Before we started the ~2.5 journey back to Skogafoss, we visited the Fjallsárlón Glacial Lagoon for our last time to say goodbye to this secret glacier lagoon. I hope the next time e come back, that heart will be still there!
Early in the morning just right after sunrise, well not that early, the colors of the mountain and the glacier gradually changing. Look at the blueness of those ice!
That “submarine” that we saw the day before now changed to a ship haha!
It was tranquil….I will miss this hidden gem!
It was Zach’s first Iceland visit so we stopped by Reynisfjara Beach, the black sand beach, with basalt columns that we been to on our first trip. It was super windy that day, seriously, the sand keep hitting my face and it was so painful!
See the angle of Jason? It was soooo windy that at one point I had to walk backward; I finally felt the infamous Icelandic wind that can blow off the car door!
Next stop: Dyrhólaey Lighthouse, we missed this one on our first trip and our friend who recently returned from Iceland recommended it. The drive up the mountain was not paved and filled with potholes so have to be extra careful driving up there. I do not recommend driving up if the road has snow on it; it has no guardrail! After a slow and bumpy ride, we made it to the top of the hill where the lighthouse is located.
Up the hill is where the postcard photos of the Dyrhólaey Arch are photographed. If you are brave enough, you can hike to that arch…..it was bad weather so we didn’t do it.
After Dyrhólaey, we drove to check in our apartment – Þorsteinshús House. The check in was at Hotel Skogar, it was closed when we arrived but luckily a lady showed up and checked us in. We got the key and got the direction from the lady on how to get to the house, which was less than 3 minutes drive away down the road. Right next to the house, we suspected a butcher/farm? Those two poor cows hanging there urgggg!
The gas stove wasn’t working so we drove back to the hotel reception to let the lady know so she can have someone to fix it since we planned to cook our meals at night. Right next to the hotel was a fish and chips stand. We gave it a try 🙂
The most interesting was the tartar sauce where it’s green colored! The fries were fresh but the fish……tasteless. The fish and chips cost around $20 USD as I said food in Iceland is expensive!
We drove 40 minutes to the nearest market at Hvolsvöllur where we bought sandwiches for the next day lunch, breakfast items, and ingredients for dinner. Those sandwiches (that you can find in other grocery stores as well) were super tasty and inexpensive, around $7 per that I can share with my husband. My favorite was the avocado chicken sandwich while Jason’s favorite was the beef.
We headed back to our house and prepare our meal. The house was in a perfect location, 4 minutes drive to Skogafoss, it has 4 bedrooms to fit 8 people BUT the heating was very poor. It’ll be great if you stay during warm season but not during winter. We were so cold even turning the heat to max level so we had to wear layers, not comfortable! I wished they provide portable heaters! I don’t understand why in such a cold place like Iceland, I would expect their house have great insulation and heating system…but not so! The log cabin we stayed in Uthlid had no insulation as well but they provided extra portable heaters. Also, the house do not have free wifi but fortunately Jason’s T-Mobile had coverage, although slow sometimes. Other than that, the house has character!
And a full kitchen!!!
The shower was a little odd that the floor was those rocks which made it cold to stand in during winter and the shower head looked scary….
There was this old style telephone in the kitchen haha!
Our meal for the night where Zach made this yummy spicy soup and our left over chicken wings!
After dinner at 9 pm (our lucky Aurora hunting time), we drove 4 minutes to Skogarfoss to wait for the Northern Lights….they were there but not as strong as forecasted 🙁 After an hour, the light got weaker and weaker so no luck for tonight! We planned to stay there for 2 nights and spoiler alert, we ran out of luck!
Those pictures are more like Chile.A deep bay will help create some very interesting ice shapes and figures.I even turned a glacier and some icebergs into a moby dick reflection,many other great figures.No auroras in Chile or Argentina.I remember climbing that basalt formation.Giants causeway in Ireland is the ultimate formation.Looks like you planned another great trip!