almost all day

Today, we headed off to explore the west coast.  This was a suggested itinerary in our book, and we left out of Reykjavik before 9am.  We went north and around the long way on the fjord and the scenery was great and required a few stops for pictures. 

We stopped at the end of the fjord to see the tallest waterfall (656 ft) in Iceland - Glymur. Our guidebook said to take the very good gravel road off the main road, and there it would be.  Well, it was a fairly good gravel road, but then there was a fairly substantial 5.5 km hike.  We started off, and it was a gorgeous morning.  We had to cross a few streams, which we did as a team.  

Finally, we got to this cave and realised we had to go through the cave and down to the river.  At the same time, we could cross to the very end of the rocks and watch two guys try to cross the river upstream on this log - it took them a very long time, and they were dressed and prepared for it. 

So after some consideration, we decided to turn around - almost making the falls.  The walk back was just lovely and when we were in running distance, it started to rain.  We almost made it to the falls, but we didn't, but that was okay because we had a lovely morning and otherwise would have gotten all wet.

After this, we headed to the Settlement Center in Borgarnes. This was a fairly large village, and the Settlement Center told the history of the people that came to call Iceland home, mostly Vikings from Norway.  Downstairs, told the saga of a boy named Egil - pronounced ale.  He was a dark poet, who had a gorgeous blonde Viking brother; he also tangled with the sorceress queen of Norway and her husband and eventually outlived everyone until the age of 80.  His final despicable act was to kill two slaves who had carried his lifes silver and buried it all in a secret place.  We almost had lunch here, but they just couldn't seem to clear a table for us.

So we moved on to Reykholt and had lunch at the Foss Hotel.  It was clearly past lunch time, but they offered us broccoli soup. I don't even like broccoli and neither does dad, but we both agreed it was delicious.  

After lunch, we went and looked at this pretty church; it was very basic, but perfect in its simpicity.  All the churches, we have seen in Iceland have been like this, and they are very appealing with the simple lines inside and out. Inside was plain and very narrow wooden pews and a wooden desk/alter under a picture of Jesus, that's it. 

After the church, we got back in the car and talked about our options.  The guidebook said that the adventurous could take a gravel road road back toward Reykjavik through Pingvellir.  We were adventurous, so off we went.  

Through a small village, which seemed to have a golf course and a car wash, we found the gravel road, and stopped to read all of the warning signs.

It was so desolate looking most of the area being created by a receding glacier which left no vegetation (except lichen) and lots of jumbled rocks.  The road was very rough with lots of holes.  It was also the same color as everything else, which was a bit disorienting.  We began to climb and the road went soft and wet in places, but we were encouraged because we passed two other cars with very happy people in them.

The puddles got a bit bigger as did the mountains, and there were patches of snow.  The map we were using made it clear that it was fine to use the map for planning your travel, but should not be used for actual travel.  It was difficult to judge how far we were going to have to go on the road.

The snow got closer and closer and eventually it was everywhere and the temperature dropped to 2 degrees C.  We got between the glaciers and this was exciting, but then there was a part of the road that was all snow and it turned out it was very deep and very wet and didn't give you a lot of options.  We almost made it through, but then got stuck.  

We backed up a bit and went again making it to the other side in a very sloppy manner.  We stopped and had a chat.  All we saw in front of us was the road continue to climb and more snow, so we reluctantly agreed we had to turn...we'd almost made it.

The drive back was just as beautiful, but it was very quiet in the car now. We went back the way we had come, but when we got to the start of the fjord, we paid to go through the 5 km tunnel under the fjord, and this cut an hour and half off of our journey, and it was kind of cool is a creepy way to be under all of that water.  

Back in Reykjavik, we were determined to make it to the apartment without back tracking and we almost did it, but then we missed our turn and ended up on the wrong side of the harbour. We backtracked and then wound around the streets until we knew where we were and found our alley to the apartment.

After a quick drink and chill out, we went out for Thai food.  Gill and I saw a couple of places, and she lead us straight there, but it was closed...almost had Thai food.  So we went back to the Main Street, looked at menus and decided on the Budda Cafe -Japanese  food.  I had the freshest most gorgeous salmon sushi and 3 enormous hunks of cod for a main.  Mom had the lightest fish and chips.  Gill had egg drop soup and a slow cooked ribeye that was so tender, it just melted in your mouth.  Dad had a 5 course set menu that included sushi, duck salad, shrimp tempura with beef sashimi, and slow cook ribeye.  Everything was so so good...thank goodness that Thai place was closed.

On the way back, we planned our breakfast meal, since the hotel hadn't put a tray in the frig.  Our day of almosts was pretty spectacular.