Iceland Day Three

As much as I wanted to just sleep in the next day we had a prepaid tour that was FOURTEEN HOURS long! I was hoping to avoid booking any guided tours but I also wanted to see parts of Iceland I didn’t feel so confident driving to. Plus, this tour was highly rated and it was only a group of ten. The bad news was we had some lame people in our group. They were from Boston and incredibly annoying. They complained about missing some dumb football game and were always late returning to the bus because they had to smoke. They seemed bored during the tour and just plain rude. The good news was our tour guide made the day interesting and was a delight. Our tour guide/driver was named Good Jon but I accidentally kept calling him Lil’ Jon. He didn’t seem to mind. I know we were the only ones who tipped him when the tour was over. I booked our tour through Viator which I have used on past trips. I like that they pick you up from your house and drop you off. It was nice not having to drive all day. We saw so many amazing sites but I do wish we could have spent more time as some places. Unfortunately the dinner we had (at a gas station) wasn’t yummy.

Here’s an interesting fact about the bridges in Iceland, due to budget, many were built with only ONE LANE!! This was particularly terrifying because there are no lights or signs warning the other cars when you are driving across. They simply play chicken with on-coming traffic and pray one of you make it to this tiny spot to pull over all while driving 70 km! Antz was grateful I wasn’t driving.

Our first stop was Seljlandfoss which is the only waterfall you can walk behind without getting wet.

Not too far away is Skógafoss. Not too shabby.

We stopped at a gas station where Liv ogled the cheap souvenirs.

Our next destination was located in the village of Vík. There is Reynisfjara beach that has black sand and basalt columns. The beach is popular for viewing puffins however they weren’t in season when we visited. Boo. It is also a famously dangerous beach due to the strong current from the Atlantic ocean. We were told to stay far away from the water because some tourists were fatally swept away by the tide.

This guy wins for most epic hair! And I thought my braids were long.

Our next stop was Jökulsárlón lagoon for a boat ride. I met a cutie from Italy but he spoke Icelandic with an Italian accent.

Our tour guide broke this ice into small pieces. As an avid ice eater, I am not exaggerating when I say it was the most crystal clear yummy ice I’ve ever had.

We stopped by the beach to play in the sand. It was crazy seeing the ice get washed away by the tide.

On the drive back to Reykjavik we passed one of the country’s oldest churches.

We stopped at another gas station for dinner. There aren’t many restaurants open late so most gas stations serve lamb. I ordered some sort of chicken stew. I was hoping to buy an authentic Icelandic wool blanket but the shop closed just as we arrived.