Iceland: Coming Around Full Circle

For Friday, October 1 and Saturday, October 2

My last morning with the campervan.  I got myself all cleaned up at the campground.  Showered and in fresh clothes.  Then I got everything all packed up.  All of the dishes I had used that morning got washed.  Then the problem was it was only 9.  I had figured out bus schedules so that I could board the bus toward Keflavik Airport at 12:53.  I didn’t have to turn in the van until noon.  I dillydallied around for a bit and then got gas, but that still didn’t take very long.  I ended up finding a parking lot and reading for 45 minutes before finally going to turn in the van.  That was pretty easy overall.  After that, I had a 20 minute walk to where the airport bus picks up from.  There were sidewalks the whole way, which was great.  I still was really early though.  I walked along the shore a little bit, and then found a place to settle down by a little pond.  An hour or so later the bus arrived and I took my last bus ride through Iceland.

Hafnarfjordur

After I got off the bus I had a 10 minute walk to Hotel Berg, where I was spending the night.  I decided I was going to stay at a nice hotel for that last night in Iceland.  In fact, after totally up the cost of all the campsites I stayed at, I discovered that one night at the hotel was equal to about 12 nights camping (for one).  I also finally took a look at the math and looked at how far I drove during my 2 weeks with the van.  3,291 km. 2044 miles.  The Ring Road is actually only 828 miles long.  But I did a lot of side offshoots, plus there were two places where I literally doubled-back on roads; one of those on purpose (the day I went to see the volcano) and the other not (the day the road was closed and I thought I was going to die).  But the whole point of the trip was to see Iceland, so I wouldn’t take back any of those miles.

But I digress.  Friday afternoon after checking into Hotel Berg, I went for a walk along the retaining wall in Keflavik.  Right below the cliff my hotel was on was the home of a giant.  A beloved Icelandic children’s book series involves a giantess and a young girl.  They had built the giantess’ home under the cliff and when you walk in there you can actually hear the breathing of the giantess, and she is sitting by the window looking out, probably 15 feet tall (while sitting).

The Giantess's Home from across the harbor at Keflavik.

From there, I continued the walk along the wall.  There was one place where there were two large rocks that looked like people (art, not by chance) and a viewing platform of the rock retaining wall.  There was a cute little story on a sign about how back in 2005, shortly after the wall had been built to keep the ocean from eroding the shoreline, the kindergarteners wrote to the mayor to request some stairs so they could see the water over the rocks.  They built the platform so the kids could see.  It was a lessen in civics for the kids and it was cute to see that they had followed through.

The viewing platform at Keflavik.

I followed the path for probably over a mile and saw a lot of bird, some art, and an old lighthouse (which I discovered that night, is still actually used).  After walking back to the hotel to debate what to do for supper for an hour until it was a more respectable hour for food, I went through all the financials for the trip.  Besides the van and airfare, the greatest portion of the trip’s cost came on fuel, which ran me about $375. An hour or so later I went to eat at a restaurant near my hotel.  It was the first sit-down restaurant I had eaten at the whole trip.  When I had gotten food it had thrice come in the form of a croissant (chocolate or ham/cheese) and once in the form of a hot dog (they’re big into hot dogs in Iceland), so I can’t really tell you how much eating out every day would have cost, but it probably would have beeen A LOT more that the $90ish I spent on groceries. 

After supper I changed into my swimsuit and spent two hours soaking and sitting on the edge of the pool (all pools in iceland are hot tubs, just minus the jets).  I watched and the sun went down and hoped to see the Nothern Lights pop out.  After I headed in, I got everything ready so all I’d have to do in the morning was shower, get dressed, and put what I had worn to bed in my bag.  Then I headed back outside with a blanket for about 30 minutes in my last quest to see the Northern Lights.  Unfortunately they did not come out for me to see during the time I was sitting outside, meaning I left Iceland without ever having seen them, so that was disappointing.  Someday I’ll get to see them.  Maybe on another trip to Iceland in the future (because there were some things I missed out on due to weather), or on a trip to Scandanavia.  

Sunset from the pool at Hotel Berg

In the morning, everything went as planned and I was to the airport with plenty of time to spare.  A 6 ½ hour flight to Minneapolis-St. Paul, followed by a 2 hour layover, and an hour and a half flight home to Wichita.  It’s been a fun trip for sure.  But I’ll definitely be happy to be back in my own bed.  And I want a chicken sandwich so badly.  Haha!

Goodbye Iceland!

Iceland: Trylla Nose Best

 For Wednesday, September 29 and Thursday, September 30

Well, the weather decided I was not going to the Snaefells Peninsula.  It also decided I wasn’t going back into Thingvellir, at least not in the morning.  So that meant I was going into Reykjavik.  I had figured a return to Reykjavik would be my last day, but you do what the weather lets you.  

In the morning I went to the Perlan.  It is this museum that I would say is about the natural wonders of Iceland.  It is built up on a hill overlooking Reykjavik and is actually the site of 6 old (or current, I actually never quite figured that out) water tanks that provide water to Reykjavik.  There is a big glass dome built over it.  The design of the building involves columns filled with water that act like a giant radiator and provide heating or cooling depending on the time of the year and whether it is hot water or cold water running through them.  Rather ingenius.  I like it.

The museum started out with an overall explanation of the types of volcanoes that exist and then talked a little more about which ones you find in Iceland.  In fact, there are so many in Iceland that instead of talking about specific volcanoes, they talk about volcano systems (and there are 30 of those).  Basically in those systems, you can expect that is volcanic activity somewhere under the ground there that may one day decide to open a fissure or bring a volcano to the the surface.  The museum went through the history of Iceland’s volcanic activity through 2015.  

Then there was a section that focused on the some of the wildlife and plants found around the island.  Basically, the arctic fox is the only native ground species to Iceland.  All the other animals found on the ground in Iceland were brought be settlers.  There are a number of birds (including puffins...I was here too late to see those) of course that are found, especially along the shorelines.  And the whales.  Lots of whales and fish.  But not polar bears, unless they happen to come ashore after being adrift on an iceberg from Greenland.  This happens every few years.  They usually let them be unless they cause harm.  They also had an ice cave in the Perlan.  It was -10 C inside it.  One thing the ice cave showed was how there are different layers in a glacier.  How you, for instance, can follow historic eruptions based on ash layers and such.  Iceland has a bunch of glaciers, which like many around the world are receding.  As they go, the ground will rise up because there will no longer be the weight of all the ice on the shelf.  They expect that by around 2180, Icelandic glaciers will no longer be able to provide enough water for the island, they they will have to rely on water from precipitation.

Inside a fun-sized section of the ice cave at the Perlan.

There was also an area about the water of Iceland.  Much of it comes from glaciers or natural springs.  The spring water can be drunk without filtering because it is so clean.  The glacial water needs a bit of help just because of the debris that exists in glaciers.  They also get water from runoff and precipitation.  While the oceans around Iceland are full of fish, the lakes have only limited species.  Species that just happened to be in the wrong (or right) location when the lakes were cut-off from the ocean.  And over the tens or hundreds of thousands of years have evolved into a different variety than they started out.

After leaving Perlan, I had to find a place to park so I could go pick up the souvenirs I wanted to purchase.  Good news is thanks to my first two days in Iceland, I knew where a park was with parking that was free, and only a mile or so from where I wanted to go shop.  I picked up a few gifts for Christmas for some people and bought myself a true Icelandic wool sweater.  

After doing what I needed in Reykjavik, I decided to head to Thingvellir (again) for my final day.  I figured I’d need two days to do the Snaefells Peninsula so I guess I’ll have to save that for a return trip!  Thanks to Perlan, I realized I had actually missed out on some things in Thingvellir so since it was fairly close I was going to make a return trip.  I camped out in the campground there which meant I got to spend my night out in the middle of nowhere.  I set my alarm for midnight and 3 am determined to see some Northern Lights.  At midnight I could heard rain pounding on my car and fell back asleep without even bothering to look.  At 3am there was no rain so I stuck my head out and about ½ the sky was clear and I could see the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia very clearly...but sadly, after 15 minutes of looking, I gave up and went back to bed.  Maybe my problem is I like sleep and I’m just not staying up long enough to see them.

Sunset from Thingvellir

The next morning after making breakfast I head across the street and was the 3rd car in the parking lot near one of the hiking trails.  The thing I had totally missed about Thingvellir was the fact that the continental rift literally runs right through the middle of the park.  The country is literally being pulled apart there because of the two tectonic plates that cross the country (the same plates that are highlighted by the “Bridge Between Two Continents”.  Thingvellir has long been a very important place in Iceland.  Dating back to shortly after Settlement (think 9th century), the different chieftains from around the country would come to Thingvellir every summer to recite, debate, and enact new laws, which they would then take back to their communities.  Even through into the 18th century the site was an important place.  It was also a place where they would decide and enact punishments.  There is a place in the small rift canyon that pretty much translates to Hanging Place, and another pond called the Drowning Pond.  

Rift canyon at Thingvellir.

Along with killing people at Thingvellir are some neat things like another waterfall (whatelse of course!).  This one is small by Iceland standards, but I still very much liked it.  It was also here that I discovered that poor Trylla lost his nose.  He had his nose the day before, but it was sadly gone when I pulled him out to get of photo of him by the waterfall.  Good thing is he still looks happy.

Trylla looked happy enough even though his nose was gone.  Just enjoying another Iceland waterfall. Oxarafoss.

The trail at Thingvellir follows through the rift canyon.  There is actually a point where the trail moves from a gravel pathway to raised because quite recently a hole was discovered in the path.  That made them nervous and upon further investigation, the small hole was actually a large and deep hole (reminder that the plates are still moving!).  So they ended up having to raise the path so people didn’t fall into the large hole that had developed.  I spent a couple of hours crisscrossing and going down every path while there, before finally heading back to van to figure what to do with the afternoon.

Just a gaping hole where a path used to be since the earth is moving apart underneath it.

I decided, why not head to Gardur.  The very northwest tip of the Reykanes peninesula (the southwest-most peninsula).  There is an old lighthouse there that dates back to the late 1800s.  It was replaced years later with a much larger one, so it was kind of a two-for-one lighthouse special and who doesn’t love those!?  It was very windy there on the tip, sticking out into the Atlantic. Because skies were clear, you could actually see across to the Snaefells Peninsula, which is a distance of roughly 100 km.  I’ve discovered that the majority of the old lighthouses around Iceland are a bright orange, which totally make sense for visibility purposes.

Gardur lighthouses (old and new)

From there I headed to my last campsite for the trip, which ended up being all the way back in Reykjavik, which isn’t actually as far as it sounds.  After settling in, I set to trying to organize and get everything packed.  Let me tell you, it is a lot easier to pack in an apartment than a campervan.  I got about 80% packed that night, with really only the loading of my suitcase to finish up the following morning.