I can't believe we are in day 13 of our trip. Time has really flown by, and although I have had a pretty darn good time, I will be glad to go back home.
I wanted to take some time to say that I have flossed every single day of this trip. While this may not seem like anything special, it is for me since I am usually very lazy about flossing, especially when I am traveling. My goal is to floss everyday for the month of August (and hopefully after too). On that same note I'm also surprised at my diligence in writing everyday about my travels.
We started off really early this morning, starting the car before 8am, as we wanted to catch a timed ferry later on in the day. After a few days of miserable rain, fog, wind and cold, we finally had blue skies. The first stop was Vík. We drove out towards the beach where we saw the gorgeous Reynisdrangar cliffs. Here is a picture of the entire bay, and also just of the cliffs. I couldn't decide which picture was worse. On that note, my iPhone camera is making me really sad, after seeing Hog's Note 3 camera.
We also saw the German memorial stone in memory of German seamen who lost their lives in Icelandic waters, and thanking the Icelandic seamen who saved their lives.
Next we went to the other side of the headland to the Dyrhólaey. We first took the path on the left to get to the black sand beach lookout. It was truly quite a beautiful spot, and again my camera frustration arose but here's the best I can do. To the east was a famous black sand beach where supposedly movies and commercials have been filmed. To the north was the Myrdalsjokull glacier, and to the west was either the volcano Eyjafjallajokull or Katla. Walking further out I could see the stunning lava arch which we would have a better view from when taking the other path driving in. There were also many puffins.
Taking the other path yielded the better view of the lava arch and the various stacks in the ocean. Thank you Miss Pang for secondary school Geography knowledge. I think of you everytime I think about rock formations - waterfalls, rapids, volcanos, stacks, arches, etc. Here I got a better picture of the north too, and you can see Vestmannaeyjar, the volcano (snow capped) and glacier. Due to bad photography though, one has to squint, because the snow blends in with the sky. Pfft.
Our next planned stop was Vestmannaeyjar, but we were early and saw a sign for the waterfall Skógafoss and decided to go there. What a nice surprise, rainbow sighting!!! Some of my photos came out with 2 rainbows. I was pretty sure there were two, visible from different heights, and I never saw both with my own eyes at the same time, but looks cooler with 2 rainbows anyway. Since I rarely see rainbows, I decided to post multiple photos!
Next on to Vestmannaeyjar, or Westman Islands. We planned to take the 1pm ferry to the main and largest island Heimaey (schedule here) and got there around noon. (The website requests you get there 30 minutes before the scheduled departure.) We tried to bring our car on the ferry but there was no space on the ferry, and were told an advanced booking was usually needed, and to book ASAP. Thankfully the island was smaller than I thought, so things were extremely accessible by foot. We bought our ferry tickets, 1,260ISK per person per way. Make sure to check availability on the return. You can purchase your return ticket at the same time, but you have to state a specific time. The ferry folks did not seem too diligent in checking tickets though, but I suspect on a sold-out ferry this might be a problem if you have purchased for the wrong time.
Our first stop was to Einsi Kaldi, a restaurant serving local fresh food, rated 2 on TripAdvisor for Vestmannaeyjar. Hog got a steak burger here. I tried a bite and it was pretty good! Came with curly fries which were yummy too.
Then we headed to climb Eldfell volcano which took us about 30 minutes to get to the top. We truly lucked out with the weather - clear blue skies and warm (for Iceland). Some spectacular views of Eyjafjallajokull and the town. BTW Eyjafjallajokull is the volcano that erupted in 2010. Supposedly the rocks leftover from the Eldfell eruption in 1973 are still warm. I tried touching numerous rocks on the way down but they were not at all warm. Later on I learned that you had to actually walk into the crater and touch some rocks under the surface, but that seems scary and even if I knew that beforehand, I probably would not have done that. Supposedly there is a lady who bakes cake in that rock heat. Not sure how that is done, but seems pretty cool!
I was initially interested in taking a boat around to see some caves and the other islands, but we missed the time for that due to long volcano climb and actually I became less keen on doing that as the day passed. I also wanted to go out to the Stórhöfði cliff, which is the windiest part of Iceland (apparently 2 still days in a year), but got lazy especially since we did not have a car and that much time.
So, being lazy, after the volcano, we went to do my favourite activity - EAT! We went to Gott, which is a healthy food place, rated 3 in on TripAdvisor. I ordered a chicken wrap with pesto and brown rice, and it came with a side of salad and sweet potato. At first it came out without chicken (!!!) but I told them and they brought out a new plate. It was all very good and I demolished it! Hog got a spicy chicken noodle soup, which I thought was OK, but it definitely got bonus points for spiciness (Icelandic scale).
Here are the menu pages.
One other restaurant I wanted to try was 900 Grillhaus, because they had some yummy looking pizzas on TripAdvisor. We went past and saw someone with a gigantic pizza. Their menu is online so I won't post my photos here. It seems to be only in Icelandic though, so good luck. They had a Toblerone ice cream on the menu which I really wanted. I've been craving ice cream on this trip despite the cold. Weird.
Lastly, we got to Stracta Hotel in Hella for the night. Again good ol' Icelandic hotel with just a bed and a desk, not even a kettle to boil water in. Very basic. It is a brand new hotel, when we booked last month the hotel had not even be completed. From the outside it looked like a bunch of containers put together to make a hotel. Despite that, it is comfortable for what it is. Not cheap at $218/night, but it serves its purpose and the bed feels nice and firm.
We decided today to eat proper meals, hence the going out. We bought a bunch of fruit from the supermarket. Unfortunately here I am eating some biscuits, and I'm in trouble. :-(
Mileage: 204km
I wanted to take some time to say that I have flossed every single day of this trip. While this may not seem like anything special, it is for me since I am usually very lazy about flossing, especially when I am traveling. My goal is to floss everyday for the month of August (and hopefully after too). On that same note I'm also surprised at my diligence in writing everyday about my travels.
We started off really early this morning, starting the car before 8am, as we wanted to catch a timed ferry later on in the day. After a few days of miserable rain, fog, wind and cold, we finally had blue skies. The first stop was Vík. We drove out towards the beach where we saw the gorgeous Reynisdrangar cliffs. Here is a picture of the entire bay, and also just of the cliffs. I couldn't decide which picture was worse. On that note, my iPhone camera is making me really sad, after seeing Hog's Note 3 camera.
We also saw the German memorial stone in memory of German seamen who lost their lives in Icelandic waters, and thanking the Icelandic seamen who saved their lives.
Next we went to the other side of the headland to the Dyrhólaey. We first took the path on the left to get to the black sand beach lookout. It was truly quite a beautiful spot, and again my camera frustration arose but here's the best I can do. To the east was a famous black sand beach where supposedly movies and commercials have been filmed. To the north was the Myrdalsjokull glacier, and to the west was either the volcano Eyjafjallajokull or Katla. Walking further out I could see the stunning lava arch which we would have a better view from when taking the other path driving in. There were also many puffins.
Taking the other path yielded the better view of the lava arch and the various stacks in the ocean. Thank you Miss Pang for secondary school Geography knowledge. I think of you everytime I think about rock formations - waterfalls, rapids, volcanos, stacks, arches, etc. Here I got a better picture of the north too, and you can see Vestmannaeyjar, the volcano (snow capped) and glacier. Due to bad photography though, one has to squint, because the snow blends in with the sky. Pfft.
Our next planned stop was Vestmannaeyjar, but we were early and saw a sign for the waterfall Skógafoss and decided to go there. What a nice surprise, rainbow sighting!!! Some of my photos came out with 2 rainbows. I was pretty sure there were two, visible from different heights, and I never saw both with my own eyes at the same time, but looks cooler with 2 rainbows anyway. Since I rarely see rainbows, I decided to post multiple photos!
Next on to Vestmannaeyjar, or Westman Islands. We planned to take the 1pm ferry to the main and largest island Heimaey (schedule here) and got there around noon. (The website requests you get there 30 minutes before the scheduled departure.) We tried to bring our car on the ferry but there was no space on the ferry, and were told an advanced booking was usually needed, and to book ASAP. Thankfully the island was smaller than I thought, so things were extremely accessible by foot. We bought our ferry tickets, 1,260ISK per person per way. Make sure to check availability on the return. You can purchase your return ticket at the same time, but you have to state a specific time. The ferry folks did not seem too diligent in checking tickets though, but I suspect on a sold-out ferry this might be a problem if you have purchased for the wrong time.
Our first stop was to Einsi Kaldi, a restaurant serving local fresh food, rated 2 on TripAdvisor for Vestmannaeyjar. Hog got a steak burger here. I tried a bite and it was pretty good! Came with curly fries which were yummy too.
Then we headed to climb Eldfell volcano which took us about 30 minutes to get to the top. We truly lucked out with the weather - clear blue skies and warm (for Iceland). Some spectacular views of Eyjafjallajokull and the town. BTW Eyjafjallajokull is the volcano that erupted in 2010. Supposedly the rocks leftover from the Eldfell eruption in 1973 are still warm. I tried touching numerous rocks on the way down but they were not at all warm. Later on I learned that you had to actually walk into the crater and touch some rocks under the surface, but that seems scary and even if I knew that beforehand, I probably would not have done that. Supposedly there is a lady who bakes cake in that rock heat. Not sure how that is done, but seems pretty cool!
I was initially interested in taking a boat around to see some caves and the other islands, but we missed the time for that due to long volcano climb and actually I became less keen on doing that as the day passed. I also wanted to go out to the Stórhöfði cliff, which is the windiest part of Iceland (apparently 2 still days in a year), but got lazy especially since we did not have a car and that much time.
So, being lazy, after the volcano, we went to do my favourite activity - EAT! We went to Gott, which is a healthy food place, rated 3 in on TripAdvisor. I ordered a chicken wrap with pesto and brown rice, and it came with a side of salad and sweet potato. At first it came out without chicken (!!!) but I told them and they brought out a new plate. It was all very good and I demolished it! Hog got a spicy chicken noodle soup, which I thought was OK, but it definitely got bonus points for spiciness (Icelandic scale).
Here are the menu pages.
One other restaurant I wanted to try was 900 Grillhaus, because they had some yummy looking pizzas on TripAdvisor. We went past and saw someone with a gigantic pizza. Their menu is online so I won't post my photos here. It seems to be only in Icelandic though, so good luck. They had a Toblerone ice cream on the menu which I really wanted. I've been craving ice cream on this trip despite the cold. Weird.
Lastly, we got to Stracta Hotel in Hella for the night. Again good ol' Icelandic hotel with just a bed and a desk, not even a kettle to boil water in. Very basic. It is a brand new hotel, when we booked last month the hotel had not even be completed. From the outside it looked like a bunch of containers put together to make a hotel. Despite that, it is comfortable for what it is. Not cheap at $218/night, but it serves its purpose and the bed feels nice and firm.
We decided today to eat proper meals, hence the going out. We bought a bunch of fruit from the supermarket. Unfortunately here I am eating some biscuits, and I'm in trouble. :-(
Mileage: 204km
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