Iceland – Day 5

Wednesday July 15 2015.

Wednesday was a travel day and our destination was Guesthouse Hof on Snæfellsnes. But before we got there we had a long drive and lots of adventures ahead of us. First, we had breakfast and packed the cars. We took a few moments to take pictures before we got on the road.

 

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Here is a picture out the window of the car:

 

 

The Secret Lagoon

 

Our first stop was the Secret Lagoon in Flúðir. Just as we drove into town we saw this guy.

 

 

The Secret Lagoon is one of the oldest hot springs in Iceland turned into a pool for swimming or whatever people want to do. Interestingly, the Icelandic name Gamla Laugin means Old Lagoon but Secret Lagoon probably sells better. We changed into swim attire and got in the pool. The air temperature was probably 12 °C / 54 F but the water was warm.

 

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Just outside the pool was a small geyser and the hot water ran into the pool close to the geyser. The geyser can be seen in some of the pictures above behind the fence. There were hot springs too around the pool.

 

 

The siding of the pool was rock. The bottom was gravel with some plants here and there. Big invisible, underwater rocks were also present in some spots. In the section of the pool close to the water inlet and geyser, the water was too hot to stay for longer than a minute or two. There was a small boardwalk around the pool up to the geyser.

 

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We got out of the pool, walked around the board walk to look at the geyser and hot springs, and then got back into the pool. Ahhh, the water felt so warm after the significantly colder air temperature had cooled off the skin. We were in the pool for quite a while but then it was time to get going.

I forgot what this building was used for but it is right next to the pool. Maybe the old place for changing clothes.  Whatever it was, it is a cool old stone building.

 

 

Later that day, Anders realized that he forgot his swim trunks at the lagoon, now we know where they get their rental swimsuits and trunks from.

The area around Flúðir is also known for growing produce. Right next to the pool were big green houses. The green houses were heated by the hot water from the hot springs. The green house closest to the pool had lots and lots of tomatoes.

 

 

Another thing we saw there was trees. Not many trees grow in Iceland. In fact, we could drive for hours and days without seeing a tree. Sometimes we would see some sorry looking bushes.

We also saw two bicyclists they were taking a break at the pool. Biking in Iceland is hard; cold and windy with many days of rain in addition to riding on busy roads.

 

 

Minilik in Flúðir

After the swim we were hungry. Philip had found the Ethiopian restaurant Minilik online and we decided to try it out. The food was excellent.

 

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The woman who owned the restaurant was indeed from Ethiopia and had been in Iceland for some years. She had hand made some wonderful baskets that hung on the walls. Betina liked them a lot but they were not for sale. Even thought the owner was the only employee at work that day the food came out fairly quickly.

After we finished lunch, we were in the mood for coffee. Ceremonial coffee was on the menu. We did not know what it was but it sounded good (and interesting) so we ordered that. The owner started a small grill/fire inside which could be a hazard but nothing happened that day. She invited us to sit around a low table with her coffee equipment. First the beans were roasted on the fire. It took some time and it smelled so good. Then the coffee beans were ground in an electrical grinder. She boiled water in a special pot on the fire and when the water came to a boil, she added the coffee and kept heating. When the water appeared to boil over, she added more water. It was great to watch and the final coffee was fantastic.

 

 

It was probably not the best timing for ceremonial coffee since it took some time and we still had a long day ahead of us. I think most of us were thinking that and tried not to twitch too much in our seats but as mentioned above, the coffee was great.

We left Minilik and drove towards Gullfoss.

Gullfoss

Gullfoss is just an amazing waterfall. And other people have noticed that – both now and in the past. Gullfoss has an interesting and very sad history that can be read here. The waterfall was visible from above but it was also possible to walk right out next to it. Both Thorkild and I were lucky to see a rainbow in the water mist, however it did not come out that well on the pictures. Since the sun was mostly behind clouds, the rainbow was only visible for short periods of time.

 

 

Gullfoss has been turned into a huge tourist attraction with a large parking lot, a very big souvenir store, and toilets that cost money to use. 

We were able to see Gullfoss from different places.

 

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We also got some group pictures:

 

 

And one recommendation, don’t fall into the fall.

 

 

Some images of flowers were also captured:

 

 

Right next to Gullfoss was a…. yes you guessed right – a volcano! Don’t know which one. One of many many.

 

 

Geysir and Strokkur

After Gullfoss, we continued towards the geyser area to see Geysir and Strokkur. Geysir is not an active geyser anymore but Strokkur is. Strokkur erupts every 10 minutes in one big splash and that is it. Very different from the geysers we saw in Yellowstone. Here it is worth mentioning that the English word “geyser” comes from the Icelandic name for this natural feature, Geysir. 

 

 

Here is a picture of Strokkur from the other direction.

 

 

The area around Geysir and Stokkur is very geologically active with several hot pools.

 

 

I went for a walk up a small hill and got a view of a volcano in the background.

 

 

As mentioned above, Geysir is not active anymore and that is what it looks like now.

 

 

on the road

The next stop was technically the guesthouse but we still had some distance to drive. We looked at the map and found a good route, or so we thought. On paper it appeared to be the shortest distance but even though it appears short on the map it may be longer…. Off we went.

The route took us through Thingvellir, which was very interesting. The paved road turned into a gravel road with a speed limit of 80 km/h (50 miles/h). It was a little too fast for us and for the rental cars. The road took us through a moon-like landscape. Amazing. We were on the road for a while and Philip asked me how much longer we had to drive on gravel. Eh… we were not even half way at that point but I said “we are probably there soon”…. We stopped at some point to stretch legs and take in the scenery.

 

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And Philip got this shot of the whole area, 360º.

 

 

We ended up driving about 30 km (18 miles) on gravel. We drove by a river for a while and when we got a chance Anders wanted to stop.

 

 

This is one of the legendary places to fish. The wind had picked up and it was not warm. We walked around for a few minutes and it was an amazing place with lots of greenery, very different from the moon-like landscape we just passed through.

 

 

The view of the river and the fields around it was breathtaking. Unfortunately, we had to move on.

We got back in the cars and we were soon out on a bigger road. We stopped in Borganess for dinner. We had not done much research about food in Borganess at that point and we ended up in a Filipine restaurant where the food was not very good. But it was food. Next to the restaurant was a small sweater shop that came in handy later on.

We got back in the cars and drove out to Snæfellsnes. Our destination was Guesthouse Hof. We found it and got checked in to small cabins. The cabins were very new. They had a bathroom and a bedroom with a tiny desk; that was it. But that was also all we needed.

Guesthouse Hof was right on the beach, we just had to walk through a grassy field full of arctic terns to get to there. That could be a challenge because terns are aggressive birds and they dive bomb anyone who gets close. Anders and Philip went down to the beach that first night. The rest of us waited until the day after. This was the view of Snæfellsjökull – volcano and glacier – from Guesthouse Hof.

 

 

Did you read the novel Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne? Snæfellsjökull is the place where the entrance to the center of earth was found.

It was a long but good day and we went to bed tired and happy.

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