Land of the never-setting sun.
After saying goodbye to the grandkids and repacking (again), we headed to Iceland for our first, but not last🤞visit. On this trip, Karen’s sister Kathy, her husband Marc, and her brother David joined us. David has been to Iceland, so he left us to make up the itinerary. We stayed in the south and west of the country, close to Reykjavik.
We took Icelandair out of BWI to Keflavik Airport (KEF). After the week in Iceland, Kathy, Marc & David return to BWI. Karen and I will continue our travel to the UK for nearly four months landing at LGW.
Most of the photos were taken by Karen and me. However, with the kind permission of David, Kathy & Marc, we have included some of their spectacular photos. If you click on the gallery, you will see the photo’s larger size, and comments will be noted if it is someone else’s photo.
A short video of a couple of places visited.
Day 1, Staying in Reykjavik
All the locals were so friendly and helpful. But first, let’s show you some photos of our first day. The sun did not set until about 23:50 (11:50 pm). Some of the latter photographs were taken on a walk to the church and harbor at 22:30 (10:30 pm).
Day 2 – Waterfall, Caves, Waterfall, and horse farm.
We left Reykjavik and headed south to a horse farm for two nights. On the way, we visited waterfalls and went into old caves. The horse farm was excellent and better than we had anticipated. Very modern and clean. It was a comfortable place for two days as our home base. The weather was warmer and brighter after leaving Reykjavik.
The scenery was breathtaking. Waterfalls everywhere and spectacular. The Caves of Hella were manmade many centuries ago. There are apparently lots of manmade caves in Iceland.
Day 3 – Ferry to Heimaey, Iceland, and beach horse riding at Vik
A slightly early start to catch the ferry to Heimaey Island to check out the Puffin Colony. We were lucky enough to see hundreds of Puffins flying around the mountainside. We toured the Whale Sanctuary and saw some Beluga whales. Strolled around the small town and harbor. The weather was perfect. On our return to the mainland, we headed to Vik for an evening ride on a volcanic beach. And, of course, this included more waterfalls. We stopped at many of the waterfalls but could not stop at all of them, or we would have run out of time. Waterfalls are plentiful, and there are several to pick from everywhere you go. The horseback riding was fun. Icelandic horses are so beautiful.
Day 4 – Church, Waterfall, three monkeys!
Today was a relocation day, using the upper part of the golden circle for a second horse farm in the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. We stopped at several locations on the way. This horse farm was much more rustic than the previous horse farm and had questionable plumbing. The location was good, though. The beauty here is breathtaking. At times you feel like you are on another planet.
Day 5 – Waterfalls & 2000-year-old crater
Today’s agenda was a church, seal lions, and various waterfalls. With Kathy, Marc, and David, I stood on a 2000-year-old crater. The weather was perfect again. The key to being comfortable in Iceland is layers. We had them on and off everywhere we went.
Day 6 – Heading to Reykjavik, Waterfalls and hot springs
Did I mention we see waterfalls? We also came across an old (1959, I think) Oldsmobile and some hot springs.
Day 7 – Final day in Reykjavik. Standing on two continents and Orca
Kathy, Marc, and David went exploring in the morning. Karen and I did some small repacking. We met up with the rest of the group for another hotdog at a food truck near the church where a motorbike funeral occurred. We finished the afternoon at the Perlan Museum.
I served in the Royal Navy during the ’70s and participated in the Cod War. This incident was commented on in the Icelands timeline in the Perlan Museum. See the photos in the gallery below.
We could walk on the bridge between the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate. I also walked on the volcanic sand between the two. This was cool. Our friend Ross proposed to Naomi here when there was severe wind chill.
On our way to dinner, we saw an attraction to the right, and people parked, so we took a quick detour to see what was there. The area around here looks like the moon, so we were curious about what there could be to look at. We walked the path to the ocean, and someone heading back said it was the WHALES everyone was looking at. We had skipped a whale-watching boat ride, so seeing several Orcas swimming so close to where we were was a bonus. Graham was lucky enough to get a picture of one breaching.
It was then time for a last meal at a cafe in Grindavik port before visiting the Blue Lagoon. It was then time to part company as Karen and I had an 07:45 flight to catch in the morning, and we wanted to drop our bags off the night before. Therefore we stayed at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel at KEF airport.
I had not heard of this before. Icelandic Air allows you to drop your checked bags off the night before between 19:00 and 22:00 and pick up your boarding cards if you have an early morning flight. This would allow us to go straight to security in the morning. We got to the airport with no lines and bag drop at 21:50. This worked out great as we had to drop the car off in the morning, and the check-in lines were long.
Time to head to London Gatwick (LGW) and start the UK leg of our trip.