Lisa
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Book Exchange in Hofn
I’ve had a Little Free Library in my front yard for one year and I was very excited to find a book exchange in Iceland! Martie and I wanted to see the Hofn Viewpoint before leaving the town of Hofn, and we found this book exchange very close to the parking for the Nature Trail…
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Route 1 and Driving
Our rental car, a RAV4 hybrid from Hertz, came with a portable, pocket-sized WiFi. Upon arrival at the airport on Day 1, we picked up a similar device from Trawire. These were cheaper to use than paying for international service on our phones. We probably could have done with just one, but it was nice…
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Icelandic Fauna and Boat Excursion
Sheep are free roaming in the countryside during the summer. They have ear tags and are rounded up by farmers in the fall. We saw lots of mothers with babies in small groups, and had to stop on the roads in places. We even saw one baby with its head stuck in a gate that…
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Icelandic Flora
One of the first and very abundant plants we saw were the Nootka Lupine growing in ditches and in construction areas. They have nitrogen-fixing bacteria in their roots, so they can grow in disturbed and nutrient-poor areas. It is not native and can be considered invasive. It’s beautiful, though, and helps stabilize soil. Many plants…
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Churches (kirkja)
Towns had cathedrals and smaller churches, while the countryside had tiny churches everywhere. Most churches are Lutheran. Some churches were very modern and some traditional. The beautiful wooden church in Husavik is very well-maintained in a climate that’s harsh on wood. The painting behind the alter is typical; they didn’t have 3-D crucifixes. Skalholt Cathedral…
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Snaelsfellsnes Peninsula
Our first stop was the Sugandisey Island Lighthouse, which I described on the lighthouse page. We then drove through light rain to the town of Grundarfjordur where we managed to get photos of the iconic Kirkjufell Mountain with rainbows. This “church mountain” claims to be the most photographed mountain in the country, and we got…
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Vatnsnes Peninsula, July 8
After a morning at the Glaumbaer turf farm and the Kolugjufur Canyon and waterfalls, we had to make a decision about what to do next as we had too many things on our list. We chose to do this peninsula to see the sea stacks and seals rather than the Byggdasafn Hunvetninga and Strandamanna Museum…
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Icelandic Ponies
For the woman who says, “Why walk when you can ride”, the horseback ride at Safari Hester along Myvatn Lake was a trip highlight for Martie. She absolutely loved the tolt (a four-beat lateral) gait of the Icelandic ponies. I was doing well just to stay in the saddle. To signal for this gait, one…
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Eastern Fjords
Our day driving in the Eastern Fjords was a sunny, scenic, relaxing day of rest from the walking we did to see the sites of the southern side of Iceland. Route 1 follows along the fjords, in and out so that makes for a long but very pretty drive. Pyramidal-shaped mountains were along this route.…
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Thingvellir National Park
This was our very first National Park to see in Iceland. I used an anglicized spelling; Icelandic spelling uses the 30th letter of their alphabet which looks like a capital P with the bump in the middle instead of the top. Vellir means meadows. This park has the site of the original government gathering place…