Had breakfast at the Gerdi guesthouse this morning…the usual European spread. Even though Joe ate 3 salami & tomato sandwhiches, not worth 1,350kr ($13.50USD) but it was convenient. Then we packed up the car and drove down the road to Jokulsarlon Lagoon, a popular tourist destination that was featured in James Bond Die Another Day. Here, we saw iceburgs floating in the lagoon that had broken off glaciers in the background. It was really cool! There were iceburgs of all sizes: some white, some blue, some clear and others covered in black dirt. We watched some smaller pieces drifting in the water and then hearing a crashing sound and watched a huge chunk fall slowly toward the water. Also caught glimpses of a seal in the lagoon! We were able to rescue some rogue pieces of iceberg from the water and most of us tasted 1,000 year old ice....it was salty. This is an experience we probably will not be able to see for ever since it seems like more and more of the glacier is falling off every year.
From the lagoon, we drove further down the road to a trailhead for Svartifoss. Hiked 1.4km up to a hill overlooking the waterfall. It was smaller than the other waterfalls we’ve seen on this trip, but it was pretty. Back in the car again, we headed for Vik passing one stretch of the road that was covered in grey ash from the recent eruption of Grimsvotn. Beyond Vik we stopped to view the black sand beaches and arch at Dyrholaey, but from our view point, we couldn’t really see the arch.
Our next stop was hard to find. After some searching, we located a bumpy dirt road that led to the Solheimajokull Tongue of the Myrdalsjokull glacier. Here, we were able to walk right up to a glacier. It wasn’t the prettiest glacier. In fact, it looked like the dirty snow banks you see at home along the road, but we can still say we stepped on a glacier. The boys got a little adventurous and walked up the glacier.
We cut it a little close on time today with all our stops. It was 5:40pm when we left the glacier, and we needed to get to our bus stop by 6:10pm. Caught a quick glimpse of Skogarfoss on our race to the bus stop. We made it at 6:10pm on the dot, and fortunately the bus was late so we had a few minutes to get our things together. The Reykavik Excursions bus we boarded was almost like a duck boat. It had huge wheels and sat high off the ground. As soon as we started driving through the glacial valley, it soon became clear why we needed this type of bus. The bus followed stakes through the valley that marked out some sort of road and we crossed several streams and forded some rivers along the very bumpy hour-long bus ride to Porsmork (Thorsmork). The route was narrated every so often and we even made a stop to get up close and personal with Eyjafjallajokull, the volcano that erupted last year that caused disruption to European airspace.
We arrived at Porsmork (Thorsmork) just before 7pm and checked into our rustic cabin at Husadalur. The site had many cottages on a field with a main lodge and bathroom lodge. Our cabin had one bedroom with two sets of bunk beds and a small kitchen with a sink, burner, and table. Made Progresso soup for dinner that was actually decent. Chris managed to mess up Easy Mac for Lauren for their anniversary dinner. After dinner, we tried to take a short 10 min. hike from the cottage to find some caves at Songellir, but had no luck. Called it a night instead to get some sleep.
One more note from Joe. As the girls were using the WC, Chris and I were approached by two men in full Viking regalia including capes, horned helmets, and animal horn chalices. From here on identified as Viking #1 and Viking #2. They had been having quite the Viking party. When Viking #2 approached he offered me whatever was left in his horn chalice. I “tasted” it. They first asked “Why are you here in Iceland !?” and proceeded to tell us how they love Iceland US , one said “I don’t particularly like the US United States “Connecticut & Pensacola Florida” and as Viking #2 says “Florida Boston Keflavik
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