Fire & Ice: a pandemic escape to Iceland - part 2 - South West Iceland

The trip:

We made our way to Iceland via New York, where we visited our friends JoAnn and Irwin, staying at Irwin’s apartment (many thanks again for your kind hospitality). Our brief stay included a wander around the Columbia University district, a walk the length of Central Park, a visit to MoMA, and picking up a few items we would need in the following month.

Our arrival at Keflavik, which had worried us somewhat in terms of the requirements for Covid-19 vaccination certificates which would be acceptable, was uneventful (although a potential concern with respect to our future return plans arose - more on which we’ll mention later…). When it had been required to isolate following a Covid-19 test we had booked a hotel adjacent to the airport for our first night (in reality our first morning since the flight arrived at 0600h) and we later extended the booking for a second night, so we had an afternoon and a full day to explore the area. 

Southwest Iceland:

The Viking World Museum has a Viking ship built (and sailed to Iceland) to celebrate 1000 years since the landing of Leif Eiriksson in North America. The Duus Museum and Art Centre us an eclectic collection of different aspects of local life, and we were fortunate to be there for the debut of a graduating Film Arts student whose short film was an excellent. We picked up the vehicle that day, receiving instruction in setting up the rooftop tent, which proved simple and efficient; the vehicle came with a camp table and chairs, and basic cooking kit which was adequate for the task. We were able to distribute our luggage (more than we usually have) in the back once the rear seats had been laid flat and developed a routine and layout for everything during the trip which turned out to be effective and efficient.

We left Keflavik and headed for Reykjavik, intending to explore the capital and do some shopping for food to take on our trip, following advice from those who knew of the limited availability of groceries and the higher prices outside the city. On the way we stopped at the Blue Lagoon, in which we immersed ourselves for a while in the hot waters of the lagoon. 

In Reykjavik we found the Art Museum Kjarvalsstaðir to be excellent, we walked around the downtown area: the iconic Cathedral, a bookstore to find a field guide to Icelandic birds, the Handknitting Coop, coffee at Reykjavik Roasters, and the National Museum, where the fact that the history of Iceland is short was very evident. Remarkably, the sun came out so we walked down to the “Sun Voyager” to capture a photo in this unusual condition. On the way out of town we visited a supermarket for supplies and then headed north. We stopped to visit a knifemaker whose workmanship was excellent, and enjoyed talking about his art, the changes in Iceland over the years, and received recommendations on places to go.

 

We visited the well-known plate boundary between Eurasian and North American plates at Þingvellir National Park – this is probably the best-known place where it’s possible to see plate separation at the surface, however we crossed several more, and stayed at another before leaving Iceland, at Nesjavellir. At the park we walked to Öxárarfoss, then travelled to Thorufoss, to walk the first part of the trail to Glymur. Later we explored the area to the north-east of this where we experienced the Barnafoss waterfall, Bænargil Canyon at Húsafell, and the Canyon Hot Springs.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alan & Marce, 2021 July/August