2018 ICELAND Ring Road 6 - Many Foss

I'd say by 10:00 we had refreshed and refueled our bodies, so we hit the road with great enthusiasm. In March, daylight is 08:30 til 19:00-ish. We planned our trip so we would not be driving after dusk. With the unfamiliar road conditions, I would highly recommend that for everyone.

This portion of the trip, our longest driving day, was five hours max if we traveled non-stop. Of course, we found many diversions along the way.

Before our departure, everyone asked why would we go to such a cold country in early March. Well, the morning temp that first day was -1C (30F). Throughout our visit it never got colder than that, at least when we could check the digital thermometer on our car display screen. The highest we saw was 3C (37F). Mike checked the Kalamazoo temp throughout our trip, too, and it was consistently about 5F degrees colder at home than here!!


Luckily, we caught mostly sunny days. A branch of the Gulf Stream (the Irminger current), flows along the southern and west coast of Iceland, greatly moderating the climate there. Weather can be unpredictable though, so layers of clothing and 4-wheel drive vehicles are recommended, especially in winter.

The first town we approached was Sellfoss on the banks of the Ölfusá River, about 30 miles (50 km) outside of Reykjavik. We crossed the river on a suspension bridge. The original bridge here was built in 1891. The current bridge was constructed in 1945 after one of the original suspension cables collapsed. It was the only two-way traffic bridge we crossed on our trip into the hinterlands of Iceland.


The river was our first glance of glacier waters. It was wide and rushing, with a huge bolder in the center...a tall evergreen growing out of it. We didn't test the waters by hand, but you could see icy chunks speedily floating by.

We pulled into a parking area. There was a vintage dinner with old-fashioned Coke signs, a 3-screen theater (showing Paddington 2, The Commuter, and Darkest Hour), and a quaint village church.

There is also a Sellfoss waterfall (foss translates to waterfall), but it is located many miles away in an inland area of northeast Iceland. If you are taking the Ring Road all the way around, I recommended a side trip to see it, although its water comes from the Vatnajokull glacier melt and flow varies depending on the season. See photo at:  https://hiticeland.com/places_and_photos_from_iceland/selfoss-waterfall

Nearby by Sellfoss (the waterfall) is Dettifoss. It is considered the most powerful foss in Europe. See photo at:  https://www.northiceland.is/en/places/nature/dettifoss-waterfall

Sellfoss (the town) was a little further down the road. Population is 6,934. It is the ninth largest city in Iceland by population, but most of the larger cities are part of Greater Reykjavik. Salmon fishing is the industry here.

If any of you are into chess, American chess player Bobby Fischer is buried here. In 1972, he defeated Boris Spassky of the USSR in the World Chess Championship held in Reykjavik. It was advertised as a cold war confrontation and brought untold amounts of interest into the chess world. Many consider Fischer to be the best chess player of all time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer

So we are continuing along down the Ring Road and what unexpectedly appears off to our left. This...

It was Seljalandsfoss. The major foss drops 197 feet (60 meters). It is part of the Seljalands River with its origin being the volcano glacier Eyjafjallajökull. So impressive!

Leading up on each side of the main foss was a stairway. They were iced over and closed this time of year, but in better weather you can climb up to a cave behind the falls. I can't imagine the view from there.

There were smaller falls trailing along the cliff for maybe a quarter mile. This was the next biggest area (far left in pix above).

At the bottom of this was a mound of ice build-up, but also two small geothermal geysers continuously spouting away.

The Seljalands River continued on from the bottom of the foss on out to sea.

This foss was a way-point on one of the Amazing Race episodes and was also in the movie CKY2K, which featured Icelandic singer Bjork. This was apparently an outrageous skateboarding daredevil video which lead to the Jackass movie series, but I never heard of it. On the other hand, its $5,000 budget tells you something.

Another foss that we did not see is nearby Gljufrabui or the Hidden Falls. From what I read, you walk into a cave of sorts and the foss cascades down a tube-like area. Apparently you get pretty wet though, as a change of clothes on hand is advised. Maybe best at this time of year that we did not venture into this one.

To see worthwhile photos, go to:  https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g3676471-d10309126-Reviews-Gljufrabui_Waterfalls-South_Region.html. On the photo, click "full view" and then click the right arrow to see a number of fab photos.

2018 ICELAND Reykjavik 5 - Rules of the Road

As we began our drive east out of town, this was one of the first safety warnings we saw. Hard to tell from this pix, but these cars looked like ours and had been in head-on crashes. Billboards on each side begged the notion of safe driving and listed numbers of deaths on the highway. I don't remember the number, but we did not want to increase it.

OK, let's talk about the roads. In the capitol there are a few main thoroughfares up to three lanes wide each way. There are a number of round-a-bouts and some interesting tri-color stoplights. Not only is there a momentary yellow just before red, but also a momentary yellow just before green. So instead of seeing cars continuing on "pink," you'd see cars slightly jumping the green.

In town, side streets were narrow and many were one way. We didn't see any concrete pavement anywhere, mostly basalt stone pavers or asphalt. Street names are often long and unpronounceable to us. One of the main streets was Snorribraut. Remember the saga author? And braut means "runway." My sis had a great time converting street names to goofy English translations. Maybe she'll add an example here later. How to figure street names:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_names_in_Iceland.

Most of our travels were on the Ring Road or Route 1 (the yellow line on this map). It was completed in 1974. We traveled from Reykjavik almost to Hofn, about one-third around the island and backtracked from there. On most of this road trip we could not see the sea or it was way off in the distance. Vik was an exception.

For safety's sake we opted not to continue the Ring Road north into less populated areas. Winter is considered October through April. Weather is particularly unpredictable during that time and often dangerous. Roads can be closed. Expect the unexpected and be flexible are some of the travel tips we read. We had limited travel time, so not so flexible.

I tried to find out how they remove snow and it appears there is a complicated formula of depth, road usage, etc. If I read the chart correctly, it could take up to three days to clean heavy snow in more remote areas of the Ring Road. They use plowing, sand, de-icing chemicals and, more rarely, salt. If you want to torture yourself, you can read all about it here:  http://www.road.is/media/um-vegagerdina/Iceland_Snow-and-Ice-Databook-2013-v01.pdf.

Once out of the city, it was two-lane road all the way. This was our first road view in the countryside along the Ring Road.

Most of the drive was on flat land, but there were some passing lanes on steeper areas. The widest shoulder we encountered was about 12 inches. In other places the shoulder did not exist outside of the dotted white lines. Or the center line was non-existent. Crossing paths with some of the luxury liner tourist buses was near heart-stopping. Thank goodness we had sunshine and dry roads most days.

There were guard rails in some areas but that was not the norm, even on the steeper climbs. Sometimes there were 10-20 foot drop offs with no guard rail protection. For the most part, the only warning of the side of the road was the yellow reflectors. You definitely have to be alert while driving here.

Speed limits ranged from 50 kph (about 31) in the city up to 90 (about 56) on most of the Ring Road. And, honestly, that was fast enough for me. We discovered near the end of the trip, that the speedometer was reading maybe five miles per hour faster than what we were actually driving. We wondered why so many folks passed us and compared the GPS speed to the speedometer speed. We adjusted a little after that.

Besides speed signs there are all kinds of interesting signs. We could figure out most, but looked up online what some of the more obscure signs indicate. Move to bottom to see all the interesting ones in blue. https://www.arctic.is/traffic-signs/

Oh and here is one you probably have not seen before. It was in a public restroom.

Every so often along the road we would also see what looked like a weather station or earthquake monitoring system. It turned out they were weather stations with a webcams up top to monitor road conditions in real time.

Bridges outside of towns and villages were all one-way. So you approached gingerly to see who got there first and then waited for the opposite vehicle to pass by, if necessary. We came across only one construction area and that was a bridge improvement.

It is illegal and there is no tolerance for drunk driving. Max blood alcohol level is .05%. If you are under suspicion you get a breathalyzer test. If positive, you get a blood test which you cannot refuse and can be taken forcefully. Heavy fines or imprisonment can follow. Minimum first offense is 70,000 ISK.

If marijuana is your thing...possession, cultivation, and sale are heavily penalized. Bringing it into the country can get you a month in jail. Although, we did meet an American visitor who said he used an MJ vape kit and pulled it out of his inside pocket for a moment to show us. Medicinal MJ is allowed on a VERY limited basis.

Other laws:  Everyone must wear a seat belt at all times. No talking on cell phones, unless hands-free. Headlights should be on at all times.

Insurance clauses say no off-road driving, even with all the insurances. But parking lots and driveways outside of town are pretty much crushed rock. We did have one hard stone hit the windshield while driving. It seemed to make a little mark, but we passed mustard during the car return and did not have to pay any deductible.

2018 ICELAND Reykjavik 4 - Grand Hotel Reykjavik

Our room was more than adequate in size, but not spacious. We had a bed, two side tables, a desk, a fridge, and a large closet area.

On top of the fridge was a glass box with a door. We had no idea what that was for. T&L did not have that in their room. Hmmm?

And I love the ecological mindset of the Icelanders. In our room was a three part trash bin, indicating trash, bottles, or paper. It was a great reminder to recycle and saved a lot of sorting by the staff.

Lights are always a mystery. Are switches on the wall or on the lamps? Are the switches toggle or flip? On the base or under the shade? Which switches work on which lights, especially the bed lights? This time you put your room card in a slot by the door to activate the switches. After some experimenting, we figure it all out.

In Iceland you have the option of two twin beds or a "king bed." Basically it means your twin beds are separated or snugged up next to each other. This was our experience in some hotels in mainland Europe as well. Today we had the king set up. Linens were white (except the coverlet) and wonderful. We each had our own duvet. Mike hit the hay immediately.

It had been cold in the lobby and I had a chill I could not shake. I opted for a hot bath first. The bathroom was large with tub and shower and heated floor. I hopped in the long and narrow bath. That did the trick and also brought my swollen knee back to near normal size.

The shower set-up was something we had not seen before. It had an curved swinging glass door to contain the spray. I thought it was clever, but Mike didn't like it so much. Only one kind of soap for body and hair and no conditioner. Not particularly good on my hair.

After my bath I crashed and slept soundly until 20:00. I woke and couldn't sleep, so I jotted some blog notes. I was still antsy, so got dressed and took some photos in the lobby. It was lit in a purple and pink theme, including some areas of the floor.

 

If you understood Icelandic, you could read the saga stories depicted on the huge (2 or 3 story high) stained-glass windows.

Clocks by the front desk revealed that we were on the same time zone as London.

It was still chilly in the lobby, but the fireplace (above in first purple pix) was lit and candles were scattered about. That gave the illusion of warmth. Back in the room, I was finally able to shut my eyes again.

Breakfast was included in the room rate. I have to say the spread was impressive. There were four main selection areas--beverage bar; fruit, breads and pastries; cold cuts and salad; and hot items and soups. Each area had a wide selection, to appeal to all palates from Western, European, Asian, and beyond. Impressive!

 

Never saw a serving tray of fried eggs before and they were cooked to perfection.

A "bonus" item at all the breakfast bars on this trip was a bottle of cod liver oil, shot glasses, and lemon. Appropriate, I guess, for a land that eats a lot of cod. Brought back memories for Mike from when he was a kid. His grandparents always had a bottle on hand for a breakfast nip. None of us tried it.

After breakfast we were anxious to get on the road.

An aside: My opinion may be influenced by our rough start, but I would not rate this hotel above average. Customer service skills need to be honed. If the receptionist had indicated our room would not be ready til 14:00, we would have made a different plan. But stringing us along from 09:00 til 14:00 wasted our time and put us in a negative frame of mind to enjoy our stay there.

The room was nice and clean (especially the bathroom), but not what we are used to in a 4-star hotel. The location, from what we saw, did not lend itself to shopping or sight-seeing. The breakfast was fantastic, but that is not a reason to give a top rating. 

2018 ICELAND Reykjavik 3 - First Impressions

There was a little wait to reclaim our baggage. Too keep busy, we checked the pre-exit duty free shop, but still no Myers rum.

Laur and I went to the ATM for some Icelandic money. Here is a 500 kronur note (one is a krona). Its value in USD is five dollars. Whatever a price tag says, you just knock off the last two digits to easily convert to USD. So 100 ISK closely converts to 1 USD, or 1,800 ISK is 18 USD. Ignore the comma. Some folks said you can use Euros here as well, but I would check it out first.

We caught our first puffin sighting as he "dove into the baggage claim area" and he was huge. At least six feet from neck to nose. How cute!

Once we claimed our luggage, it was smooth sailing. Only a few minutes at the passport check. Nothing to declare, so bypassed customs. Next stop, Hertz rent-a-car.

At Hertz, Cecily (or something like Sasassja in Icelandic) was our agent. We had lined up a Czech 4-wheel drive Škoda, but she upgraded us to a KIA Sportage. It even had heated seats.

Because our AAA insurance does not cover anywhere out of the US, we opted to take all the insurances. That included two new ones for us--windshield protection and sand / ash protection (for volcano mishaps!). That was about $118 US per day, but took away all our worries. Even though the vehicle had an internal GPS, she gave us a Garmin at no cost. She said it was easier to operate.

We had to wait a bit as the car was being cleaned. In the meantime, Cecily offered tips on driving--she emphasized only use the black pump at gas stations as the car runs on diesel, no right on red, and take your time. She said for gas, it was easiest to use our debit cards and opt for ISKs (instead of USDs) to save money.

She asked where we were visiting and we ticked off our basic itinerary. She said we were hitting all the hot spots. We had lots of questions about the sights and she cheerfully answered them all. It was obvious she was very proud of her country.

Cecily set up the GPS for our first stop at the Grand Hotel Reykjavik. She advised there was plenty of parking there (our first worry, as it was in the city). At that point the car was ready. It was still dark, so we had a bit of a time finding our vehicle.

But when we found it, we were surprised. This was the license plate. How did they know this was a "Debby" birthday trip and I was born in 1948?!? After that we had no problem spotting our car amongst all the white 4-wheel drive rentals.

Driving was on the "normal" side of the road for us, but I was still nervous starting off. It was dark, I was tired, roads were wet, I did not know the route, and I was in an unfamiliar car. But after a few mechanical adjustments (seats, mirrors, cruise control), off we went.

It was 29 miles (and about 40 minutes) to our hotel. Roads were narrower than we are used to. There were no traffic lights until we got into the city. Instead there were round-a-bouts and a lot of them. Thank goodness there was good signage and good directions from Mr. Garmin.

Closer to town traffic got heavier. It was morning rush hour in Reykjavik. We watched the skies turn from black to blue as we approached the hotel at about 09:00.

Of course, it was too early to check in, but why not ask, just in case. There were no rooms available at the moment, but the desk clerk implied at least one would be available soon. We asked about the option to take the Hop-On-Hop-Off city bus tour, but pick-up was not until 11:00 (a 2-hour wait).

We had chosen this hotel for our first night as it appeared to be near the bay. So we considered walking around the area, but after looking outside we could not see water or much else nearby. We decided to go for coffee to consider what to do.

At the hotel restaurant, it would cost 35,000 ISK (or 35 USD) per person to eat breakfast. We weren't hungry in the least; we just wanted coffee to keep us going until our rooms was ready. The hostess heard our situation and invited us in.

We drank coffees for about an hour-and-a-half and waited for our bill. No one came. My sis finally inquired of the hostess. She smiled and put her hand over her eyes and said, "I see nothing." We left. The coffee was on the house.

By then it was nearly 11:00 and bus tour time, but at that point we were ornery and aching and hopeful. We opted not to go. We sat in this lobby area, inquiring every now and then about rooms.

To pass the time, my sis read aloud interesting facts from the travel brochures. We check out the spa. We purchased sandwiches from the coffee bar (vegan and BLT). We took cat naps. It seemed others checking in after us got rooms. We felt we were getting the run around to some extent. It would have been nice if the receptionist had come update us to reassure us we were not forgotten.

Finally at 14:00 (yes, 2pm) we checked with the desk one more time. The gal said I've been trying to get two room together. We were astounded. No earlier choices offered, no sorry, no compassion, no customer service. We are experienced travelers, so we knew better not to make a big fuss, but I'm sure the look on our faces showed big disappointment.

We advised we did not need rooms together or even on the same floor. She looked and found two rooms within minutes. She also had "good news." She was upgrading us from an interior to an exterior view room. The bad news was our room overlooked the parking lot with just the tiniest sliver of a water view (far right middle).

When we got to the room, we collapsed.

An aside: It is my understanding that all the flights from the US get into Iceland at a very early hour. Next time I would just book the extra night to have a room available for an early arrival. The waiting and wondering plan we chose just did not work.

2018 ICELAND Reykjavik 2 - Getting to Iceland

* Up front I should say I did most of the driving on this trip, so not as many photos as usual. And my notes are sketchier. I recapped at the end of each night, so no doubt forgot some good info.

On Wednesday, March 7, Mike and I got up around 08:00, finished packing, loaded up the Little Free Library with a good supply of books, had a quick bite, said good-bye to Bella, and headed to T&L's by noon. To fit all the luggage into our Prius, we each agreed upon one carry-on size bag to be checked and one smaller bag to actual carry-on. It was snug, but all fit.

It looked like a clear day as we departed, but we hit a snowy patch starting in Paw Paw. I was very happy it cleared up by the Indiana border. Downtown Chicago and around O'Hare was the usual traffic jam and our Garmin GPS constantly alerted us to "traffic congestion."

We opted to park at O'Hare Blue Sky Parking. We had a reservation for an outdoor spot (although we could have parked indoors for more $). This location was close to the airport, secure, and reasonably priced compared to most companies--about $14.50 per day with taxes and fees.

It was a smooth operation to check-in, load our luggage into the van, and ride to Icelandair at the international terminal. Less than a half hour in all.

We arrived at the terminal at 14:00. The check-in counter did not open until 15:00, so we grabbed a snack at the Goddess Cafe. I had a cappuccino to perk up.

Check-in was a breeze. We were Saga class (business), so we used the short line. Didn't have to wait at all. Security was another story. It was at least 25 minutes in line. Had to take off belts and shoes, removed computers from carry-on, full body scan. For some reason Tom got the extended check. Hmmm, he doesn't appear suspicious to me. Maybe just the luck of the draw!

Stopped at duty free, but no Myers Rum to be had. Next stop the Air France first class lounge, another perk for our biz class tickets on Icelandair. Only two seats to be had, so Mike and Laur went across the hall to the bar and ordered beers. Tom and I grabbed the seats and a glass of red wine. I finally started to relax. After a mini-veggie sandwich and a small helping of very spicy tofu noodles, we joined M&L at our departure gate.

We had to wait a bit in the gate area, but it was fun people-watching. We were glad we were not with a formal tour group. There were many wandering around with identifier tags hanging from their necks. Later we would see packed busloads of these folks herded like cattle to see the sights. We were just four and that was perfect.

Upon boarding each person received a bottle of Icelandic glacier water. At our seat, flight attendants offered a glass of prosecco (Italian "champagne"). We also received a little cup of caramel corn! I swapped my too sweet caramel corn for Mike's glass of prosecco. Both happy to double-dip on our favorites.

A puffy pillow and blanket were on our seats. On each pillow and head rest was an embroidered saying to help us learn the Islandic language. We would see other samples of these little prose throughout our travels here. I thought it was a clever idea and tried to read everyone's pillows.

We each received very cool comfort kits with leather strap. They contained eye shades, ear plugs, three Blue Lagoon sample products, footies, and toothbrush and paste. Flight attendants also gave us high quality noise-cancelling headsets to use on the flight.

We left on time at 19:30, a smooth take off on the Boeing 757. Almost immediately outside our window were night skies with few city lights seen on the ground.

Our tickets were for Saga class, the name coming from the Sagas of Icelanders. This is the official title for family stories, genealogy, history, and legends that took place mostly in the 9th, 10th, and early 11th centuries. As Iceland was an uninhabited island before the 9th century, it was conflict-free for Scandinavian (Norse) settlers to claim much needed farmland. More info on settlement at:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settlement_of_Iceland.

Spoken "literature" focused on the struggle and conflict endured by early generations. In the 13th and 14th centuries, these stories were finally written as best remembered and remain today as the official history of Iceland. The recorders are mostly unknown, but Snorri (love that name!) Sturluson, a descendant of the saga's hero, may have written some.


To pass the time I wrote notes for this blog and watched the latest Wonder Women movie til the last 30 minutes. Although the movie tells the interesting back story of WW as a kid, it was mostly fighting and a bit silly. Not really my style, so I didn't finish. You could figure out the ending anyway.

Before dinner oshiboris (Japanese-style hot, damp cloths) were distributed to wipe our face and hands. That was a first class treat that we had not experienced in some time. They smelled and felt so good. It brought back memories of first class trips from years passed. On Northwest Airlines they used to add a touch of the German men's cologne 4711. Pure luxury!

Dinner was great. Mike had the fish option which turned out to be salmon (both sashimi-style and cooked) and roasted potatoes. I had the veg option of veggie balls covered in pesto, and lentils. We each got a salad (Mike's was a scallop salad), a fabulous warm mini-baguette, and dessert. I sipped a wonderful glass (or two) of coté de rhone wine. We were both happy and full with more than enough to eat.

Time flew by on the 5 hour and 52 minute flight. It was bumpy off and on, but not scary bumpy. Nearing Iceland, we saw few city lights, but the moon was quite bright at only ⅝ visible and there were three very bright stars guiding the way.

We landed smoothly in Keflavik International Airport just outside of Reykjavik, Iceland. Arrival was on time at 06:35 on March 8 (the next morning because we lost time and a day). It was still dark.