Part of the adventure in Iceland is driving the Ring Road, or Route 1. This highway goes all the way around Iceland in, you guessed it, a circle or ring. Matt estimates that we drove about 1/3 of the ring from Reykjavik to Akureyri and then back again. Most Ring Road travelers might scoff at us for this boomerang of sorts, as it seems like the typical method is to commit to the whole ring. That seems incredible if one can dedicate the time and money, which we could not last year. Perhaps in the future there will be another choice.
Regardless, we loved our drive. On the way up to Akureyri we pretty much just drove after the museum in Borgarnes, in order to make it to our destination on time. On the way back to Reykjavik we meandered, stopping at any interesting site we found along the way.
The first incredible view was this rainbow. We were at the start of our journey and I was driving. We came to a place where we needed to continue around a slight curve to continue on 1 while route 82 went off to the right. I looked ahead and saw the rainbow. For most of our time in Iceland it had been rainy, foggy, and chilly. This day was promising to be sunny and warm, and the evaporating water combined with the new sunlight provided this bucolic picture. I pulled over, hopped out, and snapped so many pictures. I had no idea how they would come out, and I am pretty happy with the result.
We continued our drive and next found a place to pull over for a bit of hiking and photography. It is called Horgarsveit, and it's just lovely. We joked that the bridge was just for sheep, not people, as we could not discover a way down.
Somewhere along the way we also discovered this scenic poet's house. For the life of me, I cannot find this on the map again, nor can I find who the poet was who lived here. Perhaps I've made a mistake, or the reference is very remote. In any case, it is a beautiful vista. I remember saying at the time, "If I grew up someplace like this, I'd be a poet, too."
We also drove down a little offshoot road and found an original Viking church called Vidimyrarkirkja. It's a still-practicing Lutheran church, built in the old style of Viking building apparently called a "turfhouse church," or at least that's how I see it referred to a lot. It is a very small building and very interesting to walk around. It costs money to go inside, so we chose to stick to the exterior.
The last big attraction we chose was Glanni waterfall. We stopped nearby for some good food in a little area of lodging and attractions, and watched Iceland play in the 2018 World Cup finals for a bit, alongside several Icelandic families. With full tummies, we drove to the "waterfall car park" as it is noted on the map, and then hiked through some lovely trails until we found the falls.
For all that we saw, there's tons more sights. We can't wait to return and drive another part of the road to collect more adventures!
Regardless, we loved our drive. On the way up to Akureyri we pretty much just drove after the museum in Borgarnes, in order to make it to our destination on time. On the way back to Reykjavik we meandered, stopping at any interesting site we found along the way.
The first incredible view was this rainbow. We were at the start of our journey and I was driving. We came to a place where we needed to continue around a slight curve to continue on 1 while route 82 went off to the right. I looked ahead and saw the rainbow. For most of our time in Iceland it had been rainy, foggy, and chilly. This day was promising to be sunny and warm, and the evaporating water combined with the new sunlight provided this bucolic picture. I pulled over, hopped out, and snapped so many pictures. I had no idea how they would come out, and I am pretty happy with the result.
We continued our drive and next found a place to pull over for a bit of hiking and photography. It is called Horgarsveit, and it's just lovely. We joked that the bridge was just for sheep, not people, as we could not discover a way down.
Somewhere along the way we also discovered this scenic poet's house. For the life of me, I cannot find this on the map again, nor can I find who the poet was who lived here. Perhaps I've made a mistake, or the reference is very remote. In any case, it is a beautiful vista. I remember saying at the time, "If I grew up someplace like this, I'd be a poet, too."
The last big attraction we chose was Glanni waterfall. We stopped nearby for some good food in a little area of lodging and attractions, and watched Iceland play in the 2018 World Cup finals for a bit, alongside several Icelandic families. With full tummies, we drove to the "waterfall car park" as it is noted on the map, and then hiked through some lovely trails until we found the falls.
For all that we saw, there's tons more sights. We can't wait to return and drive another part of the road to collect more adventures!
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