Our first day was a long one. After our arrival in Reykjavik, we trekked our giant bags out to the rental car shuttle and without too much drama were awarded our trusty steed-- a grey Suzuki Baleno. At this point, it was only about 8AM, so we headed for the only place that could soothe our redeye-induced exhaustion.
The Blue Lagoon features on pretty much any 'top things to do in Iceland' list ever, so when we found out they opened in the morning, we booked our tickets. We knew we wouldn't be up for much after a nighttime flight, and it gave us something to do until we could check into our first hotel.
Driving to the Blue Lagoon was a strange experience. Although we knew we were on a small island of stunning beauty in the middle of the ocean, it was surreal to see the bizarre landscape in person. Yellow-green moss covers the dark lava rock for miles on both sides of the road, and occasionally there are patches of bright purple nootka (Alaskan lupine). On this particular day, it was also overcast and misty, weather that continued during our time in Iceland.
Visiting the Blue Lagoon, we didn't mind the rain and wind too much. The water stays around 100ºF all year, so we were able to self-regulate pretty well so that we stayed comfortable in the greenish water. Apparently it’s only blue when the sky is. With the tickets we pre-purchased, we got towels, robes, sandals, and two free face masks. Brian especially enjoyed the feeling of mud on his face.
After a few hours, we showered off and headed to our booking at the Lava Restaurant. This is part of the Blue Lagoon complex and ended up being a truly delicious meal. We were both pretty drained at this point, and the drive to the hotel with full stomachs was difficult to say the least. Luckily Brian was driving because Sarah fell asleep multiple times.
Things we learned about Iceland No. 23: living spaces are small. All of our hotels, while being the most expensive of our trip, are probably the smallest as well. In two out of three hotels, we had to climb in the bed from the foot, and in the third, the floor was dirty. This probably doesn't have anything to do with the size of the hotel, but we still haven’t gotten over it.
Our first hotel was in Reykjavik proper, and we spent the evening wandering along the major shopping and dining streets until we ended up at Icelandic Fish and Chips. We had set it as a particular destination because they fry their fish in spelt flour, which Sarah can actually eat. It was lovely and friendly and everyone was happy.
On the way back to the hotel, around 10:30pm with no sunset in sight, we found a whiskey bar that looked interesting. Brian had a local whiskey that was barrel-aged in said bar while I tried an Icelandic Firewater, which ended up looking and tasting like fruit punch. Unfortunately neither drink was strong enough to prepare us for what was next.
Things we learned about Iceland No. 48: everything is painfully expensive. Our last stop in Reykjavik that night was at a grocery called 1011, where we spent about 45 dollars on a large water bottle, 3 single-serve skyr, a chocolate bar, and two bags of jerky.
Things we learned about Iceland No. 19: Skyr is the most delicious of dairy products and we will never be able to eat the sad yogurt slop we get in the US again without longing for its creamy glory. So that was part of our breakfast and sometimes dessert every day. Let’s all please petition to get this stuff in our grocery stores now.
Back to what we did. Day two was outdoorsy and lovely. We stopped first at þingvellir National Park and wandered about for several hours enjoying rocks and hills and water and greenery. The park is the only place in the world where you can actually see the tectonic plates moving apart from each other. We obviously took many many photos here. Most of our jerky disappeared during our time here as well. Just as it started to rain, we were on our way back to the car and headed on to our next destination.
We decided to stop for a late lunch, and happily stumbled into a sports bar just as the Iceland vs. Nigeria World Cup game was starting. Unfortunately (spoiler) they did not win the game, but it was neat to cheer for them along with some locals while enjoying our 35 dollar cheeseburgers.
Soon after that, we arrived at our second hotel, which was the one with the dirty floor. In theory it was going to be great— a cottage in the relative country right across from the famous Geysir— but it was just a dirty room with two twin beds and a hefty price tag. Again, Iceland Is ridiculously expensive. The advantage of the location is that there is a nice market within walking distance, and you can head over to the geysers whenever you want. The original one, which gives other founts of random water rockets their name, doesn’t erupt on any kind of a regular basis, but we saw its smaller, yet still impressive, neighbor go off multiple times.
Day three led us to Gulfoss, which might mean ‘waterfall’ in Icelandic. Things we learned about Iceland No. 77: Icelandic is impossible for outsiders to pronounce. This did not stop us from trying. The waterfall was splendid to see, and we stayed longer than anticipated to hike closer to the top.
Next was lunch, and our first attempt was at a tomato farm that has a restaurant. It was a good thought, except that Brian doesn’t really enjoy tomatoes, and they were completely booked and didn’t have anything that Sarah could actually eat to begin with. At this point, we were in a very sparsely populated part of Iceland, which is not a rare thing at all, but it meant that we had to drive about 40 minutes to the next town that had a restaurant.
Sarah had found a cafe with good reviews, and so we stopped there first. It ended up being more of a snack bar, unless you are content to eat a bunch of lobster soup. Brian was not content to eat a bunch of lobster soup. We finally settled on a place called Papa’s Restaurant. Sarah was leery of it at first since it obviously didn’t seem very Icelandic even in name, but the service and food were wonderful.
Our final hotel was in Keflavik, which is the town closest to Iceland’s international airport. We were surprised to discover that the hotel had no reception desk or employees on site, so our hopes for an airport shuttle were quickly dashed. We made our way to the airport to drop off the Baleno as planned, and then arranged for taxi service in the morning. Instead of a nightcap, we sought out a local diner and had our most affordable meal— two small burgers, a shared plate of fries, and tap water for 35 dollars.
Things we learned about Iceland No. 1: It is absolutely stunning and well worth a visit.
