The Watkins are international again. We flew Play Airlines from Boston to Iceland. We have a credit card that gives us access to airport lounges throughout the world. We took advantage of that in Boston.
The flight left at 6 pm Boston time and arrived at 4 am Iceland time. That is a rough flight time because the flight to Iceland is only 4.5 hours and once you get to Iceland you have to keep moving. There are only about 7 hours of daylight in Iceland in December. Once we picked up our rental car at 5 am, We drove around for about 5 hours in the dark, taking short stops to nap in the car because nothing is open in Iceland in the morning.
We eventually made it to the mall where we ate lunch and picked up a few groceries. The blogs I read state that food in Iceland is expensive, but we found that it is not much different than in the US.
Once it got light out at around 10:30, we started driving east toward our Airbnb near Selfloss. The scenery on the way to the Airbnb did not disappoint. We stopped at an overlook to take in the view. We didn’t stay outside long because it was 30 degrees. We checked into our Airbnb. It is a cute one-bedroom cabin the in the middle of nowhere.
After we checked in, we went to see the Kerið crater. Wow! Michael, Lucas and Henry had fun throwing rocks onto the ice to hear the loud echos they made.
We were exhausted on our first day. I fell asleep around 6:30. Lucas cooked pasta for dinner while I napped. We were all in bed by 8 pm. I slept 11 hours without waking up. I can’t remember the last time I slept that long.
On day 2, we set out at 9:50, about an hour before sunrise. Luck was on our side during our visit because we had clear skies. Our first stop was at Thingvellir National Park. We saw a waterfall and hiked a little bit. We did not hike a lot a bit because it was in the 28 degrees.
Strokkur geyser was a hit with the kids. It is a geyser that erupts every 6 minutes. There are also other dormant geysers to view. Michael picked up a souvenir mug that transforms into a beautiful waterfall when hot liquid is poured into it. We do not buy souvenirs, but Michael had to have the mug. It is cool.
The last big attraction of the day was Gullfoss Falls. It is a gorgeous waterfall located in the canyon of the Hvítá river in southwest Iceland.
We decided to warm up at the Secret Lagoon. The most popular hot spring in Iceland is the Blue Lagoon. It is $70 per adult to go there. We decided to go to the Secret Lagoon instead for $20 per adult (kids are free), and we do not regret it.
Attractions are spread out in Iceland. In winter there is much less daylight, so we had to be strategic about our day. We still had a full 8-hour day of driving and sightseeing. For dinner, we ate at a fast-food restaurant called Pylsuvagninn. The Icelandic hotdog has two types of onions, ketchup, mustard, and another sauce on it. It is pretty good.
We got a later start on day 3, but we still packed in a lot of activity. It was the coldest day. It was 28 degrees, but it felt like 15. We saw more waterfalls! The first is called Urriðafoss, a waterfall in
the Þjórsá river. Gluggafoss is the most prominent waterfall in a series of waterfalls running from the Merkjá river. The last waterfall we saw is Seljalandsfoss. It was too cold and windy to get out to see it, so we admired it from our car.
We also stopped to see the Keldur Turf House. It is an ancient farm with homesteads built in the 11th century but rebuilt many times. It is one of the largest and oldest turf houses in Iceland. We think during
the summer they open the houses up. There was no one there when we went.
We checked into our next Airbnb a little early to relax. We drove to Vik for dinner and had amazing pizza at Black Crust Pizzeria. Michael and I shared a vegan pizza with pesto, mushrooms, and dates. The boys shared a pepperoni, mushroom, and olive pizza.
Our second Airbnb is great. It has 2 bedrooms, a kitchen and a large bathroom with a washing machine. The views from our house are stunning. We lucked out with our accommodations for this trip.
We got a late start on day 4. It is hard to wake up when it does not get light outside until after 9:00. We saw a canyon, more waterfalls, and the black sand beach. We drove an hour and a half east to Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon. It was created thousands of years ago by erosion from flowing water from glaciers. We did a little hiking there despite the cold weather.
We made it back to Vik by 3:30 to catch the sunset. We watched it set on Reynisfjara Beach, a beautiful black sand beach.
We checked out of our Airbnb, but before heading back west towards Keflavik, we went to see the Sólheimajökull glacier. Michael wanted to do a glacier hike, but we did not have time on this trip.
The last waterfall we stopped at was Skogafoss. It is an impressive waterfall. We hiked up 466 steps to see it from the top. We would have hiked more, but the temperature was freezing, and it was windy.
On the last night, we found a great deal on a room in the Bank Guesthouse. It was a bank in the mid-1900s when the area was a military base. We ate Syrian food for dinner. We would love to come back to Iceland in the summer and explore more of this beautiful country. We packed up for our next adventure. Ireland!
