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Published: December 4th 2022
Dear All
Greetings once more, on this my final entry for my amazing trip this summer. I write this one on my fantastic final few days on this summer adventure exploring Viking lands, and they turned out to be a wonderful wrap up to this journey. I was tired and ready to go home, but still had just that little bit of travel energy within me to explore and enjoy my final few sights.
On a cool, crisp and seriously windy Monday morning, I left lovely Grundarfjörður behind and set off on my last car journey on this epic Icelandic road trip, heading southwards to Reykjavík, but with a stop off in lovely little Borgarnes along the way. This was a nice little town, in a dramatic location on a peninsula jutting out into the ocean and surrounded by mountains - in fact, such a setting is quite common for many an Icelandic settlement! This place is particularly important, as it was the base for the first Icelandic settlers around the 9th to 10th centuries AD, and thus is also the location of an excellent museum, the "Settlement Museum". This place was very similar in set-up to the Saga
Museum back on the Faroe Islands, in that you are given your own personal headset which slowly guides you around the various exhibits and waxwork figures, telling fascinating tales and stories from Icelandic settlement times. The museum takes you on an intriguing journey through the region and country's history, as well as through the life of famous Icelandic Viking Egil Skallagrímsson, as told in the epic Egil's Saga, one of many Viking sagas from Iceland. The ancient Vikings wrote many sagas based on their many places of settlement. The Faroe Islands have their own, which as mentioned I learned about back in the excellent Faroese Saga Museum. Iceland also has its own, including this Egil's Saga, written by famous Icelandic historian and author Snorri Sturluson and telling the epic life story of Egil, an ancient Viking born around 904AD, with a fiery temper. He committed his first murder at the tender age of six years old, after getting into an argument with a friend of his while playing an ancient game similar to ice hockey, and sending an axe through his face (!). He later invoked the wrath of Queen Gunnhild of Norway, who spent her time trying to kill
Gullfoss Waterfall
Golden Circle Tourhim in various sorcery-related ways. The saga involves his travels to Norway, Denmark and even England, and I loved seeing my own country counted as one of the Viking territories, and the connection we have with Iceland, Norway and the like. As one can imagine, Egil's life story was filled with heroism, tragedy, and much bloodshed, and was delightfully told through the headset and various models and exhibits throughout. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.
After Borgarnes, I drove off again, on my way to Reykjavik at last. I had a very long, recently-built undersea tunnel to get through, followed by a very scenic drive around Kollafjörður to the north of the capital city. The traffic was really building up now, and I was definitely not used to so many other vehicles after days of being the only one on the lonely Icelandic highway. An infinite number of roundabouts later (Iceland is famous for roundabouts in its towns, and one local mayor is nicknamed "The Lord of the Rings" apparently for the amount he constructed!), I stopped off in Iceland in Iceland!! I was so excited! Iceland is actually a British supermarket chain, and I was surprised and bemused
Me, The Blue Lagoon
Reykjanes Peninsula to find it actually there in Iceland. The government of Iceland has repeatedly called for the UK supermarket's name to be changed, as it seemingly doesn't like to be equated with a budget frozen food specialising supermarket chain. In fact, if you want to Google search Iceland in the UK, you have to type in "Iceland country" in order to move beyond fresh and frozen food produce! I noted that this branch of Iceland was not too far from my Air BnB booked in the suburbs of Reykjavík, and thus I just had to visit Iceland in Iceland! I loved it, and after taking a few photos of myself in Iceland in Iceland (surely I'm not the only British tourist to do this!), and of course stocking up on my final provisions for my trip there, I filled my little car up one last time with petrol, and drove on to my accommodation in the Reykjavík suburb of Kópavogur. I was so glad to not be staying in the tourist trap and shockingly high prices of central Reykjavík. This place was a lovely little one-bedroomed flat in a block in a quiet family-filled neighbourhood. I had noted many times that
Viking Lands Map
Settlement Museum, Borgarnes I had not really met that many Icelandic people on my travels in the country, and it was nice to finally see how the natives lived. Icelandic people are so few in numbers compared to tourists, I actually feel quite sorry for them - they are swamped by visitors. I understand completely that some of them aren't happy with this, and I tried to be as understanding of this as possible wherever I went. I wished I had learnt just that little bit more Icelandic before I went. The Icelanders are like an endangered species and were rarely seen - thus it was so nice to stay in authentic Kópavogur. Fortunately, having stayed in a number of Air BnBs thus far already on this trip, I felt I did get to know a couple of Icelanders well, and it is one of my main joys of travelling to meet the people of a country and get to know them and their culture. This was not so easy in Iceland, though not impossible.
After dropping off my bags and food, I drove my rental car to Reykjavík Domestic Airport to drop it off, and breathed a sigh of relief that
Viking Ship
Settlement Museum, Borgarnes there were no additional charges added, given the condition of some of the roads I had been driving along! The car rental guy didn't seem to notice the numerous tiny dents on the windscreen, and slightly bigger scratch in the side, which were made earlier by a fool overtaking me at speed on a gravelly road back in the north-east of the country. From the airport, I had to walk the mile or so into Reykjavík city centre, and it felt at once strange and also very liberating to be without my vehicle. Once more, it was just me, my bags, and public transport again, lol!
I enjoyed a good wander that afternoon around the main sights of central Reykjavík. I found it very interesting, but was again glad not to be staying there as there were seriously so many more tourists there than Icelandic people. I took in Tjörnin, the famous pond in the centre of town with photogenic views all around, the Alþingi, or Althingi, parliament building, the old town with numerous outdoor cafes filled with people enjoying the unusually sunny and warm weather, the Old Harbour, a walk up Skólavörðustígur, filled with more tourist shops and
Icelandic Map and Emblems
Settlement Museum, Borgarnes cafes, onto the amazing Hallgrímskirkja church and up its 75-metre tower for awesome views all around of Reykjavík and beyond, and finally along the shopping street of Laugavergur towards the bus stop to take the bus back to my accommodation again.
Before I finish up for this day, I just wanted to write a word or two on the amazing Hallgrímskirkja church, completed in 1986 and designed by famous Icelandic state architect Guðjón Samúelsson, mentioned also in my previous blog from Akureyri. The building has been criticised by many for being, well, downright ugly, but I loved it. As mentioned, Samúelsson aimed to create a new Icelandic architectural style, and I could clearly see his vision. The country is stark, barren, brooding and desolate, and this is completely reflected in the church building. The high tower is adorned on either side by hexagonal columns decreasing in height, and these represent the numerous volcanic basalt columns found throughout the country. The grey colour is so typical of the landscape and weather, and up close the finish to the building is not smooth paint or concrete, but very roughly-textured hard plaster, symbolising again to my mind the rough nature of the
Egil's Saga
Settlement Museum, Borgarnes landscape. I completely saw Samúelsson's vision in his creation, and was completely mesmerised by it.
That evening I enjoyed a lovely evening, and watched the very entertaining film "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga" on my Air BnB's Netflix account. It was just perfect to be watching this film in the middle of Reykjavík, after having spent two weeks in Iceland - there are many glimpses and insights into Icelandic lifestyle and culture in it, which I could already relate to having spent a fair amount of time there.
The next day, I was off on probably Iceland's most famous tour, and for good reasons - this was a day trip around the Golden Circle, with the most fascinating and captivating tour guide I have ever met. He picked me up first out of a group of around 14 of us, and after finding out I taught religion and that I was Christian, he shared with me his own Christian faith and experiences, and seemed to connect with me in a way that can only be meant to be, I feel. We then picked up the rest of the tour group in Central Reykjavík, at which
Egil's Saga
Settlement Museum, Borgarnes point he returned to being a Tour Guide again. It was a very nice group of mostly Americans, along with a couple of Australians, and it was a very enjoyable day ahead. It started with everyone in the group spontaneously introducing themselves and where they are from, which I found a little uncomfortable if I'm honest, but I think this was very much the American-ness in the group coming out, and with my absolute love for America and Americans, I was actually ok with. In fact, many tourists in and around Reykjavík seemed to be more of the American variety, rather than the European, seemingly on short and popular stopovers between our two continents.
We began by visiting our first sight on the Golden Circle, an amazing place called Þingvellir, or Thingvellir, around 30 miles away from Reykjavík. This was the site of the world's oldest parliament, created in 930AD, and is dramatically situated at the bottom of a long rocky walled outcrop, bang in the middle of the amazing mid-Atlantic ridge which travels all the way down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, separating at this point the North American Plate on the west and the Eurasian Plate
Egil's Saga
Settlement Museum, Borgarnes on the east. Those ancient Icelandic Vikings sure chose a great spot for setting up their parliament! There were amazing views to be had there, and you could quite clearly see the rocky chaos created by the separation of these two tectonic plates all around. I enjoyed a good walk around, taking in a particularly attractive waterfall called Öxarárfoss, which dramatically flows over the North American Plate and into the Rift Valley below. I had read and heard much about Þingvellir on my Icelandic Road Trip thus far, so it was quite exciting to finally be there.
Next up was my favourite stop for the day, the amazing Geysir Hot Spring area, with a dramatic geysir spewing up water up to 50 metres high. It is this place which gave the English name to this remarkable geological phenomenon found in many places throughout the world, and again it felt quite special being in the presence of the feature's namesake. The original Geysir has actually tired, and doesn't erupt anymore. Fortunately though, nearby Strokkur geysir erupts every five minutes or so. I spent a good 40 minutes or so observing this amazing spectacle, and getting some good photos and videos
Egil's Saga
Settlement Museum, Borgarnes in. I observed that the geysir erupted differently each time, sometimes high, sometimes disappointingly low, and sometimes there was even a double eruption with two in a row! There was almost always a "wooooo" and "yayyyyy", and sometimes screaming, coming from the crowds all around each time it erupted.
After this, we headed on to the spectacular Gullfoss waterfall, meaning "Golden Falls", and whose pronunciation I just loved and couldn't get enough of our tour guide repeating - it sounds something like "goodelfoss". This one was powerful and dramatic, with its famous switchback double drop, first falling in one direction and then doubling back on itself to fall again in the other direction.
Finally, we stopped at the not-so-secret "Secret Lagoon", for another amazing soak in another Icelandic geothermal pool. I could not tire of these places, although this one was awash with tourists doing the Golden Circle trail, and thus was busy and a bit touristy I thought. Somebody had certainly let the secret out quite a while ago!
It was certainly an action-packed day, and it was rather nice to let someone else do the driving for a change! After dropping off the others in
Egil's Saga
Settlement Museum, Borgarnes Central Reykjavík, our amazing tour guide returned to his original self again when he took me back to my suburban accommodation at around 6.30pm. He kept me captivated with some amazing, inspirational and holy stories from his experiences as a Christian - he did not mention it, but I do believe he was also a Christian minister as well as a tour guide. Many of his stories came from a time when he worked as a prison chaplain in the USA, and often involved miraculous healing. I was seriously moved and taken by these stories. When eventually we bade farewell, I couldn't believe it when I looked at my watch and it was 7.30pm. He had kept me captivated for a whole hour without my even realising it! There was something really quite special about the man, and I am really glad that I met him. A lot of what he said has popped up in my mind at various points these last few months since returning, and I could again feel that I was meant to hear his words.
My final full day was spent mostly at perhaps Iceland's most famous attraction, the Blue Lagoon. I imagine many
Egil's Saga
Settlement Museum, Borgarnes people will have heard of this, it seems to be a quintessential part of an Icelandic stopover, and although I'm not the biggest of fans of such touristy places, they of course just still have to be done! After having packed and departed my very comfortable suburban flat, I walked 20 minutes with my backpacks to a nearby pick-up location where a pre-reserved bus would pick me up and take me to the place. It was around a mile away, and I was not used to carrying my bags and waiting for public transport again! Having arrived at the pick-up location, one of the bus transport agents rang me on my mobile to let me know that due to roadworks in the area, the bus wouldn't be able to pick me up from there, and instead I had to walk an additional five minutes further. After a groan, I arrived at 9.20am. The bus was due at 10am, but I was told when I booked it to be there half-an-hour earlier. It eventually arrived around 10.10am, and thus it ended up being rather a long wait. There was no bus shelter, and fortunately it wasn't raining, but it was still
Egil's Saga
Settlement Museum, Borgarnes really very windy. I was beginning to miss my rental car! I did end up talking with a nice girl from the Czech Republic who worked at the Blue Lagoon, and it turned out that this stop was mainly for the workers, as they all piled on with me when it came.
We drove around 25 miles south-west of the capital, through the Reykjanes Peninsula and on towards Keflavík International Airport, then through a stark lava-field landscape, arriving at this amazing wonder of a place. It was indeed touristy, but really quite classy, and although there were loads of people there, it never felt too crowded. There were still many places in the lagoon you could have to yourself. I went at a good time apparently, as it gets even busier in the afternoons and evenings, and the place was certainly filling up when I left. I spent an amazing three hours there, in the warm turquoise waters, and also in its steam rooms and sauna, contemplating my amazing time in this amazing country (amazing!). In the sauna, I met and got talking to a father and his three adult sons from Sheffield - it made me realise my
age when I found out that the father was around the same age as me, yet still has three adult sons! We did the usual talk you do when you meet someone from Sheffield, until you find out what you have in common. It turns out that we both went to the same secondary school, and although we didn't know each other, he knew some of the people that I knew, so there you go - that is the small world of Sheffield! They were on their way to do a 30-mile hike through the Icelandic wilderness nearby, and good for them!
It was actually not far from the Blue Lagoon as the crow flies, only ten miles away, that a nearby volcano Fagradalsfjall had been erupting during my time in Iceland, since 3rd August in fact, and many who I'd met on my travels in the country were either going there or had already been. I did contemplate visiting, as it certainly isn't every day you see a lava-eruption, but the journey there and back takes around four hours on foot, and is difficult, hilly, and over rocky ground for much of the way. Those I spoke with
said it was a very difficult hike, and there were stories of visitors who had injured themselves on the way, requiring air ambulance treatment, but that it was still so very worth it when they got there in the end. Although interested, I'm not a great fan of off-grid hiking, and a visit would mean I'd miss out on either the Golden Circle or the Blue Lagoon, which I didn't want to do. It was nice to have simply met travellers who had been there though, and just to be in such close proximity to this amazing geological wonder.
After the Blue Lagoon, the time had come for my onward bus which would take me to nearby Keflavík International Airport, where I connected to another bus, onto my final accommodation and night on this summer trip, in the small and lovely fishing village of Keflavík, which gives its name to the airport. I downed bags in a lovely little hotel right by the town's authentic fishing harbour, and after a short rest, explored the quiet streets and oceanside walk nearby. I stopped off in a quirky gimmick of a place called Giganta's Cave - Giganta is apparently a well-known
children's story character in Iceland, and the "Giantess with a Heart of Gold" as she is described supposedly lives in this cave just across the harbour from my hotel. The cave inside is complete with a giant chair, bed, dress and shoes, and has a figure of Giganta herself sitting, snoring, and occasionally passing wind! It was quirky and fun, and one of my more unusual sights seen in this country. After this, I settled in for my final night in Iceland, and in fact in Scandinavia, and on this amazing Nordic summer trip.
The journey home the next day was good, although the flight was delayed by an hour. Amazingly, I met with the lovely American mother-son travelling duo I'd met earlier in Arnarstapi on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula a few days earlier. They were staying in the same hotel as me, and had very coincidentally booked onto the same airport shuttle as me - I couldn't believe it when they also showed up in the hotel reception for our 6am departure! I was so glad to see them, it was a very positive meet-up, and they seemed to feel so too. We parted ways again at the airport
as they were flying to Boston Logan Airport, bringing back memories of my trip there myself earlier in the year, and I was heading to London Luton.
The flight back to the UK over Iceland was amazing, and you could clearly see the stunning Icelandic landscape from up high, and most clearly the large Mýrdalsjökull Glacier in the south of the island. After landing at Luton Airport, it was a straightforward journey from there to East Croydon on the direct Thameslink train. I rarely use London Luton Airport, but it is actually quite convenient for me due to its direct train service running there from down the road every 15 minutes or so. In the check-in queue back in Iceland, I had met with a very friendly, extremely talkative, older Swiss couple, who upon landing in Luton I learned had inadvertently booked their EasyJet transfer from Reykjavík to Zurich via Luton and then Gatwick Airports. They had no idea how to connect the two, and that they are actually 70 miles away from each other, so I accompanied them on their journey as Gatwick is the next stop on my own train after East Croydon, and I think I
Iceland, in Iceland
Kópavogur, near Reykjavík helped them make their connection. It was very tight, but fortunately their onward flight was also delayed, and they emailed me the next day to say that they had made it. It was lovely to be able to help them travelling, as I have myself had so many angels helping me during my own travel career. I felt more than happy to be able to return such a favour to the world out there.
So, after an absolutely incredible, albeit absolutely expensive, summer trip, I have been in lovely post-trip contemplation mode since arriving home. I have long been fascinated with our ancient ancestors, the Vikings, and for much of my life the cost of Scandinavian travel has been rather prohibitive for me. Not this year though, and it was well worth the splashing out. I feel I have come to know the lands of these ancient peoples more, and got to know them far beyond their imagery of marauders and barbarians. To see and walk in the very lands they came from, so ethereal and wondrous, and to get to know their modern-day descendants and cultures more intimately, has really filled a hole in my travelling knowledge of
the world. This was a place which has very much been on my doorstep for so long, I feel honoured and blessed to at last have gotten the chance to get to know the region deeper and more intimately. And I loved every single minute of it! Thank you Norway, Denmark, Faroe Islands and Iceland - you burned a serious hole in my wallet, but it was every bit worth it for the amazing experiences I've had, places I've seen, and people I've met, for these fabulous five-and-a-half weeks. It was other-worldly, and amazing!
I'm actually now all booked up for my next trips. These last two years have made me even more determined than ever to see more of the beautiful world out there, there is so much to see! Over the coming winter months, I have three short mini-trips planned, to take in the remaining three micro-states of Europe that I've yet to see. Before Christmas, I have a trip planned to Monaco, and nearby Nice and Cannes in France; over New Year, I have a trip planned to Liechtenstein, and nearby Innsbruck and the Tyrolean Alps in Austria; and in February, I have a trip planned
to San Marino, and nearby Rimini and Bologna in Italy. I imagine I'll be writing up my adventures from these places in due course.
So until then, thanks very much for reading and for following along with me, and all the best for now! 😊
Alex
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Final Entry
It is always sad when these adventures come to an end but you packed in so much I'm sure there were no regrets. Plus it is always great getting home and sleeping in your own bed. Congrats! I knew you wouldn't have extra charges on the car but it is a worry until you turn it back in. I hope you can keep in touch with your guide it sounds like you had a connection. Bravo for helping the Swiss couple make their connections. We've done the same thing in the past. We need to help one another! What a marvelous summer trip. Thanks for taking us along. MJ