Iceland, Day 3 (Monday, September 2)

Before we left Akureyri, we made a stop at the Bónus, the biggest and least expensive of the grocery stores in Iceland. Our next couple of lodgings were located far from grocery stores and convenient restaurants, so we needed supplies. If you ask me, the Bónus logo pig looks like it was in a drunken brawl.

On our way, we took a little detour off the Ring Road to visit the Glaumbær farm, near Skagafjörður. The book I was reading when we left for Iceland was a book about Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir, a Viking woman born in 980 who appears in both the Saga of Erik the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders. She and her husband sailed to Newfoundland, and lived their for a year, returning to Iceland after their son was born. She's known as Gudrid the Far-travelled and Glaumbær was her last home.

Although Glaumbær has been a farm for 900 years, the buildings have obviously changed. In Iceland, there aren't many very old buildings because homes and farms were built primarily of blocks of turf, which eventually degrade back to the earth. These homes are in the Danish-Icelandic style which came later, and were built in the 19th century.

The insides of the houses are open to view so that you can see how the rooms were used. This one had a forge in it.

I love the chevroned look of the blocks of turf.

Icelanders name every possible building, landmark and even boulders. This house is Gilsstofa.

And, in front of the building Árbús, was a wonderful bench with carved dragon heads. I wish I could have brought it home with me.

Just before we left, a rainbow appeared over the fields at Glaumbær.

Then it was back to the Ring Road to a little cottage, Skjól, in Reykir. It's located near Stað on a small peninsula.

Oh, bunk beds. Somehow I overlooked that on the Airbnb site! But it was just a night and otherwise, we really liked the little place.

Our view from the cottage of Húnaflói bay, part of the Hrútafjörður. Across the fjord is the beginning of the Westfjords.

It's an area with a lot of geothermal activity, and you can see the steam rising from the ground. These streams fuel the tubs and showers.

The cottages were near the Sæberg hostel, and we had the use of their geothermal tub, on the edge of the bay. I'd asked my breast surgeon about using the tubs in Iceland and she thought the lymphedema risk would be minimal. As it turned out, the tubs are just comfortably warm and so I didn't worry. We had it to ourselves and it was so relaxing!

We decided to drive back up the peninsula to get dinner in Hvammstangi.

Sjvárarborg restaurant is in a building that used to be a slaughterhouse. You'd never guess it.

We had their seafood soup and langoustines with pasta. Both were really good.

We did a little exploring after dinner and happened on this unusual (for us) sight. Fish drying on a rack.

These become hardfiskur, the dried fish that is served with smjör (butter). And yes, I tried this, too, in Akureyri. While not as revolting as the fermented shark, I can tell you I don't care for it. And I think I'd like it even less now that I've seen the fish drying.

I mean, yikes.

My take-away is that I don't want to encounter any of these guys in the ocean.

Then back to our little college for a glass of wine and some time spent just watching the ocean and planning the next day's travel.

After the sunset, my husband stayed up later than me and woke me around midnight - to see the aurora borealis! None of the photos turned out, but it was mesmerizing to sit, bundled up on the little porch of our cabin, and watch the surreal shifting of the northern lights above us.

Iceland, Day 2 (Sunday, September 1)

After a good night's sleep, we hit the road to drive the Diamond Circle. First stop, Goðafoss (waterfall of the gods), fed by the Skjálfandafljót river. When the Vikings voted in 1000 to officially become Christian, the Lawspeaker Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði threw his statues of Norse gods into this waterfall.

Next we headed farther north to Húsavík, Iceland's oldest settlement, on Skjálfandi bay.  According to the Sagas, the Swedish Viking Garðar Svavarsson stayed there one winter, in 870. He left one of his men and two slaves there and they established a farm.

There are about 2300 residents, but a big tourist draw for whale-watching trips. Also of note about the town is that the Apollo astronauts trained around Húsavík in the 1960's.

Húsavíkurkirkja, built in 1907.

It was a cold, rainy day and it was nice to find a little café to have pastries and coffee. An aside: Both my husband and I regularly drink our coffee black. But on vacation, we both use cream and sugar.

After breakfast, we drove a little farther north, along the Öxarfjörður. These fjords are part of the icy Greenland Sea, which is part of the Arctic ocean.

That's all we needed to know - it's our tradition to at least wade into any new sea or ocean we encounter. We veered off the main road onto a path that lead down to the shore. But first we had to let this farmer (wearing a lopapeysa) pass with his trailer of sheep.

At a latitude of 66°, this water was COLD!

But it didn't stop us in the Beagle Channel and it didn't stop us here.

Then back to the Diamond Circle, now heading inland.

We drove into Vatnajökull National Park, which includes the glacial Ásbyrgi Canyon. The horseshoe-shaped depression in the land is said to be made by the hoof of Odin's 8-legged horse Sleipnir. This rock formation, Eyjan, divides the canyon for half its length.

We had to take an unpaved road that was under construction to get to our next stop, Dettifoss. This waterfall has the greatest volume of water in Europe.

Dettifoss is in the Jökulsárgljúfur canyon. As we hiked to it, the light rain turned into snow for a little while.

Also along the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum is Selfoss. Eventually the glacial melt that powers these falls ends up in the Greenland Sea.

We continued along the road by the volcano Krafla, and got out to walk along Skútustaðagígar, a row of pseudocraters on the Stakhólstjörn pond. They were formed when lava flowed over wetlands and the resulting steam erupted, leaving cone formations with craters.

In spite of the rain/snow, we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

Until, that is, we got to the Hverir geothermal area. The red sand looks like it might be Mars, and there are steam vents and boiling mud pits. People were hiking in it, but it didn't take us long to decide the heavy sulphur smell wasn't worth it.

We stayed long enough to get a few pictures and then hightailed it back to the car.

On to Dimmuborgir. 2300 years ago, an eruption sent lava over a lake, making it boil. The resulting steam left castle-like rock formations and hidden caves which are the homes of trolls. One vicious half-troll, half-ogre named Grýla and her husband Leppalúði live in Dimmuborgir. Grýla and her giant pet cat Jólakötturinn (Yule Cat) eat children over the Christmas period for not getting any new clothes. The idea was to encourage kids to finish their sewing and knitting in a timely way. The troll couple also has 13 sons known as the Jólasveinar, or Yule Lads. One after the other over thirteen days, the Jólasveinar come to harass Icelanders in a variety of ways. And I thought the Santa Claus tradition was a little creepy.

We had dinner at Kaffiborgir - trout from Lake Mývatn and hverabrauð, a type of rye bread steamed in a pot underground near a hot spring.

Mývatn means "midge lake" and is known for having huge swarms of annoying midges. Thankfully, they were absent when we visited.

We finished the Diamond Circle and headed back through the countryside to Akureyri.

And after much urging on my part, my husband agreed to try the infamous kæster hákarl with me. Hákarl is Greenland shark that has been buried under gravel for a few months and then hung to age for a few more months. That shark breed has such a high urea content that it is inedible without being fermented. The end result is a food that is absolutely revolting but no longer actually poisonous. Anthony Bourdain described it as "the single worst, most disgusting and horrible tasting thing" he'd ever eaten. The chef Ainsley Herriot said it was "like chewing a urine-infested mattress." And Gordon Ramsey gagged and spit it out. We knew all that going in, but what the hell, right?

I went first. You can see there is a delayed reaction where the ammonia and god-awful taste kick in after I've said it's not too bad. Hákarl is served with a shot of Brennivín, which means burning wine but is actually an unsweetened schanpps flavored with carraway (commonly called Black Death). It's nasty stuff, too, but I was glad to have it to wash away the taste.

My husband had an even harder time with it, and followed Gordon Ramsey's lead while I laughed. Neither of us smelled the foul stuff until after we'd tasted it, and both agreed there's no way we'd have tried it if we had. It smells even worse than it tastes, if that's possible. We had plenty left over so my husband got another American tourist sitting near us to try it. He's friendly that way.

We went back to our room after that, and had a nice conversation with our host and his daughter. She told us that she had tried hákarl at a school festival where they ate traditional foods. She said, "I ate too much and I puked. And then I spent the rest of the night on the toilet." Kids. They don't pull any punches.

Iceland, Day 1 (Saturday, Aug, 31)

We made it! Ísland, the land of fire and ice. The most cost-effective and time-saving way for us to get there was to drive several hours on Friday to a major hub, then fly to Minnesota that afternoon. And then an overnight flight to Keflavík airport, just south of Reykjavík.

We picked up our 4WD car, a Suzuki Jimny. It was classed as an "older model" but seemed fine aside from a little squeakiness. "Seemed" being the operative word here, but more about that later in the trip.

My husband and I left the airport and headed due north up the Ring Road, the highway that circles Iceland. There are a set of rules Icelanders are serious about: Don't stop or park on the side of the  Ring Road, don't exceed the posted speed limit (generally 90 km on the highway) and don't walk on the delicate mosses that take an insane amount of time to grow back. There are more than 600 varieties of moss in Iceland and they lay like green and brown carpets over the lava.

That first day I wanted to pull over repeatedly to get photos, but we were tired and wanted to get to our first stop.

It seemed like a good sign that our destination, Akureyri, had heart-shaped stop lights. How friendly is that?

We had rented two nights in an Airbnb in a quiet neighborhood in Akureyri, the second biggest town in Iceland.

We had the downstairs of Ragnar's home - he and his daughter Anna lived upstairs, along with their sweet beagle Kría (named for the feisty arctic tern).

Our window looked out over their backyard. I noticed people let their grass get pretty long, but given the short summer season, I probably wouldn't mow either.

After we settled in, we walked into the town to look around. As with most towns in Iceland, it included a harbor. It has about 18,800 residents and lies along the Eyjafjörður fjord. Originally the area was settled by the Viking Helgi Magri (Helgi the thin) and his wife Þórunn Hyrna in the 9th century, but didn't become Akureyri until it became a summer-only Danish trading center in the 16th century.

Only 90 km south of the Arctic Circle, this town wasn't allowed to be occupied year-round until 1778. Even though this was the night of Akureyri's annual festival, there were no real crowds to speak of. We found out that many tourists don't venture much beyond the south of Iceland.

We always buy a Christmas ornament and a pair of earrings whenever we go to a new country. But I really wanted a lopapeysa - the traditional Icelandic sweaters. The authentic ones are undyed wool and reflect the colors of the sheep there - gray, black, brown, cream. But good grief, are they expensive! We looked at some in the stores and saw that they started at $200 - and those were the ones "inspired by Iceland" but made in China! The sweaters made in Iceland were $300 and up.

However, we went with a plan and checked out the Salvation Army thrift store. Score! My husband spotted this lopapeysa in my size for a mere $43! Best of all, it was hand-knit, without side seams or a tag.

After looking around at the restaurant offerings we settled on this little place. It was small and friendly and the cashier told us which of the two local beers on draft was better (Boli, rather than the Egil's Gull).

We ordered fish and chips with fried squid and mozzarella. And then, after another walk around town, we went back to our place to crash. At that point, we'd been up for about 48 hours.

We had big plans for exploring this Viking country and needed sleep.