It’s hard to believe it’s already our last full day in Iceland.  Making it all the way around the island has made for a pretty busy schedule, but our Rick Steves Iceland book has not led us astray and there’s really nothing we would have skipped or done differently.  It’s been a lot of driving, but the scenery has been so incredible throughout that we don’t really mind (despite the unnerving lack of guardrails).

Last night we stayed at a guest house in a pretty remote area on the southeast coast — our room even had a view of the chilly, gray ocean.  As we set out today down the lonely road, with mile after mile of nothing but mountains, ocean, and the occasional sheep, we started to get a bit worried about where we might next find a gas station.  Fortunately when I was finally able to get phone reception and ask Google, Google managed to materialize one literally about a quarter mile down the road.  (There was a little difficulty about the shared payment kiosk and Bob accidentally paid for the gas of some French person, but luckily the French person was nice about it and handed him a wad of cash to compensate.)

Puffins in flight

Relieved of our worry that we might need to hitchhike to Reykjavik, we were able to enjoy our visit toSkaftafell National Park.  It was a raining for much of our drive today and threatened to start again anytime, so we contented ourselves with a short and easy hike to get up close to one of the tongues of the glacier.  We were rewarded with lots of wildflowers and another remote iceberg lagoon.

Our next stop was the spectacular Reynisfjara Beach, with its pebbly black sand, amazing rock formations, and abundant bird life — including a colony of puffins nestled in the rocks high above us.  The sky was full of hundreds of wheeling birds — graceful ones that glided smoothly through the air, and madly flapping puffins with their short wings and red feet.  The beach had towering basalt rock columns (perfect for climbing) and intricately shaped caves. It was also one of the most crowded places we’ve been — we’re definitely noticing the difference it makes being within day-trip distance of Reykjavik.

Lastly there was one more waterfall.  We’ve been talking about how we’ve seen so many waterfalls here, but all of them have been different.  Today’s was a tall, delicate stream falling straight down over a concave area, allowing you to walk around behind it.

By evening we’d made it to our hotel in the suburbs of Reykjavik.  It’s in kind of a weird area — sort of light industrial — and did not look particularly appealing from the outside.  But our room is surprisingly nice, with hardwood floors, ample space, a couch, refrigerator, and our own bathroom.  We made a quick trip to the nearly Noodle Station for dinner (a local chain with only one thing on the menu — Vietnamese noodle soup) and a trip to the town center on the waterfront in search of ice cream, and the evening was complete.  Tomorrow we explore Reykjavik for a few hours, then it’s off to get ourmandated Covid test en route to the airport.