Last Days in Iceland

Hello! As you might have been able to tell from the Iceland video I recently posted (you can view the video here), there were a few photos included that have not shown up yet in any posts. Many of these came from our last few days in Iceland as we finished heading back towards Reykjavik from the south coast. Before we headed back to Reykjavik we stopped at another famous black sand beach, Dyrholaey. This was also a beautiful beach and we enjoyed walking around, despite it being pretty windy!

We also stopped at a beautiful waterfall, Skogafoss. This waterfall was very impressive and we even saw a rainbow! (And even a double rainbow at times!) We weren't planning on staying too long, but we discovered there was a staircase that allowed you to climb up to the top area of the waterfall and hike along the river that feeds into the waterfall. It was an intense climb (I had to stop a few times to take a picture/take a break!) but well worth it!

The next morning, we stopped into a cafe for breakfast, and here is Jake's cafe mocha and a kleinur, which is a traditional Icelandic doughnut.

One of the species Iceland is most known for are puffins! These adorable animals breed in large numbers off of some of the coasts of Iceland and are very clean and loyal animals that tend to be a little clumsy. I just think these birds are adorable and it was one of my favorite parts of Iceland!

For one of our last meals in Iceland, we went to one of the top rated restaurants, Motur Og Drykkur, for some traditional Icelandic fare. Lamb is a popular dish in Iceland (largely because the species outnumber people) and is available at most restaurants, but that is not something that Jake or I are interested in, especially with how cute they are! Jake ordered the fish of the day, which was a red fish, and I had an incredible barley dish. Both dishes were topped with a yummy arugula salad with a lemon dressing!

Our final activity of the day was going to the top of the Hallgrímskirkja Church to see incredible views of the city. We did not go to the top of the tower on our first days in Iceland because it was mostly cloudy and a bit foggy, but we were lucky to have blue skies and waters that were even more blue! I think one of Reykjavik's defining characteristics is the array of colors of buildings and houses, and you can see that below.

Lastly, we drove to the airport and spent some time there before our flight. We did buy some dinner at the airport and we were excited when we found this giant apple! Simple pleasures!

All in all, Iceland was absolutely incredible! In an ideal world, we might have brought some additional warm clothing (I think I wore the same shirt four or five times in a row haha), but the sheer amount of varied geological sites and natural wonders in a country with such a small area makes Iceland a really delightful destination! There also were a few pleasant surprises during our journey as well. English was easily spoken everywhere we went, the roads were very easy (and even enjoyable) to drive on, there were always vegan/vegetarian options everywhere we went, and other than lodging, it actually wasn't as expensive as I might have expected. We drove our rental car for a total of 10-12 hours during the week and didn't even spend $100 on gas, which for an isolated country in Europe where gas is charged by the liter, I thought was a pretty good deal! I would also recommend that anyone who wants to visit Iceland and is up for driving/seeing the natural wonders should rent a car during their time to have the flexibility to drive around at their own pace. When planning the trip, we looked into some of the companies offering bus tours from Reykjavik, and while for some individuals those make a lot of sense,  some of these companies only allow you to spend 20 minutes at these sites between hours of driving, which doesn't really seem worth it to me. If you are interested in visiting Iceland, we did see that Icelandair will start to offer non-stop flights from Chicago next year, which is pretty exciting!

Anyways, that is all on Iceland for now! Next stop… Edinburgh, Scotland! :)