Iceland - August 2022

This year, 2022, we decided to take the family, 6 adults (2 parents, 2 kids and their significant others) on a trip to Iceland. 

Thanks to Delta cancelling a flight, 2 of us almost didn't make it. It took them 24 hours get there and going back was not much better.

Anyway. We had hired a company to design our stay there. We used Hidden Iceland and they were excellent. Our guide was really good and knowledgeable and also ended up taking us to several places that were not on our list of things to see. The company arranged all the hotels, transportation and tours with guides and even some meals.

We arrived in Reykjavik, well 4 of us did, and the transportation to the hotel was there waiting for us at the airport. We stayed at the Sand Hotel on Laugavegur Street. It is a pedestrian street during the day so the taxi couldn't drop us of at the door but it was only a short walk. The hotel is a small boutique hotel, it is very nice, clean and had probably the best bed I have ever slept in. We dropped our bags to our room and went for a walk to get our bearings. Of course the first place to see in Reykjavik is the Hallgrimskirkja Church. It is modern cathedral, only about 35 years old. We were able to go up to the bell tower where you have a 360 degree view of Reykjavik and surrounding areas. We decided to walk around a little bit and ended up on the shore because I wanted to see the Sun Voyager sculpture. The link has an interesting story about how the artist came about the idea. Rest of the day went taking it easy, eating and having a few drinks.

Hallkrimskirkja

View from Hallkrimskirkja

View from Hallkrimskirkja

Hallkrimskirkja (it was hard
to get a good picture)

Sun Voyager

The next morning the last two people from our group arrived, luckily before breakfast so we were all able to eat and catch up. Soon after we went to tour Reykjavik. It ended up being a 8.5 mile trip walking all over the place.

We started by going to the Hallgrimskirkja again and then walked to the 2 lakes and the Hljolmskala Park. The City Hall is right next to it and behind that is the Althingi Parliament House and gardens. From there we headed out to harbor area. We walked all the way to the Thufa, which is an art installation. It is a big hill with a narrow trail going to the top. I went only about half way up and then the wind hit me and the path got even narrower and no hand rails so I didn't want to continue anymore. The rest of them went all the way up. What can I say I'm a big chicken. We did end up at Omnom chocolate shop which was featured in Down to Earth with Zac Efron show. We had lunch near Ingolfur square and shared a local delicacies which included: Smoked puffin, Minke whale, arctic char and horse carpaccio. Some of them were better than others. Everyone was getting a bit tired of walking and the time difference so we just did some shopping and went for an early dinner since we had a fairly early morning the next day.

Hljolmskala Park, Reykjavik

Reykjavik waterfront

From left to right: puffin, arctic char, whale, horse

Thufa

Day 1 of our tour: Today our official tour started. We were meeting our guide/driver at a bus station couple of blocks away. Our bus was very nice, seated only 10 people (but there were only the 6 of us) and everyone had a window seat. We had the longest drive today, about 350 km with side trips in different areas. Our first stop was Urriðafoss falls which was not on our list of places to see. It is Iceland's most voluminous waterfall on it's longest river. It is not high but very wide. Next waterfall was Skogafoss waterfall. Since it was a beautiful day there was a double rainbow. This one is quite tall about 60 meters. Next on the list was Black Sand Beach aka Reynisfjara Beach. It can be a very dangerous beach with sneaker waves that can take you out to sea. They advice you not to turn your back to the sea. There are huge basalt columns and a cave called Hálsanefshellir cave. It's been said that the columns were the inspiration for the cathedral in Reykjavik. We stopped in Vik for lunch at the Smidjan Brugghus which is a brewery and a burger place. Quite good actually. We stopped at the Eldraun lava fields which was formed around the 1783 eruption. It is huge, several miles wide. Only moss seems to grow there and you are not allowed to go and walk all over. Our next stop was Fjadrargljufur Canyon. It is absolutely beautiful and probably one of the most photographed sights in Iceland. Before arriving to our hotel we stopped in Hof to see a "Hobbit" church, Hofskirkja, or turf church. All the graves are covered in turf mounds too. Our hotel, Foss Hotel Glacier Lagoon was not too far away. We had dinner at the hotel, well there were not too many other choices. During the day we passed so many glaciers, waterfalls and volcanoes. I can't remember any of the names but the scenery was absolutely beautiful.

Our wheels for a few days.

Skogafoss

Urridafoss

Hálsanefshellir Cave 

Hálsanefshellir Cave 

Black Sand Beach

Hálsanefshellir Cave 

Black Sand Beach

Day 2 of our tour:  After breakfast we headed back towards Reykjavik but stopped at a gas station. We had a morning hike on the glaciers booked by the tour company. Our guide Florent equipped us with helmets, crampons, harnesses and an ice axe. We all piled up on this monster van that could go over very rugged terrain. We ended up at the parking area of Falljökull. I'm not a big hiker and especially hiking on a glacier but I did survive this, mostly thanks to our guide. We had to first hike up on to the glacier, the beginning part of it didn't look like a glacier since it was covered with fine sand. But once we were higher up we were able to drink glacier water that was trickling down and peek into a moulin. The higher we got the harder it was going up and down. It felt like we had gone forever and were already on top of it but in reality we hadn't even reached the very top part. 

One of the brave ones hanging over a moulin

Once we were back down we headed back towards the Diamond Beach and the Glacier Lagoon. There are not too many places to have lunch along the way but at the Glacier Lagoon parking area there were several food trucks and we had our lunch there. They also have decent restrooms. Diamond Beach is just across the Glacier Lagoon so we stopped there too. 

On our way to the next hotel we stopped at Dorholaey lighthouse and overlook. It is near the Black Sand Beach. The drive up to the lighthouse is very winding and a bit steep but the views are amazing. You can see the Doholaey rock formations really well from there. Eventually we ended up at the next hotel, which is the Umi Hotel, and  is close to the coast. We are staying there for 2 nights. We had our dinner at the hotel also that night. Later that night the kids found out that there might be some northern lights to be seen. We did see some but they were not very impressive, I guess it's too early in the fall that.

Diamond Beach

Diamond Beach

Glacier Lagoon

Glacier Lagoon

Day 3 of our tour: Today was probably my favorite day of this trip even though I was a bit dreading it. I mean we were on the North Atlantic on a rubber dingy. Luckily this rubber dingy was a lot bigger than I had imagined it. Anyway we got up early and left after breakfast because we had to take a ferry to the Westman Islands. The ferry ride was quite cold and windy but once we got there it wasn't so bad. We sailed past the island that has the loneliest house in the world. The first thing we did was to go and get our equipment on at the Ribsafari. They gave us warm waterproof overalls and a lifejacket. Our tour was an hour long and we saw sea caves, lots of puffins and stone formations that showed a face in the rock, and elephant and a t-rex  drinking. The whole tour to  me felt like I was in some sort of Avatar with all those cliffs and such.

The Face, sea caves tour

The Elephant, sea caves tour

The T-rex, sea caves tour

sea caves tour

Hundreds of puffins, sea caves tour

sea caves tour rib boat

Elliðaey, home of the loneliest house in the world

We had lunch at the Gott Restaurant which was pretty good. Since we brought the van over we were able to drive to the south end of the island. It was pretty cloudy and a bit drizzly so we were not able to see too much of the other islands. From there we went past the volcanoes to the Urdaviti Lighthouse. It was built on brand new land since the eruption of 1973 took out the old lighthouse. You can read more about it here: Eldfell Volcano eruption of 1973. Before heading back to the ferry we also went to see the Stave Church that was a gift from Norway. 

Helgafell volcano

Lava fields from Eldfell volcano eruption in 1973

Urdaviti Lighthouse

On the way back to the hotel we stopped by the Seljalandsfoss waterfall. It is a neat waterfall because you can go behind it. It is a bit slippery and you definitely get wet doing it. We went back to the Umi Hotel and had dinner there again.

Seljalandsfoss

Seljalandsfoss

Seljalandsfoss

Seljalandsfoss

Stave Church

Stave Church

Turf houses

Day 4 of our tour: Time to head towards Reykjavik, but before that we have a few other stops along the way. Our first stop was the Secret Lagoon. It is the oldest swimming pool in Iceland, from 1891. It not really a swimming pool, more of a thermal pool. It has a natural bottom and thermal springs next to it. The water was quite hot in some places. We couldn't stay in the hot water more than about an hour and even after that we felt quite tired and some reason heavy. But it was very nice and relaxing. From there we headed to the tomato restaurant or more officially Fridheimar. It is a restaurant inside a greenhouse. The food is delicious, especially the tomato soup and bread and there is a lot of food. They even have two kinds of tomato beer. It is more of a touristy spot but still a neat experience. 

Secret Lagoon

Secret Lagoon

Fridheimar Restaurant

Fridheimar Restaurant

Then we headed north to see the geysers. There is at least one that spews water every few minutes and it is part of the Golden Circle. The one we saw is called Strokkur. Then it was time to head to the Gullfoss waterfall. It's a long walk from the parking area to the falls but it felt that you could get a better view from further away since it is quite big.

Strokkur Geysir

The Old Geysir

Gullfoss falls

Gullfoss falls

Then onwards on the Golden Circle and to Thingvellir.  We drove there from Gullfoss falls. Part of our drive was sort of in a no mans land since the European plate ended and the North American plate hadn't really started. We were dropped of on the eastern side and walked along the North American Ridge to the other parking area. Along the way is the Assembly Place, a meeting area where Icelanders started meeting for governmental business over 1000 years ago. It also started raining a bit while there. We've had really good weather until then so I guess it was time to head back. We arrived in Reykjavik late that afternoon and stayed the night at the same hotel we started our trip. 

Thingvellir

Assembly Place, Thingvellir

North American Ridge, Thingvellir

Next morning it was early wake up call for some of us, had to catch a ride back to the airport. Some of us stayed a few more hours walking around until it started raining and then it was time to be heading to the airport.  Over all a very nice family trip. I wouldn't mind going back, especially to Reykjavik and checking out few museums there.