“Something is happening,” says Villy. “We’re not sure what this area will look like in ten years.”
Villy, the Iceland Excursions tour guide, is driving us to Grindavík, a small fishing village outside of Reykjavik. He informs us that all of the mountains we see in Iceland are indeed, volcanoes, some still at risk of erupting.
(This is something I missed while staring out the window.)
Having lived in Iceland for 58 years, Villy is the perfect example of an Icelander. He’s witty, good natured, and blonde. As we’re driving through Eastern Iceland, he tells us about how there aren’t “many cops” in Iceland, no army, and mostly, is a peaceful place to live.
Like many Icelanders, he seems content with this way of life. For an American who constantly hears about varying color levels of national security, having gunless police seems completely foreign.
“Police have sticks here,” Villy informs us, “but they’ll have to chase you to catch you.”
He laughs.
This is my first excursion with Iceland Excursions – listed in their catalog as AH16 – Krýsuvík geothermal area & Kleifarvatn Lake. To my delight, Mike decided to join me for this one. The tour begins with a stop in a local fishing village.
Grindavík is as serene as one may imagine. Most people who live there are fisherman, and from the basketball hoops, trampolines, and bicycles I see in yards, a lot of families live here.
It’s quiet, unpretentious, and yes, smells like fish. We love it.
After a brief stop at the Grindavík harbor, we continue our tour to the Krýsuvík geothermal area. But first, Villy stops the van in what seems like, the middle of nowhere. He pulls to the side of the road, and points out into the distance.
“Lava fields,” he says. “Covered in moss.”
Moss?
Mike and I investigate. Just like Villy says, the lava rocks are undisturbed, covered in a soft, squishy, comfortable moss. So comfortable in fact, Mike contemplates taking a nap.
As there isn’t a lot of wildlife in Iceland, the moss is mostly intact as far as I can see.
“It’s like memory foam,” Mike says.
We move on to the Krýsuvík geothermal area – stopping at a bright green blue crater lake, called Grænavatn. Villy tells us it’s 46 meters deep – that’s about 150 feet. After he heads down to the small, rocky shore, Mike encounters two friendly black labs swimming in the lake.
Dripping wet, one of the dogs runs up to Mike. As I climb down the steep rocks, the other dog barks at me, as if he’s saying hello. He approaches me, immediately shaking his soaked fur, spraying water all over my jeans.
I don’t care. After getting attention, the dogs retreat back into the lake, happily swimming in the gorgeous turquoise water. After a few minutes of taking pictures and video, we head back up to the bus.
It takes just a few minutes to reach Krýsuvík. At the foot of the neighboring volcanoes is Solfatara, a collection of bubbling mud and hot springs. It absolutely reeks of sulfur, making the entire area smell just like rotting eggs.
The boiling mud pools, that resemble watery grey pudding are remarkable, but Mike and I decide to spend the 45 minutes we have to hike up the steep volcano.
It was a task. For the weeks before we left for Iceland, I went on occasional runs to try to get in better shape. I truly do enjoy exercise, but Mike is much more athletic than I, so of course, he quickly made his way up the volcano. I was a bit slower, occasionally stopping to catch my breath and gaze out at the incredible view.
We make it to the top and just marvel at the surrounding area. You can see as far as Kleifarvatn Lake, beyond Grænavatn – it’s like another world, something right out of Lord of the Rings. This is why, I thought, I’ve dreamt of Iceland.
Unfortunately, we only had a few minutes to look and take pictures. We made our way down the volcano, which proved to be surprisingly difficult. The clay beneath us was occasionally covered with loose pebbles, causing both of us to slip a little. At one point, Mike turned around to watch me climb down – partially, he admitted because he wanted to make sure I didn’t get hurt, but also, because it was funny to see me slide down on my butt.
Whee!
After meeting our group, we headed to Kleifarvatn Lake. It’s the third largest lake in Southern Iceland, surrounded by beautiful black sand (from the ash). Apparently, Iceland has it’s very own Loch Ness Monster – legend has it, the lake is the home of a mysterious , large, worm like creature who occasionally comes up to the surface.
I couldn’t find any images, but I’d like to imagine it looks like the Sandworm from Beetlejuice.
On our way back to Reykjavik, Villy made two surprise stops.
First, we stopped to observe some beautiful Icelandic horses. Villy informed us that it’s illegal to bring any other kind of horse into Iceland – making the Icelandic horses truly unique and special. The price tag to take one out of Iceland?
Over a million dollars. For one horse. Cha-ching!
I immediately pull out my camera and start taking pictures.
Our next stop was a little more…. pungent.
From the road, it appeared to be a farm or vineyard of some sort. As we got closer, we saw hundred, thousands of dead, dried fish heads. For real. They dry out fish there.
The smell was overwhelming, but tolerable. I stopped in for awhile, knowing that I would probably never see anything quite this ever again. Mike commented on the simplicity of the structures, made entirely of untreated wood.
Icelanders really love dried fish (clearly shown by the drunken man we encountered on our first night in Reykjavik).
Villy drove us back to the city center – he was extremely accommodating and offered to drive us back to our campsites, hostels or hotels – if needed. As Mike and I hoped to get some work done, so we declined, and got off the van at the Iceland Excursions office.
After that, we headed to The Laundroumat Cafe in downtown Reykjavik to eat. I had the most incredible smoked trout ever – we’ll eventually do a review about this place – and then we headed back to our campsite for actual laundry and Moulin Rouge. Just another day at the office, right?