An Iceland Adventure

Contributed by Trish Gau, The Hive Overland Park

Every few years my family heads to Europe to visit extended family in Germany (my mom is the only one of her 6 siblings that moved to America) and we always try to tack on a new place to see while we are over there. This time we decided to try an Icelandic adventure. My youngest daughter was the most excited about it and wanted to use her fancy new camera to take some wildlife photos. Not really knowing where to go, I purchased a top 10 Iceland travel guide and told her to pick some spots that she thought we should check out. Of course at the top of her list was one of the most remote and difficult spots to get to: Latrabjarg bird cliffs. She really wanted to see some puffins! We only had about 6 full days so we narrowed down the other spots and decided to go as far as Lake Myvatin and then back to Reykjavik.

Most people take the "Ring Road", the highway that goes all the way around, when visiting Iceland. We were going to the West Fjords region, which is not as touristy as some of the other parts. Luckily, instead of our reserved small SUV, we rented a Jeep which ended up being super helpful in the West Fjords where not all roads are paved! Below is a rough map of our journey.

Our first day we headed to Snaefellsjökull National Park, making a stop along the way to see the seal colony at Ytri Tunga Beach. There is a lot of great hiking in the area around the park so we were really looking forward to a beautiful day on the trails. However, when we got to the park, a storm rolled in and we were only able to take a short walk before the rain and wind became too heavy. Soaked and exhausted, we headed to our "hotel" in the middle of nowhere and it was such a nice surprise: Dalahyttur Lodge. We had two little cozily appointed cabins with amazing views and ate a delicious dinner at the main building.

Snaefellsnes

We left early after a tasty breakfast to head to Latrabjarg, one of the largest bird cliffs in Iceland and the westernmost point of Europe. It is actually a 14km line of several cliffs, which in summer are home to many species of birds, including razorbills, white-tailed eagles, and of course puffins. The route to the cliffs was quite exciting with lots of deep, water filled potholes and some scary narrow passes that made us thankful we weren't there in the busy season! Signs at the cliffs warn you not to fall off but there aren't any guardrails like there would be back home. We enjoyed a nice hike up the cliffs and got a couple great shots of some puffins.

Photo by Katelyn Gau

The landscape of Iceland is simply breathtaking; every view is more magnificent than the last. On our way up to Isafjordur we stopped at Dynjandi waterfall. The name means thunderous and it cascades down several tiers of boulders before reaching the bottom. So beautiful and well worth the stop! Isafjordur is the gateway to the West Fjords and is a vibrant fishing village with a number of cute shops and restaurants. We chose to eat at our hotel and had another delicious meal - we were discovering that Iceland is quite the foodie destination!

From there we made our way around/through many fjords and beautiful vistas and stopped in Holmavik at the Museum of Icelandic Witchcraft and Sorcery. They had some strange items and dark stories that were interesting but it could definitely have been skipped. Next up was the charming town of Blonduos where we stayed at the newly renovated and quaint Hotel Blonduos. The owner was a successful businessman who was investing heavily in making Blonduos a destination for tourists as well as Icelanders in the "off" season. The next day we headed out to Husavik, the oldest settlement in Iceland and home to the Husavik Whale Museum, one of the few museums in the world dedicated to whales- they even had a narwhal skeleton!

From Husavik we headed to Jokulsargljufur National Park, a huge natural area in the northeast of Iceland. There we saw Detifoss, the most powerful waterfall in Europe. We also went to the famous Nature Baths at Lake Myvatn. It was an experience -let's just say that my youngest wasn't ready for the locker room and the body confident Europeans!

Lake Myvatn is known for its biodiversity; there are over 25 different species of birds and more duck species than any other place in the world. We went horseback riding on the short-statured Icelandic horses and saw a lot of wildlife including the cutest lambs (which are all over Iceland).

On the journey back toward Reykjavik, we stopped in a slightly larger town called Akureyi. There were lots of fun shops and restaurants and we had a fabulous sushi meal at Rub 23. We also enjoyed our eclectic guesthouse Hraffnin (Raven).

On our final day we made it all the way to Reykjavik and walked from our hotel to the town centre. We saw the famous Hallsgrimkirkja and had a lovely Italian dinner at Rossopomodoro. It was a whirlwind tour of western and northern Iceland and we probably spent a little too much time in the car and together ; ) It was helpful to have so many hours of daylight while we were there for driving purposes but I definitely want to go back in the winter to see the Northern Lights some day! If you get the chance, I highly recommend taking a trip to idyllic Iceland!

Helpful Tips:

-Make sure you get a pin for your credit card before you go. . .we tried to pump gas and didn't have a pin!

-Don't speed on the Ring Road. . .90km/hour is enforced - the police are very good-looking but still write tickets!

-The road infrastructure has not kept up with the level of tourism in Iceland. . .if possible, don't go during prime tourist season!