Sadly, Day 8 was our last full day in Iceland. We had a really nice breakfast in the hotel’s eighth floor restaurant with a great view of the harbor. After breakfast, I met my blog friend Berglind for some shopping in the morning and had a wonderful time. I posted about our get-together here.
At noon, we loaded up the car and left Reykjavik. We took the kids to spend the afternoon at the Blue Lagoon and then, TheManoftheHouse and I drove to the coast and did a some sight-seeing. Our first stop was Grindavik, a cute little town on the sea. They were apparently having some sort of festival, as many of the houses were decorated. It was interesting too that different neighborhoods were decorated in different colors. We saw lime green, blue, red and orange. It made us wonder if maybe there was some sort of neighborhood competition going on.
We drove through Grindavik and headed east. This area of the Reykjanes peninsula is geothermally active and it’s covered by lava fields. We saw a few sheep, but very little farming. Apparently, most of the farms from the 18th century have been abandoned. We stopped at the Krysuvik geothermal area to see the hot pots. You can see the steam vents from quite a distance down the road. You definitely don’t want to stick your hands in to test the water temperature!
Boiling Hot!
On the way back to Grindavik, we saw a sign that said Krisuvikurkirkja. We’d learned that if a name ends with kirkja it means there is a church there so we went to check it out. There was a cool gate and sign indicating that there was a church at this site, but I walked all over the hill and didn’t see anything. It’s only been while writing this page that I read that the little chapel (built in 1857) burned down in 2010. There are many pictures online and it looks like it was an amazing little farm community church — seeing the pictures makes me very sad that it’s gone now. Along the way back to the Blue Lagoon, we stopped and took a few more pictures.
![Thimbleanna: Iceland](../../../images/2013/Travel/Iceland0939.jpg" "Thimbleanna:Iceland")
Last sheepie pictures.
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The Blue Lagoon is a man-made lagoon in the middle of a lava field that has resulted from the water output of a nearby geothermal power plant. It’s the most visited tourist attraction in Iceland. It’s conveniently close to Keflavik airport and some people fly into Iceland just for a day trip to the spa. You have to pay to enter the lagoon and for spa services, but the cafe and gift shop are free. We arrived back at the lagoon around 5 p.m. and grabbed a snack in the cafe, hoping the kids would float by the big cafe windows. After about 20 minutes, I spotted them and went outside to take a few pictures. It was FREEZING out there, but the waters are hot. I loved the contrast between the bathers and the service people in their winter coats.
We left the Blue Lagoon and drove out to the end of the Gardur peninsula to our hotel, Gardur Apartments. Our apartment was only 10 minutes from Keflavik airport, so this makes a perfect location to stay on your way in or out of Iceland. The owner is very nice and he told us about the area while we checked in. One fact that we found interesting is that they apparently golf year round in this area! We asked him for a dinner recommendation and he suggested the restaurant at the lighthouse at the end of the peninsula.
We finished checking in to the apartment and then drove out to the end of the peninsula to see the lighthouse. Or, actually, lighthouses. There are two of them — an old one built in 1897 and the newer, highest lighthouse in Iceland, built in 1944. The restaurant shares the building with a small museum which was, unfortunately, closed. Because it was almost 9 p.m. when we sat down to eat, we had the restaurant to ourselves. The food was very good and we had a beautiful view of the ocean.
After dinner, SweetiePie and I walked back to our apartment along the seawall. It was cold and windy, but beautiful.
Horses in the field right next to our apartment!
It was after midnight when we finally tucked in for the night — a perfect way to end our trip!
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