Iceland, July 26–29
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| Elf house |
Summer in Iceland and the UK is so much better than summer
in Texas. I packed up and left 110 degrees at the end of July and flew to
Reykjavik, Iceland, where the high temperatures were predicted to be in the
50s. The boyfriend and I were going to his cousin’s wedding in England in
August, so we tacked on an extra week to visit Iceland and Scotland first. Our
Iceland plan included one day in Reykjavik, one day driving the Golden Circle
with a night in Reykholt, one day between Vik and Reykholt, and one last day
back in Reykjavik. Initially I wanted more time to see all of Iceland but in
hindsight I think four days is just right. I feel guilty saying this, but I
started to get bored in Iceland.
Day 1
We landed in Reykjavik at 6:30 on Thursday morning, both of us groggy and not well rested from the flight but determined to get adjusted to local time. We booked a rental car in advance, so we picked it up and drove the 45 minutes from the airport into town. (Unlike our previous trip to Cuba where we didn’t/couldn’t book much in advance, we HAD to book everything in advance for Iceland or we would have had nowhere to stay and no rental car.) Andrew had picked Braud and Co, a bakery with a cool mural in downtown, for us to have breakfast.
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| Braud and Co |
The smell of fresh-baked bread in the crisp air was amazing and the pastries and coffee didn’t disappoint. After a quick bite and walk around a few compact downtown blocks, we jumped back in the car and drove an hour and a half to Glymur, a spot not near anything (because it’s Iceland). There were already a few cars parked at the trailhead but nothing crazy. We started on a beautiful hike, an hour out and an hour back with nice climbs, to see a stunning waterfall. We had to cross a river about 30 minutes into the hike, and the first half of it had nothing but a wire to hold onto.
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| Andrew |
We just walked ankle/calf-deep into the rapids and carefully picked our way across slippery rocks until we got to the slippery log to finish the crossing. Exhilarating but freezing. By the time we got back to the river on our return, there were many more people on the trail and the crossing had a wait time.
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| Glymfur falls |
We drove back into Reykjavik, stopped at a grocery store for
some essentials (including skyr, the famous Icelandic yogurt that was going to
be our breakfast tomorrow), and found our Airbnb just in time for check-in. We
had a cute little studio in the back of someone’s main house. It was quiet and
private with a little table outside in the yard. We cleaned up, took a tiny
nap, and then got up for a cocktail at home before heading into downtown
Reykjavik (we bought booze at the airport duty free based on a recommendation
from a blog). We wandered the quiet, cute streets lined with simple, painted
houses with nice gardens in the front. Reykjavik is a small city and it only
took about ten minutes to get to the city center. Andrew had researched in
advance and found a dive bar he wanted to check out, Micro Bar.
We stopped by
for a beer flight and then kept walking to the restaurant I researched in
advance, Grillmarkadurinn. We had to circle the block because we missed it the
first time. It was tucked back behind the main row of shops and restaurants in
a little courtyard. We didn’t have a reservation but they were able to seat us
at the bar. The food was amazing (I had a trio of fish and Andrew had a single
fish dish and we shared a side of roasted veggies), and I’d highly recommend
anyone wanting a splurge dinner to go there.
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| My dinner |
It was $180 for the two of us,
with drinks, which is crazy by my normal standards but is pretty standard for a
nice dinner in Reykjavik. You’ve heard it before, but I have to write it:
everything in Iceland is expensive.
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| Clean plates at Grillmarkadurinn |
We stopped at a cute café on the walk back for a nightcap
but made it home and in bed at a decent hour. Our long day on a non-restful
night meant we both knocked out pretty fast. It was still light outside (it’s
light almost all night in the summer) but that didn’t keep us up. Unfortunately,
the time change caught up to us both at 4:30 am and we were tossing and turning
the rest of the morning.
Day 2
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| Pingvellir |
We were up at 8:30 that morning and had our skyr for
breakfast in the studio before hitting the road. (Our Airbnb host actually
stocked the mini-fridge with skyr for us, but we decided to eat the ones we
bought at the store.) We stopped at a gas station for surprisingly delicious
coffee (with flavored syrups to choose from) and slowly made our way through
the Golden Circle that day. The circle includes three stops at the most iconic
Iceland tourist sights: Pingvellir, Geysir, and Gullfoss. Pingvellir is the
site of Iceland’s first parliament (Alpingi, which first met in 930 AD) and
where two tectonic plates meet (North American and Eurasian). Walking through
the valley, we were literally crossing between the two plates. It’s also the
site of the most expensive gift shop along the circle, where I made the mistake
of shopping. Wait until you get to Gullfoss, where the exact same items are
half the cost.
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| Geysir |
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| Gullfoss |
Next up was Geysir, an area of many hot springs and geysers.
Geysir itself is one of the many geysers and the namesake of all other geysers,
but it’s not active anymore. There’s another one in the area that goes off
every 10 minutes, so we saw it and walked around the rest of the area before
heading to Gullfoss, a giant, awesome waterfall. Pro tip: Don’t try to park in
the lot down the hill (where the signs tell you to turn right), but instead
stay on the main road to find a much larger parking lot (with the less
expensive gift shop). After walking as close to the falls as we could get and
me bugging Andrew to take a million photos because I forgot my phone in the
car, we headed out. We were pretty close to our Airbnb but it was too early to
check in, so we stopped at a café called Vid Faxa on the way. It was tucked
away from the main tourist route so we were the only people there, but it had
its own lovely waterfall. Andrew got a beer, I got a glass of wine, and we
enjoyed the view and amazing weather without the hordes of tourists. A bride
and groom drove up and started having wedding photos taken in front of the
falls. Very picturesque.
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| Vid Faxa |
After killing enough time in paradise, we headed to our
Airbnb for the night, an actual B&B in the little town of Reykholt. We went
in the White House Inn and saw our key waiting for us on the front table. The
hotel owners were our running errands, so we went up to our room. We somehow
scored the best room in the place, with its own huge bathroom across the hall
and a private balcony off the bedroom.
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| White House |
The inn had a patio downstairs with some
lounge chairs, so Andrew and I decided to open a bottle of airport wine and
read our books for a couple hours (one of my favorite vacation activities). It
was sunny and warm, perfectly relaxing. When the owners showed up (a married
couple with two kids), they chastised us and another couple staying there for
parking so terribly and then offered a ton of suggestions for us. They said the
weather was the best they’d had all summer, so we had to go out and do
something. No staying in allowed. Unfortunately, doing pretty much anything in
Iceland means driving, and Andrew and I had made our way through a significant
amount of that wine, so we settled for walking through the little town to a
recommended spot for dinner, Mika’s. It was a beautiful walk through rolling
green hills and past greenhouses growing all sorts of summer veggies. The myth
is that food in Iceland is so expensive because they have to import everything,
but I don’t think that’s actually true. I read that most meat and fish is local,
and they harness their ample geothermal energy sources to heat greenhouses and
grown produce year-round.
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| Elf house |
We made it the restaurant and saw people eating at tables in
the backyard. I wanted to be there, but alas, no reservations again so we sat
inside. My seafood pasta was generous but it couldn’t compete with
Grillmarkadurinn. After a leisurely meal we slowly walked back to the Inn. I
dragged Andrew off course so I could talk to some horses grazing in a field.
Our plan was to go back on the patio and keep reading, chatting, and drinking
when we got back, but the host family was having a cookout with friends and
Andrew wasn’t comfortable crashing their party. It was still pretty early,
though, and there wasn’t anything else to do. Looking back, this is when my
Iceland boredom started to set in. It was still light outside and I wanted to
do something…but we couldn’t drive anywhere and there was nothing to walk to.
Andrew finally convinced me to read in bed and get a good night’s sleep.
Day 3
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| Skogafoss |
The White House provided a full breakfast in the morning,
and we were the first guests downstairs. There was coffee and tea, eggs, meat,
cheese, pastries, toast, and skyr. We settled into our feast and the other
guests trickled in. There was a Finnish couple, a Japanese and French couple, a
Spanish couple, and two Austrian friends. We swapped Iceland stories and photos
and listened to the Spanish couple describe spending ten days driving around
the whole island, my original hope for our trip. They weren’t really selling
it…. It sounded like more of the boredom I started experiencing the previous
night. After breakfast we said goodbye to our fellow travelers and lovely
hostess and headed to Skogafoss, a waterfall about an hour and a half away.
It started raining but we weren’t deterred. Neither were the
droves of other tourists at Skogafoss. The waterfall was towering and
impressive. There were hundreds of stairs on the side of the falls, so we got
in line and climbed to the top to see the amazing view down the falls.
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| Top of Skogafoss |
There’s
a 14-mile hiking trail leading away at the top of the falls, and this was
supposed to be our big hike of the trip. We were going to go as far as we felt (the
plan was about three hours out before turning around) and see dozens of other
waterfalls along the trail, but unfortunately the rain ruined that. The trail
is a grooved dirt path running up and down through the hills and the rain had
turned it into a mudslide. We gave it our best shot, going almost an hour out,
but when I had to butt-slide down a steep muddy hill, we decided it was time to
turn back. I only fell once and butt-slid one more time and there were no
injuries, so I’m calling it a success. And despite the rain, it was a gorgeous
hike. The hills were an unbelievably vibrant green and we passed grazing sheep.
The dark sky against the bright grass and the many waterfalls was dramatic and
beautiful.
We made it to the shelter of the rental car and muddied it
up with our shoes (and my butt). The rain was coming down hard but we stopped
at the fish-and-chips food truck in the parking lot for lunch anyway. It’s a
legend on the Iceland travel blogs so we wanted to check it out. I was happy
that they offered flavored sea salts to put on the fish and chips (lava salt is
the best) and we were cozy in the car scarfing down the food.
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| Black sand |
Then we drove on to Vik, famous for its black-sand beach. It
was still pouring when we got to town so we stopped for coffee and a little
wool shopping (I found the cheapest item in the store, a hat on clearance for $40)
in hopes that the rain would let up so we could go to the beach. But after an
hour we had to admit defeat and drove to the beach in the rain. We walked along
the black sand for a minute, took a couple rainy photos, and hopped back in the
car. Andrew tried to find a geo-cache at a local church but the rain wasn’t
helping with that either, so we finally called it quits on Vik and drove to our
Airbnb about 45 minutes outside of town. This one was a big letdown. We waited
too long to book (about 2 or 3 months before the trip) so there was nothing
left in Vik and our place was the best we could find. It was a small hostel and
we had a small room and shared a small bathroom with about 6 other people.
Someone had showered recently and flooded the bathroom floor with water. It was
just gross (and almost $200/night because it’s Iceland). This is when my real
Iceland boredom set in. It kept raining all evening but we drove 15 minutes to
the nearest restaurant, Grimsla Fjosio, which is part of a family-run cattle
ranch. I got delicious mushroom soup with bread and butter and experienced the
one good deal Iceland is known for: unlimited soup! It really is the most
economical meal, if you’re trying to not spend all your savings. I got a second
bowl and some more bread and butter and enjoyed the cozy warmth of the
farmhouse restaurant while it kept pouring outside. But then…there was nothing
else to do. We were literally at the only public place within 30 minutes of our
hostel. I lobbied for driving back to Vik and checking out some tourist spots
in town, but Andrew was sick of driving all over in the rain. Out of ideas, I
agreed to go back to our gross little room and be bored for the rest of night.
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| Hallgrimskirkja |
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| Reykjavik |
The next morning, we woke up to no power in the hostel,
which meant no hot water or coffee and so we packed up and bid good riddance to
the place. The rain subsided to a drizzle as we drove back to Reykjavik for our
last day in Iceland and I was looking forward to people and shops and things to
do. The drive was a couple hours and we tried to stop at what looked like a big
park on the way back for a walk, but it wasn’t really a thing, so we gave up
and drove into Reykjavik. We parked near Hallgrimskirkja, the iconic church
that looks very Scientology-esque to me, and walked in and around it for a bit
before hitting up a coffee shop for much-needed caffeine. We spent the next few
hours walking along the sea wall (which was much less picturesque than I
expected, with industrial parks along it) and up and down the main shopping
streets before having lunch at a place called Bastard’s. And then it was time
for the Blue Lagoon!
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| Blue Lagoon |
The Blue Lagoon is definitely a tourist trap, but it’s worth
it. We reserved tickets online in advance and lined up at our allotted time
with about a hundred other people and were efficiently shuffled through the
process. We were given a towel and bracelet with a chip in it that allowed us
to charge drinks at the bar or facials. Then Andrew and I split up to go
through our separate changing rooms. They make you shower naked, then put on
your bathing suit, and then shower again. They offer conditioner to put in your
hair to protect it from the water, but I’d recommend keeping your head above
water. Even with the conditioner, my hair was straw for the next week.
After the ritual baths, I emerged to a little lobby to find
Andrew waiting. We headed outside and saw the lagoon. It was beautiful! Even
with tourists everywhere the eye could see. The water was a milky blue and
steam was rising off the surface. We waded into the warm water and headed right
for the facial bar. Our entry tickets included the cost of a silica mask and
one drink, so we slathered our faces with white gunk and then happily bobbed
over to the booze bar to collect prosecco and beer. Then we bobbed out to the
back side of the lagoon where we scored a sweet spot with room to sit away from
other people. Even with the crowds, it was easy to find some space and quiet.
We let the mask work its magic for the allotted ten minutes and then dunked
under water to wash it off, emerging with shiny, happy faces. We hung out in
the lagoon for about an hour and then I ran back to the locker room for my
phone to take a few terrible photos, and then we drove back into town.
We checked back in to the same studio we stayed in our first
night and I tried and failed to revive my hair with a week’s worth of condition
before going to dinner at Snap’s, a French bistro about 30 minutes away by
foot. It was a nice walk (the rain had cleared up) and dinner was lovely, but still didn’t compare to Grillmarkadurinn (seriously, eat there if you go).
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| Micro Bar |
After dinner we were out of sightseeing ideas again, but this time we had bars
to go to. Hooray! We went back to Micro Bar because we decided it was our local
and met a very friendly bartender. He kept taking breaks to hang out with us,
and then one of his friends showed up and joined our table. I was being really
superficial but couldn’t help loving that our new friend looked like a Viking
with a giant red/blond beard and long, flowing hair. Plus his brother was a
member of parliament. We had a great time learning about life in Iceland from
locals and had to drag ourselves home after midnight (it was still light out).
It was tough to leave, but we had an early flight to Glasgow in the morning.
Iceland Tips
- Book everything well in advance. Some of the
Airbnbs we wanted were taken by the time we got around to booking. At the
airport someone was trying to get a rental car onsite, but there were none
available. Plan ahead to make sure
you stay where you want and have what you need lined up when you get there.
- Buy wine or liquor at duty free on the flight
in. Everything in Iceland is so expensive, and we were happy to have read this
tip in advance. We bought a couple bottles of wine and were able to have
“cocktail hour” at our Airbnbs before going out for dinners.
- Don’t bother getting cash. Everyone takes credit
cards, but you need a PIN at gas stations. All of my credit cards told me I
didn’t need to worry about setting up a PIN for European travel, which meant I
couldn’t pay for gas with them. Luckily, I had my debit card with a PIN, so we
used that for gas each time.
- Stay at the White House Inn if you're near Reykholt.
- Eat at Grillmarkadurinn and Braud & Co. Drink at Mirco Bar.
- Bring a deck of cards or small travel game so
you have something to do when your boyfriend won’t chauffeur you around in the
rain.
