We left Sellfoss early the next morning and made our way back to Reykjavík. Along the way we stopped at a greenhouse where we learned a little bit about the Icelandic flower industry from Axel, who's family runs the business. It was kind of interesting to learn how they have used the greenhouses and artificial light to turn it into a year round growing season.
On our way back to Reykjavík, we stopped at a pseudo crater who's name I cannot recall, but I did get a photo with Steini and our Viking caps. Original Viking hats did not have the horns sticking out of the side like we imagine. That was a 19th century invention for the opera.
Once back at Reykjavík, we had the afternoon to go around town and do a little last minute gift shopping.
Marty had a little shoe malfunction when the sole of her boot started to come apart. The hotel in Sellfoss had tried to tape it back together for her, but with the rainy afternoon in Reykjavík it started to come apart. We stopped at an art supply shop to buy some heavy duty tape, and Stu performed the necessary repair.
While our intentions were good, the tape only stayed on about 20 minutes. At that point, it was really starting to rain so we made our way to the original Ice Bar, to drink some Brennivín in a sub zero room, but when we got their we learned that the bar had "melted" a few weeks before at the end of the high season for tourists.
Our alternative was an English pub that was playing Beatles music. We left Stu and Marty there and went and did some more shopping. We wanted to explore the possible venues for the Iceland Airwaves concerts, but all the "name" bands required a ticket.
We ate dinner at unique little diner called The Laundromat Cafe. I had some chile con carne that was out of this world! After making our way back in the rain, we soaked to the bone as you can see.
After signing all the necessary legal wavers, our guides took us down into a hollowed lava tube known as the "End of the Road Cave". We only went about 10 to 15 meters below the surface during our hour long tour as the lava tubes do not sit that far down below ground.
The cave gets it's name because of the dead end of the lava tube. At the end of the cave are the remains of a baby sheep that probably wandered into the cave or was chased in by a predator, and was trapped. They estimate the remains are several hundred years old.
The spelunking was a bit stressful for me, with it's small closed-in environment. After the traumatic experience, what better way to unwind than at the Blue Lagoon, the famous geo-thermal spa located outside Reykjavík.
The waters contain both sulfur and silica and many people go to the lagoon because it helps people with skin ailments. Water temperatures average between 98 and 102 degrees. The lagoon is fed by the water output of the nearby geothermal power plant and is renewed every 2 days. Superheated water is vented from the ground near a lava flow and used to run turbines that generate electricity. After going through the turbines, the steam and hot water passes through a heat exchanger to provide heat for a municipal hot water heating system. Then the water is fed into the lagoon for recreational and medicinal users to bathe in.
We spent our last morning in Iceland with a visit to the National Museum. Susan, Rocky, Paul and I stole away for an hour to have one last hot dog at the famous hot dog stand. When we made it back to the museum, we had some amazing hot chocolate and saw some of the exhibits before heading to the airport.
After some drama with the VAT refunds, we boarded our flight for New York and a mere six hours later, we were back in the United States. We spent the night near JFK and then made our connection home the next morning.
The trip to Iceland was an amazing experience and definitely in my top 5 of places I have been in the world. We were pretty lucky with the weather for the most part. There was only a few rain days and while it was cold, we were dressed appropriately, so we were comfortable. The scenery was amazing and the people couldn't have been friendlier. I suggest that anyone interested make the journey!
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