(Current Time & Place: 12/30/16, 6:30pm, waiting to head to dinner at B&B number 4)
Day 2 - 12/28/16
Mike:
Breakfast was buffet style and very reminiscent of other Scandinavian countries; the spread was breads and cold cuts, plus hard boiled eggs and fruit. After breakfast we took our time getting up and out. It looked pretty miserable outside; high winds, sleet and snow. The storm eventually broke though, and we all jumped in the car.
The road was deserted (not that there were many cars once we left Reykjavik yesterday) which was great since we periodically stopped to capture some very pretty views.
Mostly we seemed to be staying in front of the storm, and we made it to Geysir without difficulty. Now Geysir is most definitely a tourist attraction; with a parking lot full of cars and tour buses it reminded me of a highway rest stop.
Surprisingly there wasn't any fee to go out and watch the geysers erupt. We watched one that erupts every 8-10 minutes for a while to capture some pictures....
It's so fast that if you blinked you'll miss it, so it took a few tries to get good pictures.
To reward us for our patience, it began to hale and sleet with gale-force winds. So we ran as best we could in the conditions to the nearby restaurant at the stop. Lunch was a little disappointing as the rest stop was mostly American style fast food (burgers, sandwiches, etc.). They did have an Icelandic soup which I got. It sort of reminded me of Campbell's chicken with rice soup, except instead of chicken the meat was lamb. Everyone else thought the broth had a mutton flavor but to me it could have been chicken broth.
After lunch I found a couple of post cards in the souvenir shop and then it was time to drive to Hella, with of course many more required picture stops. I'm not sure if it has been mentioned yet but island is a beautiful country, at least when there is a break in the weather.
Our hostess at Guesthouse Nonni was amazing! We stopped in to drop off our luggage and she recommended we go swimming in an outdoor heated pool! I was a bit skeptical at first... it was snowing out after all, but we bundled up and took a walk through the town over to what we later found out is the elementary school connected to the gym and pool. The gentleman at the front desk warned us that the pool was a little cooler then normal. Typically it is between 28-30°C, but the pool was only 23°C today. Luckily there was also four hot tubs, varying from 35 to 41°C. We of course tested all of them out, walking quickly between them to stay out of the very cold wind. Finally we got in the pool for a bit which felt great after our long hot soak. Then it was time for the sauna, a shower and dinner.
Similar to Fludir, there were two restaurants to choose from (or at least two that our hostess mentioned), Stracta hotel hella and restaurant kanslarinn. We went to the restaurant and Jon and I ordered horse steaks. I'm sorry to say this but they were delicious... not gamey like I'd expected. The flavor was much closer to beef then deer.
We headed back to our guesthouse and talked about playing some games but ended up taking a "quick nap" and consequently didn't get up til the next morning. Oh well.... We were all pretty worn out.
The road was deserted (not that there were many cars once we left Reykjavik yesterday) which was great since we periodically stopped to capture some very pretty views.
Mostly we seemed to be staying in front of the storm, and we made it to Geysir without difficulty. Now Geysir is most definitely a tourist attraction; with a parking lot full of cars and tour buses it reminded me of a highway rest stop.
Surprisingly there wasn't any fee to go out and watch the geysers erupt. We watched one that erupts every 8-10 minutes for a while to capture some pictures....
It's so fast that if you blinked you'll miss it, so it took a few tries to get good pictures.
To reward us for our patience, it began to hale and sleet with gale-force winds. So we ran as best we could in the conditions to the nearby restaurant at the stop. Lunch was a little disappointing as the rest stop was mostly American style fast food (burgers, sandwiches, etc.). They did have an Icelandic soup which I got. It sort of reminded me of Campbell's chicken with rice soup, except instead of chicken the meat was lamb. Everyone else thought the broth had a mutton flavor but to me it could have been chicken broth.
After lunch I found a couple of post cards in the souvenir shop and then it was time to drive to Hella, with of course many more required picture stops. I'm not sure if it has been mentioned yet but island is a beautiful country, at least when there is a break in the weather.
Our hostess at Guesthouse Nonni was amazing! We stopped in to drop off our luggage and she recommended we go swimming in an outdoor heated pool! I was a bit skeptical at first... it was snowing out after all, but we bundled up and took a walk through the town over to what we later found out is the elementary school connected to the gym and pool. The gentleman at the front desk warned us that the pool was a little cooler then normal. Typically it is between 28-30°C, but the pool was only 23°C today. Luckily there was also four hot tubs, varying from 35 to 41°C. We of course tested all of them out, walking quickly between them to stay out of the very cold wind. Finally we got in the pool for a bit which felt great after our long hot soak. Then it was time for the sauna, a shower and dinner.
Similar to Fludir, there were two restaurants to choose from (or at least two that our hostess mentioned), Stracta hotel hella and restaurant kanslarinn. We went to the restaurant and Jon and I ordered horse steaks. I'm sorry to say this but they were delicious... not gamey like I'd expected. The flavor was much closer to beef then deer.
We headed back to our guesthouse and talked about playing some games but ended up taking a "quick nap" and consequently didn't get up til the next morning. Oh well.... We were all pretty worn out.
No comments:
Post a Comment