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Iceland

Part One - The Golden Circle

By Adam Johnson

Arriving in Reykjavik

Why Honeymoon in Iceland? I suppose we wanted to do something a bit non-traditional. Iceland holds a bit of intrigue for both of us. I recall in elementary school, they told us that Greenland was all ice and Iceland was all green. So, the intrigue began. Iceland did not enter my mind again until we saw it featured on ABC’s The Bachlorette. Remember, Casey got left on the glacier as the helicopter flew away…love can be cruel.

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Iceland

Iceland

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Iceland

Hallgrímskirkja

Reykjavík‘s most attention-seeking building is the immense concrete church Hallgrímskirkja, or Hallgrimur‘s Church. The sweeping columns on either side of the tower represent volcanic basalt - a geographic feature that we would come to see all over this gorgeous island.

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Wandering Reykjavik

While walking around Reykjavik, the Turkish coffee from the French press finally reached my mid-drift. I was guessing that I had about 10 minutes to find a lavatory, or risk telling my future children about how their father crapped himself on the first day of his honeymoon. The first three places that I ducked into did not have any facilities. Finally, I wandered into a health food store and inquired where one could find a restroom in Iceland. He didn’t speak a lick of English, but the panic in my eyes and sweat on my brow are apparently universally understood. The kind man let me use their restroom.

At 1pm, we walked over to the head office for the Nordic Visitor Travel Agency to meet with our travel consultant. For the next hour they talked us through our route and provided notes on points of interest along the way. We got everything from glaciers and waterfalls to the best lobster and ice cream in the country.

At 2pm, we finally got into our room. The universe is trying to tell us to pack lighter as we were placed on the top floor of the hostel with no elevator. The room is simple and modern, the bed is comfortable and the blackout shades set a perfect environment for an hour long nap before dinner.

Under the recommendation of the receptionist at the hotel, we walked across the street to a soup and salad restaurant. After a long day of travel, healthy soup and vegetables was perfect. Everything was fresh and homemade. It felt a bit like being in my favorite Boulder restaurant, the Whole Foods salad bar.

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The Blue Lagoon

Many people will tell you that the Blue Lagoon is touristy and expensive. Nothing could be more true. Despite this, you should absolutely go to the Blue Lagoon if you’re ever in Reykjavik. It is probably the coolest natural hot spring I’ll every see. It also appears to be one of the world’s top destinations for reality dating shows. They were filming one as we arrived.

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Iceland

THIS TOWN LIKES TO PARTY

Exiting the bus at the Kex, there was the distinct sound of a giant party coming from the cafe. It was elbow-to-elbow with drunk, rowdy locals downing beer and jamming to Brooklyn-based Morgan O’Kane’s live Kentucky Bluegrass. With any less jet lag, we would have partied with the locals. But, as we could barely keep our eyes open, we stayed for only a few songs before climbing back up to the 4th floor to find our cozy bed. With our room overlooking the bar’s patio, it was as if we never left the party. Thanks to strategically placed earplugs, we were able to get some much needed sleep.

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Iceland

Iceland

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breakfast at the kex

This morning we came downstairs to find the bar exactly the way we’d seen it the morning we arrived. A few hours prior, this room was at capacity with beer spilling kids and yet it now smells of nothing but hot coffee and fresh baked bread.

The breakfast was just as hip as the surroundings. The fruit and yogurt are all served in their own little lid-locking jars. All of the other guests simply ate it. I photographed it as if it were the most beautiful sight in all of Reykjavik.

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The rental car

The car rental negotiations were akin to deciding on a life insurance policy. They make it very clear that an ash storm can completely strip the car of all its paint in seconds. Without the insurance, you are responsible for the cost of repainting the vehicle. They said that previous customers have had to pay as much as $2 Million Krona out-of-pocket for ash damage. Seriously, where do I sign?

We couldn’t decide if we should insure the windshield separate from the undercarriage and in addition to extended collision coverage. At a certain point, it is simply cheaper to buy a car while in Iceland. Ultimately we drove away in a cute grey Mazda 2 with sand, ash and undercarriage coverage.

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Finding our way

It became immediately clear that our GPS unit was useless. The moment we figured out how to get it speaking English instead of Icelandic, the map disappeared and we could only see the number of meters before an upcoming turn. Soon even the turn-based instructions seemed grossly inaccurate. So, we unplugged the GPS and resorted to good old-fashioned map and compass orienteering. If we could ever find our way out of Reykjavik, it should be pretty easy to stay the course on the only road that goes around the island.

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Pingvellir

Our first point-of-interest was an area called Pingvellir. Upon exiting the car, we realized that we had our first mishap of the trip. One of the duty-free beers had exploded in our large suitcase. So, we unpacked everything into the trunk, sprayed the inside of the suitcase with water and left it open in front of the parked car while we went to explore.

Pingellir is an area of large rock cliffs and a large waterfall in the distance. Everywhere in Iceland has a healthy mix of folklore and history. As we came upon a beautifully clear pool of water, the sign told the pleasant tale of women accused of witchcraft and sexual misdeeds being tied in a gunny sack and drown in this very pool. Thanks for the story Debby Downer. Cafeteria this way…

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After exploring the church and the cemetery, we meandered down a path between two small rock canyons. As we got further down the path, the canyons got deeper and were filled with the most vibrant blue water I’ve seen. Anywhere other than a place called “Ice”land, I would have jumped into the crystal blue waters. I opted to stay dry on land.

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geysir

We grabbed lunch in the town of Geysir. I guess all geysers are named after the geyser in this town. Having been to Yellowstone last summer, it was difficult to be overly impressed by the steaming ground and bubbling puddles of water. It was great to pay homage to the OG though. Is it wrong that we spent more time in the gift shop and cafe than we did by the geysers?

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Gulfoss

All Iclandic waterfalls have some Nordic sounding construction of letters followed by “foss”. Gulfoss is perhaps the most famous. It is one of the sights I was most looking forward to seeing and it did not disappoint at all. Jess keeps poking fun at my wide-eyed amazement at every new sight that we see. It is hard not to marvel at this place.

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Iceland

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DALBÆR Guesthouse

If you were to lookup the word “quaint” in the Icelandic-English dictionary, there would be a photo of tonight’s accommodations. The Dalbaer Guesthouse is set in the middle of rolling hills and farmland. Hay bales, horses and blue skies as far as the eye can see.

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ethiopian dinner

There are two restaurants in this tiny Icelandic farm town and you guessed it…one of them is Ethiopian. Being the only two patrons in the place was a bit disconcerting, but the Ethiopian waitress gave us reason to believe that the food would be authentic. The food was phenomenal. It is easily the best Ethiopian food in town and I would venture to say that it is the best in the country. If we find another Ethiopian restaurant in Iceland, I’ll report my findings.

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kerio crater

There was still one local point of interest that we had not yet seen. So after dinner, we saddled into the Mazda and headed towards the Kerio Crater. The Kerio Crater was formed around 6,500 years ago and is the northern end of a row of craters known as Tjarnarhölar. With hopes that it would be cooler than the description and published photos, we were disappointed to find the photos and descriptions completely accurate. It is a crater in the ground with water at the bottom. There were four drunk locals attempting to throw stones to the water. We took our obligatory tourist photo and boarded the Mazda for the trip back to the guest house. I guess it is a good lesson that not all highlights on our Nordic Visitor issued map are created equal. Plus, the Gulfoss waterfall is a tough act to follow.

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Iceland

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Iceland

Breakfast was almost an exact repeat of yesterday at the Kex only served amongst decor dating back to the awesome 1980s.

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Iceland

Seljalandsfoss

After breakfast we hit our first point of interest for today, Seljalandsfoss. For those paying attention, the “foss” in the name means we’re dealing with another waterfall. This one was much smaller than Gulfoss from yesterday, but you could walk on the path behind the falls for a view from all sides. This is the slickest walking path in Iceland.

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Iceland

Iceland

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Iceland

About half a mile down the road from the big waterfall is a small campground with its own hidden waterfall. We had been told about this waterfall by our touring advisor at Nordic Visitor. To access this waterfall, you must rockhop across some tiny, slick stones through a narrow crack. The entire time you’re being pelted by the spraying mist from the falls. The narrow crack opens into a cave-like canyon that feels straight out of The Goonies. Somehow Iceland continues to outdo itself. While we were enjoying having this foss cave to ourselves, we were joined by some barefooted kids who had braved the cold rocks against the bottoms of their feet. Now they were trying to stay warm and dry with only umbrellas to protect them from the shower of mist. One of them yelled something in Norwegian and they all scurried back towards the crack.

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Today’s drive is so green. To the right side of the car is nothing but ocean and the left side is rock cliffs covered in green mossy grass. The low lying fog adds to the mystique of the hillside, but obscures our view of a giant glacier that continues to carve these incredible geologic features.

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Iceland

Iceland

Eyjafjallajökull

The Eyjafjallajökull volcano is the very one that brought the European airline industry to a halt and brought news anchors to tears at the thought of having to pronounce it on television. The Icelandic people assure that it is very easy to pronounce, then they make a gargled noise similar to vomiting, followed by a very relaxed “See? Easy to pronounce”.

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Skogafoss

Soon Iceland presented us with yet another amazing waterfall. This one, called Skogafoss, was higher and more powerful than the last. As it is is a narrow canyon, the spray hinders one from getting too close. I did see one brave young man yell in true Braveheart fashion and run towards the falls. I’m not sure what became of him.

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Write your story here. (Optional)

Iceland

Write your story here. (Optional)

Iceland

Iceland

Write your story here. (Optional)

Iceland

© 2026 Adam Johnson

1990 Volkswagen Westfalia Camper

with 2001 Ford Focus Engine (Bostig Conversion)

June 28^th, 2024

Boulder, CO

Boulder, CO

January 5^th, 2017

Boulder, CO

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