Iceland Day 2

 Nov 3, 2025

Hotel: Aurora Igloos, Hella

Our plan was to meet for breakfast at 7:30 and then hit the road to travel the Golden Circle. Sarah woke at 5, and online it seemed like the aurora was strong, so she dressed and went down to the Sun Voyager sculpture to see if it was visible. Alas, there was too much light pollution to see the aurora, but the sculpture and harbor lights were beautiful. 

After a good breakfast at Bon in our hotel lobby, we grabbed coffees for the road and headed out of town. We made the short side trip to Pórufoss waterfall. For a while we were the only ones there. The sun hadn’t yet risen, and dawn’s colors lit the sky behind the falls, a beautiful start to the day. Our next stop was the Almannagia Gorge in Thingvellir national park, a site where North American and Eurasian tectonic plates come together, creating a split. We hiked along the rift on a sometimes slippery trail between basalt cliffs to Öxarárfoss waterfall, not terribly impressive after Pórufoss, but pretty. Our third stop was to see Geysers. The first one startled us with its eruption which goes off every 5-8 minutes. We waited to see it erupt a second time (a smaller eruption), then walked past small geysers and thermal pools to a viewpoint. It started getting windy. We went to Gullfoss and walked down to the viewpoint in strong, face-freezing winds. The volume of water was remarkable and the falls were extensive, well worth the trip. Our last natural sight for the day was Kerið Crater, a volcanic crater filled with water. Again it was very windy, but the light from the sinking sun was beautiful. We took the short trail, shielded from the wind, down to the water’s edge. It looked like there was very thin ice forming on top.

We stopped for dinner in Selfoss before heading to the Aurora Igloos in Hella for the night. We are sleeping under clear domes in plastic igloos that are charmingly laid out and furnished, including with heaters, electric lanterns, curtains for privacy, cozy beds with views of the sky. It doesn’t seem like a promising night for the aurora, but we took pictures of the night sky, fiddling with camera settings. We are prepared in case the aurora makes an appearance.

Iceland Day 1

 Nov 2, 2025

Hotel Von, Reykjavik

Our Iceland trip comes under the “Wander” category — a week of travel to see early winter sights. The three of us (Ed, Natalie, and Sarah) landed at the Keflavik airport around 6am, feeling sleep deprived but eager to see Iceland. We made it thru customs and immigration, collected our rental car in the morning darkness (a manual shift Dasia Duster with 4wd), and headed for the Blue Lagoon, a spa and thermal pools not too far from the airport. 

Lava flows went over the road a few years ago when there was a volcanic eruption, and the new road wound thru an area of volcanic rock that still has steam vents sending up clouds, very atmospheric. We arrived as the sky was getting light, changed into our swimsuits, and entered the pool. It was fairly busy but large. We explored the pale blue waters for a couple hours, putting on silica masks and laughing at all the people with masks on, going under bridges, peeking in the attached sauna, sipping our complimentary beverages. It was a great way to relax after our long flights. 

From the Blue Lagoon, we drove into Reykjavik and checked into our charming hotel in the walking area, navigating the street parking apps. We had only an hour before our Reykjavik Food Walk walking tour. We deliberately had booked it to try to avoid giving in to the desire for sleep, and we hoped it would help us adjust to the time difference. It was not easy to get moving, but it was delightful. We had almost no wind (unusual), and we walked past the Sun Voyager sculpture and the In A Crevice plaque to the front of the glass-clad Harpa Hall where we met our charming guide, Kathryn a native of Iceland. There was a lot of public art, something perhaps to explore more at the end of our trip.

We were a group of 9 visitors, all Americans, and Kathryn. We walked to 5 different locales and sampled Icelandic dishes: fish with roe, a creamy pulled mutton, pan fried Atlantic Char and cod, each with different sauces and vegetables, an Icelandic hot dog (at the same stand Bill Clinton had visited many years ago), mutton soup, fermented shark, Icelandic beer and a liquor similar to aquavit, and finally an ice-cream seasoned with rye bread crumbs and topped with berries and carmelized rhubarb sugar. It was a great introduction to the country with lots of stories and socializing. Fun fact: every Icelander is in a national database which tracks relationships between Icelanders past and present. Kathryn could enter the name of the very first settler and trace her heritage back to him thru 31 generations! People also use it to make sure when they date someone that they aren’t too close a relation.

After the tour we bought some picnic foods for tomorrow from a local grocery store. We didn’t stay awake long! Per our tracking app the aurora was good, but there’s too much light pollution in the city to see it.