Day 14: Reykjavik

For our final full day in Reykjavik we went to Perlan.  It is a museum high on the Oskjuhlio hills to the south east of Reykjavik.  The centre is built on six hot water tanks that each carry 4 million litres of geothermal hot water. On the top of the museum is an observation deck and revolving restaurant.

View from the observation deck over downtown Reykjavik

Inside there were a series of fantastic natural history exhibitions about volcanoes and the tectonic plates.  Another one about glaciers and Iceland’s water. Also one about Icelandic wildlife.  All of the exhibits were really interactive and good fun.  

This is Leo standing by an animated exhibit streaming the names of all the waterfalls in Iceland

Some of the words for different weather in Icelandic

There was also a great planetarium show about the Aurora borealis. It was probably the first planetarium show that I have not fallen asleep in, usually they are sooo soporific. 

The most spectacular section of Perlan was the ice caves.  We had to put on special quilted jackets as the caves were -10oC (apart from Eve, but she is hard as nails and just wore her hoody).  Inside the caves are 100m long and made from 350 tons of snow.

The really good thing about visiting Perlan on the last day was that we had visited so many of the locations that were featured.  It was really meaningful to see the animation of the glacier retreatwhen we had been to Jokulsarlon, we had seen the pseudo craters at Lake Myvatn with our owneyes and even to be reminded of the Humpbackwhale watching trip!

After Perlan we walked back into town and visited the  Asgrimur Jonsson museum.  He was a landscape painter and illustrator working around 1910-1960.  He bequeathed his house and works to the NationalMuseum of Iceland.  Lots of his drawings featured sagas and fairy stories.

I loved this bowl of his old oil paints

In his studio there was a public sketchbook which Eve spent a bit of time adding to

We walked back along the main shopping area, particularly looking at the shops in what is known as “Fleece Street” as it has load of outdoor clothing shops! We have to pack our bags for a very early 5am bus to the airport and should be home in Colden Common by early afternoon. 

I started the blog as I thought it would be a convenient way to keep family up to date with where we were and to avoid filling social media with endless photos.  I’m astonished to see that the blog has had over 500 views.  I have really enjoyed writing it and it has helped the somewhat solitary nature of a single parent on holiday.  Hopefully it will be a lovely record of our adventure for the future. 

Here are a couple of final composite images just in case any of you were missing the road or rock pictures or my fringe.  Next time I am certainly bringing my hair straighteners. 

Our final event tonight is to go out for dinner that is a treat from my Dad (thanks in advance Dad!).  

We have had an absolutely fantastic holiday in Iceland, my head is full of so many beautiful sightsand it has felt like such an adventure.  

Day 13: Borganes to Reykjavik

We drove back the scenic route to Reykjavik.  We could have driven under the tunnel to cross Hvalfjordur, but lots of the blogs and guidebooks suggested that it was worth driving round if time permits.  I was so pleased that we did, we were treated to some stunning views and even a rainbow.

It is amazing how contained Iceland keeps its cities.  This photo was taken 20 minutes away from the centre of Reykjavik.

We managed to get the van back in one piece without having to claim on any insurance.  Our final distance driven was 2255 km.

And don’t we look pleased with ourselves!

We got driven back to the Air BnB and it seems so spacious!  

After baths (yes!) and changing clothes we headed out into Reykjavik for dinner.  It is nice that the city feels familiar to us now.  We popped into one shop to find a cat sleeping under the rail of kids pyjamas.  

One more full day in Reykjavik tomorrow and then it is time to fly home very early on Thursday. 

Day 12: Borganes to Borganes

First stop today was Gerduberg, where there is aset of 10m high basalt columns across the cliff face.  NB all future measurements will be quoted in metric as I am so annoyed with Jacob Rees Mogg.

Next stop was Arnarstapi.  It is a beautiful naturereserve with a short 2.5km hiking trail along the cliffs to the village of Hellnar. At the start there is a huge stone sculpture of Bardur Snaefellsas, half man half troll.  According to the sagas he pushed both his nephews off a cliff, gave away his possessions and disappeared into a glacier and hisspirit protects the mountain and is called upon in times of need. Odd to champion someone who pushes nephews off cliffs, but that’s sagas for you. 

The cliffs were stunning with so many nesting birds.  

We walked to Hellnar and had superb waffles with rhubarb jam and cream sitting out on the deck at the Fjoruhusid cafe.

The rock formations here were amazing.  The first photo has a natural arch which gulls were constantly flitting in and out of. 

This was the view back towards the Snaefellsnes mountains.

This is Eve and Leo with Snaefellsjokull mountain in the background (1446m high) - the snow capped bit in the very background on the left, not the rocky one (which is Stapafell, 526m).

Some more cliff top posing

It was so lovely to be in sunshine and not having to wear loads of layers. Next we drove off to the north side of the Snaaefellsnes peninsular to Kirkjufell.  It is apparently the most photographed mountain in Iceland either because it is a beautiful representation of a binomial distribution or because it was in Game of Thrones as “mountain shaped like an arrowhead”. 

Also a lovely waterfall nearby

And me blocking the view of the waterfall

Our final stop of the day was in Stykkisholmur which is a lovely port town full of brightly painted wooden houses.  In the harbour we had the best ever fish and chips for lunch. 

Eve and Leo had a lucky escape as I was going to take them to the Library of Water but it was closed.  It is a series of columns of water taken from ice cores from each of the 24 glaciers in Iceland.  Here is a picture taken through the window.

We are now back at our lovely campsite for the second night.  It is a 2 minute drive from the town centre, but it is so peaceful.  It has a handy little kitchen and eating area.  All the condiments on the shelves are left from other visitors.  Most of the campsites we have stayed in are like this.  

Here is the view from Camper Campersson across the lake.  It is our last night in the van and we have to take it back to Reykjavik by 1pm tomorrow.  It has been a great home for 10 days.

Day 11: Saudarkrokur to Borgarnes

Eve and Leo might have declined the Herring Museum yesterday but today they were treated to the joys of a Turf House Museum.  The museum is in Glaumbaer and is a collection of twelve 18th century turf houses.  I found it utterly captivating and Eve and Leo were very tolerant of my enthusiasm.  

The turf walls surrounding the houses

View back out to the bay

Store room and cheese making equipment

The Christmas tree!

This was taken by Eve specifically for Grandad (a pair of 18th century skis)

I found the beds are particularly interesting.  All round Iceland we have seen decorative bed boards (rumfjol).  In the shared bedrooms (badstofa) everyone would sit in couples on the sides of the beds with feet into the aisle and would work in the evening (spinning, knitting, combing wool, carving etc).  When it was bedtime couples would take the rumfjol and slot it into the aisle side so that they wouldn’t fall out of the bed.  As they put the rumfjol in place the prayer was said “May God’s angels sit in a circle above my covers”.  Each couple had their own rumfjol with individual carvings.

There was lots of beautifully painted furniture including chests andeven a backgammon board

I loved all the colours and designs.  I was not expecting a Turf House museum to be a highlight for me, but it was!Talking of highlights, here is Eve’s guest blog

Eve’s five Iceland recommendations:

Any of the black sand beaches

Jokulsarlon Ice lagoon

The Whale Museum at Husavik

Dettifoss waterfall

Ice cream shop in Akureyri

By the way throughout the blog I have not put ina single accent or weird Icelandic letter - this is because I cannot get the iPad keyboard to do them properly.  

We had a bit of a change of plan during the day. The Northern coastline wasn’t particularly inspiring so we have cut a corner off our planned route and arrived in Borganes.  This means that tomorrow we will do a day trip around the Western Snaefellsnes penninsula and camp in Borganes again for the final campervan night.  It is only about an hour away from Reykjavik.