Vagabonding | LisaLarry.com

Larry and I discovered the hazard of traveling to a place without having picked up a guide book first. Usually I do a ton of research before hand and have a rough top 10 list ready to go. Because we were busy with so many preparations for so many different things, I didn’t have time to do anything except book the plane tickets. We didn’t even have hotel reservations when we got here. Which left us free to be spontaneous, but also rudderless.

For our second day, we decided to head up to the northwest part of the country, known as the West Fjords. We stopped to buy a book of photography on Iceland and used that to choose our destination – how’s that for spontaneous? We both love rugged coastline – the West Fjords comprise 30% of Iceland’s total coastline – and there is a waterfall, Dynjandi, which is known as the most beautiful waterfall in Iceland. We just had to see it. What we completely underestimated was our travel time and the fact that half our travel up in that rough country would be on dirt or gravel roads!

More than seven hours and hundreds of dirt road miles later (our poor little rental car!), we finally found the waterfall. Lucky for us it never gets completely dark that far north this time of year. The drive might have been quicker if we hadn’t stopped so many times to take pictures. The country up there is striking and every fjord is different. Not to mention the fact that there was a gorgeous waterfall literally around every corner. After a while you just have to stop taking pictures because there are too many striking sights and it gets to be a bit ridiculous.

What always kills me is seeing the houses, literally in the middle of nowhere, and imagining a life story for its inhabitants. For someone who can’t stand to live outside the delivery zone of her favorite restaurants, it’s quite an alien concept.

Unfortunately the skies did not cooperate – it was overcast and windy. And, because it’s still early spring up here, the land is not very green yet. In fact, there was quite the snowpack on the tops of the peaks.

But the Dynjandi waterfall was even more spectactular than we thought it would be. We took pictures for over an hour.

After that we had to try to find somewhere to stay, in a place where most of the hotels and guest houses are only open seasonally, and it’s still a little too early for summer season. Thankfully Ísafjörður, the regional capital and a bustling town with a population of 3,000, was only about 45 minutes away. I managed to get cell phone reception (on the top of the mountain, on a dirt road!) and found us a spot at a guest house. The proprietress didn’t seem too happy that we were arriving at 11:30 pm but she waited up for us all the same.

Once we got settled in we realized we hadn’t eaten dinner and of course, nothing in the town was open. Lucky for us we had the famous Icelandic dried fish from yesterday! Seriously, lucky for us we had a few other road snacks as well. We did both dig into the fish just to try it, and the verdict was best said by Larry: “Well, you could live off of it, but . . .” Seriously nasty. Imagine a styrofoam version of the fishiest fish you’ve ever eaten. We both forced ourselves to finish one full piece as a dare.

We did notice (and were up late enough to confirm) that it never gets fully dark that far north this time of year. We took pictures of the town at 12:30 am and it was light enough to do so.

Two things on our list for next time: (1) Hornstrandir, only accessible by ferry and only during the summer season. The pictures are unbelievable; and (2) Látrabjarg, the westernmost part of Europe and the largest sea bird cliff of Europe. Someday I want to meet a puffin in person.

(All photos (c) Larry L. Hanson or Lisa Hanson, 2009)

After a week of frantic, mad preparations, and an all night packing exercise, Larry and I got on a plane to JFK on Monday morning. At the skycap desk, we had the pleasure of performing the time honored suitcase shuffle, as Larry’s bag was 8 pounds over weight. Luckily mine was exactly 8 pounds under the weight limit. How’s that for precision? Oh and despite all our packing “lean” for this trip, I am hereby declaring that we overpacked. Our bags weigh a ton, and the carry ons are killing me. I have both our laptops, power cords, and various other components in a backpack on my back and it is NOT light. I’m going to need a chiropractor after this.

We managed to catch a few winks on the plane, and then caught another flight to Reykjavik, Iceland that evening. The flight to Reykjavik is only about 5 hours but with the time difference we arrived at about 6 am local time Tuesday morning. We immediately rented a car and headed out into what Winnie the Pooh would say was a “very blustery day”. Seriously, the wind almost knocked us and our luggage over when we first stepped outside. And it hasn’t let up all day long. I’ve almost blown over several times now. I would guess we’ve had a sustained wind of 40 mph, with higher gusts, all day long. And to think I used to complain about the wind coming off the Hudson. All I can say is, I love my North Face jacket!

Though we had kind of a rainy, gray start to the day, by the time we got to Reykjavik and found somewhere to have breakfast, the wind had begun to blow the clouds away. Blue skies! Given the good fortune of clear skies, we decided to tour the Golden Circle, which includes:

(1) the national park called Þingvellir, where the ancient parliament (Alþing) was established and held beginning in 930, and where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates collide and you can literally walk in between the two;

Eurasian and North American Tectonic Plates — Looking between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates

(2) Gullfoss, which means “gold falls”, a huge waterfall formation that seriously rivals Niagara Falls;

and

(3) a geothermally active area known for its most famous landmark, Geysir. It actually contains several hot pots and a couple of geysers, the original Old Faithful Geysir and Strokker Geysir. We were treated to several eruptions while we were there.

We also stopped at a volcanic crater called Kerið. While it is over 3,000 years old, it’s still the youngest crater in the area.

Everywhere you look in this country you are reminded of its unique geothermal and volcanic attributes. There are many public pools which are sourced from the natural hot springs, the most famous being the Blue Lagoon. 98% of Iceland’s homes are powered by geothermally generated electricity (they know how to use their natural resources!). You can always look across the rugged terrain and see steam coming from some natural hot spring, or steam pouring out of a geothermal power plant. And if you aren’t looking at that, you’re looking at a rugged lava field (covered in spongy green moss, a seriously stunning sight to behold), or a volcanic crater.

Larry and I both have noted that the landscape here reminds us of Scotland. It’s like a more rugged Scotland. With even more wind. And the best part? The fact that it stays light until midnight. Currently the sunrise is about 4:30 am and sunset about 10:30 pm – but because we’re so far north it doesn’t get completely dark until about midnight. On June 21st, sunrise is 2:34 am and sunset at 12:04 am. How great is that? I wouldn’t want to be here in the winter, where it’s only light for about 4 hours a day if that, but summertime is heavenly for night owls like ourselves. After we found a hotel and went searching for dinner, we were surprised to discover that most restaurants were closed. It was after 10:30 pm and we hadn’t even realized it because it was still so light outside.

Random notes and observations . . .

Reyjkavik is a beautiful city. It’s very clean, both physically and architecturally. Iceland only has about 300,000 inhabitants, and 60% of them live in Reykjavik. Despite that, it still feels like a charming small fishing village, only one with some really cool designer boutiques and fun restaurants. Our little hotel is right across the street from the Hallgrímskirkja, the most famous church in Iceland. Our room even looks directly at it. Unfortunately the entire tower is covered in scaffolding! Reminds me of the first time I tried to see the Sistene Chapel. Such a disappointment.

The Icelandic horses are beautiful. They are much smaller than continental horses and have longer hair and thicker manes. We had to stop and pet a few along our way today.

We are also sampling some of the local flavors, of course. Today I tried skyr, which is a soft cheese that comes in various fruit flavors. I had apricot vanilla. It’s technically a cheese, but more like a thick yogurt. Skyr has always been a part of Icelandic cuisine as it was brought over by the Vikings. Very yummy. We also bought some of the famous dried, salted cod. We haven’t tried it yet but it sure smells. Even through the sealed bag. We’ll have to get brave and break that open tomorrow.

The language is interesting and very nearly completely indiscernible to an English speaker. Once in a while there’s an odd word that bears a resemblance to something in English but for the most part, there are no similarities. The Icelandic language evolved from the original Norse settlers and has remained so pure that modern Icelanders can read the ancient Viking texts perfectly well.

(All photos (c) Larry L. Hanson or Lisa Hanson, 2009)