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Iceland

Greetings from our trip to Iceland which was actually more than one year ago! (Better late than never). We spent 8 nights in Iceland in June 2017 and loved it, so here are some photos and memories from our trip.

After not sleeping on our “overnight” flight (that arrived at midnight EST/4am in Iceland), high on the excitement of arriving in Iceland and fueled by authentic Icelandic breakfast sandwiches at the Dunkin Donuts at the Reykjavic airport, we decided there was no better time to embark on a casual hike up to Glymur, the second highest waterfall in Iceland. Although we did not realize this “casual” hike would include an actual river forging (yes, holding onto a rope and climbing across a tree in the river), it was well worth it.

After napping on the side of the road, we continued the long but beautiful drive north to Ísafjörður, a small fishing town in Westfjords. We spent two nights here, enjoying the scenery, amazing fish, and the incredible Dynjandi waterfall.

Another major highlight of Westfjords was Tjöruhúsið, a small and cozy family-style fish restaurant and definitely the best meal we had in Iceland.

After Westfjords we drove southeast to Akureyri, the second largest city in Iceland, but not without a stop at a roadside “hot pot” (geothermal hot tub).

The next day we did an epic yet treacherous white rafting trip which included three falls into the glacial river we were rafting on. Although one of us was definitely more excited to fall into the glacial river than the other (we will let you guess who), it was definitely an extremely memorable and exhilarating trip.

We then made our way to the artist/port community of Seyoisdjordur on the Eastern coast but first made some pit stops at Godafoss waterfall and the Hverir geothermal area, which felt like Mars but really smelly (maybe Mars is really smelly too).

After driving through a June snowstorm, we finally made it to Seyoisdjordur and enjoyed one night/day exploring the town.

We then headed south to Vatnajokull National Park but first stopped at some more hot pots and at the Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon.

We spent two nights near Vatnajokull National Park and spent one day going on a hike in Skaftafell National Park and the next day going on a guided ice climb/hike on the Jokulsarlon glacier. 

We then drove west to an Airbnb near Vik for our final two nights. On our last day in Iceland we embarked on an 18 mile hike and completed the Fimmvörðuháls trail. The first section was filled with waterfalls, then we trekked through miles of snow and a lava field before we ended the hike in a beautiful canyon that neither of us could pay very much attention to since we were trying to finish the hike in time to catch the last bus back to our car (which we did!). Unfortunately after two hours in said bus, all the restaurants in the area had closed and we spent our last dinner in Iceland eating overpriced pre-packaged sandwiches at a hotel bar.

When all was said and done we had traveled around the entire perimeter of the country and driven around 1800 miles (although to say “we” drove would be misleading). We easily could have spent way more than 8 nights in Iceland and hope to head back one day and check out the northern lights!


SPICY BONUS PICS

This place was dope.

MISC SPICY BONUS PICS 

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