We started the day by backtracking a few miles and visiting the Reynisfjara black sand beach. The weather was much warmer than the day before, but now it was raining. The wind was so strong and the waves so enormous that there was a warning at the entrance to the beach to not get anywhere near the water; however, at the opening of the beach, it was hard not to be impressed by the immense power of the Atlantic. I was thinking about the Vikings and others who landed on these shores ages ago; it must have been extraordinary. I can’t imagine sailing on these seas, with no land in sight, only to land on an empty black sand beach with hail and sand stinging your face. And that welcome must have been a relief compared to the voyage.
We got in the car and returned to Vik and on to Fjaðrárgljúfur. Fjaðrárgljúfur is a canyon with a lot of hiking available in the summer. We walked along the trail for a minute and peered into the canyon. It’s beautiful, but the weather brought in some clouds, which obstructed some visibility. It was much warmer than the day before, so it was raining rather than snowing. This made many of the trails covered in a winter’s worth of ice rather treacherous.
Afterward, we headed to Svartifoss, the day’s first waterfall. I really wanted to see this one because of its geologic features of it, but when we arrived, it was inaccessible in the winter. Oh well, I will see it next time. We returned to the road and stopped at the Veitingasala Restaurant, Shop, and Gas, where we discovered a few things.
- Never take off your crampons. We were sliding the entire way from our car to the gas station. The pavement was nothing but ice-slicked with rain.
- Samer’s 15-year-old boots were dead. The sole rotted out ages ago, and we did not realize it until he stepped in a puddle. Check your footwear before you leave home!
- I had my first Icelandic lamb hot dog, and it was great. Unfortunately, Iceland isn’t a fantastic culinary destination, but it is known for its hot dog. I can do without the remoulade, and the sweet mustard (pylsusinnep) is a bit cloying.
After lunch, we drove on to see two glacial lagoons. The first was Fjallsárlón. The rain had really started to increase while we were driving, so when we arrived at the lagoon, we decided to turn around. Everything was very wet, the ice was dangerous, and neither of us wanted to get a boot full of ice water. So we went to the far more tourist-friendly lagoon called Jökulsárlón. Not many glaciers were floating in the lagoon, but there were a few. We were disappointed when we drove across the street to see the famous Breiðamerkursandur Beach in Iceland. It’s a black sand beach with blue, transparent, and white ice chunks that catch the sun and glint like diamonds. There were only a handful of shards on the beach, so it felt like the day was a bust. The following day, I was told that January had been so cold in Iceland that icebergs were not breaking off and floating down the lagoon to the beach to smash into pieces, which is why the beach was bare.
We stayed at the Hali Country Hotel, which also serves as a museum to a famous Icelandic writer, Þórbergur Þórðarson (Thórbergur Thórdarson). I had never heard of Thórdarson and visited the exhibit of his life while we were there. Unfortunately, there is not much of his work translated into English, and I did not buy the one book they were selling (The Stones Speak) while I was there. He seems quite interesting; he wrote for socialist papers, often penned essays about his life in the middle of nowhere, was funny, romantic, etc. A country character that made it to the big city and became a writer. I probably should have bought the book. If you want to know about him, there is an ios museum app (android here) that you can download.
I had the fiskisupa (Icelandic fish soup) and a beer for dinner and hit the sack as soon as I returned to the room.
Next Day: Iceland – Day 3