My mom and I decided to sleep in today, and we finally mosied out of bed after two alarms at 8:45 AM. We grabbed a similar breakfast to the previous few days at the Fludir Icelandair Hotel (salami, cheese, and vegetable sandwich for me). We considered some "aura" drops for different dispositions (i.e. confidence) until we realized that these were ingested and not just scents. When we checked out of the hotel, we were pleasantly surprised by the blue sky and lack of wind.
We got in the car and headed south and east towards the Arnessysla county upcountry, a stretch of land following the Pjorsa river that was supposed to have some interesting sites to see (we realized that any sign in Iceland that had a symbol that looked kind of like a four-leaf clover indicated "interesting site"). We traveled on Route 32 and observed the turquoise Pjorsa river, which we guessed was glacier fed from the distinct color. Once we passed Arnes on Route 32, we spontaneously turned on one of the clover leaf signs that pointed to a dirt road going up one of the hills. We certainly were glad we did, because the view overlooking the river from the top of the hills was fantastic.
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| Overlook of the Pjorsa river |
We got back in the car and travelled further down the dirt road that paralleled Route 32. The terrain had a few more big rocks littering the dirt road as we drove further, so we thought it best to take the next opportunity to get back on the paved road. We saw a few small waterfalls along the way--most of which seemed to evaporate before they touched the ground. The land and flora transitioned as we drove: the ground looked almost bumpy (like mini volcanos everywhere-- we assume everything in Iceland is a volcano), with a few pine trees and snow-covered mountains in the distance. The pine trees were the first real green we had seen in awhile.
Hjalparfoss
My mom wanted to continue until we crossed a bridge over the river, but we noticed another clover sign that we explored right before the bridge. The sign said Hjalparfoss, and, our Icelandic language skills improving, we recognized the "-foss" to mean that we would be approaching a waterfall. Sure enough, an impressive waterfall seemed to appear out of nowhere. When we got out of the car, we realized we had spoken too soon about the weather; we experienced increased wind and clouds throughout our visit at the falls.
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| Hjalparfoss |
It was approaching noon, so we headed back west in the direction of civilization. We took 32 west until we got on 30 south briefly, and then 31 north. We passed through a town called Laugaras that had a smaller, white bridge that seemed to imitate the Golden Gate. Laugaras itself seemed to be comprised primarily of greenhouses, so we could not stop for food here. We went further west on 35 and then north on 37 until we finally ended up in the town of Laugarvatn--the place that we went swimming in the thermal pools on Day 3. We stopped at a charming, new (opened in 2013) hostel called the Heradsskolinn Hostel. The hostel was originally a schoolhouse built in 1928. It is also able to boast that Iceland's only Nobel prize laureate, Halldor Laxness, wrote parts of a novel, "Independent People", that helped him win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1955, on a typewriter within the hostel.
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| Heradsskolinn Hostel |
One of the staff at the hostel (possibly even the owner) was extremely welcoming and proud of the work they had done to run such a reputable facility; he seemed to do everything, from cooking in the cafe to cleaning the bathrooms. My mom and I ordered vegetable lasagne and the Appelsin (Icelandic orange soda) for lunch.
We got on the road eastward on 365. Another clover-leaf sign popped up for a destination called Laugarvatnshellar, but I didn't notice it in time. I may have frightened my mom as I rapidly decelerated the car on a two-lane highway, and turned around with the most traffic we had seen the whole trip (I counted 3 other cars) speeding by us carrying out our two-point turn. The detour trip was unfortunately cut off by snow on the road in our path, but we got a spectacular view of the mountains before we turned around.
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| Laugarvatnshellar detour |
Pingvellir National Park
We got back on the road toward our primary destination for the day: Pingvellir National Park. Pingvellir is a remarkable form of nature as well as a protected historical site.
History Pingvellir is important to the Icelandic people due to the rich history of the country's government and religious development in the small town. After the settlement of Iceland around 870 AD, a formal government structure called the Alpingi was developed; during the Old Commonwealth era (930 AD to 1262/1264) the Alpingi gathered in Pingvellir, and a Law Speaker was reelected every 3 years at the Logberg (the Law Rock). It was also in Pingvellir at the Logberg that Icelanders adopted the Christian Religion around 1000 AD. In 1662, Icelanders swore an oath of loyalty to the King of Denmark, which wiped out their self-government. However, court sessions were still held at Pingvellir. Pingvellir was an important symbol of national independence in the 19th and 20th centuries, and when the Icelandic Republic was founded on June 17, 1944, the event occurred at Logberg at Pingvellir. In 2004, Pingvellir National Park was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Information courtesy of the Pingvellir National Park's information center)
Natural Wonder Pingvellir is a part of the mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet. The plates are continuously diverging, amounting to two parts of Iceland moving 3 mm away from each other annually. Research indicates that the divergence over the past 10,000 years amounts to 70 meters, and the valley floor has subsided by 40 meters. Pingvellir Lake is Iceland's largest natural lake (82 square kilometers), and it has a thriving ecosystem due to water traveling through mineral-rich, recent lava flows. (Information courtesy of the Pingvellir National Park's information center)
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| Path between rock walls, Pingvellir |
My mom and I spent a lot of time hiking around the trails around the Logberg, with stunning views of Pingvellir Lake and the surrounding snow-capped mountains. We also walked to another waterfall, Oxararfoss. During our visit, we walked in a direction that actively avoided the large mob of people exiting tour buses that would often overtake these popular destinations.
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| Pingvellir |
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| Oxararfoss |
Around 4:30 PM, we decided that it was finally time to return to Reykjavik. We left Pingvellir, and I lost my usefulness as a navigator by falling asleep.
I woke up to us arriving just outside of Reykjavik, and I helped with some last-minute navigation. We arrived back at the Reykjavik Lights Hotel (the original hotel we stayed at on Day 1) and were greeted by the same receptionist. My mom realized that she needed to hurry in avoiding our rental car if she was to return it today (in her words, a "bat out of hell" could be used to describe her trip back to Hertz rental). While she made this trip, I went on a much-needed run on the outskirts of Reykjavik, near the the water.
When I returned, we went out to eat at the same place we did the first night (the name of which keeps escaping me), and we both got the soup and salad bar. We both also ordered our own deserts, both of which were monster-sized. I got four scoops of pistachio ice-cream, with a whipped topping, caramel sauce, and exotic fruits on top. My mom got apple pie with the exotic fruits as well. Afterwards, we went on a short walk to check out the hours of the nearby spa and pool for the following day. In the wind-down of the day, we reflected on where we would visit again, skip, and what was newly added to the Iceland bucket list.
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