Iceland Day 11: Return to Reykjavík

July 11, 2013

Hraunfossar

We enjoyed a good breakfast buffet at our hotel, then departed for Reykjavík. Along the way, we planned to stop at a couple of additional waterfalls.  The first two were adjacent waterfalls, Hraunfossar and Barnafoss. Barnafoss is narrow and with a lot of water going over it, while Hraunfoss primarily channels water through the lava on the face of the cliff, reminding me of Burney Falls in California.

We stopped for lunch in Borgarnes, a town set on a small peninsula on the west coast. Edduveröld, a restaurant that had been recommended by the local tourist information office, was excellent and not touristy at all. We enjoyed hearing the other patrons speak Icelandic, rather than a variety of other languages, for a change.

Glymur trailhead

After lunch, we set off down the next fjord toward Reykjavík, intending to hike to Glymur, which is the highest waterfall in Iceland. We had heard it is a bit of a hike and came prepared for that. Figuring that we could comfortably allocate 1 hour and still make the 6 pm deadline to turn in the rental car, we were discouraged by the sign said it was a 2 1/2 or 3 hour hike. So we gave up and continued to Reykjavík.

After checking into our hotel, we toured several of the local souvenir shops, but didn’t find much of interest. Since our lunch had been fairly big, we opted for a local favorite: the Bæjarins Beztu hot dog stand. Their hot dogs are said to be Iceland’s national food. The hot dog was very good – it came topped with sweet mustard, a mayonnaise-like cream, and on top of something crunchy (perhaps fried onions). We followed this with traditional Icelandic desserts: twisted donuts and pancakes (which are actually more like crèpes) at the Café Paris nearby.

Celeste and Jim after finishing their hot dogs

This article is part of a series about our recent vacation in Iceland. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.