Halfway Round the Planet, Part 2
The world is a book, and those who don't travel read only one page. ~St. Augustine
We cannot add anymore photos to this blog. That’s unacceptable to certain members of this family!
Please follow along on our next adventure at http://jonlaqua.wordpress.com
Don’t forget to subscribe, once you follow the link, so you are alerted when we post new blogs.
Our hotel came with breakfast, European breakfast! That means Jon got his favorite salami, cheese, cucumbers and bread. I got my favorite yogurt and muesli or in this case skyr. Plus they had an automatic espresso machine that produced delicious lattes.
STOKKSNES is another black sand beach that we really wanted to go see. It has an iconic mountain range in the background. In fact our hotel had a picture of it hanging above our bed. Unfortunately the day started out rainy and windy due to the storm that was moving in. We drove to the parking lot but could not even see it. We waiting to see if the clouds would clear but they never did so we moved on.
Today was a choose your adventure day… We did not have anything major planned, except to get to Egilsstadir so we could head north in the morning. That did not mean it was a boring day. To get to Egilsstadir we drove through the fjords of East Iceland – mountains on one side and the Norwegian Sea on the other. As luck would have it the clouds gave way to sunny skies and we actually got to enjoy the beautiful scenery. I would’ve been very sad if it would’ve been too cloudy to see.
We didn’t always have to drive around the fjord. Sometimes they carved a tunnel. This one was over 5 km long.
We passed so many waterfalls coming off the mountains there were too many to count. It had been two days since we saw one up close so we decided to change that! We were getting waterfall withdrawal!
SEYÐISFJÖRÐUR is a charming town along a fjord. You can board a ferry and go to Denmark from here. It’s known for the Instagram famous church at the end of the rainbow brick road! We actually drove past the town we are staying to get here. This one is more picturesque! We are only staying at Egilstadir because it will lessen the drive tomorrow. We found one of three restaurants in town for dinner and then headed back over the mountain to our Airbnb. During the 30 minute drive, we put on some Jimmy Buffet music as a tribute. One of his songs, Far Side of the World, is where the title of our blog came from.
We’ve been moving every night. I thought is might get tiresome after awhile but I haven’t minded it at all. It’s been fun to explore a new area each night. It helps that the towns are not that big. The entire population of Iceland is less than Minneapolis. It also helps to stay super organized. I always put everything I take out of my suitcase back in exactly the same place. That way I know where it is each time.
Highlights of this day included a canyon that could have been a filming location for “Land Before Time”, lava fields and glaciers. Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Europe – we saw different “tongues” of this glacier throughout the day.
Before truly starting the day we took a walk on the black sand beach. Just like Gardar said we pretty much had it to ourselves. When we looked up in the sky it was like Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. There were a least 100 puffins flying in and out of their nests. One may have even pooped on Jon, just a little on the back of his jacket and hat. Nothing too bad.
We are embarking on the part of the trip where the restaurants are scarce. The place we are staying tonight warned us that there are no supermarkets or restaurants nearby and it might be best to bring our own food. We appreciated the warning and stopped at a Kronun in Vik. It was interesting (?) shopping for groceries when you can’t read the labels. We’re pretty sure we bought rye bread (much different from back home and an Icelandic staple), salami and cheese for dinner. We picked out some snacks and candy for in the car. It feels a bit like snack food roulette each time we open one. There have been some delicious ones and others that we won’t be finishing! Oh and right next door was a shop that sold Icelandic yarn. I had to buy some because it comes from all those adorable sheep we’ve been seeing! I hope it fits in my suitcase.
Next stop was Skool Beans. A coffee shop inside a school bus. It was adorable and again the plain latte was delicious. Interesting note, so far all the coffee we’ve bought has only come in one size. It’s smaller than the smallest size at Caribou or Starbucks. Also interesting note, we have not seen any restaurants that we have back home, except KFC – we saw only one and I have no idea why it’s that one! Would not be my first choice or second or third…
I purchased skyr at the grocery store for breakfast. It’s Iceland’s version of yogurt, closer to Greek yogurt, but not as sweet. That’s another thing we remember about Europe, the food is not as sweet. I like that… a lot!
FJAÐRÁRGLJÚFUR is a massive river canyon. There are amazing views everywhere but if you walk all the way to the end the payoff is a waterfall! The pictures don’t really capture just how big it was.
The next stop was ELDHRAUN LAVA FIELD It’s a lava field that we drove through for miles. We really wanted to stop to take pictures because it was unlike anything we have ever seen, but remember they have very few pullouts. Luckily when we thought the landscape was about to change and we would never get a picture, a pullout appeared. I’m sure there’s some geological name for it but we called it pillowy lava. It’s very fragile and the moss takes 100 years to regrow if you walk on it.
SVÍNAFELLSJÖKULL is a glacier viewing outlet, or one of the arms of Vatnajokull, the largest glacier in Europe. We have been seeing glimpses of the glacier the whole day. We were finally going to see it up close!
I’ve always said that nothing beats the beauty of Switzerland. There’s nothing like the Swiss Alps and glacier lakes. It might be my favorite place in the whole world. Iceland is beautiful in an unworldly way. The scenery here is amazingly spectacular. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The land will be flat as can be. You can see for miles, sometimes all the way to the ocean. And then out of nowhere is a mountain so high and big right in front of you. They don’t have foothills here. There is no gradual change to the topography. Just boom! A mountain! Or waterfalls along the side of the road that people just drive right on by. Or weird land that nothing grows on but sheep graze on. And it’s sparsely populated. We could drive for miles and not see any farms, houses or civilization.
We thought we had one more stop before we called it an early night. HOFSKIRKJA, a turf church. Turns out it was literally steps from our AirBnb for the night.
The area has the turf church, 2 other cottages like ours, less than 5 resident’s houses and sheep out our back door.
Steps 13,920
Climbed 23 flights
We started the day drinking lattes a the bar in our hotel.
A quaint coastal fishing village and the capital of the North and 2nd biggest city in Iceland. Those were the two stops of the day. Who are we kidding… there was also another waterfall to see.
Húsavík, overlooking the Norwegian Sea, is a town of just over two thousand people. We needed some more rye bread for lunches so we stopped at the town bakery. The least friendly, crabbiest person was working! People in front of us tried to order a cappuccino. She glanced at the espresso machine and told them it was broken. They had a beautiful display of bread on the wall so Jon asked for a loaf of rye bread. Crabby lady says, “What?!” So Jon repeats it. (It is the bread of Iceland, everyone makes it!) She says the name back to Jon, only apparently the way it’s said in Icelandic and rudely tells him they do not have any. It was shortly after they opened and it looked like there were plenty of loaves behind the counter but… we left empty-handed.
Husavik is considered to be one of the best places in Europe for whale watching in the summer. Not sure it can beat whale watching in Maui especially since they were all wearing what looked like snowmobile suits. We explored the town instead. They have a cool whale museum which displayed full skeletons of whales.
Geosea Thermal Spa… similar to the Blue Lagoon except a much better view. We thought about going here until the hotel last night had a free thermal spa. The cost for this one 3390 ISK/person. And for some reason whenever they tell you the cost, they always say the entire thing – three thousand three hundred and ninety. Never thirty three hundred ninety.
Looking out over the Norwegian Sea, this might be as close as we’ve been to the Arctic Circle. It’s either this or Healy in Alaska. They had the perfect picnic spot and the weather was the warmest it has been on this trip. It was long sleeve t-shirt weather and the sun was hot. Only problem… no lunch! We debated about eating at a few places in town but we really wanted to sit on the bench, eat lunch and over look the mountains. Again after much discussion we headed back to the bakery (it’s the only one in town). Crabby pants was behind the counter when we got there but left before it was our turn to order. Funny thing… the espresso machine that was broken just a few hours earlier was magically working and cranking out espresso! And what do you know… when Jon asked for rye bread the new friendly lady told us we could buy 1/2 loaf and she’d slice it for us. So we enjoyed lunch overlooking the bay.
GÓÐAFOSS is one of the most famous waterfalls in Iceland! I think they might say that about all of them. It’s a 100 ft wide horseshoe shape, 40 ft tall, broken into multiple falls.
The name means “Waterfall of the Gods”
While we were there when a bunch of kayakers decided to be crazy and go over the waterfall.
AKUREYRI is where we are staying for the night. There were two huge cruise ships in port. I had no idea cruise ships came to this part of Iceland. Luckily there was a friendly and super helpful guy working at the desk so we asked him for dinner and bar recommendations that were places the locals went, not the cruise ship tourists.
We did not drive that many miles today but the variety of landscapes we saw was incredible. We started by driving through the biggest valley we’ve ever seen! It took us 45 minutes and it was just ONE valley. We saw just five other cars. One of them was a local who sped by us like he was Max Verstappen. We drove through what looked like a gravel pit. Miles and miles of gray rock – no vegetation which meant no cute sheep to look at. (It occurred to me today that Iceland produces a lot of lamb, it’s more common on their menus than anything else, even their hot dogs are made from lamb. What occurred to me was all the sheep we see must have babies in the spring. I don’t want to think about that so it’s a good thing we came in the summer/fall!) But I digress… we also drove through what looked like Mars and fall!
It look us 35 minutes on a gravel road to get to Dettifoss , which is located in Vatnajökull National Park – It’s the most powerful waterfall in Europe.
Sellfoss is another beautiful horseshoe shaped waterfall just next door to Dettifoss. It’s a 3 mile (round trip) hike scrambling over boulders. They have the trail marked by yellow posts so you don’t get lost going over all the rocks.
The wind started to pick up while we were at Sellfoss. It was 30 mph with guts to 40. That 30 mph was constant! It did not let up even for a second. It was so windy I told Jon I couldn’t even think. It almost blew me over… I am NOT kidding. Jon said it was the worst conditions he’s ever tried to take pictures. This area didn’t even have a yellow alert. That’s what Safe Travel, the Iceland app, gives weather conditions that are dangerous.
After recovering from the wind we decided to brave it again and get out of the car at HVERIR which is a geothermal area with sulphur mud pots and steam vents. You could see the area from a few miles away. The brown, orange and yellow colors were a stark contrast to what we had been driving through. There was a strong smell in the air of rotten eggs due to the sulfur!
Our hotel has hot tubs – not the kind that we have back home. These are filled with the geothermal water from deep in the earth. They look just like the ones we have at home but they most definitely are not the same. As is Icelandic tradition, you must take a complete shower before you enter. Since they do not have outdoor showers they gave us robes and told us we could shower in our room. It felt so good after the wind. Today’s temp was 50 but with the wind it felt like 39 degrees.
We ate dinner at the best restaurant in Northern Iceland. The hotel recommended it and called to make reservations for us. It was another farm-to-table restaurant where they grow everything they serve. Just like the ice cream place, the dining room had a window into the barn. We stopped to pet the cows on the way out.
Finally Jon gave me a heart attack getting so close to the edge of Dettifoss.
BONUS
I thought I had finished the blog for the night… but our phone rang at about 10 pm. We signed up to be notified if there were Northern Lights. The cameras on the roof had detected some. Ring, ring, ring!
We drove 3 minutes up the road to get away from the light pollution – at least that’s what the lady at the front desk recommended. I thought it was cute. She considered the 4 buildings in the village to be light pollution.
I could see them out my window as we drove! We watched them for ~ 2 hours before the clouds came. They filled almost the entire sky! The last hour or so we watched them from the car since it was still windy and cold. Here’s two that I took just using my iPhone. A bucket list item for me!
Two that Jon took that turned out much better!
A glacier hike was our first activity of the day. We did not have to be there until 9:15 which meant we had a nice relaxing morning!
It was ~15 minute hike from the parking lot. Then another 10 minutes up, up and up before we put on our crampons. Those seemed to be a bit of a burden on the trail that was now part ice and mostly gravel. It wasn’t until we really started walking on the glacier that the crampons became a necessity. The weather was perfect. I hiked in just my sweatshirt and that was almost too much. We hiked alongside streams, crevices and holes filled with blue water so deep you couldn’t see the bottom. It was amazing! The glacier covers 10% of Iceland.
I was worried about the climb back down because it was so steep going up. It ended up being nothing to worry about. The crampons made it easy. We loved this! We’d do it again in a heartbeat.
Gas stations are true convenience stores. You can buy limited groceries, necessities like motor oil and they have a hot food counter where you can buy the famous Icelandic hot dogs. They are not as good as the stand in Reykjavik but they’re pretty tasty.
FJALLSARLON is a glacial lagoon, much lesser known than Jökulsárlón and was our next stop. It is smaller but that means you’re closer to the glacier face. We felt like we had it to ourselves. It was so peaceful.
JÖKULSÁRLÓN is the famous glacier lagoon and beach where icebergs break off the glacier, float through the lagoon, and drift out to sea. That description is not nearly cool enough. Yes, that is what happens but I could’ve spent all day watching it. We even got to see some icebergs flip over! The icebergs are massive – larger than a school bus, some even bigger than a large house.
The lagoon empties into the North Atlantic Ocean. They call it Diamond Beach because of all the ice that washed ashore from the icebergs.
We could’ve stayed in the area for hours. Luckily it was less than 45 minutes to Hofn (pronounced a combination of hop and hope) to our hotel.
Believe it or not, this was a relaxing day – less than an hour and a half of driving. We ended by going to one of the five restaurants in town for pizza. We ate it like the locals… with red currant jelly dolloped on top. It was like blue cheese and orange marmalade – delicious!
Steps 14,848
Flights climbed 26
Iceland has an app called Safe Travel that lists weather and roads conditions is your area. This is a warning for the area we just left. The rental car company also texted this to Jon. Along with advice to open the car door with two hands. Winds this strong will blow the door off it’s hinges and that’s not covered by insurance!
South Iceland is famous for its massive waterfalls, never ending glaciers, and black sand beaches.
The speed limit here is 90 km/h. There are posted signs and cameras everywhere. If you are pulled over for speeding they make you pay on the spot. Apparently too many tourists used to leave the country, never return and never pay. If you are caught speeding on the camera they send the bill to the car rental agency and they tack on another fee before they send you the bill. Needless to say Jon is trying to stay very close to the speed limit.
Our first stop was SELJALANDSFOSS – a massive waterfall we could see from the road. The spray we could see a good mile away. A unique waterfall not only for it’s size but you can also walk behind it. Good thing we brought our rain jacket and pants because when they say you’ll get wet they are NOT kidding!
Most people leave after Seljalandsfoss but there are 3 more waterfalls along the walking path. The one you really want to see is Gljúfrabúi. It’s at the very end and looks like nothing special. But it is spectacular! You have to walk through a slit in between two lava walls, walk a little bit in the river and climb over some very slippery rocks. It’s a waterfall inside a cave. I can’t explain the thrill of seeing these waterfalls, hearing them and getting sprayed with the water coming off them, It’s a bit like an amusement ride. So fun!!!
The ring road is the only way around the island. It’s not a freeway, it’s not a highway or even divided. It’s a two lane road that barely has a shoulder. If your car broke down you would back up traffic! The other interesting thing is the scenery is beautiful. Everywhere you look – mountains, glaciers, the ocean or lava fields. So far we’ve only seen 2 pull-outs to stop and look at the scenery or take a photo.
SKOGAFOSS is another Impressive waterfall with a height of 200 feet and 82 feet wide. Its name means “the Forest Fall”. There’s a legend that says the first Viking settler at Skógar stashed a chest of gold coins in a cave behind the waterfall. The spray was so intense we couldn’t get behind it to even look for it.
KVERNUFOSS is a waterfall on land owned by a Folk Museum. We payed for the museum, briefly looked around and hiked 15 minutes to the waterfall. Along the way were some adorable sheep. We’ve seen sheep in the fields on our drive yesterday and today. I was hoping we would get to see some up close. Not as cute as the Valais sheep in Switzerland but a very close second.
DYRHÓLAEY is a rock arch that sticks out into the ocean meaning “the hill island with the door hole”. It started to rain when we got there but we have rain suits, remember? We didn’t let it stop us from walking around the lighthouse or exploring the scenic views down to the ocean. After about 15 minutes the rain stopped. Apparently that’s common here. They have a saying that if you don’t like the weather just wait 5 minutes.
We arrived at our AirBnB for the night at ~6:00 and were met by Garnar. He looks just like you’d except with a name like that. The house doesn’t have an address – just “drive up a small hill and you’ll be there!” The description said it was tiny and may not fit all of your luggage, depending on the size. None of that scared us because it was located on the beach! The most famous beach in Iceland: Reynisfjara, the black sand beach. We wanted to be there for both sunset and sunrise – without any other people. And by the way it fit not only our luggage but even had a table where we ate dinner.
It was still cloudy so no sunset tonight but after dinner we headed for the beach. It’s literally right out the door. We almost had it to ourselves. Just a few others strolling the beach.
Jon really wanted to see Puffins. We asked Garnar if we’d be able to see any on the beach. “Yes in the morning before they go out fishing. They’ll be on the basalt columns,” he said. He went on to tell us he used to hunt Puffins with a net on those same columns when he was a young boy. His record was 430 in 9 hours. I couldn’t ask what he did with them. I didn’t want to know.
We didn’t have to wait until morning. They were all coming in to their nest after a day of fishing. Jon was so excited he ran back to get his bigger lens. The light was not ideal but I think they turned out great. Wait until morning when we have better light…
Total steps: 14825 or 10.1 kilometers
Tectonic plates, beautiful views and a massive waterfall…there’s a lot to love about the Golden Circle. It’s the most traveled area of Iceland because there’s so much to see and its so close to Reykjavik.
A very short walk from our hotel was the highly recommended Braud & Company for the best cinnamon rolls in all of Iceland. We also ordered coffee… I know I was supposed to make it in our room but I never do that! For some reason it just seems weird to me. I forgot how delicious European coffee is. It’s so smooth.
After a delicious breakfast we were ready to embark on one of the ultimate road trips – Iceland’s Ring Road, 820 miles of Fire and Ice. Today we were just doing the Golden Circle. To complicate matters I made both lunch and dinner reservations so we had a timeline to try and keep. We knew it would be tight and in the end we skipped two stops. Both things we have already seen back in the States – a geyser and volcanic crater. What we did see was amazing! Plus it was a stunning day. Something we had not planned on. The weather in Iceland is highly unpredictable. We were expecting rain and wind everyday. Today it got to 54 degrees – sometimes it felt like a beautiful fall day. And seconds later I was taking my jacket off wishing for shorts.
When we started planning this trip we learned that Rick Steves had not updated his Iceland book in years – waaaay before the pandemic. Turns out he traveled to Iceland this summer to work on the new edition. But that would not help us! Instead we found Jeannie. She grew up in Wisconsin and moved to Iceland 7 years ago. She’s like the Rick Steves of Iceland. We adapted her ring road itinerary for our trip. The first stop was what she calls a hidden gem. She rated it 4 out of 5 stars. We thought it was a good first site to see.
ÞÓRUFOSS
You might recognize this waterfall from a scene in Game of Thrones – when Daenery’s Dragon eats the goat and sets fire to the flock. We were literally the only ones there. We had the waterfall all to ourselves!
ÞINGVELLIR NATIONAL PARK
Important UNESCO World Heritage site for its history as an establishment of the first democratic parliament in AD 930 and for it’s unique geology – this is where you will find huge fissures in the earth’s crust caused by the rifting of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. You can literally straddle America and Europe!
Efstidalur has farm fresh ice cream. Who doesn’t love the sound of ice cream straight from the farm? This place was adorable, a family run farm turned into an ice cream parlor and restaurant. The ice cream was just as delicious as it looked. It’s made fresh on site. Plus they have windows looking into the barn where you can see the cows it came from.
Bruarfoss
This bright blue waterfall used to require a 3-hour hike. It was on our list to do but we discovered just a few weeks ago that they just built a road and parking lot that saves about 2 hours and 45 minutes. Yay! It used to be a hidden gem since not that many people wanted to hike the 3 hours. It was absolutely stunning. Jeannie rated it a 10 out of 5. We agreed! We also witnessed a proposal here… she said yes!
GULLFOSS
The crown jewel of the Golden Circle.
BRÚARHLÖÐ
An incredible canyon with glacier green water in the middle of nowhere. Another place we discovered because of Jeannie.
Friðheimar is a huge greenhouse that grows tomatoes and cucumbers. Their growing methods are completely sustainable and eco-friendly – think geothermal. This is the ultimate farm-to-table experience, I love the concept. We made reservations for lunch a few months ago.
Iceland is expensive. We knew this before we booked our plane tickets. Since this is the ultimate road trip we knew we would not want to spend time at a restaurant eating breakfast and lunch. Before we left Reykjavik we went to the grocery store to shop for breakfasts and lunches (I love to do this when we’re in Europe even if we don’t need groceries. It fascinates me!)
One piece of advice we read was that since a mediocre pizza will run you around $50, skip those types of meals and spend a little extra for a truly great meal. We definitely had a great meal for lunch at Friðheimar – added bonus it was cheap! Tonight we ate at Ingolfsskali Viking Restaurant. It was not as cheap. Jon had lamb rib eye and I had Arctic Char. The total bill came to 18,470 ISK. Those large number blow me away. Here’s a quick way to convert it. Drop the last 2 digits and then take 1/3 off. That’s about $140.
It did not feel like the usual amount of walking we do when we explore a European city. However I was able to log a respectable 13,901 steps today.
We completed everything on our checklist… TODAY!
We watched the sun rise. No rain. Just puffy clouds and a clear blue sky. We decided to make the most of it since it was our last full day. We packed it with everything we could think of.
Today was the day we were supposed to go to Lanai. Normally you can see it very clearly from our condo but the rain has made it difficult to see. The other island usually visible is Molokai. I just read that Molokai received 23.61 inches of rain. Not sure about the rainfall on Lanai but Maui received anywhere from 5-15 inches. These are totals from the past 3 days! Someone the other day told us Maui was in the middle of a drought. It hadn’t rained here since January 2022 so it’s hard to complain when they so desperately need the rain. Although I think they (and we) would’ve preferred it spread out a bit more.
We decided to do things exclusive to Maui today. Although not the sunshine we were hoping for there’s a few things you can only do on Maui. Touring and tasting at the Maui Gold plantation is one of them. It’s located on the hills of Haleakala with stunning views down to the ocean. It was stunning even with the gray skies. Did you know it takes ~18 months to grow 1 pineapple? Or that you can only get Maui Gold pineapples in Maui? You will not find them on the mainland so don’t bother looking. We sampled some right in the field next to where they were harvesting. I forgot just how sweet and delicious they are.
The hills of Haleakala are farm country. There was another “farm” we wanted to see that’s exclusive to Maui – Ocean Vodka. They offer tastings with a tour since it’s illegal in Maui to only do a tasting. They make other spirits under the Kula label. We tried toasted coconut rum (OMG – my favorite!), dark rum, rum, gin and of course vodka. The tasting is outside with even more stunning views than Maui Gold. They also have a farm-to-table cafe and bar onsite. They try to grow everything they make, including all the mixers for the drinks. During the tasting our host raved about the Lilikoi Crush – some delightful concoction made with the toasted coconut rum, lilikoi purée, pineapple and Thai basil syrup. She also highly recommend another drink made with their gin. Since it wasn’t raining and the location was beautiful we pulled up two chairs, ordered those two drinks and enjoyed the view.
Although not exclusive to Maui we often don’t have them in Minnesota and if we do they are not usually mahi mahi ones. I’m talking about fish tacos and we haven’t had them nearly enough on this trip. We heard great things about Monkeypod – the food and apparently they have the best MaiTai on the island plus it was on our way home. They don’t take reservations but it was only going to be ~1 hour wait. I say only because it’s right on the beach and the sun was setting. Yes it came out again for sunset and although not spectacular, it was still beautiful.
Last but not least… we had bonus Maui vibes this morning. This one we didn’t plan. We just happened to be sitting on our lanai when the whales put on a show. Tails slapping, breaching and fin waving in the ocean right in front of us.
Today was mostly cloudy, very little rain and warm. We hope the weather is turning the corner. The forecast for tomorrow is some sun in the morning and back to possible rain in the afternoon.
Halfway Round the Planet, Part 2 