Sky Lagoon, Silver Circle, Hraunfossar

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July 9

Sky Lagoon

Breakfast at the Eyja Guldsmeden hotel was an outstanding organic buffet in a relaxed, stylish setting. All staff were friendly.

After breakfast, we asked the desk clerk to call a cab to take us to pick up our rental car about 10 minutes away at the regional airport. Pick up was for 10 AM. The young woman at the rental desk was very helpful and she gave us a free upgrade. We asked for a bigger car than reserved because we were going to have 5 people in the car instead of the 3 we had originally planned for when first reserved. Two of our friends that we were meeting for our Backroads hiking trip wanted to join us on our road tour of the famous “Golden Circle” the following day. I had already upgraded once before arriving, but the car was still not going to be big enough, so, a still bigger car was needed.

The two most expensive things people pay for in life are a home, and a rental car in Iceland…seriously…OMG!  I was tempted to say we were only renting the car, not buying it! So, the free second upgrade was highly appreciated. The upgrade was made possible, we think, because we were willing to take an available manual transmission car.

After getting the car we headed to Sky Lagoon spa for our 11 AM reservation. It was just a 10-minute ride from downtown.

Sky Lagoon is like the more famous Blue Lagoon, only newer, and overlooking the ocean. It is also right in Reykjavik, though on the outskirts of the city.  We reserved a private changing room for each of us instead of the communal changing area that Europeans are definitely more comfortable with.  The spa was sparkling clean, contemporary, and beautiful.  We were not disappointed.  The entrance to the lagoon from the changing area was like entering a cave filled with warm water.

Then we waded our way around the craggy maze into the main outdoor lagoon area alongside and overlooking the ocean. There was a waterfall, several private nooks and crannies to hang out in, and a bar. It was reasonably warm outside at about 60 degrees, and it rained a few drops on us, but not much. We did their 6-point treatment.  This included time in the steam room, and the very large sauna overhanging the ocean through a massive picture window.  It was basically suspended over the ocean…truly breathtaking.  We also dipped in the cold water jacuzzi for about ½ a second…which was, umm, refreshing and about ½ second too long!  We got some soft drinks at the bar and hung out in the lagoon for about an hour.

After a shower in our private changing rooms we met back up in the swanky order-counter restaurant for a quick lunch.  We stayed at Sky Lagoon until 1 PM.

Silver Circle

From here, we embarked on the unofficial “Silver Circle” road tour. The name infers that it is the little brother of the famed “Golder Circle” road tour.  I found this route online the day before when our “Inside the Volcano” tour was cancelled due to bad rain.  Apparently, the weather at the volcano is very different than the weather in Reykjavik.

The road trip took us only about 1.5 hours outside of Reykjavik to near the town of Husafell, but it took us to our first real exploration of Iceland’s remarkable landscape. We could tell fairly quickly beyond downtown that Iceland’s landscape was going to amaze us. It didn’t take long before we started dropping our jaws at the scenery.

Deildartunguhver

We stopped first at Deildartunguhver thermal spring about 1 hour from Reykjavik. This is the hottest geothermal spring, and the highest water flow spring in Europe.  All hot water used for heating or showering within about 40 miles comes from this spring.

After a short time ogling the amazingly hot spring, we got desserts at the cafe at the Krauma Spa located on the premises there…of course there’s a spa…it’s the hottest spring in Europe! To get there we walked past the dozen or so people in the outdoor spa, which we assume was not as hot as the geothermal spring itself since these people were still alive. Great desserts and coffee at the spa.

Hraunfossar/Barnafoss

On to Hraunfossar waterfall about 15 minutes away. WOW! This is an insanely magnificent, expansive waterfall not far from its parking lot. There were very few people there…one advantage of not being on the more popular and famous Golden Circle.  The water seems to come from the middle of the lava rocks.

Right next to these falls was another smaller but beautiful waterfall called Barnafoss which we walked to along a short trail.  There was a small mom and pop café there, and that was it.  There was no consumer spectacle for such an easily accessible natural spectacle.

We headed back to Reykjavik around 5 PM. In a non-touristy neighborhood of Reykjavik, we stopped for dinner at Subway for Elizabeth. Next to Subway was a small Thai place where Em and I got takeout. The menu on the counter was in Icelandic so I asked for an English menu.  The woman smiled and readily handed me one. Very friendly. We brought the food back to the hotel where they let use eat in the dining area at a table. Elizabeth went to eat in the room and head to bed. Em and I got some drinks at the hotel bar and relaxed in their cozy “living room” area for about 20 minutes.

Then we walked around downtown Reykjavik from 10-11 PM. We took one of Reykjavik’s oldest and most popular streets, Laugavegur all the way to the water, about a mile. This is a very lively street with lots of bars, restaurants, and people walking about. It’s a fun area of downtown.

We went to the architecturally stunning Hallgrímskirkja church perched atop Rainbow Street.

This is one of Reykjavik’s most popular landmarks, and for good reason. We couldn’t get inside but the outside is so worth the trek uphill to get to. While on our walk, we had no internet so we got lost a bit. I got on the Wi-Fi outside of a closed bistro to reset Maps for walking back to the hotel. Verizon does not play well with Iceland.

Bed at around midnight, though still not very dark.  I used a sleep mask to keep out the light for sleeping. Em and Elizabeth did fine without.

Next: Golden Circle – Iceland