Iceland 2010 trip, Day 14, July 31st: Skogafoss and Blue Lagoon

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1:25am, FIT hostel.

One last really late night journal entry in Iceland… Man, each night I have to think hard to remember where I woke up in the morning. So much happens during these active days…

Slept without earplugs until 7:30am, when the hall noise kicked in. Got some more rest with the plugs. Heavy clouds out this morning at 8:30am. We pack up our room, and hit the road by 9:30am. No breakfast today, since we didn't have supplies, and wanted an early jump for our trip back in order to squeeze in as much shopping and Blue Lagoon as possible on our last day. We stopped at the grocery store in Vik to buy skyr for breakfast on the road, then stayed in town to check out a wool factory, as well as walk to the beach to view the rocky sea columns. I added gas to the tank, estimating just enough to make it back to Keflavik, since the car rental policy is "return on empty" (as empty as you want). After a visit to the church in town, we headed west on the ring road, with a low grey cloud ceiling chopping off the grassy mountain tops.


I bumped my head repeatedly on the doorway...


Checking out the black sand beach of Vik...




A view from the church on a hill on the edge of town...

During the 20 minute, drive to Skogar, site of Skogafoss, a popular and scenic waterfall, Wendy served breakfast: Blueberry and plain skyr blend, along with rugbread and butter. Skogar is famous for having the trailhead leading to the recent volcano eruption. The waterfall is visible from the parking lot, where a grassy field makes a spectacular camping location. Lots of people were climbing the mountain next to the waterfall. Wendy and I finished up our breakfast, and walked up the metal stairs for ~150' along side the falls. This path continues on to the recent volcano area, and ends at Thormork, where we ended our 5 day trek last week. Would have been great to hike it, but we didn't have the time, and the clouds were shrouding all the mountains today anyway.


Breafast on the way to Skogafoss...


Hiking up along the falls. Looks like Wendy is wearing a grassy wizards hat...


Wendy loves the Icelandic horses, so we visited a nearby riding company in town, and admired the horses from afar. The grass was wet from recent rain, or dew. Then it was onward due west.


Some sheep in the Skogar area...

Our plan was pretty open. We wanted to visit the Blue Lagoon, have a nice last dinner, check out craft stores, and arrive at our hostel to return the car with plenty of time to relax. We stopped at some craft stores in the towns before Selfoss, and Wendy bought some fingerless gloves with a mitten flap, and a tote bag. I checked out a nearby bakery and bought some more rugbread. We got caught in the rain, and ran back to the car, getting a good soaking in the process.


Wendy bought a cool tote-bag here, and some mittens...

After researching a few options, Wendy picked a restaurant in the sea town of Stokkseyri to have lunch. It was off the ring road, but would be on the way to a "short cut" to Blue Lagoon. We arrived at this quaint little town ~2:15pm, and found the upscale restaurant, famous for it's gourmet fish and lobster. We decided to split a lobster soup and a "Catch of the Day" dish. There was some confusion in the order, and we both ended up with soup, followed by two fish entrees as well. We didn't know if they split the order and served it on two plates, or doubled our order. When we saw the sizeable bill, we knew the answer. This would end up counting as our "nice meal" today. We had a waffle with rhubarb jam and cream for dessert as well.


Our splendid last meal out in Iceland...

Our next target was Blue Lagoon. We decided to take the southern coastal route, off the main highway, which looked like a short cut. Meanwhile, the gas guage was getting low, and it looked like I'd have to refill before reaching Keflavik, but had enough for Blue Lagoon. On our way to Blue Lagoon, we missed a turn, and climbed a huge hill before backtracking for the correct route. The sign said 59km to the town before Blue Lagoon, and suddenly, our gas situation was looking slightly questionable. There were no towns in between. I was pretty sure we had enough for ~37 miles, so didn't worry much. However, the road turned into rough gravel, and had several hills to climb, all hurting our gas mileage. We started to sweat a bit, as the needle kept falling, faster than the distance seemed to lessen. I worked hard to hyper mile in neutral, and keep a low gear on hills. The tension distracted from the otherwise gorgeous ocean scenery across moss covered lava rocks. When we thought we were nearly there, a sign said 24km to go! After much drama, we cleared the final large hill, and coasted into town, following a sign to a gas station at the edge of town. However this N1 gas station was in an empty part of town, and only had 2 types of diesel gas! I ran over to a nearby guesthouse to inquire about proper gas type (to confirm both kinds were diesel), and then drove back to the main road and found another larger N1, where I added another 1.75 gallons (more than enough, to avoid sweating it out again).

Now we were back in business, and I could drive non-conservatively again. We reached Blue Lagoon, only 5 minutes up the road from the gas station, at 6pm. This geothermally heated pool is world famous for it's blue mineral water baths. Included in the 28 euro admission is mud cream (for face), steam baths (our favorite), sauna (felt like being on a wooden grill), and a hot waterfall massage (Wendy visited this 4 times).


The coastal views as we sweated out a nearly empty gas tank (1st pic). The walkway of Blue Lagoon (2nd pic)...


Lots of blue mineral water feeding the pool here. Supposed to be great for the skin...



The hot waterfall massage is on the left half of the pic. Suanas and steam baths line the perimeter of the pool..

Based on the $25 1oz "Blue Lagoon" gel and conditioner bottles in the gift shop, we were getting a good deal with the unlimited supply of gels in the shower stalls. Should bring some empty containers to load up while there! The water in the large pool was 103 degrees, which was slightly cooler than our desired preference, though pockets of warmer water could be found. After 90 minutes, we hit the lockers and eventually were back on the road at 8:20pm.

Our hostel was only 15 minutes away. We stopped to check in, and paid with our remaining cash. Then we drove around town, and walked along the sea for a few minutes (this was the relaxing moment I had been envisioning all day, at the end of the trip, with nowhere left to drive), before ivestigating some fast food joints for dinner. We decided to buy salad supplies and eggs from a grocery store instead. We also had to stop at an N1 to use up the last ~$10 worth of gift cards on some skyr and interesting candy bars.

Back at the hostel, we now had the unpleasant task of emptying the car and repacking all our gear for the plane trip tomorrow morning. Once we got all our belongings into our room, we made dinner: spinach, tomato, onion, cucumber, egg, bacon, and cheese salad with rugbread. I finished off my PB and J in some sandwiches for tomorrow. Wendy boiled some eggs. We didn't start packing our bags til almost midnight, and only recently finished (to be continued in the morning). Found ~$50 in cash we need to use…


A pic from Keflavik seafront, before we returned, and unloaded, the car...


One last late night meal in an Icelandic hostel...

10:30am flight tomorrow morning, so getting up at 7:15am. It's already 2:42am now (the pains of writing these journals). Will be short on sleep tonight.

"Sleeping bag accomodation" is an Iceland-only thing apparently, and averages in the $50-60 range for a 2BR with shared bathrooms (highest we paid was $72 in Myvatn). Certainly an affordable way to travel with some comfort.

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