Iceland: Glacier Lagoon... Not so much!

 As I was perusing the internet, looking for top-rated things to see while here, I came upon Glacier Lagoon. The spectacular meeting of a glacier and the ocean, on the east side of Iceland. A place where glassy chunks of ice lay around on the beach, looking all beautiful. To all intents and purposes it appeared to be about a 3 hour drive from us. Doable.

We set out bright and early (after visiting the bakery) and followed directions through some mountains to the coast. This was also the way to the volcano we had plans to hike... plans disrupted by inclement weather. The road through the mountains was unusual. We felt like we had been led astray by Google. No-one else was out here! It was twisty and turny and heck of steep for this little car in this season. 

Once at the coast we headed north. Funny thing is that I was noticing how slowly the car appeared to be making progress toward our destination. A quick check of Google Maps revealed it would actually take FIVE HOURS to get there! Oops. Screwed that up, didn't I?! New plan. 

After regrouping at (you guessed it) a bakery, we headed inland to rejoin that Golden Circle loop where we had found some more interesting places to visit.

We stopped first at a famed Icelandic greenhouse. This particular one grows about 40% of Iceland's tomatoes, using geothermal heat and grow-lights powered by electricity that has been generated using geothermal steam. Crazy innovations! The tomato plants only live about 9 months and during that time they appear to grow about 15-20 feet, with just a tiny little pot of soil at the roots, but a constant supply of pure Icelandic water and a nutrient mix formulate by one of the owners.

We ate lunch here. Caprese salad and tomato soup - of course! It was comfortable and wonderful in the greenhouse. This might be the only place in Iceland I could work with joy and warm feet!

With full bellies and renewed energy, we headed out to brave the weather (on and off rain and fairly cold) to see what else Iceland offered up today.

Kerid Crater! Volcanic of course. This place was just off the main "golden circle road" we were on, and the hike around and into the crater was not too long. However, on arrival the heaven's opened up and we found ourselves waiting out the weather from the car. Boring? Not really. The people-watching was fascinating! With every wave of freezing torrential rain also came a wave of tourists tearing madly from the direction of the crater - dressed in jeans, fashion sneakers, hoodies and little more. How odd! When we finally left the car, I was dressed in merino base layer, snow pants, wool sweater, down jacket and rain jacket. I had a possum fur hat on and a wool buff but my head still absolutely needed the down jacket hoot and protective wind/rain hood of my jacket also. Did I mention the electric gloves? Vital.

We hiked the crater rim:

And then down to the bottom:

Pretty huh?

After this, things got a bit less successful... relative to the amount of planning done, I guess the expectation of success was kinda low anyway, but long story short is that we struggled to find a geothermal power station that was open. I had thoughts that we should learn about this technology. We tried... and have miles of backcountry road views to prove this!

And in the end we found a stunning ultra modern hotel perched on a hill over a valley and we stopped for a latte. A latte with pastries from this mornings bakery.  Hahaha. 

Tonight was our last night in Iceland and therefore the last opportunity to view the Northern Lights... if it hadn't been cancelled AGAIN. Too cloudy. It's a cloudy country so thank goodness we had found redeeming features like scenery, hot springs and great food. 

What was for dinner, you ask?

We tried out our first Danish restaurant and I had a sandwich sampler. A bit like a flight of sandwiches. 

Delish!

Last night in Reykjavik and while I loved my time here, I was also eager to come home to the fur-babies, the chickens and the puppy pictures (anticipation of puppy for real!) and settle in for the holiday season. :-)

Iceland: Food Tour

 Now being rested for two whole nights, we were apparently on a mission to sample ALL the culinary goodness that Iceland offered and nothing solves that problem faster than enrolling in a local food tour.

First though, we had an appointment to keep. Rapid COVID Antigen tests were our first stop this morning. And by first stop I mean we rugged up in all layers we had and ventured out into the freezing rain to walk 2km uphill and have a very nice woman poke a very long swab-on-a-stick very far up our noses! It was a brain tickler for sure! A negative test is a requirement to board the flight back to the US in 3 days. We got tested at 10:00am and had Negative COVID test results emailed to us by 10:20am. It was free too. Thanks Iceland!

The Reykjavik Food Walk was recommended to us by friends, Jon and Julia... long time and frequent visitors to Iceland.

We met the tour guide and 6 other participants outside the Harpa Concert Hall/Event Center. It had been an hour long walk - still in freezing rain - to get there and we were pretty damp. All in all not as bad as it could have been thanks to the great gear we had packed. I myself was sporting 2 layers of merino wool on the base, a hoodie brushed with a wool lining, a down jacket and a Goretex Jacket. Legs were wrapped in fleecy tights and Goretex pants and inside Goretex hiking boots I had some extra cushioned wool Darn Tough socks. Just when you think that was enough... it wasn't. My head featured a possum fur beanie, that down jacket hood and the rain resistant layer on top and my hands were safety stuffed into electric gloves turned on high (you heard me correctly. Battery powered, heated gloves are my friend. ) And yep, a mask ordinance was just put into place here last night, so I had a mask on too. And I was grateful for how it cut the icy wind before it burned my lips and froze my nose. 

How cold was it? Hmmm... they say about 30F, but that discounts how it felt with the fierce wind. My guess is it felt like 15-20F today.  And as the day wore on those boots and that jacket were no longer able to completely hold out the rain either... so that's how we ended up a bit damp too. 

Ok so on with the tour. Five stops, led by our new Icelandic friend Goodnee (at least that is the short version of her very long Icelandic name and how I spelled it in my head, to remember it).

Stop 1: 

Char with capers on a tiny pancake and a kind of pulled lamb.

Stop 2: 

Reykjavik's oldest restaurant - a hot dog cart. Unfortunately outside and between the weather and the hands needed, there are no pics of this stop. But that didn't take away from the flavors. It's the condiments that make it different and there are 5 of them in a fully loaded hot dog. 

Stop 3: Fish-mash - fish with grated potatoes and bits of other stuff all cooked together and served on rye bread. And a sauteed char fish with baked potatoes, tomatoes and greens.

Stop 4: Super interesting restaurant that only serves Icelandic-sourced things. Beer, meat, vegetables and fruits from the greenhouses and seafood of course. We dared to try fermented shark here. If I remember correctly, the shark is 100-300 years old, accidentally caught rather than actually sought out, fermented underground for months, then hung in a barn to desiccate for another 6 months before being cubed and stuffed into a jar. Apparently some people really like it. I find that questionable. Everyone at our table tried it and descriptions of its pungent flavor ranged from fish skin and clams to seaweed. Nothing pleasant here. Good to try new things though, eh?

We washed it down with a bit of local beer and some lamb stew. Then we braved the weather once more and headed for the final destination... 

Stop 5: 

Coffee and dessert. Dessert being a rye bread ice cream with whipped cream and a caramelized rhubarb drizzle. Also a little baked pastry - but that was way less memorable and enjoyable than the ice cream IMHO.

A couple of local shots to round out the day... 

Iceland: The Blue Lagoon

 Here was what was supposed to happen:

Wake at a reasonable hour, breakfast at the hotel, meander a bit and then catch a shuttle to the Blue Lagoon for the afternoon. 

Here is what actually happened: 

Woke after sleeping darn near 10 hours - too late to get breakfast at the hotel - found breakfast at a cafe nearby instead then rushed back in time to catch the shuttle to the Blue Lagoon. 

Outside the "lagoon" was an extraterrestrial looking landscape. Volcanic rocks, all jaggedy, black and porous were piled up leaving holes and crevices. Covered in moss and a handful of other precious low-growing plants, they were really quite stunning. Little black pathways wound through the area, allowing us to walk around ponds. 

Inside the Lagoon building, the fun began. I was fully unequipped to deal with the complex protocols in place to visit the Blue Lagoon, even after a full nights sleep, apparently. 

I'll preface this by saying that I think if our package had included robes and slippers, it might have gone better for me. 

1. Check in and be given a bracelet that is assigned to just you.

2. Go to ladies changing room, put on bathing suit. 

3. Use said bracelet to pick a locker then code it to your bracelet... pressing the bracelet against locking pad (everyone uses the same locking pad and it seems to know which door you just closed on your stuff.)

4. Turn your back on the locker to find it springs open and then take lessons from scantily clad sisters as to how to properly use one's bracelet to lock a locker... and how to stop it from falling off your arm too.

5. Enter the shower area and follow directions to take a shower without a bathing suit on. Then put the bathing suit back on!

6. Go out to the pool area and walk PAST the guy giving out towels because you are not entitled to one until you are done in the pool and on the way back to the shower room. (Hence my longing for a robe, which most other people seemed to have.)

7. It's 32 F outside, so there is no "meeting your friend" before entering the hot pool. You just get your wet body in there and hope to run into them while navigating the steaming pool.

8. The entrance ticket comes with a free drink and a silica mud mask. We opted for the drink first and despite the alcoholic and soda-type options, went for the green smoothie. It didn't disappoint.

9. The mask. Thankfully, as a couple we were able to apply this to each other. Its a smooth paste that dehydrates into sticky lumps pretty quickly. And it's super salty to the taste which in effect renders a person temporarily blind if it inadvertently gets into eyes too. (Ask me how I know?!)

We wallowed for a couple of hours and called it good. I was one very relaxed prune around the time I headed back to the locker - finally able to get a towel - retrieved my phone and braved the temps once again to sneak a couple of pics before showering. 

Exiting the Lagoon Complex is not as easy as it sounds.... Or maybe it is, for other people. But for me it was just as challenging as all the other techie-whiz-bang bracelet-related activities I had experienced that day. As I tried to just walk out, I realized that the door was locked. Until one scans one's bracelet at a machine further back and confirms no additional purchases have been charged to it and not paid, one's bracelet will not open the exit door. But wait, there's more; Once the additional charges have been taken care of, the bracelet is accepted into a little port that opens at the door, it is captured (for recycling to the next guest, I imagine) and only then, the door opens and you can exit. 

Despite my hiccups, this was a pretty nice way to spend an afternoon and perhaps the only sunny afternoon we would experience this week in Iceland. 

We were booked to revisit the Northern Lights again tonight but as the sun set, the clouds moved in and they cancelled our trip due to "unfavorable conditions". So Mark and I headed into Reykjavik, found a top-notch restaurant and ate what I would call the best Fish n Chips of my life before wandering back to the hotel to play cards, drink wine and end the night with an old Tom Cruise movie. 

What?! That is what vacation is really about. Relaxing, spending quality time together and feeling guilty about nothing.