Around the Hotel Óðinsvé

As part of the package booked through Arctic Experience Holidays we stayed at a lovely hotel in the quiet streets near the centre of Reykjavík. The hotel chef was also Iceland's only TV chef, Siggi Hall. The quality of the restaurant was matched by the quality of the food and service. Everything we tasted was delicious - especially the lamb and the bacalao.

We had a great view looking over the heart of Rekjavík from our room. Because we arrived at the start of a Bank Holiday weekend, Reykjavík was fairly quiet as most Icelanders go to the countryside to celebrate this holiday.

The main shopping street in Reykjavík was very clean, tidy and with lots of flower displays and seats. Many of the shops were selling traditional Icelandic craft goods - woollen goods, carved wooden figures, etc. All the shopkeepers were friendly and help full - all in all a far more pleasant than some shopping streets back home!

Hallgrímsskirkja

The church is a highly-visible landmark that can be seen for miles around. We arrived just after it had closed for the day and never managed to go inside - next time maybe!

The photo taken from the base of the main tower hopefully show how tall and imposing the church is. There is an observatory platform at the top of the tower that (again) we would like to visit - next time.

In front of the church is the statue (a gift from the USA) of Leifur Eiríksson, the Viking explorer who discovered America before Columbus.

On the road

On day two we picked up our rental car and followed the standard 'Tourist Route' around 'The Golden Circle'. The views on the road were incredible and we stopped frequently for Steve to do some filming. Almost everywhere we stopped we found ourselves filming and taking photos from lava rock outcrops covered with moss and flowers - all very springy underfoot.

The River Sog, Kerrið & Skálholt

All along our route we found lots of places to stop and admire the views. As we drove alongside the River Sog, the view was wonderful; with just one tiny house set in the middle of untamed landscape as far as the eye could see.

We saw a sign for another tourist viewing point, but couldn't see anything from the road; however, what we saw when we walked from the car park more than satified our curiosity! This is an old volcanic explosion crater with a blue-green lake in it. Apparently pop concerts have been held here - with the bands playing on a floating stage at the bottom of the crater!

The waterfalls near Skálholt have a salmon ladder to help the fish migrate during the breeding season, and seemed quite impressive until we reached Gullfoss! (See later photos...)

Strokkur and Geysir

The original Geysir is the one after which all others around the world were named. Apparently Geysir only erupts a couple of times a day, whereas Strokkur erupts about every seven minutes!

Some of the eruptions are smaller than others. We ended up filming four or five from different places so Steve could get some good footage. Just before Strokkur erupts, the water in the pool rises in a large dome shape and then you get the large water spout with clouds of steam - spectacular!

Around the active geysers were lots of hot pools of varying sizes and colours. Turquoise seemed to be the most startling in colour of them all.

Since Geysir doesn't erupt all that often Steve felt (fairly) safe and quickly nipped over the rope barrier to take a quick picture! Not a lot was happening - just a few bubbles and a fair amount of steam.

Gullfoss

After leaving Geysir we carried on up to the famous waterfall at Gullfoss. Even from the car park we could hear the roar of the water, but that didn't prepare us for the loud roar as we got to the edge of the cliff!The sight and sound of the falls were absolutely breathtaking and we were lucky enough to be there as the sun came out, producing a rainbow and giving us a wonderful 'picture-postcard' view.

Photographs just can't do justice to the sight and sound as the water flows over the falls with such tremendous force. There are three levels from which you can view the falls. At the top of the cliffs, a viewing point half-way down the cliff and the path that takes you through clouds of mist right down to the edge.

At the edge we had more stunning views, but there were no ropes or barriers even though we were within just a couple of feet of the raging torrent. An awesome sight (and sound) and a memory to treasure!

Þingvellir

Something a little quieter on our way back to Reykjavík: a leisurely walk around part of the Þingvellir National Park - the location of Icelands original parliament.There is just a wonderful feeling of peace and its hard not to be wowed by the sense of space. The park is worth a day-trip in itself there's so much to see on the different walks - more waterfalls, magnificent views, the huge lake, the old church - it's marvellous.

Peningagja (The Money Chasm) has beautifully clear waters and people throw coins to see the strange reflections as they fall for at least 10-15 seconds - very deep water! Cally was a big kid and did it three times! It was so relaxing to be walking in beautiful landscape with (seemingly) no-one else around. The air was so fresh and clear. Wow!

Reykjavík - 11:30pm

After another fabulous meal at Siggi Hall's, we went for a walk into town late at night, past many statues on Lækjargata in the heart of the city. Lake Tjörnin looked spectaular with all the streetlights reflecting off the water and further down the lake the Icelandic Free Church on Fríkirkjuvegur looked beautiful, all lit up at night.

The Blue Lagoon

This is an experience that we'd recommend to anyone visiting Iceland. Of all the many hot pools scattered all over Iceland, this is the most well-known. Just swimming out and floating in the lovely warm (and sometimes very hot!) water - a great way to relax, unwind and ease those aching muscles from all the walking done so far...

As you can probably guess, we bought a single-use waterproof camera to capture the memories out in the pool...

On the road...

After our visit to the Blue Lagoon we headed back to Reykjavíkdo across country and then headed North to Buðir.

As with most of the roads on Iceland - you drive around a corner and see the most magnificent views of the coast and the countryside. There are so many occasions when you drive around a headland or over a hilltop and just say, "Wow!"

It was a long drive to our second 'basecamp' (about 2-3 hours) but the spectacular views of the mountains as we headed north more than made up for it.

Hotel Buðir

Our new base was at a 'Country House' hotel - excellent facilities in an excellent location. And what a magnificent view we had from our room! Sweeping mountains with even more waterfalls. No real signs of civilization for miles around apart from the winding roads and a few isolated farms. So quiet!

The hotel (recently re-opened after a fire) is set in a small bay - very picturesque especially when going for a leisurely stroll in the late evening after a lovely meal.

To the west we could see the famous volcano Snæfellsjökull - the entrance to the 'Centre Of The Earth" in Jules Verne's classic adventure story.

Just a short walk from the hotel is the old church (over 140 years old and still in use today) which was the only building left standing after the last eruption of the Búðir volcano that destroyed the village that once stood here.

Hellnar

Hellnar is a small fishing village with a tiny and the (very popular) cafe is in a former fish salting house (around 6 tables inside and 8 tables outside). The food we had (deep-filled vegetarian quiche with salad) was delicious and from where we sat outside (the sun shone once we got away from Buðir) we had a great view due South over the Atlantic ocean.

The cliffs near the cafe had very strange rock formations and as we sat in the sunshine, all we could hear above the sound of the breakers were the constant cries of seabirds

As at Buðir, Hellnar has a tiny church serving the fairly isolated community. You see these all over Iceland serving many isolated communities - all beautifully maintained.

Snæfellsjökull

Re-fuelled after our great lunch we drove further around the coast of the Snæfellsness peninsula. The views out to sea were magnificent as were the views of Snæfellsjökull in the sunshine.

Djúpalóns-sandur

We finally reached our destination - the pebbly beach at Djúpalóns-sandur. As we walked down from the car park we passed the rusted remains wreckage of an old freighter that had run aground during the Second World War.

It was so relaxing - just sitting on the beach listening to the sea rolling over the pebbles. Cally even decided to sunbathe - it really was warm enough!

Buðir from the Arnarstapi road

As we headed back to the hotel for our last nights' stay we came upon this wonderful view from the Arnarstapi / Hellnar road - the hotel and church were just isolated specks in the distance with little to see for miles around.