2021 in Iceland (Ring Road)

December 21, 2021 : took an Icelandair flight from Toronto (YYZ) to Keflavik Airport (KEF) in Iceland

"in Reykjavik"

3 days in Reykjavik to get a feel of the "yuletide" days

2021-12-22

food walk and getting into the flow:

• took a Reykjavik "food walk" to the following food hubs:
  • Fjallkonan
  • Messinn
  • Íslenski barinn
  • Café Loki (where I first had "Icelandic shark" in 2017)
• got into the flow of the time shift by sleeping it all off

2021-12-23

getting into the thick of Iceland :

• ate "fermented skate"
  • that's skate, by the way, not the more well-known "fermented shark" as it was St Thorlak's Day
• Iceland's busiest shopping day
  • bought a few longplayers from the Reykjavik Record Store
    • spoke to the worker there with only the few Icelandic words known by me and that was fun
      • wished him gleðileg jól (happy yuletide)
  • saw a "merrymaking parade" on Laugavegur
  • shops opened until midnight for the highest wildness
  • lots of drinking (hot and cold drinks)

2021-12-24

getting ready for the ring road trip:

• walked the Hljómskalan park for the first time
• went up the Hallgrimskirkja cathedral on the 24th

"ring road"

trekked on a big wagon around "ring road" starting on Christmas Day:

2021-12-25

a look back at my 2017 Iceland trip:

• Golden Circle
  • Gullfoss (broad waterfall)
  • Geysir (geyser)
• South Coast
  • Reynisfjara (black sand beach)
  • Skogafoss (tall waterfall)
  • Seljalandsfoss (another waterfall) for the first time
• overnight at Kirkjubæjarklaustur

2021-12-26

riding further east then on my trip in 2017:

• Hvannadalshnukur (ice hills)
• Jökulsárlon (ice river)
  • hiked into the ice hollows
• overnight in Höfn

2021-12-27

the stillness of the southeast:

• Lækjavik (snowy cliff-side roads)
• Djúpivogur (stone eggs along the sea)
• Litlanesfoss ("hidden" waterfall)
• overnight in Egilsstaðir

2021-12-28

swimming outside in a snowstorm and seeing Iceland's other big town:

• "Golden Gate Bridge of Iceland"
  • a rope-held bridge over an icy creek
• Skútustaðagigar
  • holes in the ground
• Dimmuborgir
  • hike through wind-carved stone
• Mývatn
  • earth-heated baths in the middle of a snowstorm!
• overnight in Akureyri
  • drinking at Einstök Brewer's Lounge (where the Icelanders drank)
  • afterwards it was snowing like frozen hell
  • it was fun to get back to the guesthouse

2021-12-29

the northern edges of Iceland:

• Whale watching in Dalvik
  • northernmost point for me so far
  • not the most fun ride on this boat (seasickness to the highest!)
• Overnight in Bifröst
  • a "higher learning" town
    • guesthouse rooms looked like "dorms"

2021-12-30

some more odds and ends of Iceland:

• Grábokagigar
  • a big hole on the ground
• Deildartunguhver
  • hot spring steams
• Hraunfossar
  • "lava" waterfalls
• Barnafoss
  • small "child-like" waterfalls
• Hôskuldargerði
  • hay house
• Sturlureykir
  • home of the Icelandic horses
    • wanted to see them up close all my life
    • the trip leader astounded me with this on the last day!
• Esjan
  • a well-known berg while riding back to Reykjavik
• "Ring Road" ends
  • ended where we began!
• overnight in Reykjavik for the next two nights
  • shopping for keepsakes
  • merrymaking into the new year's eve and new year
  • happy 2022

"looking back"

Trip number two to Iceland made Iceland feel as new as the first time!

• got to set foot on the northern and eastern swaths of the land with its winter in full swing with:
  • the driver (the same as the trip leader) having to drive through some wild weather, while giving it his all to tell us about his homeland
• weirdly did not see any northern lights in all my 15 days in Icelandic winter
• also luckily no one got hurt in the lands on which we set foot
  • some hikes had steep hills and icy grounds
  • we were hours away from any good "hospitals"
• got to ring in the new year in Reykjavik again, making it the only spot in the world where I have done so (other than my own hometown)