We’d seen an interesting turf-roofed house on the road to the Farm Guesthouse Smaratun, so we stopped on our way back to the highway. It was a lovely old place with the most interesting doorway:
Nearby was an old fishing boat, totally out of its element in the middle of a field:
Our first attraction of the day was a volcanic crater. Unfortunately, our ability to enjoy it was curtailed by the pouring rain and fierce wind. Now, before we left for Iceland many people wondered why we would travel to such a cold climate in the middle of summer. We assured them that the average temperature in the summer is in the mid-teens and the weather would be quite pleasant. It seems, however, that we’ve been dragging the same rain cloud around with us for the last few days. We picked it up in Seythisfjorthur and it has been our constant companion ever since. It probably thinks that, since we are Canadians, we like the rain and wind and that it’s doing us a favor by keeping us in our preferred conditions.
Ze crater:
After the crater-dash we drove to Skalholt, a quaint village that was the educational and cultural center of Iceland for several hundred years. The main destination in the village is the church, which has been destroyed and rebuilt no less than four times. The church itself is a typical Icelandic church with a very plain interior. However, on the way out we noticed stairs leading downstairs and a sign saying “museum in the crypt”. Curious, we went down to check it out. We were absolutely stunned to find a gorgeous little archaeological museum filled with ancient stones and artifacts discovered during a dig in the 1950s. The most impressive artifact was a stone coffin which originally housed a bishop but was dug up and filled with the bodies/bones of other important folk. There was also a doorway leading to a tunnel that connected the church to the nearby farmhouse. Historically, it was used to avoid the cold weather outside and as a means to escape the farmhouse or church during an attack.
The church at Skalholt:
Our third attraction of the day was Geysir, a large hot spring where two geysers blow towers of super-heated water up into the air on a regular basis. There were literally hundreds of tourists milling about and it was hard to get photos that didn’t include someone in the foreground or background. As we approached one particularly popular hot spring we were taken by surprise when it erupted. We didn’t realize it was a geyser and were quite shocked by the noise and the water shooting up into the air. We weren’t sure how often it erupted so we wandered around a bit before coming back. Thankfully the geyser, named Strokkur, erupted every 5 to 10 minutes.
Waiting for Strokkur:
Strokkur erupting:
There was a decent cafeteria at the Geysir park so we stopped there for lunch. Once again the choices were limited. I had the usual:
After lunch we drove to the Gullfoss waterfall. It was beautiful but our raincloud had followed us and it started tipping down with rain as soon as we stepped out of the car. Simone’s camera seized up in the damp so she headed back to the car while I took photos from as many angles as possible.
The Gullfoss waterfall. Not as impressive as Gothafoss, in my opinion:
I’d noticed earlier that there was a road just south of Geysir that connected to Thingvellir, the site of the ancient Icelandic parliament. I asked Mom and Simone if they wanted to go there or not. They said “sure!” so off we went. The site of Thingvellir is quite underwhelming. It’s literally just a field and some rocks, with a nice waterfall nearby. We walked around until we couldn’t stand the rain anymore, and then headed back to the car. We stopped at the wee gift shop to see if they had any interesting postcards or information sheets on Thingvellir but they didn’t. Simone, however, found a topographic map of Iceland for a friend back home. She’d been looking for one ever since we arrived and this was the first time she’d spotted one. Score!
There was a lovely waterfall at Thingvellir:
The Law Rock at Thingvellir:
We’d pretty much had it for the day so we backtracked to Selfoss, where we picked up some groceries before heading to the hostel in Eyrarbakki. From the outside the hostel looked like an industrial building. The only indication that it was a hostel was the cheery Hostelling International flag. We went into a building that said “farmer’s market” to ask about the hostel. It turns out the farmer’s market/industrial complex WAS the hostel:
The proprietor was a lovely woman who suggested a bunch of places to visit before leading us to our room. Our room turned out to be a gorgeous modern suite with a full kitchen, dining room, a spa bathroom, living room, and a large bedroom. We were absolutely floored. We were hoping for a tiny room with bunk beds and a private toilet. We got a lot more than that!
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