later he showed up at the same restaurant. We knew Iceland wasn't a big country with something like just over 300,000 people living in the entire country, but that was only our first taste of what a small place it is. Later on during our week we not only once but twice ran into people we previously met literally hundreds of miles away from the first place we met them.
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| Kerio Crater |
We had a pretty aggressive itinerary that afternoon considering we had already flown for four hours. We set off to drive a couple more hours southeast from the capitol as we started our trip around the Ring Road. The Ring Road is literally the only road that takes you around the entire island. Unless you have an off road vehicle there are only a few small roads that take you a short distance into the interior of the island, but otherwise there are no actual roads through the center of the country as it is desolate plateau filled with sand and lava fields, mountain and glacier. The name "Iceland" is deceiving as it really does have a relatively temperate climate and it is far from being one big ice covered island.
The first stop of three on the popular "Golden Circle" route that afternoon was Kerið crater. The crater lake was the remains of a volcano and consisted of a beautiful red rock. Steve and I took turns hopping out of the car for a walk around the crater as we kept Emma inside and out of the intense wind.
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| Family, rainbow, and a gorgeous waterfall |
Our second stop was Gulfoss waterfall and pretty much stopped me dead in my tracks. It was here that I knew Iceland was going to be special if this was just one of many spectacular waterfalls that the island had to offer. It felt enormous and we had a beautiful vantage point from above to see the "staircase" waterfall as it plunged over two edges. We could have stayed there for hours just walking around taking in the views but we made our way to the last stop of the Golden Circle and saw the Strokkur Geyser. It consistently erupts every 5 to 8 minutes so we got to see it erupt nearly 100 feet into the air. Here's a look at it in action:
http://youtu.be/E_DHUO_34Sw
By that time we were all more than ready to find dinner and the place we were staying at for the next two nights. As we made our way into the "small" town we discovered that when the Lonely Planet tour book said it was small and listed out three places to eat, that's really all there was to eat in that town. As a result the tour book quickly became our bible that week as our one inch thick book literally listed every restaurant, grocery store, and place to sleep on the entire island. If it wasn't in the book, it didn't exist. If you needed gas, you better plan ahead and know where the book said the next gas station was at. Iceland was a new type of desolate that I had never experienced before.
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| Strokkur Geyser |
So after finding the pizza place in town we found the guesthouse that we were staying at on the outskirts of town. A couple weeks prior to our trip we had contacted the owner of the guesthouse as we had to make a change in our itinerary and she informed us we would be the only ones staying there and she actually would not even be there, so we literally just found the lockbox on the property and showed ourselves into the apartment. Now that's trust on a whole new level!
After crashing for the night we woke up to see the beautiful countryside outside of our window, and while the wind was blowing crazily again, there was something so serene and peaceful about being there. Feeling well rested and with a much more low key day planned our first stop for the day was Skogafoss, another gorgeous waterfall (don't worry if you soon can't keep track of the names of places as we found Icelandic to be a pretty difficult language to pronounce and therefore keep names straight as many looked similar, luckily the waterfalls are all pretty easy was they always end in "foss"). While this waterfall was not nearly as large or dramatic as the one we saw the day prior, we found that each waterfall had something unique to itself. And for Skogafoss it was that the little cove it was situated in allowed vibrant rainbows to be seen quite often and we were blessed to see a beautiful one.
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| Skogafoss and the brightest rainbow I have ever seen! |
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| Not too shabby of a backdrop! |
From there we drove out to the southern coast along the ocean and for the first time since arriving took a deep breath outside the car as the winds were virtually nonexistent, and we came to find out that in various parts of the country the winds were known for being terrible and other parts were very subdued. We saw the beautiful peninsula of Dyrhólaey and the Reynisfjara black sand beach surrounding it. Unfortunately the puffins had just left for the season, but usually these beaches are filled with birds in warmer weather. Yet the rock formations alone were stunning and puzzling. And similar to the rest of Scandinavia there were many good legends that claim trolls turned to stone were the cause of the formations. Whatever the cause, the Reynisfjall column formations are simply indescribable and left us wondering how nature really formed them.
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| One of my favorites over Reynisfjara beach |
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| Reynisfjall rock columns |
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| Up close |
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| Can you find Steve & Emma? |
After enjoying a picnic lunch at the beach (our first of several picnics due to the lack of eating establishments), we turned back towards our guesthouse for the night, but made one more stop at our third waterfall of the trip. This one was Seljalandsfoss (see what I mean about pronunciation and remembering names). While beautiful, we did not find it quite as impressive as the first two, but it was uniquely situated to allow a path to walk behind the falls. Steve attempted to make his way partially behind it, but seeing how we were back into the windy country he turned around before getting completely soaked by the wind blowing the falls nearly completely over him.
Once we were back in "town" we opted to get some groceries and make dinner back in our apartment. We were even able to enjoy the outdoor "hot pot" at the guesthouse that evening too. "Hot pot" is the Icelandic term for a hot tub!
Come Wednesday morning we felt ready to go after another good night's sleep in the Icelandic countryside. And since the owner of the guesthouse we were staying was still gone we simply locked up and put the key back in the lockbox as we headed off for a new destination that evening! We continued on the Ring Road heading east. We found our way to the beautiful Fjaorargljufur Canyon that was hidden in the countryside. We enjoyed walking and exploring around the edges of the fingerlike canyon walls and it was fun being practically the only people there. We decided that it was the perfect place for another picnic lunch before continuing our drive. The weather was a little warmer than it had been the first two days and the wind had disappeared so we tried to make the most of our time outdoors.
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| Looking into the Fjaorargljufur Canyon |
Yet, our time indoors in the car was more than enjoyable as well as it was the furthest thing possible from a boring car drive. Every 50 or 60 miles the scenery seemed to dramatically change (which was a nice change of pace from what we are used to driving in the Midwest). While our trip on Monday had started in the southwest part of the country with a more desolate landscape, some rolling hills, with glimpses of mountains and cliffs in the distance. Tuesday the drive felt like we were in a more rugged, arid country with dramatic cliffs and dry sandy soil. Halfway through our drive on Wednesday we hit mile upon mile of moss covered rocks as far as we could see. The moss was slightly green and made us feel a bit like we were on Mars. Here are some views from the road...
As we made our way along this ever-changing scenery we pulled off for a quick stop to see the Kirkjugolf formation of hexagonal stones. If you didn't know better you would have assumed they were man made landscaping blocks, but nope, just nature again!
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| Kirkjugolf |
Our last pit stop along our three hour drive for the day was Dverghamrar, otherwise known as Dwarf Cliffs. Yet another peculiar formation of rock columns that left you wondering what Iceland looked like during the ice age before nature shaped this Iceland into the unique place it is today. Emma found some sheep along the dwarf cliffs to talk to as well...
http://youtu.be/Dtbest7JttY
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| Just sitting on some more rocks in Iceland |
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| Love our travel buddy! |
As we made our way further to the southeast corner of the island along the outskirts of the Skaftafell National Park we felt ourselves reaching an even more desolate corner of the island. The "towns" in this region were simply nothing more than a clump of ten or twelve houses together. We truly felt at the ends of the earth as the glacier seemed to be pouring down towards us and volcanoes hovering above us. When you start to really look at the history of volcanic activity on this island it's no wonder that it was in this region Steve started to say he was constantly waiting for the island to blow while we were there. After all, this region lacked many establishments because it was such a high risk area based on historical destruction of the region.
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| Glimpses of the glacier from the road |
Despite all this, we picked this area to be our home base for the next two days while we explored it. On Thursday when we awoke unfortunately the weather was terrible, as we expected it might be. However, lucky for us we were headed to Jökulsárlón, the glacier lagoon. While we wanted to see this magical place in better weather, we had also read that the icebergs would appear more blue in cloudy weather and this was in fact the case. This lake, which is actually very young as it was only formed less than 100 years ago, is filled with chunks of the glacier that have broken off and are floating throughout the lake. They are slowly melting off the glacier as the lake has a small river that flows into the ocean, thus bringing in a small amount of salt water that causes the melting. Here's a look around the lagoon:
http://youtu.be/p2_PScAr9_Q
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| It's a pretty cool place, words don't really do it justice |
After taking in this "chilling" scene from the land we opted for a boat ride to get up close to the icebergs where we were surprised to learn that something like only 10% of icebergs are visible from above the water, leaving our imagination to think about all the ice below the surface of the lake. While we thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride it had started to rain quite hard and get very cold, so we were happy to see it come to an end and get inside at the tiny tourist center to warm up a bit. I am quite sure that our photos don't really capture it, so if you want another look at the lagoon be sure to go back and re-watch part of Batman or James Bond, where they actually froze over part of the lagoon to film parts of the movies!
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| With some "fresh" ice! |
We had hoped to visit one other waterfall in the area on Thursday, but with the cold and rainy weather we decided to postpone it until Friday and hope that it would clear up a bit before we had to get on the road and head for our next destination.
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| More glimpses of the glacier from the road |
Friday morning we headed out for an early start as it was without a doubt the busiest day of our trip. The weather looked gorgeous, Emma was in a great mood (everyone at our hotel kept telling us what a happy baby she was, here she is herself telling us she's happy:
http://youtu.be/Pczw6SKUtf4), and we were very excited for the days itinerary. Our first stop was a short drive back west to the Skaftafell National Park. Although there is a ton to explore in the National Park with our limited schedule we set out for a quick one hour hike with a stop at yet another stunning waterfall. While Svartifoss waterfall was nothing short of incredible with more intriguing rock column formations, and the hike in the area was beautiful with views of glaciers, mountains, and the ocean, what made it really special was how we were almost the only people there. There are not many places in the world you can go that are relatively easy to get to, yet that they are so untouched. The quiet, the serene beauty, how I wish I lived closer to a place like that. Here is Svartifoss:
http://youtu.be/Jm12VapejMc
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| First view of Svartifoss |
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| Just us and Svartifoss up close |
Unfortunately we had a schedule to stick to, so we made our way back to the car and started back east on the Ring Road as our day's schedule included about six more hours of driving east and north. We had no choice but to drive right back past Jökulsárlón again, so we were fortunate enough to be able to see how different the glacier lagoon looked on a bright sunny day. From a distance we could see where the glacier bordered the lagoon and we could see the black sand beach along the ocean where some of the icebergs were washed back ashore by the waves and tide. The black sand beach was indescribable as it was filled with melting ice. Take a look yourself:
http://youtu.be/46icSGhEsoI And not only were we in awe of what we saw, but Emma quickly realized just what a cool place it was too. While I hope and think opportunities like this provide her with such unique learning experiences, there are times I really wish she would be able to remember it one day...
http://youtu.be/WrVXomP7Pe0
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| The glacier lagoon and the glacier in the background |
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| What a beach! |
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| Quite the playground for a 14 month old! |
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| Every "chunk" of ice was its own sculpture |
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| My favorite! |
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| Emma didn't care how cold the water was, she would have gone swimming! |
But just like the first stop of the day, we couldn't spend long enough here and we were back on the road before we knew it. While it was a long day of driving with our next planned stop not until we were nearly at our hotel for the evening, you could not ask for a more scenic drive. The scenery outside our car was definitely the stuff movies are made out of and it was hard not to ask Steve to stop the car for a photo every few minutes (instead I just took a bunch of terrible photos from inside the car while Steve kept driving). It was so desolate, with snow capped mountains and bases of volcanic ash cascading straight onto cliffs that dropped into the ocean. The valleys we drove through were surely the back up filming location for Lord of the Rings as they were filled with waterfalls and unique rock formations. Here are a few more views from the road...
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| Surprise! |
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| Look, there's another waterfall! This one isn't even noteworthy enough to make the tour book! |
We were driving on the only "highway" the country really has, but we hardly ever passed another vehicle in many sections. And a good 20 or 30 miles of it was actually a gravel road! Eventually we turned a bit more inland away from the coastline, headed further north, had a slight elevation increase to about 1200 feet and we started to find snow. The landscape also turned into a lunar like surface with various volcanic craters. And when I say it was desolate, this entire five hour drive we probably only went through two "towns" that were larger than 1,000 people and not more than a handful of other towns period. Let's just say the next day when I found out that this region of Iceland has been used for training astronauts, I was not surprised at all.
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| On the Icelandic moon |
Finally, we arrived at Dettifoss (if you don't remember yet, "foss" means waterfall). Dettifoss is reputed to be the most powerful waterfall in all of Europe and let's just say it did not disappoint. With just enough daylight left for us to trudge over half a mile through a foot of snow, we made it to the falls. Once again, one of the most amazing things about Iceland is how very little of it caters to tourists yet. While it is a quickly growing business, everything is still so "new" to the tourist world. As a result you literally can walk right up to the edge of every waterfall, and to do so when you visit Dettifoss is really to feel the power of mother nature:
http://youtu.be/oKkndyr_fbA. While we had hoped to view it from the eastern edge where you can get better views of the entire falls the road was not yet cleared of snow and we were forced to turn around and go to the west side.
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| Walking on the moon |
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| Looking downstream over Dettifoss |
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| No, that's not a green screen backdrop... that's Iceland |
10With it quickly getting dark and cold Emma and I made our way back to the car, but Steve ventured quickly down the river only another half mile to see yet another incredibly large waterfall, Selfoss.
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| Selfoss in the distance |
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| While Steve hiked to Selfoss... we were having a goldfish eating party in the car! |
By the time Steve made his way back we were all anxious to find some dinner (pizza again, Icelandic food didn't impress us much, although we never tried the seal steak) and get to our hotel on Lake Myvatn. Yet, we had to make one last pitstop as we came upon the lake and the pseudo craters and steam vents that fill this area. With a pink sky in the background and steam seeping out of the earth all around us. It was a sight to behold. Truly out of this world:
http://youtu.be/XjeyVUGTLPk
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| First glimpse of Lake Myvatn, steam vents, and pseudo craters |
When we arrived at the farmer's guesthouse (that's right, farmers' guesthouses are a popular place to stay in Iceland) we had all but given up hope that we weren't going to be able to meet up with one of my college friends, Rachel. I know it sounds crazy meeting up with a college friend in Iceland, but just a couple months earlier we discovered that we had each planned trips to Iceland at the same time! Our itineraries and trip schedules were quite different, but we figured our paths would cross on Friday or Saturday. However, Rachel had a little car trouble the day prior and had to change her plans. Without access to phones and limited internet access we had simply told her where we had a reservation to stay at that night, but we actually had hoped we would meet her at Dettifoss. Since we hadn't seen her at Dettifoss, we weren't sure we would see her at all. But there we were in the dark unloading our car at the hotel and who creeps up on us in the parking lot, but Rachel! What a surprise and so much fun! As we hadn't seen her for over six years (since our wedding) we had a lot to catch up on. So we opened up our pizzas and some wine in our guest room and reminisced and Emma up playing well past her bedtime!
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| Emma loved our parking lot surprise! |
Since Rachel was able to get a room at the same guesthouse we were able to continue catching up over breakfast the next morning and then exploring the nearby pseudo crater formations around the lake. It looked like a golf course to me! With the weather getting quite overcast and starting to rain we made a quick hike up the largest crater in the area that was nearly 3,000 feet across. From there it was time to warm up and relax in the Myvatn Nature Baths! While it was only about 40 degrees outside, the beautiful blue mineral water was closer to warm bath water ranging between 95 and 100 degrees. The sulfur made the water a gorgeous bright blue, but also made it smell like rotten egg. Nonetheless Emma loved the water,
http://youtu.be/LQAy1CXat8g, and so did we with views of lava rock and steam vents, I could happily go there everyday.
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| Happy family at Lake Myvatn |
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| "Golf course" craters |
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| Loving the nature baths! |
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| Wish I could buy the annual membership pass! |
Unfortunately after enjoying lunch at the nature baths it was time to say good bye to Rachel as she headed east on the Ring Road and we headed west. We had a few hours of driving to do and one more sight to see before the end of our day, another waterfall! This one, called Godafoss, was one of my favorites. Once again, we were able to walk right up to the edge and witness nature at its finest:
http://youtu.be/CiNc2cu6gdI. From there it was a few hours of driving and seeing nature in its most pure, raw form possible. Wild horses, rams, lone mountains, breathtaking again. Are you getting tired of me saying that yet?
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| Emma taking in Godafoss... don't worry, she's not as close as it looks |
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| Mother nature at her finest |
We also drove through the second largest city in Iceland, at a booming 17,000 people, it was HUGE! Sadly, it did feel kind of huge after seeing no signs of life for so long. And since we weren't hungry yet for dinner we carefully checked the guidebook to make sure there would be another place to stop in the remaining 100 miles or so of driving we had. Yet, we found a place for dinner and we finally made it to the pit stop for our last night, a horse farmer's guesthouse.
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| Just another photo from the car... |
We enjoyed one last peaceful night's sleep and a leisurely morning meeting the farmer's family and Emma enjoyed meeting the dogs and watching them round up the horses in the nearby pastures. From there it was a couple more hours back in the car to Reykjavik (during which time I heard the GPS pronounce Reykjavik so many times I think I finally mastered the pronunciation). We had an hour or two to spare before we needed to be to the airport so we were able to walk around part of downtown Reykjavik and see Iceland's largest church, the stunning Hallgrímskirkja, which clearly was inspired by the country's scenery.
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| Beautiful Hallgrimskirkja |
I didn't really want to leave downtown because it meant that not only our incredible week in Iceland was coming to a close, but so was our European adventure. What a way to go out. Iceland, I will happily come back anytime I'm invited, and if a volcano happens to erupt and I get stuck there, I won't be sad at all.
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| As Emma says we were "happy" in Iceland |
