Saturday, December 18: Vík and Nearby

Our flight left Denver at 4:50 pm on Friday, but we arrived at the Keflavík airport at 6:00 am Iceland time. (It’s a 6-hour flight and a 7-hour time difference.) We had all tried to sleep on the plane, but it’s hard to sleep when it’s early evening and you’re excited! We picked up our rental car—a Honda CRV—and started driving south and east. Sunrise wasn’t until 11:20 am, so it was pitch black. Despite the usual squabbling about my inability to navigate, I finally found us a breakfast stop in Hveragerði, a little bit outside Selfoss. Almar Bakeri is in a small shopping complex with maps on the wall; it was fun to locate ourselves on the map of Iceland. The donuts were amazing, especially with mjölk (milk). When we arrived, a noisy tour guide was telling his small group that there’s only one cow (we think he meant breed?) in Iceland, which makes wonderful mjölk and smjör (butter). He was right—but that’s one busy cow!

Our first stop was at Seljalandsfoss, a few waterfalls near each other. (“Foss” means waterfall.) We were sleepy after the flight and the drive in the dark, but the day had finally dawned, and it felt great to get out and walk around. The temperature was around 40° F, so it wasn’t too cold.

Next we stopped a short way along the Ring Road to see these old buildings built around a natural cave. According to katlageopark.com, “Drangurinn is a very special tuff rock formation that stands alone underneath Drangshlíd farm in the foothills of Eyjafjöll. A folktale tells of a strongman named Grettir Ásmundsson who was showing off and ripped the giant boulder right out of Hrútafell cliff, leaving a chasm which is now above Skarðshlíð. Under these rocks are caves and passages to which additional buildings have been added throughout the centuries. Most of them are still standing. These buildings are a good example of what is called ‘fornmannahús’ or ancient habitations. The site has been used in the filming of the Icelandic movie ‘Hrafninn flýgur’ and in various documentaries. Drangurinn and its immediate surroundings are a protected natural site.”

Next stop a bigger waterfall, Skógafoss. Benjamin bounded up the 370 steps while Phoebe grumpily trailed behind.

By the time we got to what ended up being my favorite spot, Dyrhólaey View, the kids refused to get out of the car. They were really tired! Dave headed right while I headed left. There were many paths to follow; they all turned out to lead to views of the sea. It was a cloudy, misty day, and the lava pillars just off the coast were shrouded in fog. The winter sea was slapping at the rock formations, and we could see black sand beaches at the foot of the mossy cliffs and the nesting seagulls we were becoming accustomed to.

The kids were eager to pull into Vík, but of course Dave had one last stop planned before the hotel. We had to see the famous Black Sand Beach! It was already dusk; we’d filled all of our daylight with sightseeing.

Ask Benjamin what his favorite thing about Iceland was, and he says “the bed!,” by which he means the twin bed in the loft in the “family room” at the Hotel Vík í Mýrdal. The hotel was clean, comfortable, and fashionably spare.

Before eating dinner at the Ströndin Bistro and Bar, we stopped by Skool Beans, a cafe in a school bus, for coffee/hot chocolate. If you order your hot chocolate with “The Works,” you get whipped cream, two marshmallows, and chocolate shavings. There are many fancy varieties. Phoebe had a peanut butter hot chocolate and discovered that neither the chocolate nor the peanut butter was sweet (she liked it anyway). Benjamin had a regular hot chocolate, and I tried the white chocolate fennel, despite liking neither of those things. (When would I have another chance?) Dave had a latte, of course.

All four of us were ready for bed at 7 pm, and we slept until 7 am with only one interruption (at 2:30 am) from a junk phone call originating in Colorado. I can’t remember the last time I got 12 hours of sleep!