In true fashion, I have had so much to write about that I haven’t written a word, so let me dive right in.
I mentioned in my last post that I took an incredible trip to Iceland in June, but focused mainly on visiting the Fagradalsfjall Volcano. While this was definitely one of the trip’s highlights, I still have an entire week to cover. Here we go!
I flew from Boston to the Keflavik airport. It was a fast 4.5 hour, overnight flight, and Icelandair has decent food, so no complaints from me! However, I didn’t realize that this airport was about 50 minutes away from the Reykjavik city center, so if you plan to fly there, you’ll want to rent a car or hop on a bus when you land. This trip was a giant wake-up call. It was my first international trip COVID-19 after restrictions started lifting, and since I almost got stuck in Prague—read here (Please note that when I wrote it, I had no understanding of the impact COVID-19 would have on people, the world, etc., so it’s somewhat naive).
When I arrived, I had a quick COVID test and then headed to my hostel to quarantine. The timing ended up working out perfectly because I came early enough to fit in a nap. Unfortunately, my outfit did not work out as perfectly as I was wearing shorts in blustery 30-degree weather with 25 mph wind. Fun fact: we were in Iceland during the fourth coldest summer in history. It was a real treat!
I will avoid telling you about my first hostel (Bus Hostel), but let’s just say my only roommate was a naked balloon vendor, so I quickly switched to KEX Hostel. I highly recommend it!
I spent the first day walking around Rekjavik by myself, eating at Banh Mi for lunch, Emilie and the Cool Kids for a second lunch, and the iconic Laundromat Cafe for a coffee and pep talk from a local. Then, when I couldn’t take the 25 mph wind anymore, I scootered back to my hostel, switched hostels, and hit up the Lebowski Bar for the remainder of the evening.
My friend May and her sister landed the next morning and that’s when the real trip began! We grabbed a bunch of delicious pastries and coffee from Sandholt—highly recommend—and set off on our journey around Iceland. Not even 30 minutes into our drive, we randomly came upon our first stop, Kerid Crater.
We initially thought it would be a trek to get to this massive landmark, but it was not even 30 seconds off the road. I would definitely suggest stopping there if only to admire the turquoise waters from afar. We already had others stops we wanted to see, so we didn’t make the hike down to the water, but the view itself was stunning.
Not too far down the narrow Ring Road, or Route 1, we hit our first waterfalls. For reference, we decided to drive the entirety of Iceland, starting from Rekjavik and heading south. The southern part of the island is the most touristy and visited region, but with good reason; it is stunning. We could see the mighty Seljalandsfoss from the road. It stuck out with the black rock surrounded by lush green grass. We walked the loop that took us into the cavern and under the waterfall.
Our trip as a whole was relatively calm when it came to tourists. We didn’t feel like we were fighting to see, hike, or explore anything with crowds of people. I know this is virtually unheard of during summertime in Iceland. The lack of people made us stay longer at places and explore more, which is how we ended up accidentally finding Gljúfrabúi—a waterfall slightly north of Seljalandsfoss and within walking distance. You simply take a left when facing Seljalandsfoss, follow the trail, and then either walk through the running water or sneak around the rocks like I did and BOOM. You’ll immediately be hit with a ton of water and can’t MIST it. Get it?
Anyhow, after those waterfalls, we kept driving until we found, you guessed it, more waterfalls! This time, we came face-to-face with Skógafoss. Unfortunately, it was a little too gloomy out to see the ever-present rainbows Skógafoss is known for, but it was still an incredible sight all the same. We started by heading up the steep hill on the staircase you can see to the right. On a typical day, you might leisurely walk up to it. However, on this day, the wind was blowing so hard that we were holding onto the railing, ducking our heads, and trying to make it up before the looming rain hit. The top of the hill did not disappoint. We could see land for miles (or kilometers since we were in Europe) around and the very top of the waterfall.
Don’t be fooled by this awesome picture. I was getting soaked/whipped in the face with water the entire time.
Our next stop on the drive was in Vik, where we admired the black sand beaches, the basalt columns featured in Game of Thrones, and the ominous sea dubbed the most dangerous in Iceland because of its treacherous current. We walked around the beach even though it was incredibly windy. Are you sensing a trend here? Pretty much our entire time in Iceland was spent getting whipped by wind, and this was one of the more docile days.
The drive from Reykjavik to our Guest House was about 4 1/2 hours without stopping, but of course, with our many ventures, we ended up making it there before dinner time. I would say nighttime, except that it was never nighttime during our stay. Iceland is the land of the midnight sun during summer, which was super helpful when driving those long stretches, but not so much when it was time to sleep. With our bellies full of raviolis and the sun shining through the window at 1AM, we finally decided to call it a night.
Well, I was planning on doing the trip in two blog posts, but so far, I’ve only covered two days of the trip in this one. To be continued!
Chasing Spain 