Advertisement
Published: July 21st 2009
Edit Blog Post
I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move. ~Robert Louis Stevenson
July 4th, 2009, Saturday, Ekeberg Camping, Oslo, to Oslo Airport to Keflavik Airport, to the Blue Lagoon, Iceland to Farm Guesthouse near Selfoss, Iceland.
After a night of storms, the weather has finally cooled down. Finding our way to the airport was relatively easy, UNTIL,,, we drove down a ramp to long term parking, it was underground parking with a clearance of 2.2 meters…we are 3.4 meters…Oops! After a U-turn and a very slow drive up the “wrong” way, Bob maneuvered another U-turn across three lanes of on-coming traffic not expecting to see a big camper going the wrong way!! After catching our breath at departures, we programmed the GPS for Gardermoen Parking and drove 2 km to OUR parking area and took the shuttle back to the airport.
This is the height of “Holiday” season and the airport was busy, busy. Using the computers, we got our boarding pass and stopped for some lunch. Most European waiting areas at the gate are closed-in, not wide-open space like the US. So we found our gate and Bob “needed” to walk! Soon, everyone in our little waiting area is on board…no Bob! We were he last two
people aboard before the door was closed for take-off! So far, this has not been an easy day.
The flight was 2hours 40 minutes, and we picked up two hours. Keflavik is cool and rainy, as we looked for the rental car. The GPS came with us, however, we discovered it is not programmed for Iceland. The map we have is less than good, so after circling around, Kel found a police station and we were on our way to the Blue Lagoon, south from the airport. Our initial impression of the terrain is…Iceland is rather desolate and the soil is lava-like.
The Blue Lagoon is a thermal spa, and a very popular destination. People believe the very warm water is a curative for anything from arthritis to dry skin problems. The thermal pool is heated by geothermal energy and around the edges are pots with a white clay-like “goop”. People slop this goop on faces, arms, feet…..and look rather silly! Of course, we participated! The day is rainy and cool and the very warm bubbly water is delicious! I wonder if I could spend the night here?
Back to reality, from the Blue Lagoon we drove
west on highway N1 to our fram guesthouse for two days. It is a nice little cabin, and close to the main-house for info and breakfasts. The time in Iceland is 8PM, however, Norway time is 10 PM, and we are tired and hungry. We found a nice little Thai place, in Selfoss for a meal and called it a day.
July 5, 2009, Sunday, Selfoss, Iceland to Seljalandsfoss to Skogarfoss, to Soiheimajokull (glacier) to Dyrholaey (coast) to Vik back to the farm and to Storkeyri (Seafood Restaurant) Iceland.
After breakfast at the farm we are back on N! West, this is the main road and it is two lanes of traffic, with lots of round-abouts, so it is rather slow going. Iceland was granted its independence from Denmark in 1944.
We are not longer in “lava-land” but are in farm/horse country. Our first stop Seljalandsfoss is one of Iceland’s highest waterfalls, 40 meters. This country is an outdoor person’s dream, there are backpacker, hikers, bikers, glacier walkers, kayaking, rock scramblers, etc. etc. Everywhere you look there is outdoor gear!
Skogarfoss is another lovely waterfall we stopped at, just before the Soiheimajokull (glacier), it
is like an peninsula of the grand glacier…Myrdalsjokull! This area provides for awesome landscapes. The currency here is the Iceland Krone and it is about 125 Kr to 1US$. No matter how you count, Iceland is expensive, the only place more expensive is Norway.
Another objective for the day was to see the coast. Our stop at Dyrholaey, along the southern coast was stark and yet majestic. The harsh wind and cold temps on the coast are but a hint of what winters must be like here. We stopped and chatted with some fellow travelers before continuing on to Vik.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.82s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 7; qc: 26; dbt: 0.773s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb