Day Seven: Iceland

I am writing this day eight because I ended up staying awake till 4am having spent most of the day at the Volcano, but I figured, as I’m at a campsite with some WiFi, and I’m a little physically tired, I’d update y’all!

Day Seven

Woke up early so I could head to Reykjavik to get a COVID test to prepare my flight back to the US. Came back negative of course, cause I’m vaxxed, but the US is still requiring that even if your vaccinated for some reason. I made some plans with the German couple to meet at the Volcano later that day, and I had the afternoon in Reykjavik!

I parked near the Maritime Museum where I visited Day One and started walking to get myself a classic Icelandic Hotdog!

The onions, raw and fried were amazing and made what would otherwise be an ordinary hotdog into something that was super flavorful and crunchy. I also stopped by a bakery where I met a gentleman who, while originally from the US, had moved to Iceland right before COVID. I had a Creme Brule Donut there, which the gentleman used a mini-blowtorch to heat up and melt the sugar with. On the inside was some vanilla creme that just made the whole thing even better!

I walked around, and towards the local church, which is a beautiful piece of architecture that Reykjavik is known for, and stopped by a small cafe called Cafe Loki, that I saw served shark! I went inside the Cafe and started talking to the server so I asked him if anything pairs well with shark.

Apparently the local way to eat shark is to chew it until you get most of the flavor, then pound a shot of a local liquor called Brennivin. I ordered both, and sat down to try my shark!

I got a few small pieces of sharks and a shot! The shark itself didn’t taste like fish which I liked, but it was chewy, and had a really rough after taste, and once I hit that point, I took the shot, and it made the shark meat go down a lot easier. The Brennivin itself I had when I met the California guys who had bought a bottle, and honestly it is pretty good. It has a really sweet taste at first, and a smooth middle that sits well on the palate. Then when swallowing you get the alcohol flavor very similar to Schnapps which, when paired well with shark, goes down well!

I was pretty stoked about eating some shark, and while I didn’t really care for it, I have bragging rights about it now!

The Fagradalsfjall Volcano

Currently in Iceland there is an active Volcano, the first one in maybe 10-11 years, so I was lucky to get the chance to see it. And oh my goodness, it was incredible. Walking up I saw some small Lava Falls, and after an hour hike up to the top, I spent probably 4 hours walking around and just watching explosion after explosion after explosion. It was absolutely incredible seeing thousands of gallons of liquid rock moving across the landscape, and shooting up into the air.

When I was hiking up, I was thinking I’d be on the rim of the Fagradalsfjall, but turns out there was the perfect viewing platform. I was scared when I was under the impression I’d be on the rim, but upon getting to the top, and seeing the first explosion, I was in awe. I was up there for maybe an hour or so, when the German couple came up and we stayed up there until three in the morning, just watching it. I don’t have a way to upload videos here and have them be good quality but I’d definitely recommend viewing the videos on my Instagram, because they are absolutely amazing. Here are some photos that I got while I was there though.

The smoke pictures are absolutely incredible, and during the sunrise/sunset the colors were incredible. The photos don’t show the color or texture of the lava very well, but seeing the liquid rock being propelled upward like that, freeze and float down was absolutely amazing. I started my trek back down the mountain around 2:30am got to my car an hour later, and went to my campsite for the night!

Today (The 23rd, one day before I leave), I think I am going to meet the Germans in downtown Reykjavik, then head to the Blue Lagoon!