Today we head back south toward the country's capital city of Reykjavik. It is only about 95 miles (2 hours) away but of course, we have a few stops planned along the way...
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| Budakirkja- the "little black church" |
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| Gerduberg-a natural formation of columnar basalt |
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| It looks more like ruins of something man made- reminded us of the Roman ruins we explored in Italy |
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| Raudamelsolkeda- a small spring of naturally carbonated water |
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| We filled our water bottles and drank nature's own La Croix! |
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| The Blue Lagoon & Myvatn Nature Baths are geothermal springs diverted from the source by man- This natural "hot pot" is AT the source of the geothermal spring... in the middle of a farm... just big enough for 3 boys! Our waiter in Stykkisholmur told us how to find it- locals know it as Storahraun. |
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| Blue skies change the colors of the landscape... |
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| ...and make the drive even more pleasurable! We make a stop for lunch in Borgarnes & then continue to Reykjavik & check in to our downtown hotel, Kvosin Hotel (which means "downtown hotel")- It is quite a contrast to be back in a proper city after traveling along the Ring Road with it's sparsely populated little fishing villages... |
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| Bricked pedestrian roads & multi-storied buildings... |
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| Hallgrimskirkja Church with statue of Leif Erikkson (Norse explorer from Iceland who discovered North America before Christopher Colombus) |
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| View of Downtown Reykjavik from Hallgrimskirkja Clock tower |
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| Same viewpoint but looking in different direction- I love the colored roofs! |
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| The inside of the church is beautiful for its simplicity- these of course are the organ pipes. |
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| Fun painted building with no known historical importance- |
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| Solfar- The Sun Voyager **Many tourists think this is a Viking longboat because of Iceland's history, but the artist deemed it a "dream boat" and an ode to the sun symbolizing light & hope- |
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| Another rare photo of the 4 of us together |
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| The boys in front of Mt. Elsa- *Note R's runic necklace- he chose the rune for "wisdom" |
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| Harpa Opera House- I originally thought the windows looked like a bee's honeycomb but could not make the connection, then realized they are the shape of the columnar basalt formations we saw throughout this volcanic land! |
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| The Laundromat Cafe! The food was decent here but the MAIN ATTRACTION was the laundry facility in the basement!! I cannot begin to tell how nice it was to enjoy a meal with my guys while the dirty clothes were getting washed...this is a DRASTIC improvement over other coin operated laundromats I have had to use in the various countries we have visited!! This was a real find and special treat for this mom- |
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| Today is also the day we returned our rental car- WE DROVE A TOTAL OF OVER 1800 miles in Iceland- that's a lot of territory! |
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