Breakfast was exactly as we have come to expect, except with many more biscuits than usual and “oatmeal” that tasted like rice pudding.
We were collected for our excursion from the bus stop outside the hotel by minibus and then swapped to a coach at the city bus station to get to the Lava Tunnel at Raufarholshellir. We were not immediately greeted and given instructions, so our tour acted like a flock of chickens trying to find scraps of food! The poor lady behind the desk must have said the same thing twenty times! After a little patience had been applied “Mr Guide” appeared to tell us what to do and everyone relaxed. He did have an Icelandic name, but it was too hard so he told us to call him “excuse me” or “Mr Guide”. He was funny. Lots of dad jokes but they were genuinely amusing and made most of his English speaking audience giggle. The poor Spanish people didn’t have a clue as normal! He told us not to be idiots and led us into the tunnel.
The first section was well lit as there were “sky lights” (direct translation) where the ceiling had fallen in. It was a big tunnel – about 16m high and littered with debris. They had done an excellent job of paving the floor with rocks so it was pretty flat to walk on. He told us how the tunnel had formed and that when full, the lava was the consistency of ketchup and flowed as fast as a man could run. He told us that the red colour was simply rust (iron oxide) and the yellow was sulphur. Then he told us that if you smell sulphur in the tunnel, it isn’t an imminent eruption, just the person in front of you farting! He said most tunnels are named after the person who found them. He recounted that Icelandic sheep are stupid and fall into tunnels from above all the time…the farmer then goes looking for the sheep and falls into the same hole – and this is why the Icelandic population is so small!
He took us into a darker section where the tunnel was intact and explained that the only thing living there (apart from the obvious trolls) was a white bacteria that feeds on the iron and other minerals. It doesn’t need air, oxygen or light. NASA have been to look at it as they think it might be the kind of life present on Mars. Then he apologised for what he was about to say and asked us not to lick the walls! He said it wouldn’t hurt us but was really bad for the bacteria!!
The next section had the original lava glass tunnel lining, or something very close to obsidian in loads of coffee cup rings. Hanging from some of the rings were “lava dicks”, recently renamed to “lava candles” to avoid offending tourists! They look a bit like stalactites but are formed by molten rock dripping and not water and so they will never grow back. There is a two year prison sentence associated with damaging them or being found in possession of them – but he said that since Icelandic hotels are nicer than their hotels that we might like to extend our stay.
Next he turned off all the lights and let us experience the complete dark under ground. He said that if we stayed in the dark for too long, our brains would stop looking for signals from our eyes and effectively we would go blind. Then he told us he had turned the light back on (without actually turning it on) and said that was his best joke! Finally he showed us some hollow lava straws hanging from the ceiling and told us we were allowed to take photos.
Keith took a few and then we headed back to the entrance. Helmets off, thank yous made, lava tunnel done!!
We got the coach back to the hotel, changed into city-clothes (with waterproofs!) and headed off to explore Reykjavík! Danny was desperate to try a rental scooter so we had to find a time to do that. I wanted to visit the phallological museum but Keith and Danny were not keen.
We started on Laugavegur which is the main shopping street, on the lookout for our lunch recommendation: Sandholt bakery. We popped into a few touristy shops before finding the bakery, but only had to wait one minute while the waitress wiped the table before we sat down to lunch. The cakes and pastries looked amazing on the way in and the savoury food on tables round us was also enticing! We ordered two sandwiches and a bowl of shashlick. After a little disagreement about the lack of sausage, we very much enjoyed the food and started planning pudding. Weirdly the pastries are not that expensive and we went all out and had one each. They were good, but the bun that had just been iced in the kitchen was the best. Annoyingly I can’t remember what it was called but it was a bit like a tall Belgian bun. Delicious. (EDIT: Keith – this was the first proper cup of coffee we found. Iceland is not a place if you like real coffee, as nearly everywhere uses cheap coffee machines which do a pathetic job!)
Next stop was Hallsgrimskirkja which is Reykjavík’s famous church. It is striking from the outside and you can see the echoes of the vertical basalt pillars we have seen at waterfalls all over the country and the silhouette is a replica of a classic volcano. It took 45 years to build and was only finished in 1984. It is free to enter and we were lucky enough to witness an organist practising for a marathon four hour recital tomorrow (EDIT: Keith – fortunately we didn’t stay and listen for the whole recital!). He was pretty good; his organ was amazing (EDIT: Keith – did she really just say that…) I didn’t recognise what he was playing but we were all amused by tourists trying to decide whether or not to clap. They came down on the side of not. Thank goodness! The inside of the church is positively ascetic. Imagine a Catholic church and then think of the absolute opposite in poured concrete with no decoration whatsoever and only function.
We continued our meander down Laugavegur, pausing at a few jewellery shops, an art shop with a gorgeous abstract original of a waterfall (a snip at quarter of a million Kroner) and a t-shirt shop with some epic logos. We restricted the children to clean ones and I got an Icelandic reusable shopping bag.
We popped out of the end of the road at the ring road and the harbour. Keith and Danny checked out the DJI drone shop (to see if Ian in London had popped in!) and Mila and I wandered around H&M checking out prices and wondering who in Iceland buys any of these floaty, summery clothes, except maybe to take on holiday to Spain!
Just around the corner was a nice, big, open pedestrianised area, perfect for teenagers to practise their scootering! I went inside the Harpa concert hall where it was warm and dry (and made of concrete and glass!) while they played in the rain! They came in happy but soggy after about 10 minutes. Sadly the rain had set in and although we waited for a while, it didn’t look like stopping. We had a 25 minute walk along the seafront to get to our last excursion of the trip: Fly Over Iceland. Uber doesn’t exist in Iceland and the app we were sent to for buses didn’t want to work. I went to ask a cashier in a tourist shop for help and she gave me another app to try. Keith managed to download it, register his credit card and buy four tickets in time to set off for the bus stop (which didn’t have a shelter!). We stood in the rain like stoic sheep waiting for the bus, which was early! We hopped on and were magically whizzed to our destination! We were a bit soggy but not as bad as if we had walked the whole way.
Fly Over Iceland was by far the most touristy place we have been, but there were Icelandic families taking their children as well. We had a short wait before our “flight” and then we were encouraged to have our photo taken on the way in (Alton Towers style!) Our sense of humour had been compromised by the weather so we declined that bit (EDIT: Keith – we never have our photos taken before rides…..shocking way of fleecing people!)
The first room was a video of a man touching on the hardships Icelandic settlers experienced and the mindset of perseverance required to live successfully in such an uncompromising landscape. I liked his beard but thought the length of time he left snow coming in the open door unrealistic. I am pretty sure that if you have to collect drift wood and dry it out to light a fire, you are going to get through that door pretty quickly!
The next room featured images being projected vertically onto a moving screen in front of us and horizontally onto the floor. It was quite clever: when you saw the viking ship on front of you, you could see the sea on the floor. I genuinely don’t remember what information we were given at this point, but trolls were involved! (EDIT: Keith – I also don’t remember since it was just a way of prolonging the ‘experience’ so it felt better value for money!)
The screen promised that a troll would show us onto the ride, but that didn’t happen. To be honest I was ready to be disappointed, but I was wrong. We were securely strapped into a bank of ten seats. I think there were four banks in total. Then the barrier right in front of us was dropped and the seats moved to the edge so we were feet from a 180° curved screen and from above aromas, hot/cold air and water was sprayed onto us at the right moment.
The film looked like drone or helicopter footage of some of the most spectacular places in Iceland. We recognised some of them. The seats moved to simulate the motion of the viewpoint and waterfalls, cloud or steam all resulted in a puff of vapour in your face. I would love to do it again – perhaps next time I wouldn’t need to lift my feet up every time the water or top of the mountain got too close!
Our journey back to the hotel was uneventful due to Keith levelling up on Icelandic public transport from member to fellow (that is a Chartered Institute of Management joke in case that was not obvious!!). We were a little damp again when we got back to the hotel.
It was time to start packing. Keith’s genius idea of taking reusable shopping bags in the suitcases so we could have “outdoor” bags in the car had paid off in full over the last two weeks, but now we had to squeeze it all back into the suitcases. Nobody wants to be forced to plastic wrap a Sainsbury’s bag in the airport!
Our last Icelandic dinner was the other end of town but the rain had stopped, so we set off for our 8pm table. I had adopted a high risk strategy of wearing my travelling outfit, so was now desperate to stay dry! We wandered down the same street as earlier, this time surrounded by rowdy but good natured Icelandic youth as well as tourists. Tomorrow is a national holiday, so I guess most people had finished work, ready to party for the weekend.
We found the restaurant easily enough with Google Maps and took our seats. Our starter came almost immediately, but for some reason we then had to wait about 40 minutes for our main course. It turned out to be worth the wait. I had wolf fish (lobster texture and tasted of seafood as well – apparently they eat almost exclusively shellfish) which was amazing, Danny had a salmon burger that he very much enjoyed. Mila will tell you about the rest of the meal!
It was quite late by the time we finished eating and headed back up the hill to the hotel. Danny commented VERY subtley on what a good system the scooters were and that he might have to pick his university city based on where they were available! We let them both have another go in the pedestrianised area, which made Danny very happy!
Back to the hotel, kids to bed, packing finished, sleep!