Iceland & Day 5

As it was the coldest day we had experienced yet, the visit to Gulfoss was brutal on any exposed skin. This massive waterfall provided an icy mist in the direction of the oncoming tourist path. Perfect! The story of the waterfall goes a little somethin’ like this…Sigridur Tomasdottir, the daughter of Tomas Tomasson, wanted to intervene when her father, the owner of the land, was working with the Icelandic government to build a dam at this site. She fought both the government and her father with threats of throwing herself over the falls, but to no avail the state still had plans to build the dam. For some odd reason the dam was never built, but as the story goes it had nothing to do with Sigridur’s fight.

Just a few miles down the road from Gulfoss is Geysir. This spouting hot spring has been inactive for years at a time. This geyser once shot water straight up close to 200 feet. 1916 was the last time of more frequent activity. In 1935 a channel was dug in an effort to revive the activity, which lasted for a short time, adding soap to induce eruption, but this practice was later halted due to environmental concerns. Needless to say, Geysir was showing no signs of activity on our visit. Next to Geysir is Stokkur which satisfied my big eyes. This geyser only shoots up to about 65 feet, but its much more frequent, close to 5 minute intervals. People gather around this thing just waiting in the bitter cold for the earth to release its sulfuric gases.

A few more miles down the road is Skalholt, the most important city in Iceland during the 8th century. It held Iceland’s first school and was also the center for religious reformation to Lutheranism, ending Catholicism. There’s not much left in this tiny town except for a few farm homes, the new church, and the excavation site of the old church and tunnel leading to Iceland’s first school.

Only two days left and we’ve only explored a small fraction of this adventurous island…

Iceland & Day 4

Probably one of the coldest days yet…the most scenic for sure.

Iceland & Day 3

As a last minute reservation, we selected a tiny cabin isolated in the southeast region of Iceland to call home base while we explored for a couple of days. We left Reykjavik with not a clue as to what to expect, but never fear Iceland’s Route 1 is filled with tourist markers. Waterfalls, hot springs, etc are easy to spot in these vast parts of Iceland. They stick out like a filipino in Iceland, heh.

A convenience store in Hella provided semi-satisfying paprika chips and an orange soda called Applesin Limonadi. As if the name wasn’t confusing enough, my taste receptors sent messages to my brain that fragmented into a little something like this, diet club soda with splash of orange drink. Yikes. The weirdness played over and over in my head since I couldn’t put the drink down, until we stumbled upon Seljalandsfoss — a large and beautiful waterfall in which you have the opportunity of walking behind and soaking up all the lovely frigid water.

As the soda and chips began to slowly become unstatisfying, we stopped for a lovely bite in Vik where the population is less than the maximum capacity of your neighborhood library….500 folks. The only place open was a modern restaurant in a seemingly vintage Guesthouse. Matthew and I both went for the traditional lamb soup–a hearty bowl of lamb chunks and typical soup veggies. For his main course he had the Icelandic staple….fish (it was fall apart at the slightest touch of a fork TROUT). I had chicken glazed and backed in a creamy, mushroom sauce….the kind of yummy meal that yields no stopping point.

After dinner we realized it was getting a bit late and decided head straight to the next guesthouse in Horgsland. We checked in with a filipino woman which turns out to be from another small province next to the town where my mother is from. She’s a long way from home, though I must admit she smelled of stinky (I mean that in the most delicious way) fried fish which just took me right back to the Philippines. Rob, though filipino isn’t the slightest bit a fan of the stinky stuff.

The travels continue further East on Day 4!

Iceland & Day 2

Day 2 was a little mini exploration of the Reykjanes Peninsula + rummikub game back at the guesthouse.

Iceland & Day 1

Cheese, ham, boiled eggs, cucumber, tomatoes, toast, and coffee….random breakfast but it hit the spot. We arrived to the humble Guesthouse to a nook full of breakfasters and early birds. Since our arrival was 7am, our rooms were not yet ready, so we decided to loop around the neighborhood and entertain ourselves. When our room was ready, the first order was NAP TIME to prepare for the second half of the day.

Best part of the day? You guessed it…the Blue Lagoon. Its one of those places that can make you forget almost anything. I’d bet that Iceland’s political leaders would stop thinking about their country’s economic failure the second they’re big toe dips in the milky, sultry pool…cocktail in hand. We had a satisfying dinner at the Lagoon’s restaurant to close out the evening and then headed back to the guesthouse. After jiggling about 4 different door knobs, we finally found building #3 (our guesthouse)–yeah, they are all indistinguishable. Process of elimination and a little critical thinking will carry us through this little trip.