Hellnar to Arnarstapi

Hellnar Harbor: The beginning of our 5 kilometer hike to the small fishing village of Arnarstapi. This is a famous hike in Iceland and takes you along the cliffside over the water the entire way. There are lots of birds and the occasional seal/whale sighting, so bring the binoculars!!!

This is the trail, rough but well marked.

One of many peninsulas that you can go out on and watch the birds soar.

Brooks standing on a sea arch.

When we returned to Hellnar after our hike, we saw this small seaside cafe that had been closed when we started our hike FILLED TO THE BRIM with people!!! We stopped for lunch at this place, called Fjoruhusid, and had the best meal of the trip. Fresh seafood chowder (huge chunks of cod, salmon, shrimp, whatever else came out of the sea that day), and amazing homemade bread with smjor. Also the best coffee ever, surprise!

This place was right on the sea, couldn't have asked for a better dining location...

After lunch we were tired and walked up the hill to home, stopping to look at this really pretty church.

But then, Berglind emailed us back and told us where to go pick fresh Icelandic blueberries, so we couldn't nap just yet! The berries are located all over the slopes of the Bardaslaug pool, seen below.

Blueberries galore.

We made sure to stay awake long enough to see the northern lights again, as well as the full moon.

Snorkeling in Silfra Fissure

Silfra Fissure is located in Thingvellir National Park, and it is the rift between the North American and European tectonic plates. It is filled with crystal clear potable water and the visibility is up to 300 meters. It rarely gets above 3 degrees Celsius, but also never freezes. We decided to snorkel in it. WHY.

Our fearless leader, Gulli
This is the group of us, after emerging from the water. Some of us look more horrified than others

But it was an incredibly awesome experience. It was the most extreme thing I have done, mainly because it was somewhere I was completely not supposed to be, clothed in layers upon layers of performance gear just to stay warm for a mere 20 minutes of immersion in the water.

At the end of the trip we got to jump off a 15 foot cliff into the fissure. We all did it but were way too cold to operate cameras to document it. It was sweet.

Akureyri

The first stop in Akureyri was obviously whoever had this picture on the wall:

Turned out to belong to the best ice cream parlor in the north! Farm sourced cream and milk ingredients, mixed into strwaberry, vanilla, or chocolate softserve with all kinds of toppings!

We took a stroll through the Botanical Gardens, which were beautiful! Highly recommended as an afternoon activity, free and open til 10pm.

These plants are anise I think...anyway they made the entire air around them smell like sweet licorice!

But watch out for these guys!

We "did the steps" a few times, partly from being lost, but partly because we wanted to. This is Akureyri Church.

On our walk to downtown from our guesthouse, Brekkusel, which was very nice and quiet.

We got dinner at a (topless) tapas bar called Goya (delicious), and then went for some local Kaldi beer at a pub that serves only local beer. On our walk home, we saw these guys again, surprise!!!!!

Lake Myvatn Pt 2: Breakfast, Godafoss, Valor!

This is the dining room at Dimmuborgir Guesthouse. They smoke their own trout and Mackerel on the premises, and included it with their breakfast buffet. The buffet was awesome, and also included hardboiled eggs, multiple breads (including geysir bread, which I originally liked but now am repulsed by)(its a very thick moist brown bread that tastes kind of sweet...its funky, trust me on that, but they cook it in the hot earth beside geysirs, so it has its charm!) OK back to the buffet: smoked trout, blueberry skyr, gouda and ham slices (runstykki, my favorite Icelandic dish!!!!) and delicious coffee.

Valor was waiting on the doorstep for us as soon as we finished breakfast!

So we played in the lake with him. He is a good swimmer!

We headed towards Akureyri, stopping at Godafoss waterfall. Brooks, Pat, Court, and Beth took some press photos for their new side project.

Godafoss was sweet!!!

Lake Myvatn Part 1: Cowshed Cafe and Northern Lights

So I find photoblogging kind of boring...I'll just skip to the cool stuff. WE SAW THE NORTHERN LIGHTS!!! We took a 6 hour drive from Reykjavik up to Lake Myvatn and stayed at Dimmuborgir Guesthouse, and this is what it looked like at night:

We searched the town of Reykjalid for dinner (we have been eating really late this entire trip, so we have been having trouble finding places that are open, especially in smaller towns. We tried to go to Gaemlii Barinn (a super cute country pub), but they were closed and suggested we go down the road to Cowshed Cafe. IT WAS DELICIOUS.
I got the Kjotsupa (meat soup) and it was a fresh beef and vegetable goulash. I also got a rhubarb pie and coffee for dessert with fresh whipped cream from the farm. Cowshed Cafe is weird in that, when you walk in, you realize that one wall of the cafe is shared with a bunch of huge cows in little stalls, all of which have names. Panic sets in as you realize that your Kjotsupa will have bits of "Kristina" in it...But then as you browse around you realize that those cows are milked every morning and night as a tourist attraction, and they don't plan on being soup anytime soon. PHEW.
The Dimmuborgir Guesthouse has a resident sheepdog named Valor. HE IS THE BEST!!! In front of the guesthouse are all of these winding grass paths that go towards and around the lake, which is just in front of you. Valor will follow you down any path and keep you company, and when he finds the right stick, he will present it to you for a little tug-o-war or fetch action. That dog never got tired! See the Guesthouse Below:

Day 2: Reykjavik and Grotta Lighthouse Ride

Today we rented bicycles and rode out on the Seawalk to the Grotta Lighthouse and Bjork Park. The lighthouse was under high tide so we did not get to make our way out to it,

But we found this cool big block of cheese or something, so we hung out around that instead.

We were very cool around this block.

Brendan was having issues but he was still cool anyway.

We then dipped our feet in the natural hot pot by the lighthouse-it was like a perfect footbath!

This is the crew. We rode in flying V formation the entire way.

Dinner was, of course, pylsur. Baejarinns Bestu, Ein med ollu takk! (One with Everything, which is 2 sauces, raw onion, crunchy onion, and a delicious snappy lamb hot dog on a squishy bun.) The guy almost believed we were Icelandic, but when he asked us if we wanted anything to drink, we all froze up, and our secret was revealed.

This is the sun setting over Reykjavik's Lake Tjornin, home of many ducks and swans. Another beautiful day!

Day 1: Reykjavik

We arrived last night at 2am. We crashed at Bryan and Madison's apt and then met Beth, Pat, and Courtney at the Fosshotel Baron at 8am.

Today we walked around the city, eating breakfast at Cafe Paris (fresh croissant and amazing dark espresso-like coffee, crema included), lunch at Cafe Loki (lambagullas and fresh rugbraud). George did NOT get the Viking Challenge, which was comprised of a Brennivin shot, Hakarl (hot karl)(rotten shark meat), bittafiskur (dried haddock

with butter), and both flatbread and rugbraud, and dinner at Vegamot (fresh wrap and fries).

We walked by the sea, explored Harpa,

strolled Skolavordustigur

Climbed Hallgrimskirkja,

and walked and walked and walked

From Bryan's POV, it appeared that a good time was had by all!

OH and we saw lots of rainbows:)