Iceland: The South Side

Jökulsárlón

When I went to Iceland last year, my whole family was jealous (as they should be) and complained that I didn’t take them. The excuse that they had school/work and didn’t have passports started to sound like just that: an excuse. So, we decided to go back!

This was a really important trip for me. It took seven loooong years to raise a pair of amazing kids to a point where they were FINALLY old enough to understand and enjoy a trip abroad. Iceland is really accessible from DC and is one of those countries that is just different enough to be truly novel, but not so different that it’s difficult to travel in or to explain those differences to a 4 and 6-year-old. We spent 8 days exploring Iceland and the Ring Road (the road that runs all the way around the island), then 3.5 days in London -- just because I’d never ventured outside of Heathrow and the Icelandic stopover program (Iceland Air, WOW) is THE BEST THING EVER.

Day 1: The Golden Circle

Our flight out of BWI left at 7pm EST and arrived at 5am IST (Icelandic Standard Time? I just made that up.) No one slept on the plane as I stupidly chose not to drug the kids, but when it was time to exit the flight, pick-up our rental car, and start, everyone was wide awake and excited for the adventure.

Our Yaris: it’s a miracle that our bags (and kids!) fit in this thing

Day 1 was simply reliving a tour I’d taken last September: The Golden Circle, which includes:

1. Thingvellir National Park: An amazing place where you can see the Eurasian and American tectonic plates pulling themselves apart. If that’s not enough, it’s also home to the world’s first parliamentary government.
2. Geysir: A geothermal area with one shining star, the geyser Strokkur, which goes off every 5-10 minutes.
3. Gullfoss: A multi-level, enormous and beautiful waterfall that will take your breath away.

For us, it also included a trip to the Laugarvatn Fontana Spa, a place I’m not sure I can do justice with words or pictures. In a week of amazing experience after amazing experience, this place was both Nathan and my favorite -- the entire trip. It’s a geothermally-heated series of pools, steam baths, and saunas, each with its own temperature. You can jump from one to the other for hours, and then, if you’re crazy (like we were), you can go jump in the beautiful glacial lake right next to it, which also provides amazing views throughout your visit. I don’t think I’ve ever been so relaxed in my life.

Thingvellir National Park 

Strokkur

Gullfoss

We were exhausted early, however, and ended up at a rather dumpy apartment hotel in Selfoss. The problem with Iceland is that it’s small and it’s not entirely ready to support the number of tourists it deserves. You have to book your hotels, especially when traveling with more than two people, early. We ended up staying at Airbnbs most of the trip.

For dinner, we had our first Icelandic Hot Dog Stand experience where we successfully ordered off of this menu:

Íslendingar elska pylsur

Day 2: Westman Islands

There was an important reason that we went to Iceland this time of year: seeing the midnight sun is on my life list and Iceland gets two weeks of midnight sun from June 16th to June 29th-ish each year. However, there was absolutely no way I was staying up until midnight given the jetlag. I set an alarm and...drumroll please…it was cloudy - wah wah. However, it was light as day and I was so thrilled I took a little walk down the street to the river, taking pictures. It was such a weird feeling. My brain was so screwed up that I probably could have gone for my typical morning run at midnight and thought nothing of it. I didn’t, I crawled back into bed and slept like a baby instead.

Midnight Sun (sort of)

I actually planned Day 2 around one of Nathan’s life goals: to see a puffin. We had tickets to go to Vestmanneayjar (Westman Islands), a pointy, mysteriously beautiful archipelago off Iceland’s Southern coast. The single city on the islands is Heimaey, a fishing village that lives in the shadow of several volcanoes. One of them is Eldfell, a volcano that erupted in 1973, sending lava into the city and causing the islands’ evacuation for months. The islands are also home to the largest puffin colony in the world: about 10 million birds.

We took a Puffin & Volcano tour around the island, learned about how the islanders still go out and collect eggs on the island cliffs, heard stories about the famous volcano eruption, went to the “windiest place in Europe” (which was quite nice that day), saw the world’s newest island (Surtsey) which is preserved as a scientific study outpost and, of course, saw puffins.

 The Westman Islands from the mainland

 Europe's Windiest Point

Heimaey from Eldfell (Photo Credit: Nathan King)

Puffins (Photo Credit: Nathan King)

We ended the tour at the island’s aquarium where we got to interact with an injured puffin and kittiwake chick.

 Alison & Her Puffin

Maddie and the Kittiwake Chick

The Westman Islands is really, really high on my list of favorite places in Iceland. Not because of the volcano or puffins, although those were both cool, but because it was amazingly scenic. We ate lunch at the Slippurinn and then climbed a hill near town to get a view from above. That was my favorite moment right there (it wasn’t even the tallest point on the island...I’ve got unfinished business here)!

We took a boat back to the mainland at 4pm and the rest of the day was no less exciting. We saw waterfalls, including one you could walk behind.

 Seljalandsfoss

Skógafoss

We saw the volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, that erupted in Iceland in 2010, shutting down air traffic from Europe.

We stopped at the black sand beach, Reynisfjara, and saw beautiful basalt columns, caves and soaring spires.

We drove past vast fields of lupine and through terrifying ancient lava splash zones.

We ended the day having an experience that I was really curious about. Many Icelanders build what they call a “summer cottage” and spend summer weekends in the countryside outside of Reykjavik. We spent the night in a summer cottage on a hill overlooking a moss-covered lava field. The view couldn’t he beat. The cabin couldn’t be cuter. I might be in love with Iceland.

Summer Cottage

Day 3: Hiking & Icebergs

Let’s take a minute to talk about the weather in Iceland, because these photos make it seem ideal and it is not. During our trip, the temperatures were always in the 50s (and I mean always because the sun never fully sets). That was a welcome change from the blistering summers of DC, but in Iceland, temperature is just one factor. It’s windy, it’s rainy, and the weather truly changes every 5 minutes (shut-up Kansas with your “If you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes T-shirts” you’ve got nothing on Iceland).

Having said that, what Iceland lacks in weather and comfort, it far exceeds expectations in pure landscape beauty and variability. THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE I HAVE EVER BEEN!! (Sorry, Utah and Glacier National Park, I still love you). I downloaded several books to my Kindle for the drive and didn’t touch them. I didn’t take naps because I thought I might miss something.

Here is the view of the midnight sun on Day 2 from our summer cottage.

Midnight Sun: Part II

Day 3 began with a short hike along the rim of Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon. It is funky and amazing.

 This is a gem.

We then drove through an enormous rainstorm, over a bunch of one-lane bridges (which is mostly what you get on the ring road) to Skaftafell National Park. Iceland has Europe’s largest glacier, Vatnajökull (“Water Glacier” in English), and it sends glacial fingerlings through the mountains and makes them accessible for hikers and other revelers for fun and enjoyment. Skaftafell sits in the middle of two of these outlets and is one of the few places in the country with any trees. It was raining when we arrived, so we sat under an umbrella and ate fish and chips from the campground snack stand, hoping it would clear up. It didn’t, so we set off in the rain for Svartifoss (Black Falls). Dear god the kids complained the whole way up. This was the only time the whole trip when I wished I hadn’t brought them. They were excellent the rest of the trip, but I was super-annoyed that they were complaining about hiking 2.5 kilometers in the rain to this glorious sight.

 Svartifoss

Glaciers and in the foreground, part of a bridge that was washed away when a volcano under the glacier erupted and caused an epic flood.

Down the road a little ways is Jökulsárlón, a glacial lagoon where icebergs regularly break off and float happily toward the Atlantic Ocean. This place is magical and we spent a couple of hours enjoying what was now a beautiful, sunny day.

Icebergs!

Our pitstop for the night was Höfn, a small harbor town that’s famous for its langoustine. We stayed in a cute airbnb on the edge of town that had a horse farm in its backyard and walked the 20 minutes into town to have dinner at Pakkhús, a restaurant specializing in, of course, lobster.

This was, by far, the best meal we had in Iceland (this country is rightfully not famous for its cuisine as there’s only so much fish, lamb soup, burgers and hot dogs one can eat).

We walked past an outdoor, heated pool with slides (Icelanders love their Sundlaugin) and found a playground where I met a very nice Icelandic mother who told me all about living in Iceland. She was a pretty good salesperson. :)

A little hilltop in Höfn

At this point in the vacation, I’m always reminded of one of my favorite 30 Rock quotes: “For God’s sakes, Lemon. We’d all like to flee to the Cleve and club-hop down at the Flats and have lunch with Little Richard, but we fight those urges because we have responsibilities.”

Well, at this point in the trip, I don’t have responsibilities (except maybe for keeping everyone on the trip alive) and I’m only slightly tempted to move to Iceland. Maybe I’ll just get myself a little summer cottage there instead.

Icelandic Horses

Iceland

I started a new job in September as the Head of Product Operations for Capital One's Innovation Labs. I had a week off between jobs and at the last minute, I booked a flight to Iceland. It quickly became one of my favorite places on the planet.

Iceland is crazy beautiful: mountains and volcanos pop up in every direction, looming over fields of lava rocks covered in moss. You can't take a photo without capturing a picturesque waterfall or steaming geothermal feature in the distance. At this time of year, the grasses and plants are turning brilliant shades of red, yellow, orange, and bright green. Iceland also has an interesting history that includes vikings and the first parliamentary government in the world. In 3.5 days I toured a small section of Iceland within two hours of Reykjavik. I packed my itinerary full, hoping to see and do as much as possible in that short time.

Day 1 (9/21/16): Golden Circle & Fontana Wellness Spa
The Reykjavik tour operators have made it really simple to get around the country. I hoped on a bus at the airport at 6:00am that dropped me off at my hotel, Hótel Ísland (which, by the way, means "Iceland" not "Island" in Icelandic - I found that out the hard way). The hotel had a place to store my bags and change for the day. By 8:30am, I'd been picked up by another bus and was on my way to visit the Icelandic countryside.

We first stopped at an Icelandic Horse Farm to learn about this special species of pony-like horse, the only kind they have on the island. I met this horse.

The next stop is where things got really, really good. We saw Gullfoss Falls, which is a big, beautiful double waterfall with a path that allows you to get relatively close as well as admire it from afar.

Next, I stopped at a geothermal area and saw several geysers, including the punctual Strokkur geyser, which goes off, on average, every 5-10 minutes.

The geysers are nothing compared to Yellowstone, but I hiked up a nearby mountain and found this picturesque farm and winding stream on the other side.

Iceland is not warm (go figure!) and it was in the 40s and 50s during my trip. It also rained on and off and was cloudy about 95% of the time, but that didn't really affect my trip. In fact, it made eating hot chocolate and soup a real joy. My first meal in Iceland was a steaming bowl of the native lamb meat soup (chicken broth, meat, and veggies). It was delightful (if you ignore the fact that you're eating a baby animal :/)

Our next stop was the Fontana Wellness Spa. Here, we learned about how the locals make rye bread, by burying it in a hot spring and cooking it for 24 hours. We got a demonstration and tasted it too. Delicious!

For the next two hours, we soaked in hot spring bliss. The Fontana Wellness Spa has four pools, kept at different temperatures, a sauna, steam room, and a glacially-fed lake. It was surprisingly fun to jump from pool to pool, relaxing, then adjusting your temperature by moving to a different pool. I even jumped off the end of the pier into the lake. It was so cold that by the time I got back to shore, I couldn't feel my legs. I only had to try that once.

The last stop of the day was an incredible gem. It was Thingvellir National Park, which is significant for two reasons. First, it was the site of the world's first parliament, where different early tribes in Iceland met to discuss governance issues starting in around 930 AD. Second, this is where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling apart. You can see both ridges (and they are beautiful) and walk around in the gap between them. It is also incredibly picturesque and is probably my favorite scenic area in Iceland.

At this point in the day, I was fighting to stay awake, but I was also very hungry. At the hotel restaurant, I let the waitress talk me into getting the Atlantic Char, a local fish dish, and it was amazing.

Day 2 (9/22/16): Snorkeling Silfra, Reykjavik, and the Blue Lagoon
On Day 2, I did something that I admit was a little stupid: I went snorkeling in 37-degree glacial water. Silfra is an area in Thingvellir National Park where water fills the crack between the splitting tectonic plates. The water is crystal clear, filtered over 30-100 years from a nearby glacier through lava rocks. It is pure, cold drinking water with visibility up to 150 meters. The crack itself is a geologists' dream. While there is no wildlife in it (not enough to eat), the formations are amazing, especially the section known as "the cathedral" where the crack plunges down and you can see deep into the earth through clear cerulean waters. It was amazing, except for the temperature. We were in dry suits, but they didn't protect your hands or face from the extreme cold. I was only in the water for 40 minutes, but my lips went numb after 1 minute. The experience is really neat, but uncomfortable. The preparation took 1-2 hours and it was windy and rainy as we suited up. After it was over, I felt much like I did after climbing Kilimanjaro: I was glad to have done it, but I don't feel the need to do it again. We got hot chocolate and digestives afterwards, which was delightful.

I was so excited to get back to the hotel, take a warm shower, and have a big bowl of soup after this! After a couple hours of relaxation, I ventured into downtown Reykjavik. The city is cute and walkable. I didn't get very far past the shops on Laugavegur Road and Hallgrímskirkja Cathedral, but I had a good time exploring.

A delicious local orange soda I discovered.

In the evening, I was supposed to go whale watching, but the wind was so high that it was canceled. Instead, I went on the most iconic of all Icelandic adventures: the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is a huge thermal bath, fed with both fresh water and geothermal salt water. There are minerals in the water that make your skin baby soft and you can relax in peace for hours. I've heard it called "The Disney Land of hot springs" because it is huge and located right next to the airport so it can get very busy. There is a swim-up bar and a giant hydraulic massage waterfall. You can get a silica mud mask for your face and explore the giant pool or just sit in one glorious place. It was pretty amazing.

I never took any photos here because it was dark and I was too busy relaxing, so here's a stock photo from Guide to Iceland. Love this place!

Day 3 (9/23/16): Glacier Hiking & Waterfalls
On my final full day in Iceland, I took a bus two hours along the South road. Here, the scenery is out-of-this world amazing. Mountains and volcanoes crop up out of nowhere, each with its own spectacular waterfall. There are picturesque farms dotted with sheep, Icelandic horses, and cows. You have a view of the ocean off in the distance, with jagged islands shrouded in mist. In fact, I got to see the volcano (Eyjafjallajökull) that erupted six years ago, halting all air traffic from Europe. After the drive, we stopped at Sólheimajökull Glacier and grabbed crampons and an ice ax to go out onto the glacier.

The Mountain Guides I went with have an incredible knowledge of the glacier. We first walked through an area dubbed "Mordor", with huge peaks of ice and ash. Crevices and waterfalls of ice water were around every corner and we skirted around features constantly to stay on solid ice.

After Mordor we got a view of the larger Glacier. I've never been near a Glacier this big before and it is spectacular.

There was a place on the Glacier where a river of water has eaten away the glacier and formed the most amazing walls, waterfalls, and sculptures in the ice. We walked down inside this area, where the walls were well-above our heads.

This walk was my favorite activity the whole trip, in a vacation that was jam-packed with incredible experiences. On the way home I visited two waterfalls: Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss. Both spectacular in their own ways. You can walk behind Seljalandsfoss and to get an amazing view from every angle.

That evening, I met up with my friend, Jesse's cousin's girlfriend (Ilyssa) who was starting a three-month epic tour of Europe. We went to a cute little restaurant called Svarta Kaffid that only sells two soups a day in a bread bowl with beer (how perfect). Soup is the ultimate meal in Iceland; so warm and cozy. I'm excited to follow Ilyssa on her own journey long after I arrive home.

Day 4 (9/24/16): Whale Watching & Home
After my whale watching was canceled on Thursday, I was able to reschedule it for the morning before I left on Saturday. It was raining again and the ticket window had a large sign that said "Rough Seas". They offered us all sea sickness pills and I happily took one. The boat headed out past more mountains in the mist of the rain and then we waited. And waited and waited and waited. About two hours later, I had given up and was trying to enjoy the (somewhat cold) sea air on my face. Suddenly we found one: a minke whale, not far from the front of the boat. I saw its small dorsal fin pop out of the water twice. That was it. Three hours of waiting for two seconds of whale viewing. The company thought that was pretty crappy too, so they gave us all tickets to return and try again within the next two years.

I had to rush to the airport after that and through passport checkpoints. I feel like I barely made my flight, but got home on time and was happy to be back.

I loved Iceland so much that I'm planning to take the family back for a week next summer. It will be the kids' first time out of the country. They're going to love it.