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Iceland, Spain & Morocco via IcelandAir Business Class & British Airways First Class

Iceland, Spain & Morocco via IcelandAir Business Class & British Airways First Class

Old Dec 17, 2018, 11:34 am
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What a great trip report, thank you for sharing ^ I am looking forward to the rest!

I love the "Exit to Iceland" signs in the airport, they are so simple but had me laughing out loud. What a great twist on an airport exit sign.
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Old Dec 20, 2018, 5:45 pm
  #17  
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Reykjavik, Iceland.

Since our hotel room at Hotel 101 wasnt ready at 8 AM when we arrived, we decided to do a little self guided exploring around Reykjavik to help pass the time. I had mentally prepared for an early arrival and the possibility that we wouldnt get into the room until 4 PM. What I hadnt reconciled was how long it would be before we could relax and freshen up by getting into our room. It would be almost 6 hours before we could kick off our shoes and relax. I would recommend going straight to the Blue Lagoon next time with a reservation and soaking off your jet lag.

We started off with a meander down Laugavegur, the main pedestrian walking street though Reykjavik. The street was named after the women who had to walk to the hot springs in a nearby town and they paved the road for them.











The streets on Saturday morning were absolutely deserted in the early morning.



We ended up having breakfast at Bergsson Maths; a charming caf just off the Alpingi, Icelands first parliament building. The more and more that I travel, the more that I value a good quality breakfast. My tastes run more towards the proper, authentic breakfast spots as opposed to the boring hotel resort breakfast types. This place was terrific and definitely in my top ten breakfast list. We arrived shortly after 9:30 AM and were lucky to get a seat. There is quite a caf culture in Reykjavik with many people coming in and just hanging out for several hours.







I had a Bergsson Breakfast; which was a mix of everything tasty. A soft boiled egg, muesli and yoghurt with a strawberry compote, parma ham with swiss cheese, fresh baked sourdough bread along with a salad.



We explored the area around Bergsson Maths, eventually heading up to Tjrnin, one of the large articificial lakes in the city. The lake reportedly ices over for ice skating in the winter. Today it was just windy and cold ...along with some interesting sculpture.











After a quick stop at Tjrnin, we headed up to the harbour. The harbour was very much a working harbour. Along with the commercial ships, there were puffin and whale watching excursions available for sale from several commercial vendors. Many of the sailing today were cancelled due to bad weather. Being Labour Day, it was also nearing the end of season.













We headed back toward the hotel and managed to check in.

We had dinner tonight at Jaimes Kitchen, a Jaime Oliver restaurant. It was a bit of a mainstream choice, but a good one indeed. I had a pleasant comfort food oriented penne carbonara half order along with a Viking Lager beer.

After dinner, since it was Saturday night, we went out to for drinks. The Reykjavik night culture is ever present on Friday and Saturday so it was all the more necessary to take advantage.

We ended up at The Lebowski Bar one of the favorites on the strip. The bar is supposed to be modeled after the Big Lebowski movie of 1999 but I cant say that it is any different than any Saturday night party spot. We go mingled among drunks from Russia and other European countries as we had a $13 USD beer. I left my big camera at home so no terrific bar star shots here.

We headed back to the hotel and were crashed out around midnight. Sleepy!
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Old Dec 20, 2018, 6:00 pm
  #18  
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Reykjavik, Iceland
Day 2


We didnt set the alarm today and had set the do not disturb sign on the door. We woke up at 1 PM! Oh my. I guess we needed the sleep. The eastward jet lag knocked us out.

With no real agenda, and a decision made yesterday not to take an out of town excursion to an icefield, cave or somewhere similar, we ended up simply wandering around a much brighter central Reykjavik.

It was much more pleasant than the day before where we had 60 km/h winds and lots of intermittent rain.

We had breakfast up on Laguevur at Sandholt Reykjavik. They offered baked goods and take away sandwiches, in addition to a sit down area. Even though we arrived at 2:30 PM, I was able to get a terrific Croque Madame with a fried egg on top along with a salad and sourdough bread. All of it was exceptional and of high quality.









Super tasty.

From there, we spent the balance of the day wandering through Old Reykjavik, taking in the sights. It was a nicer day today and we had some sun.













We wandered down to the harbour where there were there were fantastic views over the harbour to the mountain range. There was also an Iceland styled beach with black rock. The topography reminded me about the shores of Maui, Hawaii, USA.







We wandered down Laekjargata down by the old town. There were quite a view older buildings.









As we wandered through the lower town, the weather was much nicer than yesterday when we were almost blown off our trail.











We ended up at Happy Hour at the Drunk Rabbit, a small Irish Bar styled bar. I used the Appy Hour App to find the deals for MrsWT73 who was keen to experience this. We paid with the funny looking Icelandic Krona currency.







From there we moved up town to Bravo for another pint of Viking Lager. A small format location with a nice view of the Lavageur street just outside. Back to the hotel to drop the day bags and cameras for the evening then out to dinner at a local pub. A nice day all around!
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Old Dec 20, 2018, 6:09 pm
  #19  
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Reykjavik, Iceland
Day 3



We were up this morning for Breakfast at Grai Kotteri which was right around the corner from the Hotel 101. It was a place that had strong recommendations on trip advisor and through the Lonely Planet guidebook. It is reportedly a favorite of Bjork (the musician) if youre into that sort of thing. It was a small authentic hole in the wall place that only had about 6 tables or 12 seats. It did a brisk business putting out tasty breakfasts.







I had an Icelandic salmon bagel with argula, red onion and salad. It was super tasty and really hit the spot.

We then hit the FlyBus back to the airport to pick up our rental car from Hertz. We were picked up around the corner from the Hotel 101 and it was another 45 minutes out back to the airport.

We ended up not bothering with the rental car shuttle to the Hertz building 500 meters away from the airport. We trucked it out there, only to find out that it was a return it only depot and that our car was actually waiting for us at the main airport terminal building. We hiked back in the rain and picked up our Nissan Qashqai (Diesel no less!) and headed off for our Blue Lagoon adventure. After denying all sorts of unusual insurance coverages (wind and sand protection?!?), I was surprised to see that the Iceland version of the Nissan Qashqai actually has a heated windshield, something that Id never seen before.



The drive from the Keflavik airport to the Blue Lagoon was through some rugged terrain that was quite desolate.









We drove about 20 minutes from the airport through ever changing weather to the Blue Lagoon. Visiting the Blue Lagoon requires a pre-reservation of a booking time (if booking direct). We booked at about 9 days out and the morning slots between 10-12 PM were already taken by that time.





We were a bit early so we went on the blue lagoon walk near the entrance. The walk featured a pass through the nearby natural blue lagoons which were strange colored next to the natural rock. It was a great way to get excited for the experience ahead.











Arriving to the main reception at our appointed time, we queued up for our Comfort package. As with everything else, there were 3 price points; comfort (base level) wasnt cheap at $91 CAD, ($70 USD) offered an additional face mask, slippers and robes, and sparkling wine (only if dining), whereas the spa package offered a treatment.

We picked up our reservation by showing our ticket (which I forgot to bring and downloaded to phone off the free lobby wifi). We headed to a well equipped and mostly clean locker room and out to the Blue Lagoon.

The place was busy but not overly crowded. I snapped some photographs before returning the camera to the locker.















The admissions included a free drink at the swim up bar so we indulged in a Gull beer and a Prosecco for MrsWT73. We swam around enjoying this.

We then ventured over for the free Silica Mud Mask that is also included with all admissions. A friendly attendant doled out white mud that was self-applied over your face.



This was a bit traumatic for me so I had to have another Gull beer in order to deal with having this on my face for 10 minutes. I felt like the blue falcon from the Muppets show; unable to move or express any smiles as the mud formed a crust all over my face.



We took the mask off (using nearby fountains) and enjoyed the rest of our stay at the Blue Lagoon. We ended up staying at the Blue Lagoon about 2.5 hours all in.

We drove ourselves back to Reykjavik via the shopping mall. There wasnt much there that wasnt on Lagauver in town and remarkably, the retail prices for clothing were pretty much the same. The grocery prices were much a bit cheaper and we were able to stock up on some items.



We ended up back at Hotel 101. For our last evening, we ended up at the Egill Jacobson Kitchen and Bar. While it was pretty much your average pub fare, it was tasty, well prepared and the whole place appeared clean with friendly service. All in all a great but expensive stay in Reykjavik!
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Old Dec 20, 2018, 6:20 pm
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Originally Posted by JALlover
Great report once again! Hope to see more soon!

As the border agent said "You're never home!"

Did this trip happened right after your trip to East Africa?
Thanks JALlover. This trip was about two months after our trip to East Africa. It has felt like a bit of a marathon lately!

Originally Posted by jtav559
Looks like the beginnings of a great TR! Keep it coming - I am enjoying reading this instead of spreadsheets.
Thank you jtav559. I can certainly sympathize with you.

Originally Posted by roadwarrier
Wow!! The price of the transfer is eye watering. I understand that everything is pricey - like Greenland - but that is just incredible. Also, for the Duty Free, the Taxes must be on a par with other countries in the region - I stand under correction - but they are high from the ones' that I have visited, hence the size and the amount of folk buying from it.
Roadwarrier: I think the issue is that, due to the past economic collapse, there are now high taxes on many things. The duty free becomes the work around that seems to be enjoyed by many. As Iceland is not on the Euro currency, I think that they may have some tariff's on some products; alcohol being one of them. Add shipping and I am sure that the prices go up considerably.

Originally Posted by stu1985
Great start to your report worldtraveller73. Iceland is always somewhere I have wanted to go. I hope you stocked up in duty free to try save some money on the pricey drinks in the city!
Thanks stu1985. MrsWT73 made sure of that. LOL.

Originally Posted by nequine
Aye, a friend said they were 27 for a glass of wine when they were in Iceland last October!!
The drinks were a bit over the top nequine. I just stuck with beer with was a little more reasonable.

Originally Posted by 757
Great start to your new trip report here, worldtraveller73! It looks like you had a great start to your trip. Icelandair looks fine, and their meals look like Delta's Premium Select offering/or their domestic First Class meals. It's great though they have so many options of gin though - that is cool!

Looking forward to your next report.
The gin selection was indeed a bit of a surprise 757; a worthy addition for a slightly less than worthy business class product for overseas travel.

Originally Posted by tennislover9
Going to Morocco in April and Iceland in July. Looking forward to this report.
Thanks tennislover9. I'll be interested to see which one you find better. I think we liked Iceland over Morrocco when it was all said and done.

Originally Posted by Uncle Nonny
Surprised to see a bottle of water in your room. The tap water in Iceland is fantastic and it's usually frowned upon, locally, to have single use bottles of water. Yes, an expensive place to visit but I've yet to meet a person that didn't enjoy Iceland.
Iceland was great Uncle Nonny. I think it will be getting a bit spoiled though with tourism. Better visit soon before the whole world is here...

Originally Posted by Seat 2A
What a treat (as always, WT73)! I especially took note of the Icelandair flights which are very affordable per Alaska's Mileage Plan. With those seats and the schedule, I don't think I'd want to do an eastbound trip but westbound with a few days stopover in REK sounds like the way to go. Thanks for another great contribution to the TR forum!
Thanks Seat 2A. I would definitely use a 55k business award to get to Europe for a leisure trip; especially with WT73jr. If they'd only release more seats!! I would agree that if you head westward, you won't spend any expensive hotel time getting used to jet lag on your arrival in Iceland.

Originally Posted by Madone59
What a great trip report, thank you for sharing ^ I am looking forward to the rest!

I love the "Exit to Iceland" signs in the airport, they are so simple but had me laughing out loud. What a great twist on an airport exit sign.
Thanks Madone59. They remind me of the "WAY OUT" signs in New Delhi India at the airport. Obvious and to the point!!
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Old Dec 21, 2018, 10:01 am
  #21  
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The heated windshield is not so unusual, especially for cars who dont have an auxilary heating. One of the first cars who had it were Ford.
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Old Dec 21, 2018, 10:17 pm
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Ah, Sandholt. I think I spent $12CAD for a croissant there. Blue Lagoon was the highlight for me even though it's man-made. However I thought the water was not warm enough!
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Old Dec 22, 2018, 10:10 am
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Maybe better to stay in a big hotel so better chance to get a room early. I think the Borg is the fancy schmancy one. Would like to do the stopover.
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Old Dec 26, 2018, 11:55 am
  #24  
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Originally Posted by offerendum
The heated windshield is not so unusual, especially for cars who dont have an auxilary heating. One of the first cars who had it were Ford.
It was the first time I'd seen a heated windshield offerendum. I need to get out more. . .

Originally Posted by spark787
Ah, Sandholt. I think I spent $12CAD for a croissant there. Blue Lagoon was the highlight for me even though it's man-made. However I thought the water was not warm enough!
Twelve dollars for a croissant sounds about right spark787. It was probably mighty tasty!

Originally Posted by Bretteee
Maybe better to stay in a big hotel so better chance to get a room early. I think the Borg is the fancy schmancy one. Would like to do the stopover.
I'll have to check out the Borg for our next time through Brettee. You're right about the early arrival strategy; a larger hotel would probably help.
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Old Dec 26, 2018, 12:05 pm
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Golden Circle, Iceland

Today was get away day from Reykjavik and a self drive tour of Icelands Golden Circle. We packed up the hotel room and loaded everything into the truck. After a quick coffee and croissant in town, we were on the road towards Pingvellir. The day would end up having calls for stops at Oxafoss, Geysir, Gullfoss, Kerio, Selfoss and ending at the hotel. It was a full day.



As to be expected, the scenery leaving Reykjavik was beautiful and inspiring. The weather was turbulent and the clouds made for some interesting and beautiful mountain vistas.











Our first stop was for some scenery photographs at Pingvellir. Pingvellir itself is a National Park, although it seemed to be lacking official park gates and the usual entry fee. There were impressive views over the lake of Pingvallevatin. Pingvallevatin is Icelands largest lake at 84 km squared and was one of the larger inland lakes (that actually still looks like a lake) that Id seen in my travels.













We continued on Route 36 towards xarrfoss, a beautiful waterfall about 200 m walk from the nearby parking lot. The waterfall cuts through the Almannagj great rift of the North American and European Technonic plate continents. The waterfall flows over the continental rifts which was pretty neat to see. The plates are reported to move between 1mm to 18 mm per year.











When we got to the water falls itself, it happened to be one of the rare moments of sun during our day, as the weather happened to change every 15 minutes. The natural effects of Iceland are sheer stunning and beautiful!















We led ourselves back towards the car. The great part about Iceland is that it appears to have walking trails almost everywhere you look. You could spend a lifetime exploring all of them.





We continued on towards Geysir. Geysir is the original geyser that has been operating for almost 800 years. Today it seemed pretty dormant, although its spouting some steam.











The main event is next door at the Strokkur geyser, which seemed to erupt every 6 8 minutes on our visit at heights of 10 to 30 meters. There wasnt much warning so you had to be fast and ready with the camera.









After a quick but unmemorable lunch at the caf there, we headed onto the highlight of the day at Gullfoss about 10 km down the road. We got thoroughly drenched at the two viewing area waterfalls here.

We start at the upper deck with a great overview of the falls.















We headed down to the lower area for a closer look and got quite wet wandering on the trail through the falls. I was really happy that I had my Mountain Equipment Co-Op Goretex raincoat with me as an ordinary jacket would have gotten totally drenched.















As we left Gullfoss, in addition to traveling across several one lane bridges, we happened across some Icelandic horses that were on the side of the road. We had an impromptu stop to say hello to these beautiful animals who took quite an interest in us.







From there, we headed for about the 1 hour drive down to Selfoss; the major town servicing this region. We happened by the Keri crater so we made an impromptu stop there as the sun was out. For a 400 IK fee ($3 USD), we were able to climb all around this volcanic crater, including down into the bottom where there was standing water. It was pretty cool and the light made for some great photographs.













Part of the fun of this crater was being able to descend right into the bottom for a closer look. This way, you can capture the I was there photograph. All in all, it was a peaceful way to end the tourist trail.









We departed and arrived to Selfoss. We had dinner at Trygvaskli Restaurant (Icelandic). The Trygvaskli Restaurant was situated Selfoss first house built to house bridge workers in 1890. It was decorated in quaint antiques, including some vintage plates that I had growing up in my house in 1973.







I had an Icelandic slow cooked salmon, with roasted barley, broccoli, sunflower seeds, Ljtur (an Icelandic Blue Cheese) and blueberry noisette. It was exceptionally good at just under with sufficient moisture in the fish. It was a really memorable dish, paired with an unmemorable glass of Pinot Grigio table wine by the glass.



The restaurant had a great view over the river. It was a nice way to spend dinner with fresh tasting ingredients.



From the restaurant, we headed back up towards the Ion Adventure Hotel for the night. We had to travel on some secondary gravel roads for this route. The road is reportedly closed in winter. I was wondering how rough the road would be but it was pretty well graded with only occasional potholes. It was fair to say that it was graded well by Canadian logging road standards (laughing). We had a very scenic approach towards the Ion Adventure Hotel. At least Iceland is super organized with their entertaining signs.









We found the hotel and promptly checked in as the skies faced to black.

The Golden Circle is one of those must see tourist attractions when in Iceland. It makes several attractions accessible from the capital city of Reykjavik. Although it an be crowded, having your own car is likely the best way to tackle this circuit, allowing you to stop off anywhere you want at any time.
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Old Dec 26, 2018, 12:10 pm
  #26  
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Ion Adventure Hotel
Nesjavillir, a Member of Design Hotels.
Two twins, separated.


We ended up selecting this place to enjoy a little visit to rural Iceland. The fact the property happened to be affiliated with Starwood Preferred Guest was a bonus.

The history behind this hotel is that it used to be staff housing for the sulphur plant. The sulphur plant happens to be right next door and is on full view when you arrive as the hotel shares a driveway with the sulphur plant. The marketing team conveniently left that part off the brochure and website! What this means for the visitor, is that aside from the view on the drive in, the ex-employee rooms are quite small and institutional. However, ION Hotels has attempted to jazz up the experience and they have done that quite well for the most part.

Some photos from throughout our stay











As we arrived to the ION Adventure Hotel in Nesjavellir, We were given a glass of Cava at check in. We were assigned to room #205 which is pretty much as good as can be hoped for. It faced the lake away from the sulphur plant, whereas some others on the opposite side of the building would face the plant. There are no suite upgrades here and no included platinum breakfast since Design Hotels is exempted from this arrangement for some reason (despite usually having restaurants in their hotels).





A small but quaint restaurant. If you find yourself to this hotel during supper hour, this is the only eating facility for miles around.



The hotel seemed to have many tours booked in here as there were several white tour vans parked outside.

The rooms were small dorm like accommodations consistent with this property being employee housing for the mill. The facility was converted over to a hotel in 2011.

The room itself was quite dark for my tastes but perhaps that is the point when the stars are outside on full display.







Very tiny with an espresso machine.







The hotel had a Northern Lights bar which was quaint and cosy. It featured a glass wall that had full view of the outside. There won't be any late nights here since it closed at 11 PM.







We had already had dinner so we headed down to the lava pool for a nice dip while watching the sun go down.



Given the remote nature of this place, there is not much to do here at night. There is only the restaurant, the pool and the Northern Lights bar. The only other comments that Id make is that it is super quiet at night sleeping here. Not a word of a sound. This is what comes of sleeping in the middle of nowhere.

In other stay comments, I had lots of challenges getting the Marriott points owed from this stay. In a post integration world, I had to write Marriott no less than 3 times through the period of October 2018. Even then over 28 days, this effort didnt get any love on Marriotts part. I ended up calling in and the call center agent manually added the points while I read back folio information from the paper bill. It was obviously not a seemless transaction and worth mentioning as this may be part of your experience if you stay here. I cant say for sure how much this was related to the Marriott / SPG Integration experiences but it was a hassle nevertheless for sure.
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Old Dec 26, 2018, 12:24 pm
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Sightseeing Drive from Nesjavillir to Dyrhlaey
Iceland

We woke up at about 8 AM. I peeked outside the windows and the view was clear blue. I was super stoked since the weather had been a bit foul up to now.

The day ended up looking like this. The times are a return trip. The route ended up being more spectacular than the Golden Circle and I would recommend this route over the Golden Circle if you only had time for one on your visit.



We got up and headed out the door. We took 360 rural route down to Selfoss. There were some beautiful lake views of Pingveillir along the way.















Once in Selfoss, we had breakfast at the Kaffi Kaus. We decided not to go for an overpriced breakfast at the ION hotel. It was a great little vintage house restaurant. An omelette with bacon, mushrooms, onion cheese, fresh bread and salad really hit the spot.





We headed eastward on Route 1 for the Southern Region of Iceland self driving tour today from Sgokafoss to Vik.



We started at some unnamed waterfalls on the side of the road next to the magnificent Eyjafallajkull. Eyjafallajkull was the volcano that was responsible for the massive air shutdown between the Americans and Europe.







We continued down the road. The scenery of the road against the mountain and the coast made for some beautiful photo opportunities. Coupled with the fact that we were at 67 latitude, it meant that the sun was never overhead high enough to wash out the photos; making all day a great time to take pictures!









As we approached Skgar, we hit up the waterfalls at Skgfoss. These were absolutely terrific; a picture postcard version of why youd come to visit Iceland.





Lots of people here, including a television crew and a wedding photographer, but that didnt get in the way of some spectacular postcard views.









We decided on a whim that we were feeling athletic. Why not its a beautiful day We decided to climb the stairs up to the top of the 62 meter high waterfall.









Once at the top, there were more beautiful alpine views and trails to climb higher and higher. I didnt realize this at the time, but the trail continued upwards for several days worth of hiking travel onto the glacier.











Skgfoss was an absolutely spectacular place to visit. Its an absolute must for any nature lover.

We left Skgfoss and down the road to Slhelmajkull. Slhelmajkull is a UNESCO certified glacier that flows down from the Myrdalsjkull ice cap. We took route 221 from the Ring Road about 4 km up to the parking lot. We parked and headed up on foot to the base of the glacier- about 800 meters.











The glacier unfortunately is in recession and has been so since 2010. It is very unique to be able to see a glacier up close and we were able to spend some time enjoying the view. There appeared to be lots of interpretive groups visiting this location for education or ice climbing excursions.













If you look closely, you can see the ice climbing expedition group standing on the top of the glacier cap in this next photograph





We left the glacier on absolutely beautiful roads. The parts of Iceland that we were able to see were absolutely spectacular!





We then went onto Dyrhlaey. Dyrhlaey is a recognizable plateau on the coast that offers terrific views. We were able see both westward and eastward up the coastline. This included some column views in addition to the black sand beach at Reynisfjara.











From looking towards the east, and following the hiking trails, one could see the famous black sand beach that Iceland is known for.











It seems pretty hard to take a bad picture in this country! This is made easier by the fact that because youre at Latitude 67, the sun is never towering overhead giving you harsh mid day light.

After the visit to Dyrhlaey, we headed back westward on the ring road toward the Slheimasandur beach. The beach is locally famous for a US Navy DC-3 militarized plane that crash landed here on November 21, 1973.



The trail head parking lot was stuffed full of cars when we set off at 3:45 PM. The trailhead sign cautioned a 3 4 hour round trip walk over a four mile journey. The flat trail was easily walkable, with an end distance that seemed much closer than it actually appeared. Walking briskly. we made it to the wreckage in about 45 minutes.





MrsWT73 was not smiling as much when she was 80% into the hike, unlike as pictured here.







The wreckage was pretty interesting. It was covered in tourists when we were there. We were still able to get some cool photographs in what appeared to be a moon tundra like landscape.

















After the 45 minute walk back, we headed to the last waterfall attraction of the day at Seljalandsfoss. For some reason, this site was the only location that we had visited today charging 700 ISK for parking, although not many visitors seemed to be actually paying. The afternoon light was hitting the water steam just right.







Wow we took in a lot of sightseeing today. Instead of eating at the expensive hotel restaurant in the Ion Adventure Hotel, we went back to Kaffi Kaus in Selfoss for dinner. We were passing through Selfoss on the way to Nesjavillir anyway. I had a blue cheese burger which was really tasty.





We arrived back to Nesjavillir. We did a little pack up and headed down to the hot tub where the stars were out on full display.

The drive to Dyrhlaey was easily the highlight of our sightseeing trip in Iceland. The beautiful mountains and scenery made the trip all that worthwhile. I would easily pick it over the Golden Circle since there seemed to be more points of interest that were unique to these areas of the world. We have large waterfalls in Canada so I found other areas such as the black sand beach, glaciers and plane wrecks to be much more interesting and engaging.
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Old Dec 27, 2018, 1:29 am
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Great TR and pictures, especially the last couple of installments! Looking forward to the rest of the report.
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Old Dec 27, 2018, 10:15 am
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Lovely photos! (and TR). There may be hope for the photos I take when there in June!
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Old Dec 27, 2018, 6:55 pm
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Fantastic pictures!
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