Iceland & Greenland Days 1 & 2 - Travel and Skógafoss
Today we are heading to Iceland. We will spend a few days in Iceland and then head to our primary destination - Greenland. Why did we decide to travel to Greenland? We began looking at a trip to Greenland because it is a site featured in Disney’s Soarin’ Around the World and we have a long-term goal to visit all the locations featured in the ride. When we initially set that goal I did not think we would be visiting Greenland in 2022. Greenland is a challenging place to visit. You really need to use Iceland or Denmark as a jumping-off point in order to get there. We decided to prioritize this trip in 2022 because with the way the world is warming and changing we were worried that if we put this trip off, we may miss the opportunity to see some of these sites before they change forever or even disappear.
Our flight to Iceland wasn’t too bad. We left Salt Lake City in the afternoon and flew to Minneapolis. We had a 3-hour layover in MSP before boarding our flight to Reykjavík. It is ~6 hours to Iceland from Minnesota. Also, this was our first international flight since February 2020, which had no impact from the pandemic. No Covid tests or vaccine cards are required. We showed our passports at check-in and they printed our boarding passes. It was so easy - it is nice to not have that additional layer of stress on this international trip.
As per usual, I read some books to prepare for this trip. Here is my reading list:
2. Migrations: A Novel by Charlotte McConaghy
3. The History of Iceland: A Fascinating Guide to this Beautiful Country by Christopher Hughes
4. The Little Book of Tourists in Iceland: Tips, tricks, and what the Icelanders really think of you by Alda Sigmundsdottir
5. Erik the Red: A Captivating Guide to the Viking who Founded the First Norse Settlement in Greenland by Captivating History
6. How Iceland Changed the World: The Big History of a Small Island by Egill Bjarnason
7. The Ice at the End of the World: An Epic Journey into Greenland's Buried Past and Our Perilous Future by Jon Gertner
8. The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley
I enjoyed learning about Iceland and Greenland. These countries are some of the least densely populated places on Earth. They also have interesting histories. Some of the key ideas and themes I saw again and again in these books included: their unique culture, hardship/isolation/severe weather, WWII, and more. I was amazed by one fact I read about Greenland. If the population density of Manhattan was the same as Greenland, two people would live on the island of Manhattan. That is wild. After reading these books I am excited to visit these unique countries.
We arrived in Iceland on Saturday morning. The whole visa process couldn't have been easier. It took us maybe 30 seconds and I said 3 words to the border patrol agent. Once we were through we waited for our bags and picked up a rental car. We have a Mazda3 on this trip. We aren't doing anything too crazy in Iceland (there are some gnarly roads in these parts, but they aren't on the itinerary during this trip) so the car should be great for us. We stopped by our hotel, our room wasn't ready, but that was expected it was only 9am, but they had a lounge we used to freshen up.
Once we freshened up and changed our clothes we hit the road. Our itinerary today took us to Skógafoss, a waterfall on the Skógá River. It takes ~2 hours to get there from Reykjavík. Along the way, we drove through some truly breathtaking scenery. The green countryside is unreal. We are both jet-lagged. Alison took a little nap while we drove, fortunately, I slept pretty well on the flight since I have to stay awake while I am driving.
Skógafoss was 100% worth the drive. It is a powerful waterfall. After we spent a minute soaking (literally) in the spray from the fall we climbed up the stairway next to the waterfall to get to a vantage point above the fall. The stairway is really quite steep, but we powered up. From the top, there is a trail you can hike. The trail is known as Waterfall Way because all along the trail there are many cascading waterfalls.
We hiked a few miles enjoying the solitude and beauty of our surroundings. We had only been here a few hours and already we love Iceland.
Eventually, we decided it was time to head back. We followed the trail back out to Skógafoss. Our timing was good, it had been raining on and off all day, but it had stopped once we arrived at Skógafoss, however when we were almost back it started up again. We had coats, but we ended up getting soaked.
At the bottom, there is a nearby bistro. We were quite famished so we snagged a table. We had a lovely view of Skógafoss while we enjoyed a meal of fish cakes and lamb flank. It hit the spot. After lunch, we drove back to Reykjavík. We did stop by another waterfall, Seljalandfoss, on our way, but it was rainy so we only made a quick stop to see it and then we moved on.
In Reykjavík, we were able to check into our hotel room. We dropped our stuff off and then headed to the lounge where they had complimentary soup and bread. We were in the mood for a light dinner and this hit the spot.
We were feeling refreshed so we decided to explore Reykjavík. We started off visiting the Hallgrimskirkja Church. This Lutheran Church is one of the first landmarks you notice when you survey Reykjavík. It is pretty simple, but still quite beautiful inside and out. For a small fee, you can ride an elevator to the top of the tower to get great views of the city below. The bells in the tower also go off every 15 minutes and are quite loud if you are in the tower.
After the church, we spent a little bit of time walking around Reykjavík. We love walking through cities because when you walk and explore you really get a feel for the city. We found fun and quirky art throughout the city. We also found the street they painted like a rainbow to celebrate pride. Surprisingly most shops were closed (it was 7pm on a Saturday), but we did find a few shops open and we popped in and bought a children's book and an umbrella.
All in all, it was a great first day in Iceland and we are really excited to see what adventures the next few days bring.
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