Iceland Part 1: Reykjavik, the Remote Westfjords and Rugged Highlands

We traded 99 degree heat on the night we departed the U.S. for a 5:30 am arrival at 50 degrees, overcast with a light drizzle. Who could complain!

On the 40 minute ride into Reykjavik from the airport, we were surprised by fields of lupine, reminding us of the many summer weeks we have spent in Maine. The first image is one of many such fields of lupine that dotted the countryside.

The city is beautifully set overlooking a big harbor with the iconic, stunning Lutheran church high on a hill and scores of public sculptures. The first image I call “Gazes” and it includes Roots, by Steinunn Thórarinsdóttir. The second is a closeup of Himinglæva, a stainless-steel sculpture by Elín Hansdóttir that sits on the waterfront by the concert hall.

We met many lovely people in the shops and other travelers on the street, who generously shared their personal stories and favorite places. One young shopkeeper, Saga (meaning history), spontaneously shared a detailed map of best places on the island she made for a trip last fall. We continue to use it, finding places we might have but were thankful we hadn’t missed.

We were happy we chose to stay in Reykjavik for 3 nights. We were also ready for our guide to whisk us away to the rugged Westfjords on the wild North Atlantic coast. We were glad we had planned 4 nights in this area, seldom seen by most international visitors because the roads simply are too narrow, twisty, and rough for vehicles that can carry many people.

Our guide drove up and down almost of of the fjords in this area. On one such road, we followed a route partially dug by a man and his son with a small bulldozer. We had to carefully plan when we would get to the head of land because the road dropped down to the shore, and was littered with tide-worn 3-9 inch stones that was impassable at high tide.

In the sparsely populated Westfjords and into the desolate Highlands, where we saw ice caps, glaciers and steaming hot springs (where the hottest water—300F— was recorded), we were prepared for harsh winter conditions. Temperatures fell  into the 30s at night, climbing only into the 50s during the day with mostly overcast skies, an intermittent light drizzle, and bone-chilling breezes. The rain never interfered with our plans, and its chill was refreshing in the varied hot springs we enjoyed.

We had hoped to see puffins, and still do. We did see many eider ducks, arctic terns, swans and other shore birds, as well as a few whales and an arctic fox (being dive-bombed by terns to drive it away from their nesting area).  We did see Icelanders on holiday from Reykjavik, couples, intergenerational families. and large groups. We heard that there is an effort underway to get more tourists to this area that heretofore “90% of Icelanders had never visited.”

On June 30th we left the Westfjords behind, driving dirt roads and one-lane bridges over rivers and streams, by countless waterfalls, into the Highlands. With one of the largest ice caps in the distance we crossed miles of barren deserted glacial moonscapes—no sheep or other animals grazing—just moss and occasional low bursts of purple arctic thyme. The wind was whipping when I took this first shot below that calls to mind “the land of fire and ice,” the popular tourist-beckoning Icelandic catch phrase.

As we headed back to explore more touristed areas, we visited the first geyser (after which all others are named), named Geysir. Now dormant, we joined other camera-wielding tourists for the newer gusher that now delights.

We visited the site of the first Icelandic “parliament,” a place where the earths’s tectonic plates overlap but are pulling apart. North America is on one side and Europe on the other; true throughout this island that is the size of Kentucky, yet the rift is most visible, and beautiful, at Þingvellir National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since the first gathering in 930, when the first Icelandic laws were settled, the parliament met there outdoors continuously from the 10th to the 18th centuries—longer than any other in the world.

From here we drove to the Hotel Ranga, for 5 days of exploration in the area familiar to many tourists, the Golden Circle.

After 2 days of fording streams in the more rugged parts of the area, we said goodbye to our guide and picked up our own Toyota Land Cruiser for the second half of our tour.

More to come.

Stay well.

Marc