Iceland, Part III

When you live in an RV, weather is a big deal. Mostly we just try to go when the sun shines and to where the temperatures are tolerable. If that doesn’t work we either hunker down or move on in search of something better.

Weather in Iceland is a whole other matter, particularly once summer has come to an end. Being on a relatively small island in the middle of the North Sea means there is nowhere to run when bad weather strikes.

We definitely experienced some beautiful weather, but also plenty of rain. The worst, though, was the wind. Iceland is famous for its fierce winds and you really don’t want to be messing around out on a highway with wind speeds of over 50 mph and even higher gusts. With few barriers between the sea and the Ring Road, the black sand can blast across the landscape and take the paint right off your car. We saw photos on the Iceland Facebook groups of cars and motorhomes that had been blown off the highway and turned over. The weather in Iceland is no joke. In total, mostly due to wind, we were grounded and unable to travel for 25 percent of the time we were there.

While that might sound extreme, it kind of worked out well for us. We managed to be where we wanted to be when the winds came and found a safe haven to ride them out. On the days when it really counted, we were blessed with mostly sun. A lot of that was due to meticulous planning on our part, which meant we had to monitor the weather like never before.

Snaefellsnes Peninsula

On the day we blew by Reykjavik heading further south, we had our sights set on the beautiful Snaefellsnes Peninsula. A lot has been written about this area, and in a nutshell, it is said to have all the things Iceland is famous for, waterfalls, volcanoes, lava fields, spectacular coastline, mountains, black sand beaches, street art, and so on. It is typically considered a one or two day trip from Reykjivik, depending how many of the sights one wants to see.

We decided to make it a two-day trip, which turned into a three-day trip because the day after we arrived at the eastern tip of the peninsula, the winds came and they came with a vengeance.

Making our way across the peninsula to our campground. You can see there is not much on the landscapes to slow down the wind.
The wind had started to pick up as we crossed from the south of the peninsula to the north over a mountain pass. By the time we descended the pass, the wind was so bad we abandoned our sightseeing plans and made a beeline to the campground to hunker down. The views were stunning, though.
We had to try out a couple of spots to find the one that provided the most protection. Here is Bijou nestled into an old lava flow. The wind howled for the next few days, keeping us mostly inside. Steven got out for a couple of photography walkabouts, but I pretty much stayed in my jammies the whole time.
A lucky rainbow shot! The tiny little town of Hellissandur is at the end of the Snæfellsnes peninsula and bills itself as the street art capital of Iceland. Most large walls in town have been adorned with murals.
In 2018, local resident Kári Viðarsson, worked with town officials and invited artists from around the world to come to this little village and paint the blank fish factory walls. The event was dubbed a ‘Street Art Festival’. Over 30 major works were completed in the summer of 2018.
Some of the many sculptures along the seafront in Hellisandur.
The town felt really isolated with wild waves, high winds and not another person in sight.
We hadn’t had much luck up to this point seeing the Aurora Borealis but, while in Hellisandur, we were thrilled to finally see the lights when they peaked out. Bijou got a front seat view.
One of the things that struck me about Iceland is that the predominant colors are black and green. Black lava is everywhere and much of it is covered by moss. The other thing is that there are volcano craters all over. It is an otherworldly landscape.
Once the wind calmed we hit the road to make our way through the Snaefellsjökull National Park and on to Reykjavik. It took us quite a while because there was lots to see along the way.
This is the Saxholl crater, 360 feet tall. There is a staircase that takes you to the top and on a clear day, you can see Reykjavik. Since it wasn’t a clear day, we skipped it.
We did not run into many tourists or big tour groups as we traveled the peninsula, nor did we have to get up at the butt crack of dawn to get ahead of them. Our drive through the park was nice and relaxed, and our multiple stops were enjoyable. We especially appreciated the availability of parking for Bijou.
This jagged shoreline is the basalt cliffs of Londrangar, made up of the collapsing sides of a volcanic crater. In the spring and summer, these cliffs become nesting grounds for seabirds, including a tourist favorite, the puffins. Puffins were long gone from Iceland by the time we arrived, but the trade-off was getting to see the Aurora Borealis instead. Different wonders appear in different seasons, so plan accordingly. 🙂
Here is Bijou with Snæfellsjökull, a 700,000 year old, glacier-covered volcano. We certainly added to Bijou’s beauty shot collection on this trip. This volcano is one of the most famous in Iceland, primarily due to it being featured in Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. It was in this volcano where the the protagonist discovered an entrance to a passage to the center of the earth.
This one seemed to pose endlessly, while his companion complained loudly.
Búðakirkja, or The Black Church dates back to the 19th century and is one of the most photographed places in Iceland.
Dramatic clouds over the mountains and a glimpse of Reykjavik on our way to the city.

Reykjavik

Finally, with a break in the weather, we headed back toward Reykjavik. We had two sunny days ahead and we wanted to make the most of it. But first, we had to get some laundry done. None of the campgrounds we had stayed in had laundry facilities. We did a search for a place in Reykjavik and found two options, well, three, actually, but we didn’t even consider the last one. First, we could go to a laundry cafe, a place where you enjoy food and drink while doing your laundry in the basement. Or, second, we could turn it all over to a man behind the counter at a full-service laundry place. We chose door number two. (Option 3 was to pay $65 a night at the Reykjavik campground and then pay again to use their machines. No thanks.)

Yes, it was horribly expensive, but hear me out. We turned in our laundry and went on our merry way about town to see what there was to see. If we had gone to the cafe, we would have had to stay there the whole time, and would, of course, have enjoyed some food and beverage. This option would have easily doubled or tripled the cost, so the way I look at it, we chose the least expensive option. We got to enjoy Reykjavik in the sunshine while our laundry was being done for us! In either case, it had to be done.

Údafoss laundry, quite simply the most expensive load of wash we have ever done. We were allowed 2.5 kilos, or 5.5 lbs. We managed a few clothing items each, then added all our undies, dish towels and dish rags. All of this barely and loosely filled a Trader Joe’s shopping bag, and I would say it was about half of what I would normally put in a machine. We were just under the allowed amount. It cost us $24. We went to pick it up the next day, happy as a lark as we skipped back to Bijou with our clean laundry!
Reykjavik was the only place on our entire trip where we boondocked. This was a parking lot next to Háteigskirkja, a Protestant church. That rig next to us was actually blocking the road, but he left after a couple of hours and we pretty much had the place to ourselves for two days.
Háteigskirkja Protestant Church, Reykjavik.
The parking lot we stayed in for two days was located so close to downtown Reykjavik that we could see the steeple of Hallgrímskirkja, the famous Lutheran church on a hill right in the town. It was great to be able to walk right into town. We felt very safe leaving Bijou behind.  
They do love their rainbow lanes in Iceland, and if it leads to the doors of the most famous church in town, all the better.
Hallgrímskirkja Lutheran Church. Honestly, I thought it was ugly. But it is right in the center of the old town and can be seen all around. We took an elevator to the top and enjoyed the views of Reykjavik, a city I really enjoyed. I like the vibe of the place. But the church? Meh.
Views of Reykjavik from the church tower. That rainbow really shines, doesn’t it? Also, as an aside, VIK means bay. So all the towns with vik in the name are situated on a bay.
Selfies at all the popular places. I forgot to post them on Instagram, though. Oh well.
This beautiful sculpture known as the “Sun Voyager” resembles a Viking long ship but it was originally meant to be a fictional “dream boat”). Either way, it looks beautiful by the waterfront in Reykjavik.
The Reykjavik Opera House and the meeting place for our Food Tour of Iceland. Yummy!
On our food tour of Iceland, we started with breakfast. This consisted of Skyr, a thick and creamy Icelandic yogurt, a delicious crepe-like pancake, and that little pink sliver in the back is a piece of sliced lamb. It was delicious and I thought it was really good ham, but I was corrected by an Icelander on one of my cooking groups. Makes sense that it is lamb, but it was presented in a way I’ve never had before. I loved all of this and it was my favorite sampling of the day.
This is the famous Icelandic hotdog also made with mostly lamb. It also has a spicy mustard, crunchy fried onions, mayo and a couple of other things I can’t recall. I am not a hotdog person, but I ate all of this one. That doesn’t mean I’d have another one, but I liked it well enough to eat it all. I think there are pictures of Bill Clinton standing in line for a hotdog here. This is one of the oldest places in town and has been around almost 100 years!
So the one on the left is lamb, but there was so much going on that I couldn’t really taste anything. Everything was overwhelming. But the one on the right, omg, it was divine! Salmon with Arctic Char roe. I was surprised that I loved it as much as I did, because me and fish eggs have never been friends.
Langoustine tacos. I liked them, but I wanted them to be even better than they were. I think the list of ingredients sounded like they’d make a fun party, but once they all got in the same room, they just didn’t mingle very well.
Or maybe I ate that little chunk of fermented shark first. I can’t remember, but the shark was gross, as you might imagine. I didn’t try that little bottle, so I can’t tell you much about it.
Rye flour ice cream. I was very excited about this because we had something similar in Tallin, Estonia that blew my mind. Unfortunately, this was not that. But the little fried dough thingy was yummy, as was the whipped cream. Which reminds me how people kept going on and on about the wonderful cream in Iceland and I just wasn’t feeling it. As you may know, I am a cream connoisseur (the Brits win, hands down) and I was looking forward to trying the cream in Iceland. The coffee there was spectacular, so it should have been a match made in Heaven. But, unbeknownst to me, the cream we bought upon arrival was lactose free (!!) and it was inferior. I didn’t find this out for a couple of weeks, and when I did, I already had a supply and I hated to waste it. So I never did get to try much of Iceland’s famous cream. Bummer.

We had a fabulous couple of days in Reykjavik and the weather could not have been better for our visit there. For me, it was truly a highlight of the trip.

Finally, what would a blog post be without an art contribution from Steven? He tried his hand at a landscape this time while taking a wee break from portraits. If you would like to see more, you can keep up with what he’s doing by following his Facebook art page here or on Instagram here.


Up next: Back to the ferry!


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13 Comments

    1. 2chouters

      We had our eye on this food tour before we even got to Iceland, and thank goodness for good weather! It was the most expensive thing we did while there. 🙂

    1. 2chouters

      The land of Fire and Ice just sounds exotic, right? I’m a bit sorry that the weather kept us from traveling up north, it is said to be quite desolate and beautiful. Another time, perhaps.

  4. Liz

    I know I can count on you two for such spectacular photos and descriptions. Totally agree with you about the famous church in Reykjavik. Looks like a jet standing its tail.
    I wondered if you would try the fermented shark. Braver than I would be.
    Hoping you made it back to the mainland safely.

    1. 2chouters

      Yes! Just like a jet standing up! I thought maybe the inside would be better, but no. About that shark.. gross… but hey, YOLO! 🙂 And spoiler alert, we did make it back to Denmark, but our trip was not without adventure! Stay tuned!

  5. Nickie

    The wind, OMG, the wind! We were there in August of ’22 — summer, right? I’ve never been so cold, and the wind blasting me sideways. We saw Puffins, lots o’ Puffins (cuteness overload), but no Aurora Borealis. My take on Iceland is, “It’s a great and very scenic place to visit, but I really wouldn’t want to live there!” Your photos are spectacular.

    1. 2chouters

      I agree with you 100 percent! The wind is a deal-breaker for me, although it must be said that I enjoyed those days at home in my jammies. 🙂 But they were far from serene. Bijou got slammed from all sides and it was scary at times!

  6. Don

    Glad you made it out of Iceland without the volcano activity helping you! I’ve been catching up on some of your earlier travels like during the pandemic. Tons of fun obviously. LOL Take care.

    1. 2chouters

      Hi Don, thanks for taking time to comment. Yeah, we’re pretty happy to be away from all that volcanic activity, thinks were pretty quiet when we were there. You’re going back a while reading about our pandemic stay in France. Those were the days! At least, we were so happy to feel safe and have a place to stay. 🙂

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