So here goes - my thoughts on our trip to Iceland in April 2014.
Iceland 12 - 23 April 2014
I downloaded all my photos this morning - all 1079 on them...I figured that it really wasn't fair on anybody if I posted all those photos on facebook so I decided that I would create a blog. I can add my journal to it and people can browse as they like.
So here goes - my thoughts on our trip to Iceland in April 2014.
So here goes - my thoughts on our trip to Iceland in April 2014.
Day 1 - Sat 12 April
Boston USA to Keflavik Iceland.
Our flight didn't leave Boston till 9:30 pm but the anticipation was too much to bear - We left home at 4pm.
Ok so it looks like I still don't have this packing light thing down pat, but in my defense the big red bag is full of two car seats...Trying to fit 4 people and 9 bags into the car was fun though!
We headed for PreFlight parking, left the car there and jumped on the bus to the airport. No issues with check-in or security and then came the waiting. 4.5 hours of it - I think we spent longer at the airport than we did in the airplane - it was only a 4.5 hour flight. OK so maybe we left a little bit too early. Finally onto the plane, kids were really good, watched the TV happily. Josh fell asleep pretty quickly but Lexie didn't get much rest. I had a few hours of dosing so not feeling too bad.
Our flight didn't leave Boston till 9:30 pm but the anticipation was too much to bear - We left home at 4pm.
Ok so it looks like I still don't have this packing light thing down pat, but in my defense the big red bag is full of two car seats...Trying to fit 4 people and 9 bags into the car was fun though!
We headed for PreFlight parking, left the car there and jumped on the bus to the airport. No issues with check-in or security and then came the waiting. 4.5 hours of it - I think we spent longer at the airport than we did in the airplane - it was only a 4.5 hour flight. OK so maybe we left a little bit too early. Finally onto the plane, kids were really good, watched the TV happily. Josh fell asleep pretty quickly but Lexie didn't get much rest. I had a few hours of dosing so not feeling too bad.
Day 2 - Sun 13 April
Keflavik to Reykjavik
We actually had a pretty good view during the descent into Iceland. Talk about flat. Its beautiful in such a different way. I think I got a glimpse of the Blue Lagoon as we flew over.
Getting off the plane was pretty simple, straight through immigration, picked up the bags, didn't even have to slow down for customs and we were in Iceland. Now to find our hire car. Unfortunately since we'd landed it had actually started to snow and there was already a coating on snow over everything/. I walked out of the airport and was able to see the car rental office, getting there was another thing though. We started heading in the right direction but soon lost our footpath and ended up trying to wheel the suitcases over snow covered grass and along the middle of the road. Twas not easy but we finally made it. Got ourselves a Kia Sorrento - not quite as big as I had hoped. Even with the car seats strapped in rather than needing to be packed we could only just fit everything in.
The snow stopped as we started the 50 min drive into Reykjavik. The sun came out and the views were gorgeous - black lava fields with a background of snow covered mountains, and....what's that....why hello horizon, haven't seen you for a while.
No issues finding our hotel - Downtown Hotel Reykjavik. Not a bad location, just out of the center of town, but close enough to walk to anything we need.
I had no issues checking myself in with the codes supplied. Looks like we got upgraded to a one bedroom apartment - very nice. We all crashed for a couple of hours to make up for our lack of sleep last night on the plane.
About 1pm I made everyone get up - I was ready to start exploring (not to mention I was hungry - we skipped breakfast today).
First stop Hallgrimskirkja.
A beautiful church and probably the most recognizable building in Reykjavik. On the outside its built to resemble the basalt columns you find all around Iceland. On the inside its very simple - almost stark - but wow what an organ - 5275 pipes.
We took the elevator up to the top of the tower to get a good overview of Reykjavik.
Next stop - food - right across the road from the church was a little café recommended by Lonely Planet - Café Loki. So we stopped in there for a late lunch.
Andy and I went with the meat soup and a side. Andy got the smoked Lamb on Pumpernickel flatbread, I got lamb pate on rye bread. Yum - on all counts. Kids had pancakes which were more like crêpes. And really, you can't beat the view.
We spent some time driving around Reykjavik (I wasn't going to try and get this kids to walk whilst they were still tired - too much of a hassle). Down the main street, then into the old part of the city.
We headed just out of town to the tip of the Seltjarnarnes Peninsular. About a 5 minute drive - but a totally different world.
At the tip of the peninsular we found a breakwater with beach leading out to lighthouse.
We checked the tide schedule and it said high tide wasn't due till 9pm so we decided to clamber across and check out the lighthouse......
The kids did a pretty good job rock hopping across, though Josh did slip into the water once.
We only stayed a short while as we were a bit worried about how fast the tide was coming in. The return journey was A LOT harder than getting out. And made even harder by the fact that we had a couple of early teen girls and their mum in front of us and one of the girls was terrified and moving very slowly. By the time we finally made it back we all had wet feet!
Back to the hotel for a change of shoes - then to the Bonus - an Aldi type supermarket - to buy some food for dinner. Microwave pizza for the kids - Thai soups for the adults - man were they good soups, not just for frozen meals, but just good in general!
We actually had a pretty good view during the descent into Iceland. Talk about flat. Its beautiful in such a different way. I think I got a glimpse of the Blue Lagoon as we flew over.
Getting off the plane was pretty simple, straight through immigration, picked up the bags, didn't even have to slow down for customs and we were in Iceland. Now to find our hire car. Unfortunately since we'd landed it had actually started to snow and there was already a coating on snow over everything/. I walked out of the airport and was able to see the car rental office, getting there was another thing though. We started heading in the right direction but soon lost our footpath and ended up trying to wheel the suitcases over snow covered grass and along the middle of the road. Twas not easy but we finally made it. Got ourselves a Kia Sorrento - not quite as big as I had hoped. Even with the car seats strapped in rather than needing to be packed we could only just fit everything in.
The snow stopped as we started the 50 min drive into Reykjavik. The sun came out and the views were gorgeous - black lava fields with a background of snow covered mountains, and....what's that....why hello horizon, haven't seen you for a while.
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| Back in my natural environment |
I had no issues checking myself in with the codes supplied. Looks like we got upgraded to a one bedroom apartment - very nice. We all crashed for a couple of hours to make up for our lack of sleep last night on the plane.
About 1pm I made everyone get up - I was ready to start exploring (not to mention I was hungry - we skipped breakfast today).
First stop Hallgrimskirkja.
A beautiful church and probably the most recognizable building in Reykjavik. On the outside its built to resemble the basalt columns you find all around Iceland. On the inside its very simple - almost stark - but wow what an organ - 5275 pipes.
We took the elevator up to the top of the tower to get a good overview of Reykjavik.
Next stop - food - right across the road from the church was a little café recommended by Lonely Planet - Café Loki. So we stopped in there for a late lunch.
We spent some time driving around Reykjavik (I wasn't going to try and get this kids to walk whilst they were still tired - too much of a hassle). Down the main street, then into the old part of the city.
At the tip of the peninsular we found a breakwater with beach leading out to lighthouse.
We checked the tide schedule and it said high tide wasn't due till 9pm so we decided to clamber across and check out the lighthouse......
The kids did a pretty good job rock hopping across, though Josh did slip into the water once.
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| The lighthouse |
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| view looking north |
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| looking back at the Cod drying racks |
Back to the hotel for a change of shoes - then to the Bonus - an Aldi type supermarket - to buy some food for dinner. Microwave pizza for the kids - Thai soups for the adults - man were they good soups, not just for frozen meals, but just good in general!
Day 3 - Mon 14 April
Reykjavik to Lambafell
After a simple breakfast in our room, we checked out of our hotel and headed out of Reykjavik. Didn't take long - 8 minutes or so and we were out in the countryside. Unfortunately it was raining this morning so the beautiful views were a bit obscured, we were limited to just what we could see beside the road.
First stop of the day was Hveragerdi. Since watching some promotional videos for Iceland, one of the things Lexie really wanted to do was boil eggs in a hot spring, and since Hverargerdi is "The Town of Hot Springs" this is the place to do it. Hot spring park is located right in the center of town. Unfortunately most of its hot springs were dry (can't say the same about us - it was still raining and at time sleeting so we all got pretty soaked wandering around). There was one little place set up for the boiling of the eggs though so we hired ourselves a net and set to work.
The kids had a ball - and we all got to enjoy boiled eggs for morning tea.
We spent some more time exploring the rest of town. It had a nice little waterfall.
But we couldn't really find any of the other hot springs that were meant to be scattered around.
We stopped in at a little corner park down the backstreets to have our lunch, but it was pretty miserable - it was still raining and sleeting so not much fun.
We headed out of town towards the coast. Next stop was Raufarholshellir. A lava cave. Andy walked down into the cave whilst I waited at the car till Josh woke up. Once he woke up Lexie, Josh and I went to check out the caves from the top side. The cave had collapsed in a couple of places and the kids had fun following Andy's progress from one sink hole to another.
We drove down to the coast at Porlskshofn. We weren't overly impressed with the town, until we saw the pool. It looked so cool we decided we had to stop in. This was our first experience of Icelandic pools. The fun of the communal showers before putting on your swimming suit, and then the real fun of running through the freezing cold to get into the pool, or onto the slide. We all had so much fun.
The final stop of the day was at Seljalandsfoss. A waterfall with a path going right around behind the falls.
Our hotel for the night was a great little log cabin in the middle of nowhere.
We drove down to the nearest town Skogar for dinner and had a great meal with another great view of Skogarfoss.
After a simple breakfast in our room, we checked out of our hotel and headed out of Reykjavik. Didn't take long - 8 minutes or so and we were out in the countryside. Unfortunately it was raining this morning so the beautiful views were a bit obscured, we were limited to just what we could see beside the road.
First stop of the day was Hveragerdi. Since watching some promotional videos for Iceland, one of the things Lexie really wanted to do was boil eggs in a hot spring, and since Hverargerdi is "The Town of Hot Springs" this is the place to do it. Hot spring park is located right in the center of town. Unfortunately most of its hot springs were dry (can't say the same about us - it was still raining and at time sleeting so we all got pretty soaked wandering around). There was one little place set up for the boiling of the eggs though so we hired ourselves a net and set to work.
The kids had a ball - and we all got to enjoy boiled eggs for morning tea.
We spent some more time exploring the rest of town. It had a nice little waterfall.
But we couldn't really find any of the other hot springs that were meant to be scattered around.
We stopped in at a little corner park down the backstreets to have our lunch, but it was pretty miserable - it was still raining and sleeting so not much fun.
We headed out of town towards the coast. Next stop was Raufarholshellir. A lava cave. Andy walked down into the cave whilst I waited at the car till Josh woke up. Once he woke up Lexie, Josh and I went to check out the caves from the top side. The cave had collapsed in a couple of places and the kids had fun following Andy's progress from one sink hole to another.
We drove down to the coast at Porlskshofn. We weren't overly impressed with the town, until we saw the pool. It looked so cool we decided we had to stop in. This was our first experience of Icelandic pools. The fun of the communal showers before putting on your swimming suit, and then the real fun of running through the freezing cold to get into the pool, or onto the slide. We all had so much fun.
The final stop of the day was at Seljalandsfoss. A waterfall with a path going right around behind the falls.
Our hotel for the night was a great little log cabin in the middle of nowhere.
Day 4 - Tue 15 April
Lambafell - Vik
We spent some time checking out the area around our hotel this morning. What an amazing location.
We then headed back to Skogar where we had dinner last night. Time to check out Skogarfoss.
We hiked up the path that you can almost see at the side to get a view from the top.
On our way back down we tried to stop at the little lookout halfway down but it was a seriously narrow slippery path (no guard rails here) and of course a tour bus turned up just as we got there and very rudely pushed through and in front of us - more worried about getting in, getting their photo then getting back on the bus than on anything else, I was a bit worried about the kids being pushed off the edge so I took them back to the main path and let Andy try and make it to the end.
We made it to the bottom and walked right down to the bottom of the falls.
Josh of course tried to fill in the lake - that boy does love to throw rocks.
Next we headed off down a very bumpy dirt road. 5km later we arrived at the tongue of the Solheimajokull glacier.
we walked over the hill from the parking lot and over the ash covered ice at the edge. (we're right next to Eyjafjallajokull which is the volcano that exploded in 2011 so this ash is probably pretty new)
And down onto the glacier itself.
Lexie wanted to try a drink of glacial water, but rather than cupping some in her hands and drinking from her hands she decided it was easier to just get down on the ground and lap at the stream of water.....oakay.
One of the guided tours had left a rope down the edge of the glacier so we borrowed it to get up and down onto the first flat level of the glacier.
From the glacier we headed south again to a region called Dyhroley. A rocky plateau at the oceans edge surrounded by black sand beaches. I was a bit skeptical when I heard about the "beautiful" black beaches, but I'm converted, they really are beautiful, especially with the white waves crashing against them.
Josh is very taken by the mythology of the area where the basalt columns rising from the ocean are trolls that have been turned to stone when they were caught in the sunlight and he had a great time finding "troll caves" and trying to figure out what the trolls were doing when they were caught etc.
We found a path down and had a walk along one of the beaches, found a troll cave to explore, and almost got cut off by the tide once again - what's with the tides in this place.
Around the other side of the headland, the kids refused to get out of the car, they'd had enough for the day, so Andy and I took turns walking out to the lighthouse to see the sea arch. It was probably a good thing that the kids stayed in the car, the wind was so strong I had a hard time keeping my feet on the ground.
Our over night stop was in a little town called Vik. a cute little town (emphasis on the little). On our tour around town we found the local swimming pool so we did a spot of grocery shopping, booked into our hotel and had lunch then headed back to the pool. This one wasn't quite as good as the first one, only one slide and the water temp was colder so we didn't spend too long in there.
vik
We spent some time checking out the area around our hotel this morning. What an amazing location.
We then headed back to Skogar where we had dinner last night. Time to check out Skogarfoss.
We hiked up the path that you can almost see at the side to get a view from the top.
On our way back down we tried to stop at the little lookout halfway down but it was a seriously narrow slippery path (no guard rails here) and of course a tour bus turned up just as we got there and very rudely pushed through and in front of us - more worried about getting in, getting their photo then getting back on the bus than on anything else, I was a bit worried about the kids being pushed off the edge so I took them back to the main path and let Andy try and make it to the end.
We made it to the bottom and walked right down to the bottom of the falls.
Josh of course tried to fill in the lake - that boy does love to throw rocks.
Next we headed off down a very bumpy dirt road. 5km later we arrived at the tongue of the Solheimajokull glacier.
we walked over the hill from the parking lot and over the ash covered ice at the edge. (we're right next to Eyjafjallajokull which is the volcano that exploded in 2011 so this ash is probably pretty new)
One of the guided tours had left a rope down the edge of the glacier so we borrowed it to get up and down onto the first flat level of the glacier.
From the glacier we headed south again to a region called Dyhroley. A rocky plateau at the oceans edge surrounded by black sand beaches. I was a bit skeptical when I heard about the "beautiful" black beaches, but I'm converted, they really are beautiful, especially with the white waves crashing against them.
Josh is very taken by the mythology of the area where the basalt columns rising from the ocean are trolls that have been turned to stone when they were caught in the sunlight and he had a great time finding "troll caves" and trying to figure out what the trolls were doing when they were caught etc.
We found a path down and had a walk along one of the beaches, found a troll cave to explore, and almost got cut off by the tide once again - what's with the tides in this place.
Around the other side of the headland, the kids refused to get out of the car, they'd had enough for the day, so Andy and I took turns walking out to the lighthouse to see the sea arch. It was probably a good thing that the kids stayed in the car, the wind was so strong I had a hard time keeping my feet on the ground.
Our over night stop was in a little town called Vik. a cute little town (emphasis on the little). On our tour around town we found the local swimming pool so we did a spot of grocery shopping, booked into our hotel and had lunch then headed back to the pool. This one wasn't quite as good as the first one, only one slide and the water temp was colder so we didn't spend too long in there.
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| Our Hotel in Vik |
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| Just enough room for 4 single beds in the room. |
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| view from our window. |
vik
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