Dacia – Energy and Time

Iceland day 11: Svartifoss to Heimaey

We had camped just outside Svartifoss, and Carol woke up early and wanted to hike there. But I was feeling a bit beat up and decided to skip it in favor of a leisurely breakfast.

Me eating breakfast next to our black Dacia Dokker camper

Svartifoss (“Black Waterfall”, probably from the same root as the English “swarthy”) is known for it’s black hexagonal basalt columns, which tend to break away before they can be worn smooth, leaving fairly jagged rock. This is the same kind of rock as seen in Devil’s Tower in Wyoming.

another (unnamed?) waterfall on the hike

Then it was off for a long driving day.

There are tall thin waterfalls all over Iceland, in some areas one every kilometer or two.

Our next stop was Fjaðrárgljúfur, a canyon which is (sadly) most famous for Justin Bieber filming parts of a music video there, which increased the tourist load so much that it had to be temporarily closed in 2019.

I found two kinds of mushrooms on the way out.

This looked somewhat similar to a Liberty Cap (*Psilocybe semilanceata*), but I wasn’t about to ingest a foreign LBM to find out whether it was hallucinogenic or not. Also, the stipes seemed too thick and short, and there was no sign of blue or purple discoloration in the older specimens.

We stopped in Vík for lunch at Wok On Vík, an Asian fast food place.

Looking southwest. The 3 rocks in the distance are a famous landmark.

I had something in peanut sauce over brown rice, while Carol went for green tea noodles.

A delicate rock arch. Same 3 rocks in the distance, only this time east (behind us).

Onward to Skógafoss, a 60-meter falls (slightly taller than Niagara Falls).

Lots of spray. You get close, you get wet.

Seljalandsfoss, often described as the only Iceland waterfall you can walk behind, even though Kvernufoss also has that property.

Since we were a little ahead of schedule, Carol proposed that we visit Vestmannaeyjar (the Westman Islands). So we took the short ferry ride to Heimaey (“Home Island”), found a nice campsite (more on that tomorrow), and had dinner at Tanginn.

Carol had the Reindeer Steak, which came with a mushroom sauce. Yes, there’s meat somewhere under those greens.

Iceland day 1: This is how it is

The flight from Denver was fairly bumpy for the first couple of hours, so it was hard to sleep. I did not have earbuds, so I settled for re-watching Gravity with no sound. After that, it settled down and I was able to get some sleep.

We arrived at 06:30 and immediately got stuck in a huge line waiting to be processed. An airport worker had to explain to a frustrated tourist, “This is how it is.” Already I am getting a sense of the Icelandic weltanschauung: they like to get things done, but sometimes stuff gets in the way and you have to be patient. Stuff like weather, and volcanoes.

Iceland is a small country with total population about twice as large as Fort Collins, and the airport is not very large either. It took about an hour to clear customs, plus COVID check, plus pre-check checkin check.

Useful tip: For the COVID check you should print out your statement with QR codes; they do not like anything else. And for the checkin check, print out your bar code; if you don’t have it you have to stand in yet another line.

The day was cold and overcast, but it wasn’t raining, and there were a few patches of blue in the distance. We got to admire them for quite a while, as our van rental pickup bus didn’t arrive until 08:25, and then with an 8-seater when there were 10 customers. 2 of them had to wait for another bus. This is how it is.

While waiting, I checked the volcano seismology. It was late in a dormant period, so we’d probably have to wait a few hours before it started to wake up. This is how it is.

We finally got our camper van, a Dacia Dokker, which was cozy. Which, as all real estate agents know, means tiny. There’s barely enough room for me to fit in the passenger seat, and there’s no way I am ever going to able to drive it. Carol will have to do all the driving, even on the days when we plan to drive for 7 hours. And the sleeping area is not long enough for me to stretch out my legs. This is how it is.

The campsite in Grindavik is nice. It has bathrooms and a kitchen and a warm room where people eat and hang out and chat. A Scottish man who climbed to the volcano yesterday suggested the middle parking lot as a starting point. It is on private property and costs 1000 ISK (about US$8), but has a nice trail. The close parking lot also has a nice trail and is free. Hmm.

We had lunch at Bryggjan coffee shop. Both of us ordered the lobster soup, which was delicious. It comes with bread and butter, and you can take a 2nd bowl, which we did. All that was 2400 ISK (about $19) per person. Iceland is expensive. This is how it is.

Since the volcano was still dormant (but showing signs of waking up in a few hours), we drove to the Seltún geothermal area at Krísuvík. It had a lot of steaming hot water, bubbling mud, and rare plant species that thrive in such environments.

We also saw the large lake Kleifarvatn from an overlook, and stopped at Grænavatn (“Green Lake”) whose color comes from its high sulfur content and depth.

We had dinner at Papas. I got fish & chips (fresh cod), and Carol got salt cod.

I took lots of pictures, but our main USB A to USB C cable apparently is for charging only and doesn’t pass data. So I’ll have to add them later, after I get a better cable. This is how it is.

UPDATE: I got another A to C cable. It didn’t work either. Apparently most manufacturers think you would rather pay $12 for a cable that works part of the time (for charging, but not for data) than $13 for a cable that works all the time. So I ended up downloading the WP app so I can blog directly from my phone. It’s slow and painful, but it works.