Iceland and Norway – Chapter One
As adventures go, this one took us further than we’d ever been before:
Further north, further east, further from spoken English, and (at times) further than our comfort zone.
It was our best trip yet.
Arrival in Iceland
Our flight touched down in Keflavic shortly after midnight on an August evening. Two bus rides later, we disembarked around the corner from our hotel on Laugavegur, the busiest street in Reykjavic’s entertainment district. No worry that we had to walk the last block to our hotel…. 01:00 was still early in an Icelandic party evening, and the street was crowded with revellers.
Next morning, we found life outside our hotel had calmed, mostly.
We set out on a tour of the town. Central Reykjavic is easily walkable. It’s a cheerful combination of commercial streets, a pretty harbour, and interesting steel-clad houses painted a variety of interesting colours. We climbed to the top of the Domkirk, Reykjavic’s distinctive main cathedral. We had fish and chips down by the harbour. In the distance, the cruise ship Queen Elizabeth was visiting for the day.
As night fell, the playful side of life in Reykjavic came out once again.
The Golden Circle
On our second day, we picked up our rental car and took a tour of the Golden Circle – a scenic drive through one of the volcanic parts of southwest Iceland. Those aren’t smoke plumes in the distance….. hot springs and steam exhausts can be found all through the area.
We visited the massive Gulfoss Falls, and the National Park at Thingvellir (sorry, no Icelandic alphabet on this computer!) where you can walk in the gap between the tectonic plates of two continents. That’s North America on the left, and Europe on the right.
If you looked one way, there were lakes and waterfalls. If you looked the other way, there were mountains and glaciers. Stunning.
Stykkisholmur
Having finished our tour of Reykjavic, we headed north to the small town of Stykkisholmur, a fishing village about half way to the top of Iceland. The weather changed several times on the way, giving us sunshine, rain, and glorious rainbows.
Stykkisholmur is the main center for the region of Snaefellsnes. It has a hospital, cathedral, and some government offices. There is one grocery store, one pizza joint…..and three really excellent restaurants. We climbed the headland protecting the harbour, and watched as our dinner was unloaded from the fishing boats down below.
Despite the busy harbour and supposed center of officialdom, it’s incredibly peaceful. It was a gorgeous place to spend a couple days.
The Snaefellsnes Peninsula
Just as we had to visit Lands’ End in Cornwall, we were intent on a circle tour of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, to stand at the lighthouse at Saxholar. This is the westernmost point of land in Iceland, and the closest to Cape Spear in Newfoundland.
We were beginning to appreciate that scenery in Iceland is routinely spectacular.
Our drive along the north shore brought us past Grundarfjordur, a pretty fishing village, and then past the Berserkjahraun – a volcanic lava field with an unsavoury saga history (which has since gained archeological credence) as the location of a 10th-Century murder of two Swedish Berserkers.
To reach Saxholar, we drove down a typical Icelandic gravel road through volcanic lava rock of absolutely lunar topography. We had lunch there – just us, the wind, the sea, and the view.
At Hvalrauf, we found a set of arches worn by the tide, and learned that we were a few days’ late to observe puffins in their nesting areas along the cliffs. These colourful sea-birds depart for the open ocean in Mid-August. We saw not one puffin in our travels, but we saw lots of evidence of their nesting sites. Timing really is everything.
Rural Iceland is dotted with two things: old churches, and sheep. We encountered plenty of the former, first at Hellisandur, and then further on at Hellnar. The latter were simply everywhere. Hellnar also has an amazing natural grotto. The natural rock pillars at Londrangar were an eyeful, too.
All the while, we were circumnavigating the Snaefellsjokull, the westernmost glacier in Iceland.
Paul Cordingley 