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| The gorgeous sky as we headed out of the Snaefellsness Peninsula |
We returned to the southwest area just in case weather had disrupted the front end of the trip because there is so much to see in this region. The Ion Adventure Hotel was an unnecessary splurge, but its location gave us the opportunity to revisit what we might have missed in the Golden Circle or Reykjavik. It's really an unattractive building, formerly housing for the crew building the adjacent power plant, sitting in a moss covered lava field and it is not on Thingvellir Lake. It is strangely a cool experience; the rooms are extremely comfortable and chic, with fur throws and updated technology, with a stone floor, open bathroom/shower, wonderful products and we had a delicious night's rest. The dinner was also delicious and the spa was relaxing. Worth $430 a night? No. Are we glad we did it? Kinda, yes. Do it again? No.
The following morning, we skipped breakfast at the hotel and our trip around Thingvellir Lake was beautiful and we saw trees! First stop was to finally visit Bruarfoss which turned out to be our favorite waterfall, despite the rain, the muddy forest and having to wear our waterproof rain attire to avoid being coated in mud. We were the only people there and it is a magnificent waterfall. Rumor has it that access may be restricted because you do trek through private homes. I read online that other visitors had trouble getting access in the days around our visit, so it is a "hit or miss" opportunity. (Read my earlier post about the Golden Circle to learn more.)
We then drove south to Selfoss to pick up some food and then to Hveragerdi where we were staying at Varmi Guesthouse for the night. It's a very charming full apartment for about $175 a night which would be a perfect place to stay with a family to explore the region for 3-4 days. The forecast was for heavy rain at 6 pm, so at 3:00 we started our hike uphill to the Reykjadalur Hot Springs in just light wind and rain. It is about a 4 mile round trip hike through a mountain gorge past waterfalls and steaming geysers to an outdoor river. There are small partitions which allow you to partially hide while you change into your bathing suit along with everyone else and then you quickly run into 100 degree water and soak. Cold outside, it was hard to get out and get dressed afterwards and hike down. A very nice ending to our trip in a natural hot spring. (If we had decided to dive Silfra, or had needed more time at the Ion Hotel or Thingvellir because we had done the Glymur Hike the day before, or wanted to explore Haifoss Canyon or Gjain Waterfall up Hwy 26, we would have still been able to do this 3-4 hour hot springs hike the morning we left, so our re-routing ourselves back was a smart idea). If you have a shorter trip in mind, it would be easy to eliminate these last 2 nights and drive straight to the airport from Snaefellsness and you would feel your trip was complete.
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| view of the gorge hiking up |
We headed down through the steamy gorge and reached our car at 6:30, just as it was starting to pour and did the wind ever pick up. We found a little pizza restaurant and had a pleasant dinner. We declined to eat at the big diner in town which had pony steak on the menu!!! I really hate to add this part of the story!!! We were wondering why everyone had so many horses and no one but tourists seemed to be riding them and hoping this was not true. These horses are magnificent and it was so beautiful every time we saw them so I hope this is not the case. And we hear it is fun to ride with their 2 extra gaits.
On our last day, we leisurely ate breakfast and packed and then headed to Reykjavik for some final shopping and exploring. We should have planned this final morning better because we didn't know where to eat and ended up eating a hot dog in the airport after some duty free shopping. The airport is about 45 minutes from Reykjavik and we had a 6:45 pm flight out so we had plenty of time to enjoy any morning activity and have a hearty lunch. Another option would be to explore the geothermic region near the airport or to visit the western point where there are 2 lighthouses and a bridge across the two tectonic plates. Some choose also to visit the Blue Lagoon on the final day before heading to the airport.
Luckily the process of returning the car was easier than renting. We had used Reykjavik Rent a Car (who I do not recommend) and the 2013 car they originally gave us had nearly 100,000 miles on it. After a few hours at the Blue Lagoon on our first day, we had returned the car and demanded a new one. I'm glad we did because this newer car gave us no trouble...don't know what would have happened driving an additional 1800 miles on a 100,000 mile car. We had taken pictures of our rental bumper to bumper which turned out to be a great thing when they attempted to charge us for alleged "non-noted on the contract" bumper damage to the plastic bumper (coincidently damage that lined up with older, rusted dents on the metal bumper just above, which had been noted on the contract as pre-existing. I am sure I would be in a credit card dispute over that absent photographs.) We also didn't buy the sand and ash coverage. I don't know if that is a wise choice or not. It did make check in longer as the crew had to check the car rather then us just dropping off the car. You do need to take a short bus ride to the airport from car return so allow enough time to go through check in, customs, security, immigration and duty free shopping.
The airport has a lot of duty free shopping, so Chad was able to buy that 66 North jacket he admired the whole trip, but food items were not discounted. You could buy skyr, but I paid about $2 for the ris buf treats I bought at "duty free".
And then joy of joys, on the flight home, the sky cleared and we saw magnificent views of Greenland and its massive ice field and glacier tongues and coast line...
So the wonderful trip to Iceland comes to an end...and we highly recommend the adventure.
NEXT STOP...VIETNAM? DECEMBER, 2017-JANUARY, 2018???
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