2025 Iceland Trip
-
Museums on Route 1
Thorbergssetur at the Hali farm in Sudursveit was a guide book recommendation for supper after visiting Diamond Beach. There was a recorded voice playing from a rock near the parking lot. Inside is a restaurant, gift shop and museum dedicated to the author Thorbergur Thordarson, the voice coming from the rock. We ordered supper, then…
-
Craters
Because we were traveling in early July when the sun never fully sets in Iceland, we found that we could easily do evening activities and go to bed late. Our first crater hike at Kerid Crater, a 6000 year old crater in the Western Volcanic Zone, was on our list for July 3rd, but we…
-
Turf Farms and Man-made Caves
July 3rd – Rutshellir are man-made caves right along Route 1. These were used for hay storage and probably had a smithy as it was next to a historical travel route. Over 90 farms in the south of Iceland have caves like these with wood and sod fronts extending out from the rock formation. Caves…
-
South Beaches (strond) and Sea Stacks (drangur)
On our first day with the car, we visited the Black Sand Dunes after lunch in Porlakshofn. These are accessible on a dirt road that the RAV4 handled just fine, but the people in the class C camper behind us didn’t take it all the way to the dunes. The road was soft sand and…
-
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…
-
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.…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…