On this day, we began our road trip. Also on this day, Shazam failed to identify a song for us and set in motion an inquisition which I hope can be solved before the end of the trip.
We hopped in to Bjuster the Duster (the car’s icelandic name) and set off from our cozy house and its lovely sunroom. We headed out of Reykjavik north on the ring road, Iceland’s highway 1, which circumnavigates the island. We are bound for Akureyi today, about 5 hours away, with a few planned detours for boiling geothermic pools and ice cream.
Reykjavik was sheltered from the wind, and a bit warmer than the north. As soon as we got out of the city properly, the wind picked up and was incredibly gusty. Thanks, yesterday’s piece of paper, for the forewarning. It also got pretty cold!
At some part in the early leg of our jouney, we came across an (Icelandic?) rendition of Total Eclipse of the Heart. It blew our minds. We had to have this amazing song – and we heard it not once, but twice! What are you, magic song? Please stay with us.
Alas, the radio goes in and out of stations quickly, so we switched between whatever we had just heard, hissing cat station, and classical music or pop every 30 minutes. Saddened at the total eclipse of our song-identifying powers, we turned our attention to the gorgeous scenery.
Thanks to the magic of my polarizer, I can take pretty good reflection-free shots from the back seat. Thanks to however the window is tinted, it also screws with the white balance on my pictures. I will defeat this beast tomorrow.
This stretch of the ring road had lots of livestock and farms. The farmhouses ran the gamut from dilapidated and wind-blown to upscale and colorful. We also saw a handful of trees. Trees! They are real. And rare.
We drove through a tunnel (obviously at warp speed) to save an hour of driving in exchange for 10 bucks. The inside looked like it had been sprayed by some kind of sealant so water didn’t drip down from the body of water above.
Since the ice cream place we wanted to go to wasn’t open until one, we planned a few detours. The first was to boiling Deildartunguhver hot springs, which are used for geothermal heat. The water comes out of the ground literally boiling and they transport it away for usage as energy.
It also smelled like farts because sulphur.
From the hot springs, we set our sights for Erpsstaðir cottage for ice cream. We made a stop at a nearby viking house but it cost 12 bucks to go and look at the viking house up close so we just took pictures from a distance. We also used their toilet without paying as we were not guests of the museum. Oops.
Between stealing a pee and our terrible pronunciations of Icelandic words out loud in public, we are probably the embodiment of awful tourists. (In our defense, Icelandic is as mystifying as it is pretty)
It was also at the viking house that we succumbed to the wind and were forced to put on our winter jackets. The air temperature is around 50*F but with such strong winds, it felt much colder. We tried to hold out but that only meant suffering…
And then…ice cream! Glorious ice cream! They had a fat doggo and many cows around. I suspect the doggo has had a lot of ice cream in her day…
Since today was driving and listening to Icelandic radio, I have mostly photos to share. Here are a few things we learned as we were driving cross-country:
- Why are there no windmills in Iceland? Answer: it is too windy (for real!) but they are considering other designs that might work
- Google what is this song that is definitely a remake of total eclipse of the heart but in icelandic? Answer: Unknown, our google-fu is too weak and we will have to ask a local
- How much is gas? Answer: Like $6 a gallon – very New Zealandy
- Why are the bales of hay rolled up in plastic? Answer: Apparently they store better that way. They also look like little marshmallows, the kind you put on yams at the holidays
- Google seriously please find this song for us! We know it’s not the Spanish nor Italian versions of the song…
- Is that really snow we see on the peaks near the road? Answer: yes. D: (Ok, what did we expect? It’s Iceland)
- Is coke zero sugar an acceptable replacement for coke zero, which will be going away soon? Answer: Surprisingly, yes.
At our lunch stop we saw some kids in swim suits going down water slides. WATER SLIDES. It’s like 45 out! These nordic children are beasts.
Finally, Akureyri! It’s a small town which many travelers use as a base to explore Northern Iceland. Lots of street art everywhere, and the red lights at stoplights were shaped like hearts.
We grabbed a burger for dinner because why not – and explored the city center. Akureyri has a church by the same architect who build the church of Leif Erikson in Reykjavik. This one is less grand, but still beautiful, and on top of a hill that had a great view of the city and fjord.
Tomorrow, it’s whale watching in Husavik and Dettifoss!