Iceland/Ireland Trip: Day 1
Intro
This September 2019 trip was planned in coordination with the Daguerre Club of Indiana (a professional photography club) of which I am a member. In celebration of the club's 100th anniversary, we decided to take a big 2-week trip together to Ireland. The nice thing about the Daguerre club is that all of the get-togethers include spouses. Our total travel group included 20 individuals. 9 Indiana photographers and spouses and one honorary member from Texas (Jim Hamel and spouse Susan) who were our guides, having been to Ireland a number of times. Several of our group chose to tack on "pre trip" trips or "post trip" trips. Roger and I decided to add a few extra days for a pre-trip to Iceland en route to Ireland while some of the others added pre or post trips to Scotland or England.
Day 1: Iceland
Roger and I arrived to Iceland on the morning of Wed September 4th after an overnight flight on Iceland Air. Our first day activities included picking up the rental car (a Subaru Outback), driving from the Keflavik airport to the capital Reykjavik to explore for a few hours and then take an ATV excursion. Our arrival to Keflavik was pretty seamless. My first impression of the airport was that it was clean and modern with simple and streamlined design. We stopped at an ATM to attempt to take out some cash in local currency, but we were baffled with the exchange rate so we skipped that since we knew we would not need much (if any) cash. Iceland is mostly cashless, though it can be helpful to have some cash on hand. In the end we ended up getting 5000 kronas somewhere else and then didn't use any until we returned to the airport for departure. (5000 ISK is about $40 USD) I always had to supress a laugh every time I purchased something and was given a total like 1800 krona for a pastry and a cup of hot chocolate. Iceland is very expensive (especially food) and the conversion rate is crazy so you can either use a quick online conversion calculator or just shrug and swipe your card. TRAVEL TIP: At the Keflavik airport, you have to present your boarding pass to purchase any food or souvenirs. And some of the cafes only take cash or have a minimum for cards. So before you get in line to purchase anything, make sure you have both in hand!
Once we picked up our rental car from Lagoon Car rentals, we headed out for the 45ish minute drive to Reykjavik. On that drive we were really in awe of the landscape. We commented several times to each other how "other worldly" the landscape was. Almost like the moon or mars. All the volcanic rock makes for some very unusual scenery and there is very little vegetation.
We arrived in Reykjavik around 10am and visited the Hallgrimskirkja (the landmark Lutheran church). The architecture initially struck me as looking harsh and angular. I then realized it is patterned after the basalt columns found in the landscapes of the eastern part of the island so that appeased my initial reaction to the architecture. The interior of the church is completely void of ornate painting and design often seen in Catholic cathedrals. Instead I found an interesting tension between what seemed a sterile atmosphere of stark white columns and ceilings and stately atmosphere of understated elegance and simplicity. The organ music provided an atmosphere of hushed reverence despite the steady flow of visitors snapping pictures. One local woman whispered her prayers in the back of the church around a pedestal of lit candles. We took an elevator up to the clock tower where we were treated to a great view of the city below.
After visiting the church we took pictures around the statue of Leif Erickson on the plaza (and I might have imitated his grand stance for a picture %-). We explored some of the shops and cafes and were humored by the street signs with loooong names. I highly recommend the Braud & Co for amazing cinnamon rolls and fresh local pastries. Braud didn't have beverages options so we also stopped in Reykjavik Roasters for hot chocolate which hit the spot on a chilly rainy day....but they wouldn't let me eat my cinnamon roll from Braud in their shop so "negative points" for Reykjavik Roasters on that.
Another stop in town was the museum Tales from Iceland. This little museum has a series of short videos and interactive displays focusing on some historical, geological, and social aspects of Iceland as well as some visitor stories. The museum is small and low key, but a nice place to sit down, relax, and enjoy some free refreshments and informative vignettes. I have to admit the jet lag was catching up to us and we nodded off a couple of times. But a nice little stop during our visit.
After spending a few hours in Reykjavik, we headed out to the base camp for Safari Tours and met with our ATV tour guide who told us is name was Sir Kaktus. We are still not sure if he was pulling our leg or just trying to give us a way to pronounce and otherwise difficult Icelandic name, but "Sir Kaktus" we called him. We got layered up in our gear and then headed out on our personalized 3 hour ride into the Icelandic wilderness. This was a pretty rugged ride and though the scenery was barren, it was spectacular in its own way. We saw several sheep along the route and passed the Geo Thermal plant as well as some hot spring thermal areas. We made it to the summit of a tall mountain overlooking miles of scenery and stopped for some pictures. Then we headed back down and rode back to base camp via a slightly different route. At one point we were actually driving on the main highway at about 55 mph (for about a km) before turning off onto the trails. On the way back the rain started coming down and the visibility was reduced, but we enjoyed the excursion tremendously and have high recommendations for Safari Tours! Here's some of my GoPro footage. (I was following the guide who appears ahead of me periodically, and Roger was behind.)
After the tour we checked in to our hotel (Center Hotel Plaza) which as very clean with the streamline and minimalistic design aesthetic, but we had the hardest time figuring out how to turn on the lights! Turns out there is a slot on the light switch where you have to insert your room card to activate any lights or outlets in the room. Figuring out lights, faucets, and shower functions turned out to be a theme from hotel to hotel across the entire trip! LOL! We were pleased to find a Gideon New Testament and enjoyed looking up John 3:16 to see if we could understand any of the Icelandic text.
Then we ventured out to find dinner and found a few options within walking distance. Most were some form of seafoood and lamb. Not feeling very adventurous, we choose a grill where Roger ordered steak and I had...I can't quite remember. I think it was hake. Afterwards we did a quick walk through of a local grocery where I was overwhelmed with all the varieties of Ritter chocolate! (The first time I every tried this chocolate was years ago when I sat next to a fellow from Iceland on a plane. He shared a piece of this chocolate with me, and it's been a fav ever since!) After purchasing a Ritter to enjoy on the next day's road trip, we walked back to the hotel and went straight to bed.
