It was raining when I went to sleep and raining when I woke but I slept like a log in between, all that fresh air helps!
We had a longer drive today and a deadline to meet so we set out promptly at 8.30 and drove back through Akureyri town and up the fjord on the other side. We had about a 90 minute drive to our first stop but the time passed quickly because the scenery, as usual, was magnificent. The drive was through wide u shaped glacial valleys and up over the passes between them, you really feel the presence of the passing ice ages in this country.
Our first stop was the Glambaur Turf Houses museum. The museum preserves a small farmhouse built from turf. They were still occupied right up to 1947! I loved the fences around the buildings, also made of large turf chunks that are stacked in a pretty herringbone pattern.
For the Tolkein fans – this one felt like Bag End
We had another hours drive to see something that Simon had discovered along our route. We needed to turn off the main road and bump along a dirt one for about 8 km but it was worth it to see Borgavirki perched high on a hill. It’s a massive volcanic plug that was built on by early Icelanders in the days of the sagas and was used as a defensive fort. The view from the top was fabulous but geeez it was cold up on that hill! The temperature monitor on the car said 5 degrees but the wind made it feel muuuch colder.
an d this one was Weathertop!
We stopped in at a big roadside rest stop to grab a quick lunch of sandwiches and juice in the cafe before continuing our drive south.
The scenery was more open again here as we spotted another glacier to the east and then drove past the Grabok crater.
The sunshine was shining on us when we stopped in the town of Borgarnes to admire the view from the hill above the town. There’s a pretty monument here that honors Porgavur Brak, a slave of the mighty Eggil of the Sagas. She was the nanny of Eggil’s son and one day she was defending the boy from Eggil ( who was in a furious rage ) and Eggil killed her here. Simon said the statue just reminded him of a flying “6” !
Watching our time we didn’t linger as we had another 90 minute drive to get to The Blue Lagoon in time for our 4 pm booking. The Blue Lagoon dates only from the early 1970s, when the local power authority drilled for hot water to heat homes nearby. They hit a good high-temperature source, but as often happens, the water wasn’t suitable for piping directly into home radiators—it was salty (due to seawater intrusions) and had High mineral and clay content. Instead, they set up a heat-exchange system where the geothermal water was used to heat fresh, cold water that could then be piped to homes. After running through the system, the partly cooled geothermal water was simply dumped into the lava field near the plant. Within a few years, locals realized this was a great place for a free dip and started to bathe in the water. Silica clay gives the water its milky texture, and sunlight gives it a blue appearance. (The name “Blue Lagoon”—borrowed from the 1980 Brooke Shields movie—was originally used in jest.) Authorities caught on, fenced off the lagoon, built a changing shed, and started to charge admission. Word spread, and within a few years the lagoon had become a major tourist attraction.
The lagoon is closer to the airport than Reykjavik so many people choose to do it either on the way to the airport or on arriving in Iceland. It’s so popular you need to book well ahead, particularly in the busy summer months. Our package gave us each a bathrobe, slippers, a drink from the pool bar and a couple of mud masks.
Jatta and I headed into the women’s section and had a little trouble at first finding a free locker but eventually we tracked one down and worked out the system for locking it ( or at least Jatta did! ) We had our obligatory shower before entering the lagoon and headed out to find Neil and Simon. The water is hot! Blissfully hot!
They need to regulate the number of people entering the lagoon but only because they have a l8mutex number of lockers, the lagoon itself was huge and it’s not hard to find a bit of space to yourself. We made for the “swim up”Bar and purchased our drinks, Prosecco for me, beer for the boys and a blueberry smoothie for Jatta. Then we just relaxed and enjoyed the experience.
Neil and I tried the white silica face mask and I doubled up with the green algae one as well. I’m not sure if they did anything go for my skin but it was fun to try.
After a couple of hours our pruny fingers were telling us we’d had enough so we headedback to the showers and out to the car for the short drive on to our hotel near the airport in Keflavík. We had our final dinner together at the Library Bistro ( complete with bookshelves and Knick knacks) and toasted a great week.
Iceland has been amazing and it was doubly wonderful to share it with Simon and Jatta. We said goodnight, all dreading the early start in the morning , we needed to return the rental car at 4.30am! However, Neil and I are excited to head on to the next land of our journey, Scotland the brave!