Iceland – Day 2

Sunday July 12

Airport

Philip and I arrived in Keflavik around 6:30 am. After some time we got through security, immigration, and customs. After a quick stop at the bookstore in the transit area to get a bird book for Philip (he had called ahead of time so it was waiting for us when we got there) we collected our bags. We had 2.5 hours before Aase, Thorkild, Anders, and Betina arrived from Copenhagen. We bought a SIM card and data, which was pretty easy to install on Philip’s phone (after we realized that the instructions were English too.)

Aase, Thorkild, Anders, and Betina left Copenhagen in the wee early hours on Sunday morning. After about 3 hours in the air they arrived in Keflavik at approximately 9 am. Anders brought his fishing rod and that had to be disinfected before leaving the airport. After that was done, Anders and Betina joined the rest of us.

Next, getting the rental cars. We quickly found out that National, the rental company, did not have a booth in the airport. At first we thought it was part of Enterprise (they had a sign with National on it) but their very helpful representative said that it was not the same National. He and a colleague of his spent some time on the phone and they found out that our reservation was with Europcar. Completely random in my opinion but we did indeed get two cars from them. 

 

 

Anders and Betina got a Volkswagen Gulf with manual transmission and Philip and I (and Aase and Thorkild) got a Skoda Octavia with automatic transmission. They probably thought the folks from the US didn’t know how to drive a manual. 

Before we left the airport we got some sandwiches, good for airport food. Finally we got out of there. We did of course have to take the obligatory selfie.

 

 

After we had driven the cars for a little while we discovered that their engines turned off automatically as soon as we stopped and they turned on as soon as we hit the gas pedal. Very cool feature.

Kleifarvatn

First stop was Kleifarvatn. We found a good place to park next to the water, ate our lunch, and spent some time on the beach. There were some small rock formations that we climbed. It was a cloudy day but it didn’t rain while we were there.

 

 

The bird book came out – the book turned out to be a fantastic guide to the Icelandic birds.

 

 

We had only been at the lake for a short time before Aase and Philip found a common butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris), they were in bloom with a pretty purple flower. Between the lava rocks Thorkild found an orchid (Grønlandsk Gøgelilje, Platanthera hyperborea).

 

 

Here are a few more pictures from Kleifarvatn:

 

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Seltún

We got back in the cars and just down the road we stopped at Seltún. Seltún is a very interesting place with mud pots and hot springs and the area had a very strong sulfur smell.

 

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A boardwalk led us through Seltún such that we could get close to  the hot springs and mud pots.

 

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In the past, Seltún has been explored briefly for sulfur mining. Also, the area was developed for geothermal utilization, which came to an abrupt end in 1999 where one of the boreholes blew up. One of the old drill pads is located next to the boardwalk. 

 

 

And a photo of the Danes.

 

 

Raufarholshellir Lava Tube Cave

After Seltún we went to Raufarholshellir Lava Tube Cave.

 

 

The cave is 1360 meter long and the forth longest in Iceland. It is 10-30 meter wide and 10 meter tall. It was formed during the eruption of Leitahraun about 4600 years ago.

 

 

We only went a couple of hundred meters into the cave. The path was fairly accessible but we had to climb over rocks going uphill and downhill. A couple of places the “roof” was missing and the sky was visible. In those areas piles of snow were still in the cave even though it was July.

 

 

Philip went furthest into the cave and he got into an area where ice had formed on the walls. In there, it was also getting very dark and flashlight was required.

 

 

A few more pictures from the lava tube:

 

 

Just outside the lava tube cave we saw this pile of rocks also called a cairn. We saw cairns in different shapes all over Iceland. In the old days the cairns were used as trail markers.

 

 

Flói Bird Reserve

The next stop was Flói Bird Reserve. This was a green, flat wetland area with a small lake in the middle. This is a place for serious bird watchers and there was a small house for that purpose. 

 

 

In addition to lots of birds, we also saw more butterworts and orchids. Some of us walked around the lake and some of us just walked around in the area.

 

 

Eyrarbakki

It was dinnertime and we went to Eyrarbakki a few kilometers down the road from the Bird Reserve. We saw a couple of sheep on the way. That was a common sight in Iceland.

 

 

We found a nice restaurant, Rauða Húsið, where we could get vegetarian dishes and beer.

 

 

Guesthouse Drangshlíð

The last leg of the trip that day was the drive to the place where we would spend the next three nights, Guesthouse Drangshlíð. We had called ahead to let them know that we would be late and they said that the restaurant closed at 9:30 pm. We took that as they didn’t serve anything after that time so we were looking for the place, frantically. We took a wrong turn and drove on a small gravel road just to end up at the main road some hundred meters from where we had turned onto the gravel road. Finally, we found the place! We rolled in at exactly 9:30 pm and when we checked in, they told us that they only closed for food, not beer. We all just needed beer. Well, Betina needed a glass of red wine.  We unloaded our stuff in our rooms and gathered in the restaurant area of the guesthouse where we all had alcoholic beverages while enjoying the last moments of the day.

Then it was finally time for bed after a long and amazing day. Did I mention we were very, very tired?

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