Day 17 - April 26 - Soak and Eat Bread Day

All week long we’ve been calling this day “Soak and Eat Bread Day.” You’ll soon see why….

We started the morning with our usual amazing breakfast buffet from the hotel.

We left around 11:15 to head out on our adventure for the day. We went to Fontana Laugarvatn for several hours. When we first started planning this trip, we thought we might go to the famous Blue Lagoon on our way back to the airport on Sunday (meaning tomorrow), but when we did the math on timing, we didn’t want to be rushed and wanted instead to be able to lounge around without paying attention to the clock. So we decided to go to Fontana today instead, and it was the perfect solution.

Reason #1 why this was great was because this place also offers a geothermal bakery tour! As we got closer to today, this was one of the things for which I was most excited. Icelandic rye bread is a tradition and a real treat. We’d had it a few times during our time here but had never seen them bake it! We gathered in the lobby at Fontana with our tour group and guide, and then we immediately headed outside. When we got out there, right next to the lake, we could see a hole with bubbling water in it. A hot spring! Our guide had in his hand a stainless steel pot that had been wrapped in plastic wrap and prepared for baking!

It takes 24 hours for a loaf of bread to bake in the ground. Essentially, the loaf that had been buried yesterday morning was what we would get to eat today. The pot our guide buried today will be ready tomorrow morning, and so forth. He told us they have a marking system for keeping track of which pot was buried where and when. So first he started digging until he got deep enough where he knew he’d hit the pot. Then he brought it out of the ground and set it aside. He placed the “new” pot in there and covered it with sand and marked it. The guide then put the pot that he just unearthed into the lake to rinse it off. We moved to another area to a table where he began to unwrap it. He tried to trick us at first and make it look like the process didn’t “work,” as there’s never any guarantee what the temperature of the ground might be. But of course - it worked! We headed inside to try it.

He told us this bread didn’t have as much of a dome as it sometimes does. That could be because it was too hot when it went into the ground, and it caused it to fall. They had a spread for us there with Icelandic butter (so good) and smoked trout. He cut the bread into slices and suggested we butter it and have a slice of trout on top. It was so yummy! There was enough for seconds, so I had an additional piece of bread with just butter because he said while the trout is very tasty, it can mask the taste of the bread alone.

Once the tour was over, we went to the car and grabbed our bags with our swimsuits and towels. Next up: geothermal pools! In Iceland you have to shower naked in communal showers before going in these pools. We abided by the rules and headed out. I didn’t get pictures of all of the pools and views from them, but I did get most of them. There was also a sauna and a steam room on site. With the lake right there, going for a (very!) cool dip before getting into one of the warm/hot pools is an option. I decided when in Iceland… but wow, was it cold! 

Then we were lazy and just floated around and chatted until our skin was beyond pruny. Drinks made it feel even more festive.

It rained off and on while we were there, but it mostly didn’t matter, because we were already wet! A couple of times it rained harder and was a bit more unpleasant, but I figured out that it was raining at a diagonal, so if we put our back to it and got in the water up to our neck, we mostly didn’t notice. :) The view, the company, the relaxation… soaking and eating bread was a perfect last day!

There was a couple there from Nashville, NC. One of them will actually be on our flight back tomorrow. We were comparing notes on the things we’d seen and done, many of which were the same, including the hotel where we stayed in Reykjavik! They told us about an ice cream shop not far from the geothermal pools (and it happened to be on the way back to our hotel). We hadn’t had lunch, so ice cream was a good filler to tide us over to dinner. 

The ice cream shop is on a dairy farm, and you look at the cows while you eat your ice cream! Here’s the general look of the place…

And here was our view while we ate…

It was REALLY good ice cream! Between the three of us, we tried mango, chocolate, vanilla, blueberry skyr, and cinnamon.

Then we headed back to the hotel for a couple of hours for some downtime and packing time before we needed to leave for our dinner reservation.

On the way to dinner, the weather was swinging back and forth, as it has done this whole trip in Iceland. It changes in a hot second! On the way to dinner it was raining, and then the sun broken through. Ken mentioned that we should be looking for a rainbow, and then sure enough…

How about that for the last night of an incredible trip??

Dinner was at Lindin Restaurant in Laugarvatn, actually right by the geothermal pools where we were earlier. So we knew the drive well - a straight shot down the road from where we are staying, about 25 minutes.

It was really good! Not the best meal of the trip, but likely the nicest. I’m not sure what the absolute best was… we ate so many different things! Tonight’s dinner for me was a steak duo (beef and lamb) and Icelandic Skyr mousse. 

We had a great view at dinner, actually the same view we had earlier in the day in the geothermal pools. But tonight we learned from the owner/chef of the restaurant that we were looking at Hekla Volcano, Iceland’s most active volcano. He said it erupts about every 30 years and it’s been 25 so far…

In the photo below, you can see it just at the horizon - mountain covered in snow/ice/clouds.

I told Ken and Pauline that I don’t know how they’re feeling, but when I hear about these volcanos getting ready to erupt, I’m glad we’re headed back to the Triangle tomorrow!

On the way past the front desk tonight, we put in our request for Northern Lights wake up calls again. The guy said it’s close to a zero likelihood due to the clouds and the time of year. We’re so glad we got to see them earlier this week - and like Ken said, it’ll be a win-win tonight. We either get a good night’s sleep, or we get to see the Northern Lights again!

It was another banner day indeed. Tomorrow we travel back home. I’ll do one last post at some point this week to wrap up the trip, but for now, I can say I’m filled with gratitude. It has absolutely been the trip of a lifetime!

You can still check out Ken’s thoughts over at worshamsgotoiceland.blogspot.com

Day 16 - April 25 - Road trip!

We ate an early breakfast this morning and left just after 8:30am to hit the road for the coast. After about 90 minutes, we stopped at our first waterfall of the day, Seljalandsfoss. We were super excited about this one, because we knew we could walk around and behind it. We suited up with our rain pants and waterproof gear and followed the crowd! We got pretty darn wet, and it was SO fun! It was a trek to get behind it - not a far distance, but a bit of minor rock climbing. Once we got behind the waterfall, there was an option to hike down to the bottom, so I did that too. On the far side, the mist was much greater, so that’s where we got the most wet. I loved it. So beautiful!

On our way out, I couldn’t help but giggle at the modeling session that was going on in front of the waterfall. This woman clearly didn’t care how the waterfall looked as much as she cared about how she looked in front of the waterfall. HA. 

I had read that there is a “hidden gem” waterfall, Gljúfrabúi, which we didn’t make it to. It’s in a cave just off the beaten path. We did find this other beauty just down the road though. 

From there we drove for about a half hour more and stopped at the next waterfall, Skógafoss. This one was much higher and had a LOT of steps you could climb to go to the top… I think I read 527 or something. Ken and I did it and of course took photos at the top. One the way up, I said to him something to the effect of, “I’ve learned that the difficult ascent is almost always worth it - and usually always.” This waterfall is known for having rainbows at it as the mist and sun meet, but it was overcast today and raining off and on, so sadly no rainbows to be found.

After leaving Skógafoss and continuing the drive to Vik on the coast, we passed by a glacier viewing point! There wasn’t a place to stop for pictures, but I got some pretty good ones from the back seat of the car. This is the south side of Eyjafjallajökull glacier. 

We continued driving to Vik where we had lunch at the Black Crust Pizzeria. I was unsure about black crust at first (would it taste burnt?), but it was delicious (and no, it didn’t taste burnt!).

After the pizza lunch, we had some time to kill before our next afternoon activity, so we headed to the black sand beach, Víkurfjara, that was literally right there. We walked just a bit, took some pictures, and then decided to move on because we’d be going to another black sand beach later.

It was close to time for our 3:00 lava show! This is supposedly the only live lava show in the world. The couple who founded it witnessed a volcanic eruption here in Iceland in 2010 (I think) and decided there must be a way to recreate what happens so others could see it. The show starts with an intro, then has a video about volcanic history and info in Iceland, and then they pour lava into a trough sort of container in the room! The room got VERY hot, but it was fascinating to see, and I learned so much.

After the lava show, we drove up to the cute Vik church on the hill. A noteworthy point is this church, since it’s so high up and so easily seen from all over town, is their volcano eruption evacuation meeting point. We were told that if a volcano under a glacier erupts, they have 15-30 minutes to get to higher ground before the floods come and destroy everything in its path. One volcano typically erupts every 40-50 years and hasn’t done so since 1918. There are usually warning signs of earthquakes ahead of it erupting, and they’ve had those. I think it would be scary to live near that! Here’s the Vik church and the view of town from it…

We went from there to Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach. This is one of the more well-known black sand beaches in Iceland. It was gorgeous… and is also dangerous. We immediately saw a sign (and had read about it in advance) about the sneaker waves. You aren’t supposed to go near the water because the sneaker waves could take you out - more dangerous than a rip tide. We stayed far away from the water and enjoyed the scenery.

Then it was time… for the puffin search! Pauline had read in a Facebook group that they had been sighted at Dyrhólaey. Once I knew we were going there, I read there was also a lighthouse there. I have a thing for lighthouses… almost as strong as my thing for cute churches. :) We parked and looked at the map, trying to decide what direction to go in the nature refuge. Where would the puffins be hanging out?

We started off to the right and soon realized that we’d be hiking up a mountain. Ken and I continued on (and a mountain it was!) while Pauline went back the other direction to see if she heard any talk of puffin sightings. Ken and I got almost to the top when he spotted one! Just one, but we’d be happy with one if that’s all we saw. Here’s a photo…

I told Ken that during that hike up the mountain, I was thinking about what I said to him earlier about the ascent almost always being worth it. And this time, I didn’t think it was going to be. It was foggy and we couldn’t see a thing. We’d get to the top to say we did, but there would be no beautiful view to reward us. But then he spotted that puffin and it made it worth it. 

And then! We finished hiking our way to the top and found the lighthouse! Another thing to make that hike worth it. 

Here are some sights along the way… It was VERY foggy with little to no visibility, so at times we didn’t know how much of the trail was still in front of us to get to the top! Then on the way back down I snapped a photo of where we’d been. See if you can see that faint line in the mountain - that’s the trail we hiked!

We got back down and walked over to where Pauline had landed. She told us she had seen a puffin! Still not more than one… and so we waited. And before we knew it (we had heard they could be more easily seen at dawn and after 6pm), 6pm arrived and so did the puffins! It was like clockwork! They are adorable and so fun to watch. Photo overload here…

After we had our fill of puffin watching, we hit the road to head back to our hotel. We knew we had a two-hour drive ahead of us. About 45 minutes in, since it was 7:30pm by now, I started googling restaurants on the way back (we knew we hadn’t passed many!). I found a food truck, Hekla Street Food, in Hella, Iceland, with google reviews of 4.8 stars! Definitely worth a stop. We arrived 20 minutes before they closed, and the two people in the truck could not have been more kind. We got burgers and fries, all of which were delicious. 

I wrote my own google review to add to it; I try to do that on yelp/google whenever I find a place on there and find the previous reviews helpful. It was chilly outside, so we opted not to eat at the picnic tables and instead ate in the car. Then we continued the drive home for another hour. We will all sleep well tonight, I think!

As banner days go, this was one of the bannerest of them all. Another banner day, indeed!

Check out Ken’s musings over at worshamsgotoiceland.blogspot.com.