Arden joined three friends from her hometown – Kay King, Alexandria Stathakis and Lee Hancock on a trip to Iceland for eleven days to explore the countryside. Most of the time was spent outside of the capital city of Reykjavik on the infamous Ring Road that circles the country. They decided to drive clockwise where most trips are planned counterclockwise. Every day brought something new in the landscape. One day looked like you were on Mars, the next day you rode through pasture land with mountains everywhere which led to many many waterfalls. And also lagoons, glaciers and ice caves. Of course we saw many Icelandic horses and sheep and the less common puffins and reindeer. It is mostly country, the major roadr is two lanes, often with one lane bridge, only two towns had traffic signals. We are talking remoteness everywhere. And therein lies the beauty.

Day 1
We went straight from the airport out to the county to have lunch at the famous must stop Frioheimer Tomato restaurant. If you fail to make reservations go to their new cafe. There are all varieties of tomatoes growing in greenhouses and everything on the menu is tomato based. It is right on the way to hit some of the sights in the Golden Circle. Highlights from Day one included the Geyser Hot Springs where you can’t miss seeing a geyser erupting and every tour bus in Iceland. Then we went to the Almannagja National Park, famous for the rift that joins two tectonic plates – a 7 kilometer long rift that marks the eastern boundary of the North American Tectonic plate and European. This park was used as a backdrop in the Game of Thrones movie.
On that walk to the rift there were other scenic historic points including:
Logberg, the assembly area where laws were recited under open air
Oxararfoss, one of the thousands of beautiful waterfalls we saw.
The drive from the Park to the hotel was a gravel road alongside a river. That ride was a great way to stay awake on day one. Our hotel, Hotel Stafholt served soup every night for dinner and the chicken taco soup was delicious.

Day 2
We took off for our trip to the Snaefellsjokull National Park . But we had to make a detour to the Troll Park( Fossatun)….a tourist sight that highlights the folklore of trolls and fairies in Iceland.
Highly recommend finding the Visitors center for each National Park because they are full of information about the area and places to stop along the way. At the Park we saw a few arctic foxes, our first black sand beach, and a beautiful lighthouse along cliffs. The seaside towns before and after the Park are small

with not many amenities but we did find a beautiful small hotel for lunch, Hotel Budir.
That evening we went the Krauma Thermal Spa, which had five different pools with gradually increasing temperature and also a Cold Plunge and pool side bar. Very nice.

Day 3
This was a travel day north where we stopped at a seaside cafe and went to an Icelandic wool factory store – Kidka Wool Factory Shop in Sjavarborg. On the way to our hotel we detoured to Hvitserkur to see a Basalt island. We only stayed one night in Skagastrond, Iceland but had a very nice dinner are the Harbor Restaurant. Across from our AirBnB was a great sculpture exhibit.

Day 4
Headed to our major city of Akureyri where we were greeted with red heart traffic signals. This was a good shopping town for Icelandic products. We had lunch at Strikid which had a good view of the cruise ships. Completely by accident we found a house that was surrounded by extraordinary colorful sculptures of fairy tale characters, all child size. You were invited to tour the yard and it was amazing. We left on our way to Husavik with stops to Godafoss Waterfall and Myvatn, a volcanic Lake.

Day 5
In Husavik for the day. Our whale trip was cancelled due to sea weather so we spent the day exploring the city. There was a beautiful park and the Whale Museum was fantastic, the city museum was very informative and then we learned of the Eurovision Museum which was from the movie of the same name right nest to the YaYa Bar. After spending time in Iceland and especially Husavik the movie( with Will Ferrill) was especially entertaining.

Day 6
Headed south with a stop to see Dettifoss, the most powerful waterfall in Vatnajokull National Park which was featured in the film Prometheus. We stopped in Egilsstadir and went to the East Iceland Heritage Museum. The ride to our next stop was gravel and switchbacks…unbelievable terrain. But the house we went to that night was the best ever. Three sides of glass floor to ceiling windows with views of the fjords.

Day 7
Tried to hike but struggled to find a really good trail. Ended up walking in the city of Djupivogur, a small coastal village near a fjord. Eggs of Merry Bay are on display, 34 granite eggs representing each local bird species. There was a hotel where we had all are meals called Hotel Framtid.

Day 8
A last minute tour we added was the Fjallsarlon Iceberg Boat tours. We were decked out to stay warm and dry but to see the icebergs up close was a highlight . They were so beautiful and the colors were brilliant. And to be on a boat in the lagoon was exciting.

Day 9
After our whale tour was cancelled we decided to book an ice cave/glacier walk. It was truly exhilarating and one of our best days. We used “ Arctic Adventures”- The Ice Cave Under the Volcano-Katla Ice cave Tour from Vik in the Vatnajokeill National Park.
The terrain of this park is so much like Mars that scientists use it as a test center for journeys to Mars. Of course it is also a backdrop for many movies.
You really feel like you were on a different planet and walking on ice can be stressful and very dangerous.
Arriving in the town of Vik we had delicious crepes from the food truck and the famous hot dogs from the N1 gas station. After a city walking tour and a visit to the Volcano show we rode out to Dyrholael to catch an exciting glimpse of the puffins at sunset.

Day 10
Started our morning at the famous Skool Beans Cafe at an RV Camp.
On our journey that day we went to the best Waterfall Seljalandsfoss where you can walk behind the falls.

A cute city for walking and lunch is Selfoss.
Final destination of Reykjavik we had dinner at Dill, a Michelin star restaurant, which you need to reserve months in advance. Very good as expected.

Day 11

The last day in Reykjavik we were fortunate to be there for their annual Culture Festival which included a marathon, all museums were free, churches were open with musical concerts, music at outside venues and more people than we had seen all week total. We were fortunate to be staying at the 101 hotel which

allowed us to stay in the warmth of our room and hear the final concert and see the fireworks.
We did the walking tour of the city which was a great overview. Got up at 6am for treats from the most famous Braud Bakery and had a wonderful dinner at the chefs table at Sumac.

On the way to the airport we saw the latest volcano that erupted in Iceland. Definitely a country of fire and ice. We were there in August and it was cold and most days had some rain but if you are prepared for the weather and some cancellations due to nature you will experience a country of great beauty.