For those that have followed us, you know that we firmly believe in seeing the world like a local. Being a traveller and not a tourist.
Today we did a very touristy thing purely due to the timeframe of our trip, and our desire to not rent a car. Normally in Europe, public transportation is plentiful and if we don’t want a car, we don’t have to have one — Iceland is not that place. Especially when there is a festival in town and many roads are closed and any public transportation is stopped.
So we very last minute signed up for a small group tour (15 people) to take us a taste of Iceland — in more than one way.
Our tour guide shared a lot of interesting facts about the history of Iceland and all the different volcanos we were seeing in the distance. Crazy to think this country is made of 90% volcanic material and only exists because of their volcanos. We also learned that the number of sheep in the country depends on when you count them. They usually have about 800,000 free roaming sheep in the spring, and about 400,000 by the fall. Why? Well… Stocking up their freezers for winter :(. Poor lil lambs.
Anyways, on to our first stop =Thingvellir National Park
Two really important reasons to visit … This is the original site of the original Viking parliament, pulling in the Norse and Celtic representatives annually to determine the laws of the land, and this is where North America ends and Europe begins (well technically there is Mid Atlantic Ridge in the middle which is just a chunk of land in between the North American technic plate and Eurasian technic plate).
So our van arrives and the tour guide explains this and then tells us to go see the plates, walk down a short path and meet me back at the van in 40 minutes. Now it is universally known that Kevin and I are not very good at following the crowd, especially when there was no discussion of us being able to see the Parliament area. So despite having only 40 minutes, we set off on the long path which walks us by both and normally takes 45 minutes. Challenge accepted.
Walking between the technic plates was really, really cool. Just being on the edge of one continent and a stones throw from the next one is a bit surreal. The wind however was intense — thank goodness I had made the decision to put my hair up and bangs pinned back this morning, otherwise I would have probably lost an eye.
After wandering through the plates, we set off on a bit of a sprint to make it to the Parliament area. It was a lovely scenic walk where no other people were, so that already made it a better decision than just doing what the tour guide said to do. I mean… There was literally just a grassy area where the building once stood, but pretty neat being where the Vikings walked.
Another sprint back to the van with one minute to spare, before he sent us off in the opposite direction to see the next stop — Öxarárfoss Waterfall. A nice little hike up to a lovely waterfall view. This one was interesting, because it was actually man made by the Vikings. Why? Cause they wanted a waterfall, so they diverted the river above. Seems reasonable to me.
Back in the van with the guide sharing he wanted to make a secret stop to show us something really cool. Very quick stop at Lake Laugarvatn to show us how bread is cooked underground near the hot spring. Bakers will dig a hole big enough for their pot, deep enough to have the hot spring water come through, and then the bread will bake for 24 hours underground. So you will randomly see cones around as locals make bread. Fun fact, when the area vikings converted to Christianity (in a fake way to stop a war), they refused to be baptised in the cold water and instead used this lake. Again… Seems like a reasonable request to me.
A quick stop at a 300 year old dairy farm for some ice cream. Don’t have to tell us twice. Chocolate, salted caramel and rhubarb to share. Salted caramel was the clear winner. Sometimes we wish we had tracked all the different local ice creams we’ve had and rated them along the way. Cause we sure have been around…
Next is Gullfoss Waterfall. We’ve seen a lot of waterfalls in our days, and it makes a lot of sense why this one is so popular to visit. The scenery around it is beautiful, and the different cliff drops made a unique looking waterfall.
A quick stop to see a geyser that erupts every five minutes, and off to the most anticipated stop of the trip.
Lunch reservations at Fridheimar Tomato Farm, where we learned about geofarming techniques and how this farm is able to grow tomatoes in Iceland all year round. Down to seeing the busiest workers they have — the bumble bees. The restaurant was inside the greenhouse which was fun to be surrounded by tomatoes while eating alllll the tomato things.
Unlimited tomato soup and bread. Tomato pesto ravioli. Even tomato beer. These people really know how to tomato. The soup and ravioli were delightful, and we now need to figure out how to make our own cause the cans are never gonna do again.
The final stop on the tour is Kerið Crater Lake. Now we are biased cause Crater Lake in Oregon is by far the most beautiful lake and park, so this was a little whelming for us. Yes whelming, cause you can be whelmed in Europe (if you don’t understand this reference, I’m not sure we can be friends any longer). It was a nice end to the tour though as the sun was out and it was a lovely little walk around it.
On the way home, we learned all about geothermal methods, and how all of the hot water is piped into the city from the volcanos. Citizens essentially have unlimited, free hot water. If too much is piped in, the water is processed and it is dumped into the ocean. This process is free of greenhouse gas now, as they’ve also developed a way to capture the CO2 and run it through basalt rock to create useful minerals. Really really interesting how eco friendly the country is.
Dinner tonight is a road stand we scouted out yesterday that had pulled meat sandwiches. Pork with BBQ mayo for me and lamb with bernaise for Kevin.
An early bed tonight, so we are up at 3am to catch the bus back to the airport. Off to the UK, aka our second home <3.
