5 minute poses

I have been putting off concluding this blog because in a way, it ending, really solidifies the fact that the trip is over. This blog has really helped to extend our trip by almost a month, and I am grateful for that. We had such an amazing experience together and I am so glad to have been able to share it. 

Jacobsen funk band.

We arrived back in Reykjavik, tired and hungry. We showered and headed downtown for a final meal out. This one was recommended by none other than Jamie Oliver. Well, not a direct recommendation, but we read the review, and he loved it, so if was good enough for him, it was good enough for us. Leah pointed out that we would never eat at an Italian restaurant called La Primavera here in New York for fear that it was a tourist trap with bad food. Not the case in Reykjavik. Dinner was delicious, and it was so great to sit around and relax, and laugh.

After dinner, around 9:30, we headed out for coffee, and decided to stop for a drink at a bar as well. We got there, just as the Jacobsen Funk band was starting to play a free show. Since we both love live music, and jazz funk, we couldn’t pass up the chance on our last night, despite how tired we were, to add one more thing to our trip. 

We never did find out the name of this amazing band that played nearly 3 hours of free music, other than they were the Jacobsen (the bar we were at) house band. They were amazing, and by the time they got off the stage, the bar was packed. 

When we finally left, it was half past midnight, and still light out. This time we decided to get real proof.

Geysir erupting on a tourist passing by not paying a damn bit of attention. (turn up your volume for her screams)

I really should re title this post, “out of the highlands” because thankfully, finally, after 4 hours of driving on unpaved roads, we made it out. About 1.5 hours away from Reykjavik now we made our final stops in Iceland. The first was to visit the Gulfoss, Iceland’s most famous waterfall. I thought that I read that it was the largest in Europe, or the most powerful, or something to that effect. That is not true, its just regionally popular. It was beautiful and lush around it. Unfortunately it was also infested with gnats who knew no boundaries and cared little for our swatting. So the visit was short. What I will say is that it is really amazing to be so close to these wondrous attractions with little more than a rope standing in your way.

Just down the road we stopped of at the Geysir, a geothermal area where a huge spray of water erupts from the ground. There was a larger Geysir which shot water 80 meters into the air, but in the 1950s tourists, in an attempt to set it off, threw rocks into the hole and have since blocked its eruptions. This smaller version was still fun to watch.

We left Akureryi and headed west to pick up the Kjolur. This was one of the highlights of the trip for me.  Something I wanted to do ever since I understood the Icelandic geography. The Highlands are virtually uninhabited. Most of the roads that pass through do not have their rivers bridged. The Kjolur (Keyorla as it is pronounced) does. It is a 200 km road that is a “shortcut” between Akureryi and Reykjavik. Notice the quotes. It is not a heavily trafficked road, due to the belief that it was infested with outlaws. I think I expected a smoother ride. 

Just before entering into the highlands was came down a large hill into a magnificent valley, lined with green pastures under a blanket of bright blue skies that were littered with puffy clouds.

This view quickly changed as we started on the Kjour. 

We were surrounded by a barren landscape. Mostly flat, desert like in many areas, devoid of most signs of life. The first milestone we hit was the Hveravellir geothermal area. This bubbling spot was less picturesque the others we saw, but a sure sign of life amongst the emptiness, complete with a geothermal bath and grass covered house.

Its hard to describe with it is like to drive through a desolate grey desert, and the awe you feel when Glaciers rise up on either side of you, or how happy you are after 4 hours on a windy, bumpy, dusty road in a car with minimal AC finally end. I guess you just jump for joy. 

After a smelly, but relaxing visit to the Myvatn Nature Baths, we hit the road for the final hour drive to Akureyri. A friend had told us it wasn’t their favorite part of the trip, so we weren’t expecting too much. What we found was a very quaint waterfront city. It felt very European and very New England at the same time. 

We arrived at our hotel after arguing over directions, and got ready for dinner. Our hotel, in walking distance from the center of Akureryi, was a converted boarding school. So our rooms were set up with desks, closets, and two beds on opposite sides of the room. Comfortable nonetheless.

We headed out, walking along the water, to find somewhere to eat. On our way we bothered a nice couple for a photo of us.  We ended up settling on an American style restaurant with some Icelandic dishes. I couldn’t resist getting a hamburger with bacon, ham, and a fried egg on top. Leah got the soup and salad bar.

After dinner we wandered around town a bit more, headed in a bookstore, looked at furniture, and took a few more photos. I want to say that it is amazing how impossible it is to distinguish in these photos between 11am and 11pm.

We left Egilsstadir and headed out on a 3 hour drive to Akureyri, the northern capital. This was the point in the trip, as the end seemed oh so near, that my careful planning was less and less detailed. I just wanted to cut through Iceland from the north rather than following the Ring Road down the western coast. So it was time to reevaluate exactly what we were going to be doing up here. I am always less excited to see cities than I am to see the country side, so I felt no real need to spend no real amount of time in Akureyri.

It turns out that according to the guide books the area an hour to the west, Myvatn, is the “gem” of the area. It sits on the Mid Atlantic Ridge and is filled with volcano which have determined the look of the area. Geothermal heat emits a lot of sulfur, so besides the beautiful colors of the area, we will always remember the smell.

Our first stop was a bubbling geothermal area called Hverir. This certainly appeared to be a popular tourist stop by the large number of crowds. It really looked like martian landscape with its orange and grey landscape and smoke pouring out everywhere.

The lovely smell of sulfur made us work up quite and appetite. We headed into Myvatn for lunch at a restaurant where I had an amazing Icelandic stew, which was very very fresh. I can pretty much guarantee this to be true, since one wall of the restaurant was all glass and looked out at a cattle milking area. 

After lunch we drove past Bjarnarflag, a geothermal lake, which unfortunately was too hot to allow for swimming. It was beautiful and blue nonetheless. According to the guidebook, at one time farmers tried growing potatoes in this area, but the ground yielded boiled potatoes instead.

The next stop was a hike to the Leirhnjukur crater. To get here we drove up a large hill past a geothermal power plant where the smell of sulfur was running rampant. The hike, a short, hour and a half trip was more like a walk on a carefully placed path. The area is still hot and active so you are only allowed to walk in certain places, so we followed a wooden path into the area, passing bubbling mud pits, and then into the site of the volcanic eruption. If you have ever seen Lord of the Rings, this looks a lot like Mordor did. Desolate, barren, bleak, and oddly beautiful. We even so little bits of life growing from the within the rubble.

We ended our visit in Myvatn, at the nature baths. I large geothermal hot spring. It was great, but smelled terrible. 

After we left Jokurlson lagoon, we continued on the road to Egilsstadir. It was beautiful of course, but at this point we decided after a long day of hiking and sight seeing, it was time to just drive. At a certain point, we realized we would never get to the guesthouse in time for any sort of dinner, so we decided to stop at a very quaint seaside town for dinner.

Djupivogur was the first real town, as we know it, that we really experienced in Iceland. We drove into town  and found a sports field, police station, restaurants. It really felt like the first semblance of civilization we found since departing from Reykjavik. We found a great restaurant and had dinner. The cod was delicious, but as we found all over Iceland, they use way too much cream in their cooking.

We continued on the Ring Road, this time taking a short cut and bypassing the East Fjords which weave in and out along the Icelandic coast. Even before the short cut, we we starting to experience dense fog along the coast, but as we climbed up the unpaved road above, we experienced something quite different. The fog was so enveloping we couldn’t see more than a few feet ahead of us, and while we knew we were alone, we certainly felt vulnerable and, generally creeped out.

We finally arrived, and went to sleep in a room with a skylight with no curtains. Not the easiest sleeping situation when you have nearly 24 hours of daylight.