Iceland Day 1
We went to Iceland! The trip was amazing and full to the point of bursting. We got on our Icelandair flight (very fancy airline for those of us used to Southwest) Tuesday evening and flew through the night (6 hour flight), arriving there at 6:30am Iceland time (2:30am according to our bodies).
We got through the airport, got our rental car, and hit the road toward Reykjavik. We stopped off at Brauð & Co for some delicious breakfast.
We then made it to Reykjavik. First, we checked out Hallgrímskirkja church in the center of Reykjavík.
We went up to the top for a great view of the city.
The bells rang while we were up there, deafening us for a bit.
We then wandered the streets a bit. Had to get a picture on Rainbow Street.
We walked (probably should have driven) to Aurora Reykjavík, the Northern Lights Center. It was very educational, and even had a little booth to simulate photographing the aurora. It was lots of fun, even if we didn't get to see the real thing on our trip (which we expected, going in the summer).
We got lunch at the Fish & Chips Vagninn truck. It was excellent, though very cold outside. And I tried the mushy peas, but don't get why you'd want your peas to be mushy.
The big event of day one was a tour of the Raufarhólshellir lava tunnel/tube. This is a tunnel created by a giant lava flow, and it's awesome. The outer parts of the flow cool and harden into rock, while the inner parts keep flowing. Eventually, the lava all flows out leaving a tube. It is 10 meters high throughout and we spent an hour walking down into it.
We then headed to our first lodging, a VRBO in Selfoss which we spent two nights in. Selfoss was a great place to stay for traveling the South Coast, as it has lots to offer and is within short driving distance of lots of things to see and do.
Table of contents for the whole trip
