Iceland 9.2: Hofn to Hella

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• Glacier Wonder Hike

• Fjardrargljufur 

• Dyrholaey

• Arhus Gistihus

I had high hope for this morning.  One things that I looked forward to the most this trip was the snowmobile tour on the Vatnajokull glacier.  Unfortunately, it started downpour in the middle of the night, and by the time we drove to the meeting point for our snowmobile tour, it turned into full-on rainstorm.  The weather was beyond miserable.  There were only us and another car showed up at the parking lot for the tour.  Ten minutes later, the tour guide showed up, explained to us in a straight forward, no non-sense Icelandic manner that there would be zero visibility on the glacier, and asked us if we still want to go on the tour.  I asked, "Should we go? Would it be dangerous?"  The tour guild shred his shoulder and said, "It's up to you.  It is not dangerous, but the tour is expensive.  I don't want you to get angry if you go on the tour and not being able to see much.  If you want to go, we can go."  By now, I was pretty use to the answers Icelanders gave to me when I asked questions and hope for suggestions.  Somehow, I felt that I was never able to get subjective inputs from them.  The tour guide did not seem very enthusaitc, and as disappointed as I was, I knew it was not the right condition for snowmobile.  Sigh..... I guess that gave us a reason to revisit. 

We went for the back-up plan and drove back to the Skaftafell for glacier hike.  Luckily once we drove pass the Jokulsarlon, the downpour turned to drizzling.  The sun came out, and we saw the biggest rainbow in the sky.

We booked a glacier hiking tour with Glacier Guide at the park entrance.  Before coming to Iceland, I was indifferent about glacier.  When we went to Argentina two years ago, I bypassed El Calafate because I did not think it was worth the effort to travel all the way to see some ice and freeze my ass off.  How was I wrong about that!

Nothing can prepare you from walking on the glacier for the first time.  There was no other experience to drew from.  The glacier was transcendent and majestic.  Standing in front of it, I was in awe. 

Our guide was probably the most talkative Icelander that we met so far.  He was friendly and funny.  We chatted along the way about all things Icelandic.  He explained the fluid glacier landscapes and showed us some amazing moulins. (A moulin is a narrow, tubular hole or crack through which water enters a glacier from the surface.)  When he told us after a long dark winter, how he hiked up to the top of the mountain alone in the early morning and saw the first ray of the sunlight in months, it made me want to come here to experience the presistant darkness in the winter.

The weather held up perfectly for our hike. The 2.5 hours hike did not end until 4 hours later.  We thoroughly enjoyed our glacier hike and the tour guide's company.



The morning rainstorm and the prolonged hike delayed our plan for today.  Luckily, we were able to pack a lot more activities in a day because the Sun would not go down until around 9 PM.  We headed back to Hella and made many photo stops along the way, such as Fjadrargljufur canyon near Kirkjubaejarklaustur. (Honestly, I could not pronounce 80% of the places we visited.)

When we arrived at Dyrholaey, it was raining sideways once again.  The wind was so strong that I could not hold the camera steady.  There was something special about Dyrholaey.  The foggy, windy, and stormy weather created this dreamlike state.  I felt a different energy that was eerie and other-worldly.

The miserable weather we encountered today did not damped our moods at all.  On the contrary, it enhanced our experience.  Somehow, it felt right to have the harsh weather at this part of the world to go with the whole rough viking backdrop. 


I began to understand why more than 50% of the Icelanders believe in elves and hidden people.  There was a mythical arua to this extraodinary beauty at the end of the earth that felt like it was beyond human existance....

It was a long day.  After dinner at the local pizzria, we checked into our simple cabin at Arhus in Hella and called it a night.  

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NEXT: Iceland 9.3: Hella to Stykkisholmur

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Iceland 9.1: Reykjavik to Hofn

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• Svartifoss Waterfall hike

• Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon

• Kaffi Hornid

• Vagnsstaoir Youth Hostel

We had a long drive ahead of us today.  After loading up coffees and breakfast sandwiches from the nearby bakery, we were on our way to Ring road one.  Once we drove away from Reykjavik, there were barely any cars around.

The landscape was mesmerizing with the mountain, waterfall, lava formations, and volcano ashes along the way.

The scenery was so beautiful that the drive went by so quickly.  By the early afternoon, we were at the Skaftafell.  The sights of the glacier took my breath away.

We took a short hike to Svartifoss waterfall to stretch our legs and got some fresh air before driving to Jokulsarlon.  Taking the Jokulsarlon boat ride was one of the activities that I looked forward to the most before this trip, and I was in awe as we drove to the glacier lagoon.  Its out-worldly beauty was indescribable.  Both H and I could not stop taking pictures of the floating ice from every angle.  The guide explained to us that there was a volcano eruption 10 weeks ago; that was why there were ashes covering some of the older floating ice. 

After the amazing boat ride, we were back to the ring road one for another 30 kms before we reached Vagnsstaoir Youth Hostel.

I booked the hostel because it was the base of next morning's snowmobile tour.  H never stayed in a youth hostel before, so I was a bit nervous how he would react.  We checked into our room before 6 PM.  The hostel was clean and basic; however, 2 toilets to be shared among 26 people was not the most ideal arrangement.  After check-in, H was up for dinner in Hofn, so we drove another 50 minutes to Kaffi Hornid in Hofn for some famous Hofn langostinos.

The simple cabin restaurant is hardly a romantic place for our 4th wedding anniversary celebration today, but we enjoyed the meal greatly.  I loved the sweet local beer brewed with glacier water.  The langostino soup and grilled langostino came with a generous portion which made their high Icelandic prices tolerable.  For those people who never had langostinos, it is mini lobster that is slightly larger than jumbo shrimp.  The texture of the langostino meat is distinctively creamy and sweet. 

The local trout was not to be outdone, but I could hardly finish the langostinos.  We topped our dinner off with the ice cream made from the local dairy farm.  This was a great meal to finish a day.

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Iceland 8.30 - 8.31: New York to Reykjavik

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•  Laugardaislaug thermal pool

• City Center Hotel

• Hallgrimskirkja 

• 3 Frakkar restaurant

Do you know that the flight time from New York to Reykjavik is about the same as from New York to Las Vegas?  Our flight from NYC to KEF was only 4 hours and 40 minutes.

The Icelandic airline's schedule  is perfect.  You go to work like any other regular workday.  The flight leaves at 8:30 PM from JFK and arrives at 6:20 AM to KEF bright and early the next morning.  No time is being wasted.  The only thing you need to worry about is to get as much sleep as possible on the plane so you have enough energy the next day in Iceland

If you are tired the next day, don't worry, the strong coffee in Iceland can definitely keep you awake.

We left the airport before 7AM and walked over to the Geysir Car Rental office about 5 minutes away from the airport to pick up our rental car.    The tiny car we got could not fit all of our luggage in the trunk, and we traveled light.

We were off to Reykjavik by 7:30 AM.  As we were sitting in our rental car and driving in traffic with other Icelanders on their ways to work, I felt strangely settled in this foreign country.  In the past, I never felt really "arrived" at a new country until after checking into the hotel.  Having a car definitely sped up the process.  For the next week, this tiny Hyundai i10 would be our home away from home.

It was way too early for check-in; so we made Laugardaislaug thermal pool our first stop.  We were at the pool just before 9 AM on Wednesday morning.  The facilities were a little aged, but well kept.  It was a cloudy day in the 50's with drizzling rain.  We sat in the heated thermal pool and felt the fatigue melt away.  Some locals dressed like they were going to work after the pool, young school children coming with teachers, and older people chatted among themselves like old friends.  It was our first glimpse of the local life.

After thermal pool, we drove to our first night's hotel, City Center Hotel, in downtown.  There were some one way streets  that were a little confusing to navigate.  We were concerned about the parking, but it was quite easy to find a parking space.  We were lucky to be able to check in right away.  The budget hotel was in the central location.  The room was tastefully decorated but so small that we barely had any space to put our luggage.  

 

After checking in, a quick bite at the pizzeria across the street, and a power nap (it was sooooo needed), H was off to a quick business meeting, and I was excited to be venturing out on my own.

In a country where the population was less than 400,000 people, the capital city, Reykjavik, felt more like a small town.  The pace was slow, the streets were quite, and the air was fresh.   Although it was only the last day of August, the temperature felt like October in New York.


I walked along the main shopping street of Laugavegur.  There were some clothing stores, quite a few of them selling outdoor gears, few bars, restaurants, cafes, and souvenir shops.


Two hours later, H returned from his meeting.  We wondered around aimlessly, checked out the local supermarkets, bakeries, and took a coffee break at one of many local cafes.  The strong coffee helped to keep us awake for the next couple hours.  We bought a winter hat and gloves for H since he forgot packing them for the trip and bought a driving map for the next few days.

We tried our first "Pylsur" (Icelandic hot dog) at the funky bright colored Drekinn Grill. Coming from New York, where it has it's own reputation about hot dogs, I must say that I liked Pylsur better with the crispy onions.

Downstown Rekjavik was small and extremely walkable.  We took a long stroll, stopped by the modern Hallgrimskirkja church, quaint Tjornin lake, enjoyed the Scandinavian architectures and unique sights on the streets, such as this super jeep that I had never seen elsewhere.

I was intrigued by the icelandic's exotic cuisine when I was doing homework for this trip and made a reservation at 3 Frakkar for our first night's dinner.  3 Frakkar was a popular restaurant and many people were turned away without reservation.  We ordered some Icelandic dishes that definitely tested my limit.

Left side dishes:

1. Ptarmigan & Reindeer pate with cumberland sauce: 

Ptarmigan is an arctic bird.  This was the only dish that I was somewhat comfortable eating, relatively speaking.

2. Smoked Puffin breast with mustard sauce: 

This dish was really difficult for me to stomach.  I did not expect that bird meat would look bloody red.  The fact that it was smoked and raw certainly did not help to enhance my appetite.  However, H loved this dish.  

3. Whale pepper steak with pepper sauce (Hrefna-Minke whale)

I definitely felt guilty ordering this dish, and subsequently could not enjoy it.  The texture of the meat was kind of between beef and elk steaks. 

Right side dishes:

1. Hashed fish with black bread "Icelandic specialty"

This is the most normal dish that we order.  However, it used way too much salt, butter, and cream that after a few bites, I felt nauseous. 

2. Chocolate cake with ice cream.

You would think chocolate cake is a hard one to screw up.  However, it was a pretty bad cake that tasted like the ones you bought from the frozen secion of supermarket.

I must confess that I did not enjoy my first dinner in Iceland.  The cooking at 3 Frakkar was rather disappointing and the exotic dishes we ordered freaked me out a little.  I learned that I might be open minded enough to be willing to try almost anything once, but to blindly dive in and commit to a whole dish was way beyond my limits.

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