Here is the second part of Day 1 on the Ring Road – still driving to Vik.
Finding the black sand beach required turning off road 1. The church was one of the first sites seen.
The church was locked, as most are. Unfortuantely vandalism occurred with all of the multitude of visitors coming to Iceland and unless their is a service going on, prior arrangements have to be made to go inside. Everything I read said that a few visitors ruined it for all of us. How true.
We also ran across these escaped sheep on the ‘wrong’ side of the fence. A few hundred yards back we saw a farmer repairing the fence – he hadn’t gotten to this spot yet. They could enjoy their last minutes of freedom. The grass is always greener on the other side – just saying.
We made it! This spot always freaked Eric out. He made Adrienne promise to keep an eye on me during our visit in November 2019. Why so dangerous?
Sneaker waves – a.k.a. killer waves, are extremely dangerous and occur without warning and can easily sweep an adult out to sea in a matter of seconds. They can occur every 10-20 minutes and will reach much higher up the beach than previous waves, catching visitors off guard. BTW – we were under ‘yellow’ when we visited.
The basalt formations are splintered columns of volcanic rock from long, long ago – opposite the black sand beach.
The jagged Reynisdrangar sea stacks were also formed by volcanic activity.
This part of the ring road had another famous waterfall, Skogasfoss. It is situated on the River Skoga with the water originating from two separate glaciers. It is broader and more powerful than the first waterfall we saw on this journey.
14 meter wide and 62 meter tall is imposing and while you can hear the thunderous water pooling at the bottom, you can’t walk behind it.
You can’t see it in my photos, but to the right of the waterfall are 500+ steps leading to the top and a hiking trail that continues inward into the middle of Iceland. In 2019 I did this (the steps) with Adrienne, but at a much slower pace than her.
We continued to Vik, checking into Hotel Kria.
Very nice with a restaurant and bar part of the building with breakfast buffet included. The gentleman upgraded our room.
There was a sitting area outside – we lasted only a few minutes. Yep, kind of windy.
Let’s explore…………..I’m driving! Yes, I can drive on vacation.
What got me there was our stick shift, manual transmission rental. It was an option at the airport rental and since we had both driven these types of vehicles in our youth, we thought we’d give it a try. Loved it! I had forgotten how many fun it was to shift. Man! I never had six shifts in any of my vehicles. Reverse was a bit tricky until you got the hang of is. How many times did I kill it – none. Eric – once, thus far.
Drove around to see get another view of the sea stacks from the Vik viewpoint.
Next stop was the Vik church, one of the highest points and most photographed. Also discovered that it is the meeting point for the people of Vik if a volcano erupts. It is the ice melt that would be one of their biggest dangers.
Not quite hungry yet so we continued driving – and turned down a side road. Fairly quickly it became a gravel road.
Went around the bend and the viewpoint widened quite a bit.
Until we got stopped by this. No fences, just free range sheep.
And then we got stopped by this. Our off-roading adventure was stopped.
Okay, now we’re hungry and I had requested dinner be at this joint, a brewery.
Although I was still driving, we both knew Eric would be drinking most of my selection, a toasted porter, which you can just barely see in the photo.
My next selection was not something typically poured in a beer glass, orange soda.
This was one of the few places I had seen a BBQ pork sandwich, topped with cole slaw.
Eric chose well when he got the Icelandic lamb tomahawk, gently smoked and finished on the grill with cowboy butter. He was generous and shared as many bites as I wanted.
Truly, we were too full for dessert, but one of the waitresses brought out a sampling of their dessert, wishing us a happy anniversary. It was just enough for both of us – perfect.
The lupines were just beginning to bloom. This one spike had the most color. I had seen Icelandic photos of lupine meadows that were gorgeous. I’m guessing in 2-3 weeks from now they would be in full bloom.
Breakfast photos can get kind of boring, but since it was included and since one of us had an interesting combination……………
Really? Really. So ended the adventures going from Reykjavik to Vik on the ring road. More ring road traveling.
Darden Travels 