Astrovelo

It was super windy today as we started from Kolkuos guesthouse after a nice breakfast.


Drove through Hofsos up to Siglufjordur. Passed the northernmost point on this trip or ever. Higher than 66deg North.

Went through some tunnels in the mountain before reaching town. Siglufjordur was a nice little town. Colorful houses and these big metallic fixtures on the mountain prevent avalanches as the town sits at the bottom of this steep mountain.



Akureyri - Drove through Dalvic and a couple more long tunnels on the way. One of them was one-way with pullouts. It was interesting to see how well it works when people are courteous. Akureyri is a big town, a bit artsy. The trashcans around town are covered with these sweaters.

Went to Centrum kitchen for lunch. Had Atlantic ling for the first time. White fish but not as flaky as cod. Vaishali had langoustine soup that was very well spiced.

Godafoss - This is the Niagara Falls of Iceland. It is a huge waterfall. It was so windy there. Got sand/gravel pelted on our faces. Saw the guys who were at the guesthouse last night. Steve and the German guy from Long Island.


Skutustadagigar - Entered the Mývatn area and the first stop was to see these pseudo craters. They are caused by the eruption of steam and not lava. They are smaller than the volcanic craters, but have the same shape and look like real craters. There are many in this area.



Before more exploration, we checked in at our hotel - Hotel Berjaya Myvatn.

Grjótagjá - Cave with hot spring where John Snow gave up on his oath in GoT. It is a small cave and has clear blue water that is too hot for bathing.

Dinner at Vogafjós farm - This is a restaurant at the farm. Organic, farm-to-table etc. It is actually half of the cowshed. They have glass windows through which you can see cows chewing their food and pooping and peeing while you eat dinner.


Gin and tonic for me, a gin cocktail with limoncello for V. We shared mozzarella salad and both had pan-fried arctic char. Oily fish similar to salmon. Tasted good. We shared a cake dessert that came with ice cream - gésir bread ice cream.

After dinner, we stopped by the hotel bar, had a glass of wine, and chatted about what to do tomorrow.

Started out from Hellnar in the rain. Stopped at Bjarnarfoss by the side of the road but could only see half the fall. The top half was in clouds. Also stopped at Arnarstapi harbor. It is supposed to be quite scenic according to the book but couldn’t really see much due to clouds and rain.


Budir black church - It is a striking building. We just took a picture from the car as we didn’t want to get out in the rain.

The whole day turned out to be rainy and windy. Stopped at this hot water spring where boiling water was bubbling out of the ground. So much geothermal energy here.

The rest of the drive was uneventful. Bought a sandwich for lunch in Borgarnes. Then picked up frozen pizza and smoked salmon at a grocery store in Sauderkrokur. This guesthouse is totally isolated from everything. Had to drive on a gravel road for 5km to get there. It is a great location, right on the beach. Hoping to see northern lights tonight as the clouds are clearing out here.

We had this whole beach to ourselves!

We started our trip by driving out to Snæfellsness peninsula. It is supposed to be a mini Iceland with its own volcanic crater, a glacier, waterfalls, beaches, lighthouse, and basalt cliff. As we got out of Reykjavik there was a 6 km tunnel on the way to Borgarnes. This was the first of many long tunnels that we would be driving through.

Gerðuberg basalt cliffs - This is a whole cliff made out of basalt columns that can be seen from the main road.

Bjarnarhofn Shark Museum - Tasted fermented shark. It wasn’t as horrible as they made it out to be. That family has been doing this - hunting Greenland sharks - for 4 centuries. The museum was meh. The whole place was gimmicky but the location was fantastic and they had some beautiful horses at the farm.

The lava fields were just so different. Strangely shaped hoodoos and spikes and clumps all over the place. Fjords before Grundarfjorfur was a nice landscape.

Kirkjufell - The famous mountain is quite striking. When pictured along with the waterfalls it is a pretty postcard. Drove through a couple of fishing villages along Route 54. Went to see the murals in Helissandur. Quite artistic.

Snæfellsjökull national park - Stopped at the visitor center at the entrance of this park. There is an incredible restaurant called Matarlist at the visitor center. We had seafood soup and fish of the day. It was just so good. It is gourmet food at a place where you’d expect cafeteria food.

Saxhóll crater - It is a nicely shaped volcanic crater that is dormant. They have put metal steps to help climb up to the rim and a short rim walk. The views of other craters and to the ocean are majestic but it all feels very empty as there is nothing there. Empty lava fields with some roads but no trees or any other human activity.

Djupalonssandur beach - Black sand beach with some trails from the parking lot. The sun was out and it was just nice to be there to watch the waves crashing onto the beach.

Malarif lighthouse - This lighthouse is located right along the coastline. I was able to get a nice photo of the sun shining through the glass of the top room where the light is placed. It was a little windy but nice to walk around with the view of the glacier. Went to see the Londrangar rock formation along the coast. I thought this was the one with an arch but turned out to be incorrect.

Fosshotel Hellnar - Reached the hotel just after 5 pm. Made a reservation for dinner and walked on the trail towards Arnarstapi to view the arch on the beach - Gatklettur. It worked up our appetite for dinner.

We had salad and baked cheese as appetizers followed by cod and lamb as entrees. Italian merlot and Sangiovese blend went well with the food. Had a warm chocolate cake with caramel ice cream for dessert. It was a long day and we did a lot of things, but it didn’t feel that way. I think that not having crazy crowds and lines for everything makes a huge difference.

The flight was on time and we reached Iceland at around 9:30 am. After a quick walk through immigration and a few minutes to pick up our bags, we were on our way to get the rental car. It was an annoying bus ride out to an off-airport location for pickup. The agent at the desk tried to scare us into buying the optional insurance but we didn’t budge. I had reserved a small SUV and they tried to give me a VW ID.5 EV. If we were not planning to go out in the wilderness of the ring road, it’d have been good to test out the VW EV. So, I declined that and we rented a Peugeot 3008 SUV. Per their suggestion, I took a video documenting some minor damage to the car before driving off.

As we started driving towards Reykjavik, we noticed a big plume of smoke towards the horizon. I knew about the volcano that was erupting on Reykjanes peninsula near Grindavik. I was hoping to drive there and try to see it but little did I know that it was not far from the road from the airport to Reykjavik. I took the next possible exit and started driving towards that plume of smoke. Many other people were doing the same thing. Reached a spot where a lot of cars were parked in a lot by the side of the road. We parked, got out, and followed the trail. It wasn’t a well-established trail but we could walk towards the volcano and be at a distance of about a km. Could clearly see the lava spewing out of the volcano cone. Couldn’t believe that it wasn’t even 2 hours since we landed in Iceland and we were seeing this real live volcano erupting. After taking in the awesomeness of the views, we got back to the car and drove to Reykjavik.

Even with the volcano detour, we reached our hotel before noon. Thankfully, our room was ready for check-in. We dropped off our bags, freshened up, and got out to get some lunch. Vaishali had already looked up some possible places. We decided on a highly recommended place called “Sea Baron” as it was not too far to walk. We had the langoustine soup and shared a grilled salmon skewer. The food was excellent just like the reviews said.

Our dinner reservation at Messinn was at 8:30 pm. We just decided to walk around downtown Reykjavik and visiting famous landmarks such as the famous church Hallgrimskirkja, the Harpa Performing Arts Center, Icelandic parliament, Townhall, and the shore walk with sculptures like “The Sun Voyager”.