Turf church, Núpsstadur

After a brief visit to an 800 year-old turf church, we had a walking tour of our guide's hometown, Kirkjubaejarklaustur. Our ultimate destination was Landmannalaugar, but we stopped in several places to trek from the road to spectacular waterfalls, some of which did not even have individual names. When we finally reached Landmannalaugar, we set up camp on the very hard ground. Many tent pegs were bent in the process. For our efforts, we were rewarded with a wonderful meal of grilled fish -- literally the catch of the day. Our Icelandic hosts then enjoyed treating us to another of their country's many delicacies: putrid shark or hákarl. It is made by catching a shark, burying it in the ground for six months until it is thoroughly rotten, then cutting it into small chucks to feed to locals and gullible tourists. The smell was extraordinary; "fishy" does not even come close. One member of our party who doesn't eat fish was sent running from her seat when the putrefied shark was brought out. Since we're generally not ones to shrink from a gastronomic challenge, we ate our shark and chased it with a shot of brennivín, the traditional local tipple reminiscent of grain alcohol. The shark had the texture of rubber, so it was like chewing on a smelly eraser. The brennivín was not terribly effective at clearing the palate. Hákarl was the favorite food of our driver, although I was left wondering if he wasn't in it simply for the brennivín. We concluded the evening with a soak in a river flowing with hot, geothermally heated water. It was a clear night and the setting left everyone spellbound and regretful that our tour was nearing completion.

Rhyolite mountain Brennisteinsalda

In the morning we set off on a three-hour trek through the amazing landscape of Landmannalaugar. Multi-colored mountains of rhyolite, minerals that have been transformed by volcanic processes, dominated the scenery. Our trek took us past steam vents, sulfur deposits, and ancient lava flows. Most of the group elected to climb to the windy summit of Brennisteinsalda for views over the whole area.

Our route out of Landmannalaugar took us around the volcanic cone of Hekla. The volcano had erupted within months of our visit, and a new layer of black pumice covered the entire area. Pumice is such a good insulator that the snow covered by the eruption could be found just two centimeters beneath the surface. We set up our last camp by a river complete with several waterfalls. For our last meal, we enjoyed an Icelandic feast and sampled hardfiskur, strips of dried haddock served with butter. The evening finished with our favorite form of entertainment: a dip in a geothermally heated pool.

We woke to misty conditions, which was somewhat unfortunate since we were heading to the Mýrdalsjökull icecap. We were told the views from the glacier were amazing. Still, our primary reason for making the trip was to explore the surface of the icecap on skidoos. We donned special clothing and crash helmets, and drove out to the skidoos in a snowcat with heavy metal music blasting from the sound system. After some brief instruction, we were off at good speed across the glacier. I was driving while Elspeth clung on in the rear seat. While I did not consider our speed excessive, Elspeth protested vigorously during the entire ride; she was not enjoying it at all. On the drive back to Reykjavík we stopped at two interesting waterfalls. Skógafoss dropped 60 meters straight down creating a blast of wind and mist. Our approach was at the base of the waterfall, and we could walk as close to the thundering falls as our wet weather gear would allow. Seljalandsfoss was another waterfall we could approach closely. In fact, it was possible to walk behind the falls for a seldom seen perspective on this natural spectacle.

See more waterfalls of Iceland. (160K)