Iceland day 6

June 10 we explored the Westman islands. They are home to the largest puffin colony in the world, so pretty much everything was puffin themed. We searched and searched for puffins and saw some flying, but we couldn't get a good photo of them. Breakfast came from a little local bakery that was on par with the fish place from the night before. So, so good. I'm still dreaming of the cinnamon rolls!

There was a volcanic eruption in 1976 that happened without warning, it damaged/destroyed almost 20% of the town. This water tower was covered partially with the lava flow- you can see the volcanic rock on the right side. 

We wandered/drove around the island just taking in the sites. There are about 18 museums in this little village of 5,000 people but they weren't open yet for the day. 

Aaron braved the cold and wind and hiked to the top of the volcano that erupted in 1976. 

The fog rolled in really quickly! Literally 10 minutes prior this was clear. 

Look, more sheep :)

We went to the cemetery to look for some ancestors graves before we had to get back to the ferry. We didn't find our ancestors, but it was very pretty and peaceful. The eruption from 1976 actually buried the cemetery in 6 feet of ash- Aaron's standing next to a column that shows how tall it got. 

The church had the best doors! I wanted to take them home!

After getting back to mainland Iceland we stopped for a famous Icelandic hot dog. It was pretty good, and they make their hot dogs out of lamb meat instead of beef. Luckily we had instructions on how to properly use the toilet- we may have forgotten if not for this handy chart.

We made it back to Reykjavic and checked into our hotel before heading to our activity for the evening- Meet the Locals! It was a 4 hour presentation where they teach how to pronounce Icelandic words, tell the history of the island, introduce you to native foods, and teach you how to cook traditional Icelandic foods! It all started with comfy couches and fresh angelica and juniper tea, in a room that was warm and cozy and inviting. After a short history lesson we got to have some delicious rye bread and butter, with pickled herring if we wanted, and a selection of locally produced flavored salts. There were lots to choose from, like moss salt, volcanic ash salt, juniper berry salt, licorice salt, etc. 

This snack break also included the traditional boiled sheep's head. I admit, I was pretty grossed out by it. Aaron and Dena ate everything; the tongue, eye, ear, and cheek. I managed to choke down the tongue, and the cheek was decent. I couldn't bring myself to eat the eye or the ear, but Aaron and Dena said it was pretty delicious. 

Back to the classroom to learn the alphabet...

And then another snack of Skyr, a local yogurt. Technically it's a really soft cheese, but it gets eaten as yogurt. There was a large selection of locally made syrups that you could use to flavor the skyr!

Then it was on to the main course of Icelandic lamb stew. It was fresh, very filling, and super flavorful. 

For the finale, we had traditional Icelandic pancakes! They are a cross between a crepe and a regular american pancake. We took turns learning to cook them and then ate the fruits of our labor. Filled with fresh cream and homemade jam, it was the perfect ending to a perfect day! 

Iceland day 5

June 9 was a most fabulous day! We had to leave Hofn around 7 am to drive to our next adventure- Jokulsarlon! It's a glacier bay, meaning it's the place where the glacier calves and where icebergs are formed. We arrived at the meeting spot and got dressed in our super stylish flotation suits, designed to keep us from freezing to death if we went overboard.

Then we boarded this little rubber boat and set out into the bay! You can see an iceberg behind the boat- some of them were easily bigger than several houses put together!

Some of the icebergs were clear and had pock marks on them- this is caused by the saltwater as it floats around. The salt acts as a polisher and makes the ice smooth and clear, and also causes the divots.

This is the edge of the glacier where the icebergs are formed. We heard one calve off! It was very quiet and peaceful as floated around in the water but then we heard a loud BOOM and saw ripples in the water where the ice had broken off from the glacier!

We also saw an iceberg flip over in the water, and it was really loud also. Sadly, no photos of that but we did see this cute little guy working on his tan :)

It was so peaceful on the water. Well, whenever the boat wasn't zooming around.

After an hour or so of floating in the bay we went back to shore and managed to fight our way through the field of nesting seagulls- they were very protective of their nests and tried to peck us when they thought we had gotten too close. Luckily the flotation suits protected us well!

A few more pictures from shore. The black lines are caused from volcanic eruptions! It's ash that settled onto the ice and then was covered by more snow.

It was hard to tear ourselves away from the beauty, but our next destination was only about 100 meters away at the diamond beach. It's a black sand beach that is studded with diamonds! Ok, not diamonds, but little pieces of ice that float out to sea from the bay. They get washed up onto shore and are seriously stunning against the black sand. They start out as big icebergs in the bay, and once they melt down enough they can fit under this bridge, which takes them to the open water.

Then the waves bring them back to shore.

We spent some time just wandering the beach. The sand was so warm, and it was so quiet since all the tourists were back at Jokulsarlon.

We dragged ourselves unwillingly back to the car to head to our next destination- the ferry to the Westman Islands. On the way we saw this most gorgeous mountain literally covered in purple flowers; it was stunning. We spent some time frolicking before it was time to set off again.

More scenery from the car:

This is a town in the direct path of the volcano that erupted in 2010, Eyjafjallajokull. Ask me how to pronounce that one, I practiced a lot while there :)

We finally made it to the ferry to take us to the Westman islands!

It was about a 30 minute ferry ride and was pretty comfortable unless you were in the bottom layer where the cars were parked- it smelled like rotten fish meets fresh fish meets never been cleaned- it was awful. The Westman islands are a series of 15 small islands, but only 1 is inhabited. Actually, we saw a house on 2 of the other islands, but don't know if people live there or if they are research facilities. It was cold and drizzly and foggy during the ferry ride- we couldn't see the islands til we were almost right next to them so it was hard to get good pictures.

We actually took pictures of this hostel because it was fabulous! We all had individual pods to sleep in, and lockers that looked like something out of star trek!

We also went to the most amazing fish restaurant for dinner. It's called Fiskibarinn. We got 4 different dishes to split; fish and chips, fish with peanut sauce, fish with wasabe, and fish with a lemon sauce. We were all happy campers but Aaron's face says it all!

The chef was so nice, he came and chatted with us, sat at our table, and told us all about life on the Westman Islands! It was a long, good day, and we were all happy to get back to the hostel for some rest.