Iceland 2025 - Day 8

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2025 // Day 8

And so begins our final full day in Iceland. 

After a tasty hotel breakfast, we left at 9AM for our bus ride back to Reykjavik. We were five minutes gone when John realized he had left his coat so we turned around to go get it. Mikel (our bus driver) made a whole 3 point turn in this big ole bus on that tiny little Icelandic road. He’s amazing.

Twenty minutes down the road were some geothermal hot springs. They were boiling hot! (Literally 212 degrees F!) The town they’re located in uses them to heat the whole town! When we got back on the bus, John asked, “everyone have their coat?”

Back on the road again, I was just about to fall asleep when I feel the bus slowing at an odd pace. Then I felt Mikel really hit the breaks, followed by his horn. Turns out someone in a camper van had pulled out right in front of us, and didn’t even bother to hit the gas. We were certain we would hit it (Mikel included!) Thanks to his amazing driving (and a few polish cuss words!) we didn’t!

We made one more stop before the final leg to Reykjavík - at a gas station we had now been to 3 times. Osk said, “It’s a good thing we stopped here one more time - you will miss it!”

The Icelandic word of today is ‘heimskur,’ (pronounced hame-ish-shkr.” It means “the one that sits at home,” as in they never explore the world, also 'stupid'.

When we got back to Reykjavik, we had 2.5 hours to do whatever we chose before leaving for the lava tunnels. It was under a mile walk to the Icelandic Phallological Museum, so we headed there first. We didn't think it was worth paying to walk through, but we did check out the gift shop!

From there we took the long way back to our hotel to see the rainbow road and find something for lunch.

The first restaurant we stopped at - Kaffi Loki - was solely so Ike could try the fermented shark. He was so brave - I had tried enough new things this trip - fermented sharks was not for me! The waiter told us that typically eating fermented shark came with a shot of vodka (or some other alcohol) to take after eating the shark because the aftertaste was that of ammonia. He said that sharks urinate through their skin so you have to find a way to make it properly. Icelanders put it underground for months to press out the ammonia. Then you have to hang and air dry it for months. Then you can eat it!

Then we went to the hot dog cart for actual lunch before heading back to the hotel. Ike's room was ready, so we took all of our bags, etc. off of the bus to put in his room, then boarded the bus for the hours drive to the lava tunnels.

The Lava Tunnels were amazing! It was so neat to think we were walking through a space that was once filled with lava. The tunnels exist because as lava flowed, the top layer would cool and turned into rock. However it left the underneath still hot and flowing at a temperature of 2000 degrees! There were a few holes in the top at the beginning where the rock had crumbled into the tunnels. Though the rock was 50% silica, within the completed closed in part the rock was a variety of colors due to its composition - yellow from sulfur, red/orange due to the iron content that rusted, purple for the iron pre-oxidation, gray for the volcanic glass/obsidian, copper for the copper! Our guide turned the lights off at one point and it was absolutely pitch black - no light was being let in deep into the tunnels. We only did the one hour tour,  but there was a three hour tour that takes you to the back of the tunnel!

We headed back to Reykjavik and Mikel dropped us off a couple miles from our hotel by request. We said goodbye to him and I told Osk I would need to her come back to the US with me because how was I suppose to get through the day now without her guiding me?? We were dropped off at the FlyOver Iceland building. I LOVE the FlyOver rides at the Mall of America/Soarin' at EPCOT, so when I found out there was an Iceland version I immediately put it on my MUST DO list. When we were exiting the attraction, there was a wall-sized map of Iceland with the points from the video marked. It was wild to me that we had only been to like 2 of the marked places! After all that traveling, there was still so much to see!

We took the long way back to the hotel, looking for some American food. I try really hard to eat the things you should in the places you should eat them, but I had had enough of Icelandic food. It wasn't bad, but even too much of a good thing can be tiresome. We ended up going to the Hard Rock Cafe where I got a Messi chicken sandwich - it was JUST what I needed. I also needed a t-shirt to wear on the plane the next day because I'd run out of clean shirts.

As we meandered back to our sleeping quarters, I took in my surroundings one last time. Its always so interesting to see how people live in different places. This was the smallest 'big city' I had ever experienced, and it was so neat how walkable it was. The nightlife was starting to come to life and there were people dining outside along the stone roads. What a nice evening it was as we spent our last hours in Iceland.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 2025 // Day 8.5

We met downstairs in the hotel lobby at 5:30AM and waited for our driver to come pick us up. I'm not sure what kind of ride share service we used, but he picked all 6 of us up in his Mercedes Benz - the proceeded to tell us we were NOT allowed to eat in there! We laughed as we drove past a speed limit sign and the lights gave us a sad face. Our on this morning was also a Polish man, and he did pass a few signs at the proper speed so we could see the smiley face! 

The airport was PACKED. Luckily, Delta only had one flight out, so they had a bag check line especially for us. We were able to get through quickly, and didn't spend very long in security either. We had more than enough time to shop inside the terminal. I don't know about the rest of the airport, but the concourse we were in had very little seating for people waiting for their flights. I don't just mean by the gates - everywhere in the concourse! We managed to find 4 stools at a counter to hang out at until our plane was boarding.

Once in the air, the pilot made an announcement that we were over Greenland and there weren't any clouds! It looked beautiful! I've done two bucket list trips these part two summers, and am currently planning the third for the upcoming summer, but I may need to add Greenland to the list now!

When I first got to Iceland, I was absolutely tickled pink that the Cokes there had Icelandic names on them. It became my daily ritual to buy a coke and have Osk tell me how to properly pronounce the name. She enjoyed my excitement! Ike found a Coke with his name in Icelandic, and I found one for Aaron! No Gretchens, but this is the first trip abroad in a long time that people knew how to pronounce my name, so that was good enough for me!

We took our trip with EF Tours.  I've always wanted to go to Iceland, and even had pinned places to visit on my maps app, but I'd never prioritized time to plan it. When Brenda said she was hosting an adult trip I said SIGN ME UP! And then I did some recruiting! I wasn't sure how I would feel about my days being scheduled by someone other than me, but it was actually really nice to let go  and just be where I needed to be when I was told to be there. It was so nice having Osk with us for a good chunk of each day, because she was so knowledgable about Icelandic history, etc. and would take any question we gave her and run with it, providing more info that I think even Google would provide! It was also nice not to worry about transportation (and along with that, parking). Those Icelandic roads have even smaller shoulders than Tennessee roads do, and that is saying something because they're nearly non-existent in some places. Yet somehow, Mikel navigated them with our big ole bus like a pro!

Perhaps someday I will return, but until then, there is a whole lot more of the world to explore!

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Iceland 2025 - Day 7

 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2025 // Day 7

With 12 out of our group of 20 heading home today, we were now down to 8 adventurers for the extension of our trip.

We left Reykjavík at 9:30A to head west towards Húsafell. An hour or so in we stopped at Snorri Sturluson’s home, Snorrastofa. Snorri was an Icelandic writer who was killed in 1241. It is one of the main historical sites in Iceland as it was an important political center. Snorri's family was rich and powerful and was trying to take over Iceland as king. Snorri himself had no interest in politics, only writing. The Norweigian king was fighting with his family politically and his people were the ones who killed Snorri. At one point there was a boarding school on the premises. The dorms were designed to be used as dormitories during the school year, and hotels during the two months of tourism in the summer. Now they are just used as hotels. 

Back on the bus, Osk told us about the importance of first names in Ireland, also known as your christian name. When a baby is born, a committee of names has to approve your given name. Last names came from the father’s first name - either nameson or namedóttir.

I also learned that there is a fear of the Icelandic language dying out because not many people speak it. Something fun is that Iceland has a word contest to create names for new inventions.

From there we drove to Hraunfossar and Barnafoss waterfalls. There was a lunch buffet option, but none of it looked good to me. Osk had told us that the waterfalls here were different than any we had seen so far. I couldn’t imagine how different a waterfall could be. Well,  she was right! One part was full of swirling rapids, weaving in and out of all the rock, pooling in some places. It flowed down, down, down multiple sections of “falls.” Another section was a continuation of the river from the first set of falls that had tons of “mini falls” flowing into it. Wow that was awesome!

Our hotel, Hotel Husafell, was less than 10 minutes from here, so we headed there next to get checked in. Since Aaron and I hadn’t eaten lunch yet, we ate at the bistro near the hotel. I ordered a Cesar salad because I needed something that was as far from fish as possible. It ended up being romaine lettuce mixed the cesar dressing, with slices of grilled chicken place in a single layer on top of the lettuce. Then holy moly, it was cheesy!! Because of the chicken, the layer of cheese was melted right on top, sprinkled wiht bacon and croutons. Not as refreshing as I wanted, but definitely delicious!

At 3, we met back up with the group to ride a giant off-road bus up to the glacier. Y’all, this bus ride…for starters, the driver was fabulous. We are literally driving up mountains that are pure rock, minus the path carved out by driving over it. The dust was coming in and made it hard for me to breathe, but everyone else seemed to be fine, so I’m probably just dramatic. The ride was so bumpy all I could think was thank goodness Sarah did not stay, this would be making her so sick! 

After the 30 minute ride up the mountain, we hopped off that tank and hopped into another. This new one was an old German military vehicle. It took us up the actual glacier, which was wildly impressive. I mean this thing is a mix of ice and snow, with little streams running down the lower portion. There were massive holes and crevices that the driver needed to either navigate through or around. It was really neat to see.

When we got towards the top of Langjökull Glacier, we stopped and got out. This glacier is named so because “lang” means “long” and this is the second largest glacier in Europe. They split the passengers of the tank into two groups - ours headed into the glacier first. The first bit was quite slippery! Luckily we stopped in one of the ice cave rooms and put crampons on over our boots - this made the walk much easier.

The ice tunnel was dug into the glacier beginning in 2015 and opened in 2016. There is a little ice chapel in the back of it that is open for weddings in the winter! Due to it being summer, there was a lot of dripping of water taking place - water even came through from the surface!

To get back down the glacier/mountain, we took the reverse of what we had done to get up there. I had my first (and only 🤞🏼) migraine of the trip, so I spent the next hour and a half in my room until we had dinner with the group in the hotel restaurant.

Our starter was a sea food soup. I took two bites and that was all I could manage - it was far too fishy tasting for my tastebuds. Our main dish was much more my taste - lamb, a stuffing ball, small salad, and grilled carrot. Dessert was Skyr (similar to yogurt) topped with berries and mandarin sorbet. They are all about their sorbet in Iceland and I am here for it!

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Iceland 2025 - Day 6

 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2025 // Day 6

After a breakfast of the most delicious chocolate filled croissants, we left Höfn at 8AM and began the five and a half hour drive back to Reykjavik, making a few stops along the way. 

Our first not-just-a-bathroom-break-stop was Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon.

Our next stop was some lava fields. When Osk originally told us about the lava fields, she mentioned when they don’t get a lot of rain, they are gray. I didn’t understand what she meant - how could moss be gray? Now I get it! The volcano that resulted in these lava fields last erupted in 1783. The ash carried over to the European mainland and messed with their crops for years on end.

We drove another hour and then stopped in Vik for lunch. We were originally scheduled to spend two nights in Vik, but they’re were shifted to Höfn. Regardless, I had pinned some dinner options on my maps. We opted for Black Crust Pizzaria. Some of their pizzas are made with activated charcoal to give them the black crust that was inspired by the black sand beaches. The pizza Aaron and I shared had pepperoni, sausage, cream cheese, cherry tomato, date pesto and basil. I also grabbed a pack of the homemade macarons. There were 6 in the pack - 2 of each Lava (dark chocolate and espelette pepper), Glacier (vanilla), Aurora (blueberry). Vik was a super cute town and I’m kind of bummed the plan changed and we didn’t get to stay there.

We had 2.5 hours left to drive to Reykjavík. We made one more bathroom stop, but we’re overall ready to be done with the bus for the day. After arriving in Reykjavík around 5, we checked back into the FossHotel Reykjavík and got situated for our 6PM dinner reservations at Eiriksson Brasserie. the starter was citrus cured Artic char with cucumbers and dill mayonnaise, cauliflower and caviar. Not a single bit of this sounded appetizing to me. I DID try it though! Since I didn’t have a tortilla available to me, I took one of the slices of bread and caved out a divot. Then, I put a mix of the stuff in it and ate it. That was the end of that. The texture was too much for me. My neighbor (and partner in trouble making) Julie didn’t like it either. She told me to spread it all over the plate so it looked like I ate it like she did. I told her I needed to leave it in the mound I put it in because it was covering the big chunk of raw fish I didn’t eat! The main dish was cod with potatoes, carrots, zucchini, and Kalamata olives. I’m so fished out at this point. I did eat half the cod. I didn’t have any potatoes and only one olive, so Aaron gave me his potatoes and olives. Lastly, we were served dessert - tiramisu with chocolate sorbet. As a non-coffee drinker, I don’t like tiramisu either because of the coffee taste. I did like the chocolate sorbet as least! Mom gave me her scoop as well.

We did a little shopping then headed back to the hotel for the night. Mom and Sarah had to back as they were flying home in the morning and the rest of our crew was heading off to west Iceland for a couple days before our flight back home.

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Iceland 2025 - Day 5

TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2025 // Day 5

We had a slow morning for the first time this trip. I took too many bus naps yesterday, and so I didn’t fall asleep until 1AM. Thankfully my body let me sleep in a little and I didn’t wake up until 730A. 

We had breakfast, then boarded the bus to head on an hour drive to Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. We were decked out in our warmest gear, as that was what our itinerary advised. Turns out we needn't have worn so many layers - we stayed dry and warm! We went on a boat ride throughout the lagoon so we could get a closer look at the ice bergs. The blue color of some ice bergs means they are compressed and dense - there is no oxygen in them. I personally liked what I called the marble icebergs. They had layers of black in them from the ashes after volcanic eruptions. Though it felt like there were giant ice bergs everywhere, in reality, only 10% of the ice bergs are visible - the other 90% are all located underwater. The lagoon that we were boating in used to be a part of the glacier, but because it feeds into the Atlantic Ocean, the salt water hits the ice and melts it. It is the deepest lake in Iceland, with its deepest parts roughly 280 meters deep. The fish that inhabit the lagoon are fish like salmon, cod, and herring. The seals also like to come in from the ocean and eat because they’re are the only predators in the lagoon as it is not deep enough for the whales.

We then walked down to Diamond beach, but because we were pretty far from low tide, there were no icebergs on the beach.

We got on the bus and headed down the road to the place we were going to eat lunch. We had to cross a one lane bridge, and despite there already being cars coming from the opposite direction, our bus driver decided to try to cross it anyway. This led to our amazing tour director getting out and directing the line of cars opposite us to backing up so we could finish crossing the bridge.

For lunch, it was a kind of buffet, and I was pretty disappointed by it. We did get to walk out to the lake right at the bottom of the glacier though, and that was pretty neat.

We got on the bus to head back to the town our hotel was in. The itinerary was supposed to be longer today, but our lodging ended up being further east than originally planned, so our last activity of the day was pushed until tomorrow.

We ended up splitting up for dinner. Aaron, Sarah, Ike and I decided on going to Kaffi Hornid - a little pub in town. I ordered fish and chips for the fourth time in the past 5 days. They didn’t have tartar sauce! They gave me a sauce that tasted like curry. It was….odd.

For the second night in a row, I was fighting sleep. Up until the night before, I’d had no issues with the time change and went to bed at 10 or 11, then had been up at 6. This night, I was seeing 1AM for the second night in a row. However, this turned out to be in my favor. I looked out the window, and what did I see? The northern lights!! It’s definitely not northern lights season, so I had zero expectations of seeing them. What a great surprise this was!!

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