Astrovelo

Inside the Volcano - After walking on the rims of a couple of craters so far on this trip, it was time to go inside a crater. For a typical volcano, as it erupts, a cone-shaped mountain forms around the site of eruption. When the eruption ends, that cone collapses and makes a crater at the top of this hill or mountain depending on how big it is. This is one of the rare volcano eruption sites where the cone did not collapse and is still intact after about 4500 years from the time when it erupted. The actual site of this volcano cone is a good 2-mile hike from the meeting place for this attraction. The weather was quite nice and we had a good time doing this flat 2-mile hike. Can’t imagine how miserable it would have been if it was raining and windy. This company has put up an elevator which is basically a cage on cables that is lowered through a hole in the ground. They have some walking trails at the bottom of this cone at about 400 feet below the ground.

Amazing to see how the molten lava was dripping from the walls and cooled down to form structures that looked like stalactites. Over time, a lot of different minerals have seeped in through the cracks and have colored the walls of the volcano with many different colors.

After we got back out to their base camp, they offered us the traditional Icelandic lamb soup. The hot soup hit the spot after all the exertion of the morning. Overall, it was a good experience.

After coming back to Reykjavik, we went out to buy some Icelandic chocolates to take back home. After a longer-than-expected walk, we found the chocolate store but they didn’t have the kind of chocolates we wanted in stock. It was quite disappointing but we got to walk through the harbor area which we wouldn’t have visited otherwise.

We decided to have dinner at the hotel restaurant on this last night as we had to pack and be ready to leave early in the morning. As we got back to the room, the Aurora forecast was looking good. Even though I was tired after this long day, I decided to go out and check out the view. Walked out to the waterfront and it was just fantastic. Probably the brightest and most expansive display of the Northern lights of our trip.

The Golden Circle is what tourists visit along with the South Coast when they have limited time in Iceland. These places are nearby from Reykjavik within a 2-hour drive. We decided to tour this area during the last days of our trip as we got back to Reykjavik.

Thingvellir National Park - This place is of significance for 2 reasons - one geological and one historical. The continental rift can be seen here as the two tectonic plates - Eurasian and American - move away from each other at the rate of a few inches every year. This shift of tectonic plates is what’s behind all the volcanic activity and creation of Iceland. This place is of historical importance because this is where the first people who came to Iceland organized as a community/nation. This was the seat of their government. In recognition of that fact, when Iceland became a republic in 1944, those ceremonies were held at this location.

Lunch at Fridheimar tomato farm - When V read about this place, we definitely wanted to eat here. It is a tomato farm where they grow everything in greenhouses. Some of the greenhouses also serve as a restaurant. They have a menu that is heavily based on tomatoes grown at the farm. It was a great experience. We shared a bloody mary and bruschetta and had our own bowls of their famous tomato soup. Delicious food all around. I’d highly recommend anyone who goes to this area to eat here.

Geysir is an area with geothermal activity. Many hot water springs and a couple of geysers like the Old Faithful in Yellowstone. A geyser named Strokkur shoots out steam and boiling water upto 65-130 feet every 4-10 minutes. Other than this geyser, I think the Hverir area near Lake Myvatn was much better.

Gullfoss is another huge and powerful waterfall that tumbles over multiple steps. By this time in the trip we had seen so many waterfalls and this one was great but didn’t really excite us much. I can imagine if the Golden Circle is the only thing that someone does in Iceland, then this would be a fantastic waterfall.

Drove back to Reykjavik from the Golden Circle area and got there before 6 pm. The Iceland Parliament Hotel doesn’t have direct road access and parking. So, we had to park on the street a couple of blocks away and walk there with all the luggage. Inconvenient but not too bad. The hotel is quite nice.

We had a dinner reservation at a different restaurant but decided to try our luck and walk in at ROK. It was our lucky day and we got a table in this busy restaurant right away. The food was great and lived up to the hype of the reviews. We shared baked cheese as an appetizer and then I had cured reindeer and Vaishali had a salad. We both had Plokkfiskur after that. Shared fried camembert with berries and homey as dessert.

We were exhausted from all the travel and had no energy to go out to view the Northern lights. The prediction said there was a good chance but, it looked cloudy and we used that reason to just hit the bed.

Took the 10:45 ferry from Landeyjahöfn to Vestmannaeyjar. The ferry terminal was about a 45-minute drive from Hotel Vos. We made it there after a meager breakfast at the hotel, with time to spare. Thankfully it wasn’t too windy and hence the sea wasn’t too choppy. It was a nice ride to the islands.

The first stop on the island was the aquarium and puffin rescue center run by Sea Life Trust to get some information about puffins. Followed their suggestions and went to a viewpoint at the island’s southern tip. We did spot a few puffins flying around and floating in the sea as their color and wing-flapping pattern are distinct from the seagulls. But didn’t see any puffins from close proximity as one would earlier in the summer months when there are hundreds or thousands of them nesting here. It was disappointing but we at least spotted a few. Drove to another recommended spot for bird watching on the western shore of the island. There was a nice trail to walk along the shore which was enjoyable but didn’t spot any more puffins. While chatting with some other tourists during lunch we learned that the big arches that saw on this hill during the hike are called elephant rock. Looking at the photos, we did see an elephant shape.

All this walking was followed by lunch at Gott - a recommended restaurant from Rick’s book. We shared nachos and a fish stew of halibut and redfish. It was quite good. Nachos had some chopped spicy red chilies as a topping - must be the spiciest thing I ate on this trip and it wasn’t really hot.

After seeing the puffins from a distance we wanted to see them up close. So went to the aquarium and puffin rescue center and got to see them. It is a small aquarium with many displays of fish and invertebrates from the ocean. Well maintained considering it is on a small island and run by a charitable organization. The staff was very friendly and helpful. Chatted with them about puffins and learned a lot.

There was a volcano eruption on the island in 1973 that destroyed about a third of the buildings, covered the island under several feet of ash and pumice and the lava flow extended the island by about a kilometer. The museum tells the story of this event and how the island sprung back afterward. The centerpiece of the museum is a house that was half engulfed by the lava flow. It was excavated about 30 years later and put on display here. The audio tour of the museum nicely uses the house in the narrative about the eruption.

Went on the recommended town walk from Rick’s book. It highlighted some places from the volcano eruption story. Saw the location of the house that is inside the museum. Interestingly the lava flow stopped next to a house leaving it unscathed. The house number was 13. Lucky number!!!

At several places around town, there are “ash pillars” marking how deep the ash and rubble were from the eruption. Mind-blowing to imagine the amount of this stuff they must have moved to clear the town. Also got to walk on this young land that was created only 50 years ago.

The ferry ride back was uneventful and so was the drive to Selfoss. More Icelandic food at dinner. Had salted cod made with a tomato-based sauce with capers and olives. V had cured arctic char appetizer for dinner. Went to an ice cream shop for dessert.

It was great to see Aurora from the dark site last night but tonight it was so bright that we could clearly see with all the city lights. Our hotel room had a whole wall of glass and Vaishali could see the lights from the comfort of the room without going out in the cold.

Fjaðrárgljúfur Gorge was the first stop on this windy and cold day. Walked about half a mile from the parking lot to viewpoint number 2. This is an interesting canyon steep and long with nice vegetation. But the weather didn’t let us enjoy it. We didn’t even think about continuing the walk to the end to view the waterfall.

Yoda cave - In the Viking National Park where there are some ancient burial grounds on a long beach, there is also a cave and its entrance resembles the shape of Yoda. The road going there from the ring road is short but unpaved and in bad condition. The wind was especially fierce and kicked up a lot of sand and pebbles that went into my shoes and jacket pockets. We quickly went around the area, took some photos, and got back to the safety of our car.

Black sand beach - This beach is very close to Vik. There are striking features in the mountain close to it. Many basalt columns and caves. It is interesting to see how these columns go in all directions. The next big landmass south of this beach is Antarctica across the whole North and South Atlantic Ocean. The beach also gets these sneaker waves every few minutes that are very strong and dangerous if one isn’t paying attention to them. We walked around a bit and tried unsuccessfully to find out if there were any puffins.

Dyrhólaey peninsula - Another place along the shore near Vik. It is a hill with some cliffs that birds call home. The second place where we searched for puffins with no luck. There is a lighthouse on the top and there are some great expansive views with two huge black sand beaches on both sides.

Black crust pizza - This place specializes in putting some activated charcoal in the dough to make black crust pizza. The taste was nothing special. Gave me a heartburn later. Could have skipped this. Missed out on going to Mia’s country food truck for fish and chips.

Skogafoss is a spectacular waterfall. It makes a nice wide curtain of water. It can be seen from the ring road. No hike involved.

Seljalandsfoss is another waterfall close by about 25 km away. There is a trail that goes behind the waterfall. Because of the wind the water was flying everywhere and going behind would have meant getting soaked completely. Didn’t want to do that. Took some nice photos and walked to another waterfall that is half a km away. It was interesting to see these waterfalls from their bottom as the viewing areas for other big falls we visited were at the top.

Hôtel Vos turned out to be an interesting place. It is run by a Chinese couple and there were many Chinese guests from tour groups. The dinner was lacking. But all the deficiencies were made up by its remote location in an area with no light pollution. We saw some brilliant northern light displays with the naked eyes. It is going to take a lot of time to process hundreds of photos I have taken.