Iceland - Selfoss and Vík
This morning we walked 2 miles and picked up our rental car. Drove it back to the hotel, and loaded it up.
We drove an hour down to the Fjörubordid restaurant. We went there with Lizzie in 2019. They serve the most delicious, tender, and flavorful little lobsters (technically langoustines) you've ever had.
Portrait of Mitzi. I'm in love with her and the photo :)
I finally had some lamb. One of the best I've ever had! Mitzi enjoyed the langoustines 100%.
We drove 30 minutes to Selfoss. Mitzi reserved this little cabin for us to stay in for the next week. Super cute, cozy, and in a beautiful Icelandic countryside.
This place has a washer. Mitzi is so excited! It takes about 3 hours to do a single small load. She's so happy to have a washer again that the third load is already in the machine!
We took a little walk this evening.
Emily and I talk every Monday. I look forward to it each week. Last night we were talking on video and she was showing me one of her cats. This cat loves to hang next to Emily and get her belly rubbed. As Emily showed me I captured a screen shot. Turns out to be a hilarious picture! So many caption possibilities, and what an adorable kitten!
On our second day in Selfoss we visited two sites and had a nice lunch at Efstidalur. It's a diary ranch they've expanded to include a restaurant and ice cream. The restaurant is interesting because down below you can watch the dairy cows munching on hay and laying around. It's interesting to be eating beef when this operation is literally right next to you. Odd and compelling.
After lunch we headed over to Brúarfoss. The water has a blue and white tint that makes it beautiful. I captured these pictures with the Hasselblad in a way to bring out the colors of the water. I'm really happy with the results!
In the evening we went over to Kerid Crater. Made by a volcano a long time ago. We walked around the base, then we walked around the top. Benson and Sydney called when we were down by the water and Mitzi had a great time. Benson is such a character, he just makes us smile and feel happy.
Mitzi got her sewing machine working again (yesterday the thread kept breaking). She's going to town on her quilt.
Day 3 in Selfoss. We visited Gullfoss waterfall today.
There is a huge ice glacier off in the distance, we could see the top part of it from the waterfall.
For lunch we headed over to Fridheimar, a tomato greenhouse operation that is also a restaurant. We love this place.
They have Icelandic horses and this one had no problem with me getting up close for a portrait shot. He was a little shy though and wouldn't look directly at the camera haha.
We went grocery shopping and got some vanilla, caramel, chocolate chip, and black licorice ice cream. Yum!
Day 4 in Selfoss and we rode horses today. Mitzi has been bucked off twice and it's a bit nerve wracking to ride, but she wanted to do it and I'm so happy for her that she is able to "get back on the horse" as they say.
Her horse was perfect. Followed instructions perfectly, was gentle, and did not unexpected. Our bums were sore but we had a good time.
After riding we did a little shopping in Selfoss.
Then we headed over to the Old Dairy Food Hall where there are a bunch of restaurants to choose from. The pizza at Flatey's Pizza is made from a sourdough starter. It's light and crunchy, so good. Samuelson had a hot lava cake. Also delicious.
Day 5 in Selfoss. We visited Thingvellir where the Pacific plates meet up with the Eurasia plates. This is the only part of the joining where it's above ground. It's a beautiful area with the lake in the background.
Getting back to the cabin it was time to take out the garbage. Oh the happiness!
The sun was out this afternoon. We haven't seen it out for about 5 days. It was so warm we sun bathed out on the deck.
We enjoyed the Food Hall so much yesterday we went back today. We got a Pad Thai and shrimp tacos. We also got some Dim Sum but alas didn't get a picture.
Tomorrow we head out Black Beach and will get some great pictures I'm sure. It's been a wonderful 5 days in Selfoss!
Day 6 in Iceland but not Selfoss. Today we drove out to Vík and the Black Sand Beach.
On our way we stopped at two waterfalls.
First is Seljalandsfoss. Super happy with the photo I got with the Hasselblad. I've been wanting to bring a good camera here and today that dream was fulfilled – thanks Mitzi!
Thought this was funny, Mitzi coming out of the woman's WC and some dude in shorts looking over there haha.
Then we drove to Skógafoss. This is a huge waterfall. We hiked like a boss up 26 flights of stairs to the top of the waterfall. Coming down our knees hurt some so we took it easy. We are just so grateful out bodies can still do this kind of activity.
There were some sheep chomping away on the side of the mountain.
Just as we were getting ready to leave, the light hit the mist perfectly and formed a rainbow. So pretty.
We then drove to the at Black Beach Suites, near Black Sand Beach. After getting settled we went over to the beach to get some pictures.
It was so busy there, so many many people! If you don't see any people in these pictures it's because were we strategic about how we got them, and also I'm really good at removing them in post edits haha.
Then we headed over to Black Crust Pizza. It's literally a black crust!
For dessert we went to this little shake called Crepes.is. They get a 5 star rating with 177 reviews. We got the dessert crepe and also a ham and cheese. The sun was out and relatively warm so we enjoyed the picnic bench.
I love their menu. They literally have just 3 items on it! Do one thing (or just a couple things) and do it really well – that's my motto :)
Today we drove back to Selfoss. However before doing that we did a couple activities in Vík. We watched a live Lava show, hat lunch at the Soup Company, and stopped by Dyrhólaey for some beautiful views of the ocean.
We got a better angle for the church picture from yesterday.
We saw some sheep and Mitzi asked if I could get a picture of them. They are super fat munching away. I got a couple pictures but they kept walking away. Evidentaly Mitzi took a picture of me trying to get the picture and that turned out to be the most interesting!
Mitzi walked around with the Leica M11 and got some amazing pictures. The camera is manual focus only and it's been a learning curve to figure out how to focus. She has gotten really good at it within just a few days.
This family captured her attention. She also got a great shot of the coast line, then walked down to the beach and with perfect timing got that wonderful picture of the wave spraying above the rock.
This lady was standing so close to the edge of the cliff I was feeling pretty nervous! It was windy up there and both Mitzi and I worried, what if a big gust of wind came and pushed her right off :(
As we drove back to Selfoss we came to a place were some horses had escaped out of their pasture and were leisurely walking right down the highway.
For our last dinner in Selfoss we went back again (3rd time!) to the Food Hall. We shared a Pad Thai, then went over to Messinn. Mitzi was wanting salmon but they didn't have it. The waiter suggested Arctic Char and said it was similar to salmon.
Neither of us had ever heard of it. Turns out it's like a salmon and trout together. It was wonderful!
Mitzi was looking so beautiful across the table from me. I had to capture it. Dang she's good looking. She's a cute grandma!
Then Mitzi got playful. Lo and behold, 4 expressions in 4 seconds. Benson is her grandson!
We then headed back to Samuelson and ordered a lava cake. We sat at the bar and watched the food prep. It was mesmerizing, we just sat there hypnotized. Eventually the lava cake was delivered and it broke the spell.
When we got back to our rental house. Mitzi got this picture of some wild flowers out front.
This has been a wonderful 7 days exploring this part of Iceland. We will be sad to say goodbye tomorrow. And we are excited to board the Oceania Marina for the next leg of our adventure, a 26 day cruise from Reykjavik to London with 24 ports of call along the way.
