Iceland Day 1 — Here we are

We arrived in Iceland at 6:15 in the morning and, not surprisingly, were greeted with drizzling rain.

No, actually before the rain we were greeted by a person from the car rental company who kindly waited for us while we exchanged currencies (Alex) and got coffee and almond croissants (Lena).

In a short while, we got our small 4WD Suzuki Grand Vitara and off we went to our first destination — the Reykjanes peninsula. A place where both American and European tectonic plates are visible and where all kinds of strange geothermal activities create surreal landscapes.

First, we headed to the southwest part of the peninsula to see the coast near Reykjanesviti lighthouse. Flocks of birds were sitting on a road. Not moving, not looking for food, not doing anything. Just sitting there. It looked so beautiful that we were hesitant to drive ahead but the time pressed and we had to move.

It took us about 30 minutes to drive from the airport to the Reykjanesviti lighthouse. We got out of the car to take a little walk and photograph the coast line but it was so windy that I was afraid that my tripod would not hold the camera so we ended up making just a couple of pictures and escaped into the car.

Our next stop was only a mile away — Gunnuhver geothermal area. It felt extraterrestrial — orange terrain dotted with steaming vents which blocked the horizon, angrily bubbling and whistling holes in the ground, and wind. The absence of anyone else around only added to Gunnuhver’s otherworldly feel.

We were wandering the area for a while until another car arrived. We decided to let them experience the place alone just as we did, so we left.

Not far from Gunnuhver lies another geothermal spot — Krýsuvík, our next destination. It was also very beautiful and surreal, but the presence of tourists and a less windy weather made this stop seem less eerie.

By the time we finished walking around Krýsuvík, jet leg finally caught up with us, so we headed to Hveragerði for an afternoon nap (the letter “ð” is pronounced “th” as in “that”). But first we needed to get some food for the days ahead. We shopped at a Bonus store in Hveragerði which could be compared to a small discount US supermarket with very limited selection of brands and variety of products. In terms of prices, however, it was on par with US upmarket stores like Harris Teeter or Trader Joe’s. Nevertheless, we bought some tasty bread, soft cheese, deli meat and skyr (Icelandic yogurt type cheese) and had our first Icelandic lunch in the car on the Bonus’ parking lot. There was no time to waste: it was already 13:00 and we needed to get some sleep to be ready for our evening hike.

We booked a room with a shared bathroom at Frumskogar Guesthouse in Hveragerði. We have never stayed in a room with a shared bathroom before but accommodation in Iceland is so expensive that we decided to sacrifice some convenience in order to cut the cost of the trip. It turned out to be absolutely fine.

We crashed on our beds and slept until 17:00. The time for our hike to Reykjadalur valley. Alex wanted to eat something first, so I gave him a sandwich and promised a cup of coffee with some cake later at a cafe near the beginning of the hiking trail (Ölfusdalur valley). The cafe is called Dalakaffi and looks more like a house than a cafe. Cappuccino was good and the custard cake was super duper delicious (too bad that we decided to share it).

The hike was somewhat challenging — mostly because the ground in many places turned into mud due to the rain earlier that day. I was not careful enough: one wrong step, and my boots ended up wet and covered in mud.

Finally we reached our destination: a place where a hot creek and a cold creek join into one — a bathing place. I did not want to take a lot of pictures of people relaxing and drinking, so there are no close ups (just the one with Alex 🙂 ).

When I planned this hike I allocated 3 hours for the 6km round trip: 1 hour to get to Reykjadalur, 1 hour to bathe in a hot river and 1 hour to get back. In reality it took us about 4.5 hours for everything including washing my boots in the warm river near the parking lot where the hike begins.

It was well past after eleven but our day was not over yet. We knew that today was our only chance to see some of the sites near Reykjavik (i.e. Golden Circle) because the next day we needed to leave for the south. So we hopped in the car and went to see Kerið — a volcano crater with a lake inside.

We were the only tourists at the site and enjoyed complete silence, but then we heard a distinct sound of horse hooves, and when we looked back we saw several people (probably tourists) who were enjoying a midnight ride.

Our final destination was Strokkur — a geyser which is located right beside the original Geysir that gave geysers their name. Strokkur is smaller of the two, but it erupts once every 8-10 minutes, while Geysir erupts once in a blue moon. It was very dark already, well past midnight. We tried to make some pictures and they turned out to be very blue, looking like a blue-filter scene in a sci-fi movie.

The day was still too short for us: we didn’t get to visit two places on Iceland’s Golden Circle: the beautiful Þingvellir rift valley (“Þ” is pronounced “th” as in “thing” and “ll” is pronounced “tl”) where the first Icelandic parliament was established in 930 (yes, 930, not 1930), and the equally beautiful and grand Gullfoss waterfall. But we visited them the two previous times we were in Iceland, so we weren’t too upset about that.

Here is the map of the places we had visited on our first day in Iceland.