After long time I've decided to resume writing
about our travel experiences.
We just came back from Iceland. It was 9/8
days/night trip starting and ending at Reykjavik. It was three of us this time
- me, Aanchal and Dippi.
We planned to do the complete ring road trip with
rented car (two wheel drive) while spending nights in the cities on route.
Majority bookings were completed beforehand.
We were flying from Amsterdam and Dippi flew from
Aberdeen, arriving same day on 26th July.
Day 1:
KEF - Reykjavik
We landed about at 2pm, picked up the rental car
(Kia Rio 1.6 diesel, 2W) and directly rushed to the Blue Lagoon. There ware
more than 100 cars parked with some tourist buses as well. We got the entree
with online-booked tickets (some people were on waiting as they permit only so
many visitors at once).
We went to the heated pool for about 1hour, did put
the mud peg on face and had something to eat. It was a nice experience. From
there we planed to go to the supermarket - Bonus was the cheapest and most
recommended which we passed on way but it was closed (Sunday closes at 1800).
We decided to go to our place and came cross to Krona market right next to
where we were staying. Bought some items and went to our place. An old
Icelandic lady welcomed us with an even more welcoming dog - Nott. We received
call from Dippi, he had landed as well. We asked him to meet us directly at the
town. We had a round of beers and dinner at downtown area while I explained the
whole plan to both of them. The town was impressive, quite colourful with a
different vibe. We drove back to respective places.
Day 2:
Reykjavik - Vik
We started about at 11am towards Vik. On the way
there were quite few places that we had to cover (Seljalandsfoss
/ Selfoss/
Hella/ Hvolsvollur/ Eyjafjallajokull volcano/ Skogafoss/ Vik). On way covering
the iconic waterfalls, appreciating the sheer power of nature and stopping by
here and there we arrived at Vik. We had a nice dinner there we started
driving, out sleeping place was still 50km from Vik. I had a email confirmation
from a farm like place which was a sleeping bag accommodation (a very common
idea of night stay in Iceland). We reached to Kidda’s farm/guesthouse, which
was about 30km offroad. There was another French group of 16 staying there with
us. The room was small yet comfortable. The kitchen cum dining area was big,
toilet facilities were hostel like. We slept there wondering why it was so
expensive. Later we figured that there where not many farms around that area,
it was at the plains of sudden island, which were flood fields right below the
volcano with about 400m thick glacier on top of it. We slept thinking what all
must had happened here.
Day 3:
Vik- Stöðvarfjörður
Started in the morning around 11am, stopped on way
at creek hike and waterfall. We arrived at the visitor center where we had to
decide whether to go for waterfall or to glacier. We went to the glacier. It
was nice experience. Then was the hike to the canyon followed by Jokulsarlon
Glacial Lagoon. We did the boat tour and went very near to the icebergs, also
very lucky to see an iceberg that had just turned upside down. After dinner in
Hofn (went to fish and chips takeaway, fish was finished so end up having
chicken with fries, huge crowd of tourists) we set off for the adobe for night
at Stöðvarfjörður, a rather long and interesting drive. We made it to the
guesthouse at 0130am at night!
Day: 4
Stöðvarfjörður – Lake Myvatn
Day to start with a long drive, we picked up items
to prepare barbeque at dinner (although we had no idea where we were staying
that night). I took a quick bath in one of the waterfalls on way. Stopping here
and there on way we reached to mighty Dettifoss. Next were the geothermal
fields of lake Myvatn, then the geothermal pool and lava fields. We arrived to
the place we were supposed to spend the night at; right in front of lake with
overwhelming view of Katla volcano there was hostel like space with camping
area in front. Immediately we knew prepared barbeque and enjoyed with Gull and Glenlevit
single malt while witnessing that magical sunset.
Day: 5
Lake Myvatn – Akureyri
This was rather a short drive but busy day. There
was a lot to see around and cover in Lake Myvatn area. We look a walk to the
Crater Lake, went to explore the lava fields, hiked over volcano and checked
out the geothermal caves (temp ~40d). We managed to catch the guided tour at
lava formation visitor center. We had a good conversation with our guide, the
local Icelandic girl who told us her childhood experiences regarding volcanos and
earthquakes. It was so evident that growing up in Iceland is all-together a
different ball game. She mentioned that she was waiting for her ‘favorite’
volcano to erupt. I mean wow!
We checkout Godafoss on way and reached at Akureyri
rather early to be able to catch the party. There was some kind of summer
festival going on with concert on the Main Square and bunch of people hanging
out on the main street. We grabbed a beer or two and had a nice meal at Dippi’s
hostel. That’s where we tried the traditional Icelandic cuisine Plokkfiskur. It
was fish mashed with potatoes and grilled together on bread.
Day: 6
Akureyri – Búðardalur
This was truly a beautiful drive. We skipped the Husavik
pass and continued to further up towards Dalvik instead. There was a natural
geothermal pool to be explored - Grettirs Pool. From there we continued to Búðardalur
while taking break here and there. It was a rather relaxed day. Interestingly
we visited 4 pools that day but dipped in none. It was not a pool’s day that we
were hoping for, it was a fool’s day!
Reaching at Búðardalur we picked the barbeque items
again and planned for the night. The place we stayed was nice with a barbeque
area outside; we made good use of that. We went to another geothermal pool Laugar
í Sælingsdal which was about 20KM from our place, it was so windy that we
decided against it.
Day: 7
Búðardalur – Reykjavik
On the recommendation of our host, we started for Snæfellsnes
Peninsula. It truly was a complete
recap of the complete Iceland. We got to hear curious stories about mysterious
clouds and UFO enthusiasts gathering back in year 2000. We saw loads of
migratory birds (swans, flamingos among others) while driving through the
beautiful landscapes. We picked a Canadian hitchhiker on way, who suggested us
to go visit the Shark Museum. We went there to understand the six-month
fermentation process and taste shark meat. Rich with mercury and ammonia, it
was undoubtedly the worst thing that I’ve tasted in a long time. Moving on, we
did a cave tour to Vatnshellir Caves. It was 45min tour, very informative and
different. Cruising though the black and then golden sand beaches, we made it
to Reykjavik. We had quick bite and started the party; it was Saturday night
after all!
Day: 8
Golden circle
We had a rather late
start (thanks to the party last night, went to bed at 4am), started for Golden
Circle. We arrived at Geyser. It erupts in every 5-10mins ejecting hot water
off surface. You can spend hours waiting and watching this magnificent
phenomenon.
We had our first lunch of
the trip at the Geyser visitor center; it was surprisingly nice and cheap. From
there we went to Gullfoss, about 15mins drive. We waited there little bit for
the clouds to clear so that we can see the rainbows. We caught a glimpse of rainbow
and then decided to return back.
At Grill restaurant in
Reykjavik, we summarized our trip remembering the most amazing moments that we
had shared, sceneries that we had witnessed and sheer power of nature that had
made us feel vulnerable.
Day: 9
Reykjavik – KEF
Caught the respective
early morning flights to our destinations – that was Iceland for us.
