You can see us trotting happily along before things turned terrifying.

As Bob mentioned yesterday, we ended up canceling our 4 pm horseback ride due to the rain (which my iPhone told me was going to last for hours, but which actually cleared up about two minutes after I made the phone call).  All was not lost, however, because we had a little extra time this morning and were able to squeeze in a 10 am ride before hitting the road.

Bob elected to skip this one, which was probably for the best.  We meandered through stunning scenery, until we rounded a bend and found ourselves right on the edge of the lake — or, I should say, quite a long ways above the lake, with a very narrow path and a sheer drop off to our right.  Our guide told us we were riding on the edge of a pseudocrater, which is a large, round bump that was formed long ago by bubbles in lava flows.  Nadia and I were both very concerned

The walk to Detifoss, through cool rock formations.

about our horses taking a wrong step and plunging us down the slope into the waters far below, but fortunately they handled it like pros.  This was not a trail that would be considered suitable for beginners in the U.S.  (“No one has ever fallen off,” the woman who runs the farm later told me cheerfully.  “If they did, we probably would not go there anymore.”)  My midge-proof head net, which was actually necessary for the first time, blew off my head and I barely even noticed.

We were also supposed to experience the “tolt”, which is a special gait unique to Icelandic horses.  It’s kind of like a trot but supposedly much smoother and more comfortable for riding.  I was very skeptical about this, because I found it plenty bumpy, but the kids later told me that my horse was rebelliously trotting rather than doing the tolt.  Between the cliff ride and the trotting, I spent most of the ride holding onto the saddle with both hands like grim death.

After thanking our horses and our guides, and a quick visit to a week-old baby horse that our hostess was kind enough to introduce us to, we hit the road again.  Today we made our way from the inland lake back out to the east coast, to an area called the Eastfjords.  All along our route, you could barely turn your head without seeing a spectacular waterfall.  The most spectacular of all, Detifoss, was a bit off our route, but well worth the detour.  Google tells me it’s the most powerful waterfall in Europe, and this is easy to believe.  Just a short walk down the road is another large waterfall, Selfoss — somewhat less powerful, but probably even more beautiful.  We’ve been really struck by all the different waterfalls we’ve seen here — from massive, thundering falls to tall, lacy cascades.

Seydisfjordur

We had to cross another high mountain pass on our way to our destination, Seydisfjorder.  All our drives have been pretty breathtaking, but this one probably takes the prize.  What with the steep drops and lack of guardrails, despite the beauty it was a relief to drop back down to this quaint little fjord-side town.

We loved Seydisfjorder — a tiny, colorful village at the innermost point of the fjord, surrounded on three sides by high mountains streaked with waterfalls — from first glance.  Our hostel is called the Old Hospital, and is in a beautifully restored historic building.  There is a sauna in the basement and white-capped mountains towering outside our windows.  We were almost disappointed to not be cooking dinner tonight, when we saw the lovely kitchen and dining areas on the first floor.

Luckily (especially since the grocery was closed) we actually managed to eat inside a restaurant for the first time on the whole trip.  (Normally this would be because Bob and I are being cheap — the food here is VERY expensive — but really, this time around we’ve tried several times and been foiled for one reason or another.)  A short stroll around the town and its lagoon, and we’re ready to call it a night. Onward and southward tomorrow!

We spent the day circumnavigating great Lake Myvatn.  It’s like the World Showcase Lagoon at Epcot, except with ancient volcanic wonders to explore instead of shallow international facades.  If Iceland were to be featured at Epcot, its section might just be a mini Lake Myvatn with plaster volcanic craters all around it that you can climb on.

Up the outside of Hverfjall

But the real lake would be better.  Rick Steves, whose guide to Iceland is heavily influencing our decisions here, says this is the place to spend two days if you have an extra day traveling the Ring Road.

Here’s one reason why — the Hverfjall Crater.  It looks like an enormous grey sand dune. It sticks right up not far from the road, visible for miles. You climb up the side and see it’s a hollowed out crater in the middle.  Then you can walk along the edge of the crater viewing the lake on one side and a variety of landsapes on the other.  We saw flat wastelands pocked with smaller craters.  We saw steam plumes of geothermal rifts in the distance.  There was a field of fanciful columns of lava in the general direction that we were following the loop.

On the crater rim

If we had gotten to Hverfjall a little sooner (we lingered over a fine breakfast at our guest house and didn’t hit the road until around 11), we would have seen some competitors in something called the Island Volcano Marathon.  The poor souls in this race had to run up the side of the crater, and then around the mile or so trail along the rim, and then stumble back down the powdery path.  What a tortuous challenge to put within a mile of the finish of a marathon.  Who knows what other horrors the runners had to complete before they got this far.

Myvatn fatigues

Well, one of them might have been the midges.  The name Myvatn is actually a reference to the small flies that swarm around everything in this region during the summer.  We showed up equipped with head nets, thanks to a tip from the guidebook, but today’s breeze seemed to keep the midges pretty much under control and we ended up not wearing them for most of the day.

Anyway, walking the trails Hverfjall was good enough for us.  We’ll leave the running to someone else.

On the hunt for the Yule Lads

Our next stop along the lake was at the dark field of pillars we saw from the top of the crater.  Dimmuborgir Lava Formations  reminded us of South Dakota’s Badlands National Park even from a distance.  Up close, the main difference was that guests are not able to climb all over these lumps and hillocks like they are at the Badlands.  This is one rare instance where the clampdown is tighter here than it is at home.

Part of the reason is that they are in the process of re-foresting the area and they don’t want people stomping all over their bushes and grasses that keep the volcanic silt from blowing around and covering up the features.  The restrictions make it difficult to hunt down the Yule Lads, who are a gang of holigan-esqe Santa Clauses who cause mischeif but also bring Christmas spirit to Iceland when the season calls for it.  They’re supposed to live here among the lava formations, but we did not see any of them.   There are 13 Yule Lads and we didn’t even see one.

At “the Church”

We did see a cool cave formation called “the Church,” which was worth the walk out to see it.  Then we looped around and had lunch in the parking lot.  If you’re keeping score, you’ll note that we’ve already eaten twice today.  Could it be that we’ll actually get in a full complement of meals?  Stay tuned.

As we zip our way along the shores of Myvatn, you should realize that all of these features are right next to the main road.  It is incredible to think of all the amazing things might be over the next hill or on the other side of this river, but people don’t bother to go there because there’s so much wonder right by the side of the road.  It probably made Rick Steves’ job a lot easier.

Staring down goats

A quick turnoff to a small parking lot set us up for a walk through the Hofdi Promontory, a nature preserve that includes — great wonder — trees!  Lacking in much of the country, mature trees are a sight to see here.  These trees were apparently painstakingly planted and nurtured on this small strip of land by a couple who wanted to help in the reforestation of Iceland.  Reforestation helps preserve the soil and brings the island back to the natural state the Vikings found it in.  This particular forest also provides cover for at least one band of rampaging goats, which was stomping in the opposite direction down the same path we were following.  After we got into a little stare-down, the goats decided to vacate the path and resume their stomping in the woods.

A hidden garden in the Hofdi Promontory

The Hofdi Promontory also featured several hidden gardens to discover, and — like all the attractions along the lake — did not charge an entrance fee.  You can just park and walk right in.

After this we planned to visit a cluster of pseudo craters, which are not typical volcano craters but the remains of enormous lava bubbles that popped and left circular holes all over the landscape.  This particular group of them was very inviting to wander over (and to ponder the size of the bubbles that caused them), until the rain started to fall.

Retreating from the pseudo craters

We made it along the shorter of two trails through the park, but then huddled in our car to puzzle out a dilemma:  We had arranged for a horseback ride in half an hour, but suddenly the prospect of riding out in the elements did not seem as pleasing.  Jen had made the arrangements at lunchtime, when the sun was shining.  The weather here is similar to April in New England.  Cool and comfortable, generally, but subject to some variety.

As the rain fell, it became clear that any sightseeing we might do from horseback would be limited by clouds and fog.  We made the reluctant decision to postpone the riding until tomorrow and came back to our guest house to reorganize.  Thus, we finished our trip around the lagoon without visiting all the countries featured.  But we were not done with our day.

Rejuvenated by the Myvatn Natural Baths

The weather rained itself out and left us with an evening of options.  Our first choice was to visit the Myvatn Nature Baths.  These baths are not as famous (or expensive) as the Blue Lagoon, but they do offer the benefit of being on top of a hill with an incredible view of the lake and the lowlands around it.  Every place we visited during the day was in view of the baths.  It was a good way to sum things up and to soothe bodies that have walked quite a bit during this vacation.

Having restored ourselves in this manner, we then set out to actually eat in a restaurant.  It almost worked.  We found a very nice place, but then found we needed to have made reservations.  Then we found a pizza place, but it was too crowded so we opted for takeout.   Some day we might eat in an actual Icelandic restaurant, but for today we settled for just getting three meals in.

View of Akureyri from possibly the world’s most scenicly located gas station

To make it all the way around Iceland in the course of our week here, we have to keep on the move almost every day.  We’ve been hampered a bit by our seeming inability to get up at a reasonable hour of the morning.  My assumption going in was that Bob and I would be up bright and early, ready to go for a stroll and maybe work on our blog before the kids arose.  But our sleep schedules haven’t quite arranged themselves, and we’ve been sleeping late too.  Competition for bathrooms (we’ve been staying in guesthouses with a shared bath) has also slowed down our morning progress.  So once again it was close to 11:00 before we managed to hit the road from Siglufjordur.

Strolling above the fjiord in Akureyri

After a quick stop for coffee and pastries at what was billed as “Iceland’s most popular bakery”, we were again on our way. Our progress down the winding roads was sped up a bit by two very long tunnels, burrowing deep through the mountains that line the fjords.

Our first stop was the cut little city of Akureyri — Iceland’s second largest city (though that’s not saying much).  We took a stroll through the charming streets and up the steps to the art deco church.  At this point we were high above the fjord, with the sweeping views that are the norm here.  After a stroll through the botanic garden and some delicious grilled sandwiches in the town square, we were ready to move on.

Godafoss Falls

Next stop: Godafoss Falls, yet another impressive waterfall right along the main Ring Road.  Iceland has done an excellent job with these roadside attractions — there are lots of paths leading to different viewpoints above and below the falls, and the option to descend down to a black sand beach near the base.  There’s a footbridge over the river to allow views of the horseshoe-shaped falls from both sides.  (We had to wait to cross it to allow the large group of horses to be marshalled across.)  Zoe would have stayed here all day if she had the option, and watching the powerful falls was mesmerizing.

Our route has now taken us away from the coast, to our next destination at Lake Myvatn.  After a quick stop to check in at our guest house near the lake, we headed a bit further along the road to the nearby geothermal and volcanic area.  (Even when we get a late start, we can get a lot of sightseeing in since it barely gets dark here.  In fact, I haven’t seen darkness at all — even when I was awake at 2:15am last night.)

The Namafjall Geothermal Area is the Icelandic Yellowstone — steaming craters, boiling mud pits, dazzling colors, and choking sulphurous air.  It’s not nearly as crowded or developed as Yellowstone, though, and you can get up as close to these attractions as your nose can bear.

A little further up the road is the Krafla Geothermal Valley.  The first interesting site you come across is a functioning shower in a parking lot in the middle of nowhere.  No one seems to know who erected it, but it’s hooked up to the geothermal spring beneath it and seems to be perfect showering temperature.  Continuing along past the huge geothermal power plant located here, we came to the Leirhnjukur Volcanic Cone.  This provided an amazing hike.  The crater itself was pretty impressive, but we were able to continue past it into the lava fields that stretched out as far as we could see.  The lighting always seems to be very  dramatic here, with lowering clouds and occasional bursts of sunbeams, and we could see forever in every direction.  We spent a lot longer here than we planned, but we couldn’t drag ourselves away.

There was one more stop along the same road — Viti Crater.  This is yet another crater, this one containing a bright blue lake, that Iceland has helpfully built a hiking trail all around.  However, the day was getting late and some of the troops were growing mutinous, so we contented ourselves with

Viti Crater

walking the fifty feet from the car to the crater’s edge, having a quick look at the lake, then retreating back to our guest house.  It made for another late dinner, but fortunately we’d learned our lesson in Siglufjordur and secured provisions from the nearby grocery before heading out.  The girls produced a delicious pesto alfredo pasta from the guest house kitchen, and all was well.

Twelve hours of sleeps does wonders for the nervous system, but it can cause havoc with carefully laid travel plans.  We needed the sleep after yeserday and a half, and our hosts accommodated by setting a noon check-out time.

So we slept in, and paid a price a little later in the day.

The short seasonal darkness and the blackout shades in our bedroom creates some evening/morning confusion.  This would have been a great trip to bring a watch to set to the proper time zone, but for some reason I did not pack my watch.  Phones and tablets are looked on with some scepticism — some have changed to the new time and some have not.

We eventually got ourselves in the correct morning state of mind, ate our Bonus-supplied breakfast foods, pack the car, and hit the road before noon, but a little later than Jen had planned for.

Oh, and some of us even squeezed in a visit to the local livestock.  Our night 1 accommodations were not only perched above an inlet overlooking the Borgarnes across the way, they were also on a working farm.  The sheep were curious, but not necessarily cuddly.

Once we got moving, we zipped around the inlet and into town for an abridged visit.  Essentially, it was a coffee run. Borgarnes provided a funky cafe with lots of latte, but we didn’t take time to wander around like we tend to do.

Some of the waterfalls here come right out of the banks — the river is channelling inside the lava rocks.

Driving is pretty easy here.  They drive on the familiar side of the road.  Traffic is limited.  Signs are legible, even if we would be woeful if we had to pronounce the place names.   GPS has been helpful.  It got us to our first destination, a set of incredible waterfalls, with no problems.

GPS has been helpful, but not flawless.  Google tried to route us to our second destination via an unmarked farm road that seemed to be going in the opposite direction of where we thought our destination lay.

We decided to take the long way around, adding 10 minutes to our trip.  I have no idea where we would have ended up if we took the unmarked road (just about all the other side roads are labeled in some way — perhaps with the names of the people who live on them?  We really did not put in any effort to learn about the language here, so it’s tough to tell.

Happily, though a tad later than expected, we made it to destination 2, the largest goat farm in the nation.  Among the draws were goat’s milk ice cream, plus sampling of fresh cheese.  But, c’mon,  this was the real draw of the Icelandic Goat Center at Haafell.

This farm, inspired several decades ago when an Icelandic farm girl read Heidi, has almost single-handedly preserved the breed of Icelandic goats that has remained undiluted since original settlers arrived more than 1,000 years ago.  It also supplied goats for a Game of Thrones scene involving a dragon.

Peppermint flavored goat’s milk ice cream — served in a reusable canning jar

We lingered here for quite a while — the goat’s milk ice cream proved to be a winner and we picked up some cheese for our picnic, too.  But our timetable got pushed even a little further back.

We pushed on along the ring and found that driving itself was a satisfactory way to pass the time.  The landscape took on a very accute resemblance to the American West, with wide valleys, steep cliffs and lots of open space.

Our third stop for the day was a quick hike around a volcanic crater, not terribly unlike the one was saw yesterday — except this one was several thousand years removed from bubbling lava.  It was right by the side of the road, and a wooden staircase led us to the top.  Then we circled the crater, taking in views in all directions.

Actually, there were three craters here.  We were able to climb and walk  along the biggest one.  The crater hike and the waterfalls earlier in the day were very quick visits — and definitely worth the time.  Because of our late start, though, and the goat farm (also worth the time), we were starting to foresee problems.

It was already almost 4 pm and we hadn’t had our picnic yet.  Plus, we were meant to check into our hotel by 8 pm, and we still had a significant amount of driving to do.

Our picnic wound up in an un-scenic rest area/gas station by the side of road, and our afternoon soak in a geothermal infinity pool had to get cut out entirely.  These are a few of the repercussions of being behind in the timetable.

On the bright side, we got to see a lot of Iceland while we were driving, and as we entered the northern part of the country the American West scenery evolved into alpine Europe.  More accurately, it was alpine on one side and ocean on the other, which I don’t think even Europe can offer.

Sheep are omnipresent

The water side — a little precarious

American West

Alpine with ocean

Stepping into downtown Siglufjörður

Our hosts in Siglufjörður were able to accommodate our late arrival — we checked in much closer to 9 pm than 8.  Happily, we still had energy to roam this lovely small town in the late evening sunlight.  Unfortunately, another consequence of our late arrival was that all businesses that might have provided us snacks were closed by the time we hit the streets.  No fresh fish and chips for us — or even frozen Chinese food from the grocery story.  Even the food trucks at the micro-brewery shut down minutes before we got there.

But, the beer was still flowing.  So we had that going for us.

We’re staying at the northern tip of a peninsula on the northern end of Iceland, very close to the Arctic circle.

    We’re in Iceland!  It’s strange and amazing to have been able to take an airplane somewhere.  And Iceland seems to have been a great choice.  I read yesterday that their full vaccination rate is over 85%, so we’re safer here than at home.  And after showing our own vaccination cards at the airport, we’ve been free to roam the country without tests or quarantining.

It was only a 4.5 hour flight to get here.  We were a little nervous that all the pieces would fall into place, but the whole process was very smooth.  Despite our worries, our carry-ons were not declared to be oversize or overweight.  (Checked bags cost $60 each way, so we relied heavily on carry-ons.)  They invited us to check them for free, so we didn’t even have to fight for space in the overhead compartments.  We took off from Boston right on time at 8:50 pm, and barely had time to close our eyes before touching down in Iceland at 5:15 am (1:15 am NH time).  Our bags appeared quickly and before we knew it we were behind the wheel of our rental car.

Our normal strategy when flying overnight to Europe is to power through the first day then go to bed early and sleep for 12+ hours, then wake up at a normal time and (hopefully) be done with jet lag.  Iceland made this very easy for us to do.  Two of our top destinations were close to the airport, so those were planned for Day 1.

After fortifying ourselves with ham and cheese croissants and coffee from a 24-7 gas station (the nearby cafes and grocery store unaccountably not opening until 11am), we set off into the Keflavik countryside in search of the Fagradalsfjall volcano.  This has been erupting since March of this year, and we’ve been enthralled watching youtube videos of fountains of orange lava splashing above the cone, and lava rivers spilling into the adjacent valleys.  The eruptions have been slowing down lately, with long periods of relative inactivity, so we were crossing our fingers that our timing would be lucky.

When your plane lands at 5:15 am, you tend to beat the crowds.  There were only a few cars in the parking lot when we arrived, and we were not entirely sure we were in the right place.  Iceland and some nearby landowners have built walking trails around the volcano to allow for viewing access (and new routes have been constructed a few times, as old ones are overtaken by lava flows.  We geared up in all our warm layers, plus hats and gloves (it’s pretty cold here, especially early in the morning!) and set off down the trail with a few other early birds.

Soon a large lava field came into view, with black lava coming over the nearby hills and stretching across the valley.  The scenery was beautiful even if there was no volcano at all — otherworldly mountains stretched out in either direction, and the gray ocean spread out behind us.  There were no trees to block our view.  And, after hiking an hour or so, we summitted a small peak and were rewarded with a view of orange lava flying up and splashing down into a distant crater.

After a few minutes of observations and pictures, we continued up the next (very steep) peak and lost our view of the lava for a while.  We continued on and on, and still — no lava.  Eventually we realized that the morning’s eruption had stopped.  We regretted the extra minutes we’d spent at the gast station and in the parking lot, which prevented us from getting a close-up view — but were very happy that we’d gotten to see it at all.  We continued hiking quite a ways further — rewarded with the sight of orange lava flowing down a distant hillside — but the volcano didn’t start up again during the next couple of hours before we left.  By the time we were on our way out the paths were thick with tourists, so we hope that they evetually got rewarded.  (Also, alas, the old lava flows that we were able to access were not hot enough to roast marshmallows over, as we’d seen others do on youtube.)

The view from our lodging

Next stop: the nearby and world-famous Blue Lagoon.  Things are less crowded than usual this year, so we were able to give them a call and head straight over there without waiting for our reservation time.  The warm, mineral-rich waters were just what our tired legs needed and felt wonderful against the chilly air.  The sun had emerged, and it was blinding in the whitish waters of the lagoon.  It was a somewhat pricy excursion (except for Lanie, who scraped by under the policy that 13 and under is free), but we enjoyed our included silica mud mask treatments and “free” drink at the swim-up bar.  (Bob and I sampled Gull, a local beer, after the people in line in front of us warned us against the cider being too sweet — and were not impressed.)

Then it just remained for us to make the hour and a half drive to our first night’s destination in Borgarnes.  We’ve taking a week to drive the Ring Road around the perimeter of the country, so we wanted to get a slight head start rather than staying near the airport.  After a night of no sleep, a long hike, and a soothing soak, it was a little challenging to stay alert, but we made it.  We unanimously agreed to skip finding a restaurant and instead visited a Bonus supermarket along the way for frozen ready-to-eat meals as well as breakfast provisions.

Soon we had driven down a gravel path, past roadside sheep and ponies, and were ensconced at our airbnb, a farm right on the ocean across an inlet from the city of Borgarnes.  Most of us were in bed by 7pm.  (And then briefly up a little while later, when Zoe awoke at 9:30pm and thought it was 9:30am.  It stays light almost around the clock here, so it’s hard to assess the time.)