Iceland - reykjavik & Akureyri

This was from our cruise on board the Adventure of the Seas out of Southampton UK, to Iceland and Norway.

Iceland, finally. After spending more than 2 days at sea, we were finally reaching Iceland. That took some time! Hey, we are cruising, not flying. Chill.

The Cruise Compass

The ship was docking. This was the port. We were almost there now.

Long but orderly lines to get off the ship.

Yups, all want to get off the ship.

The Iceland Visitor centre, just as you get off the ship. We would have to wait here for the pickup. Now, here is where we hit some delays. The Enterprise Car rental staff was there waiting with several name plates. She wanted to wait for all the passengers with pre-bookings to arrive before bringing us to the office.

So we waited. It was 2:30pm. And we waited till 3pm, yet the last couple didn't show up. Obviously, the rest of us who were there were getting impatient. Seriously, they shouldn't penalize those who turned up on time!

So the company sent another van from the office to wait for the last couple, and ferried us there, after we had waited for about 30 minutes. Then, the next surprise was the car rental office was much further from the port than what they had told us over email. They said 5 to 7 minutes. In reality, it was a good 15 to 20 minutes even, with traffic!

The rental car, Volvo XC90.

Now, another interesting issue cropped up with the GPS. Yes, I rented a GPS unit. (It was a Garmin Nuvo 40) The problem was that the language and alphabet is Icelandic, which has more and different characters compared to English. So, we had a bit of the problem trying to find the destinations on the GPS.

If you are doing self-drive, it is important to plan ahead and to familiarize yourself with the routes and waypoints. I even printed out maps from Google Maps. Do not just rely on the GPS alone.

After figuring out the GPS, we were on our way. Off we went!

Ice on the road. Be careful!

Took us about 45 minutes to get to Thingvellir. We met many of our fellow cruise passengers there. They were on ship tours.

The toilet was an interesting experience. It cost 200Icelandic Kroner per person to enter, and they accepted credit cards!

This video is worth a watch, if you are into toilets. Self-service, using credit card to pay. Cool.

[YOUTUBE]GRY-6KId5FQ[/YOUTUBE]

We didn't spend a lot of time at Thingvellir. Just took a few photos from the American side and moved on. Our next stop was Gullfoss.

Gullfoss Waterfalls would be the main thing to see for our brief Golden Circle drive.

The drive was fairly easy to navigate and the roads were largely straight, like this. I often had to overtake cars. (Alright, I was going quite quickly).

The Highways are 2 lane highways. The terrain is rather uninviting. This place must really freeze over during winter. Right now, this is summer and day-light hours are really long. As the sun would set only at around midnight, and rise again at around 2:30am, we were not afraid that there would be no light to drive.

The carpark.

Met fellow passengers from the cruise, during a ship organized tour. I felt happy that I had caught up with at least some of the ship's tours, though I assume they had visited more places and probably stopped for a bit longer.

From the parking area (visitor centre), you have to walk along this nicely laidout wooden plank path to get to the waterfall.

A signboard on the way to the waterfall.

As I had wrote previously, still pictures would not be sufficient for showing you this waterfall. So here is a video I made. Enjoy! (Pardon the crazy guy talking)

[YOUTUBE]_C17B2X_eBA[/YOUTUBE]

I talked about steps. Here they are. It may be challenging for some to tackle these steps, especially if you had to walk up!

Be careful on the slippery grounds. But they aren't too bad. Just be careful.

It is definitely worthwhile to make the trek to the far end of the walking area to get as close as you can to Gullfoss. How else to get so close?

Take note that this place is NOT wheelchair accessible. However, I think most of us would be able to do it. Just be very careful.

We spent some time at Gullfoss, taking all the photos, videos and just admiring the waterfalls. The weather wasn't good (cloudy and windy) but at least it wasn't raining, not until we were almost back the car. So we are thankful.

After Gullfoss, the next (and final stop for us) would be Geysir and Strokkur. This tourist attraction was just a 10 minute drive from Gullfoss, in fact we passed it on the way to Gullfoss. It was easy to get to.

Signposts.

Welcome to Geysir. Actually, Geysir isn't active anymore, because some people threw rocks into her and they couldn't unblock her. Sad.

Strokkur, however, erupts every 8 to 10 minutes. So you are almost certain to witness an explosion when you are there.

See this video:

[YOUTUBE]zMb6zcc3Bxw[/YOUTUBE]

Inside the visitor center for Geysir/Strokkur. They had a cafe, shopping area and complimentary toilets!

You could buy a can of fresh air for your friends. Seriously, those cans felt really empty, as if they contained only air. Oh.

Anyway, it was time to head back to the ship, after we were done with Geysir. So I drove back using the same route. It was more than 100km. Took us more than an hour.

Check out this video of the drive -

[YOUTUBE]S-cPJceA6z4[/YOUTUBE]

We arrived back at port at around 8:30pm and we were eager to board the ship to have dinner. Windjammer would be closing at 9pm. For some reason, many tour coaches came back at the same time (8:30pm).

There were long queues to get onboard! While most people were patient, several passengers were very angry and one particular lady was shouting at the top of her head - "This is a disgrace! This is a disgrace!". Well, I guess that it didn't help that it was getting cold.

Even before her shouting, I had noticed the Staff Captain trying to manage the overall situation. There were already two gantries being used to enter the ship. I don't think the ship had more than 2 gantries.

Anyway, we managed to board in good time and had a good dinner at the Windjammer. Open air carpark from the ship.

The next morning, we decided to start the drive early, since the sun would rise from 2:30am! The plan was to have a quick breakfast at the Cafe Promenade at about 6am and set out shortly after.

When we got to Cafe Promenade, we were a bit stunned. Windjammer was not yet open and this was the only place to get food. Where was the food? Fortunately, this was the 10 to 15 minute window where they were clearing the food from the previous evening and putting in new food for breakfast. We waited about 10 minutes for the fresh food to be delivered. In the meantime, we had our coffee.

This morning, I didn't want to be too ambitious. We had to settle the car return and get back to the ship in good time. The plan was to drive south of Reykjavik.

It got rather foggy. And then the Highway 42 became a gravel road! Yes, that made the drive a bit more challenging, but fun. I have never driven in these conditions before (I live in sunny and rainy Singapore).

Here is a video clip -

[YOUTUBE]e9oDgvwVIlg[/YOUTUBE]

We drove right past Kliefavartn. I didn't spot any visitor center or place to park, unlike previously at Gullfoss or Thingvellir or Geysir. Maybe it was very foggy but I really didn't see any. So we drove right through. There weren't any other cars either, maybe it was too early?

Anyway, we drove on, past the southern village of Grindavik, before heading north towards the Blue Lagoon. There was really nothing much in Grindavik, at least from the main road. So we just drove through and headed north on Highway 43 to the Blue Lagoon.

Our rental car parked at the large Blue Lagoon carpark.

The Blue Lagoon sign. Yes, we were at the right place, though I couldn't see the lagoon yet.

Even though the place was closed, there was a small area you could walk into for free, on the left side of the main entrance. You could see and touch the waters from here.

I made 2 short videos:

Part 1

[YOUTUBE]QBRGudwLWlU[/YOUTUBE]

Part 2

[YOUTUBE]fgPasE4Zj2g[/YOUTUBE]

After Blue Lagoon, we made our way back to Reykjavik. This was the route we took.

Back in the city, we headed to Hallgrímskirkja, the largest church (Lutheran) in Iceland. The architecture is rather distinctive.

A short video

[YOUTUBE]XNtD0jBsV5g[/YOUTUBE]

Take note that the city center is a 40 to 45 minute walk from the ship, each way. We did see quite a number of ship passengers doing the walk.

After this stop, we visited a shopping center called Kringlan, then fueled up the car, returned the car and went back to the ship.

Overall, for Reykjavík, Iceland, if you want to do a self-drive from the cruise port, I would strongly recommend that you rent from a company that delivers the car to you at port and allows you to drop off at the port. It would be much more convenient that way, even though you would have to pay a premium for it.

We had that option, however, we found Enterprise rates to be substantially cheaper (about 10,000 ISK or 90USD) so we went with Enterprise because they told us that the ride from the port to the rental company office was 5 to 7 minutes. As I wrote earlier, the ride is no less than 15 minutes and the route so confusing that I got lost trying to back-track from the car rental office.

Since as cruise passengers we are short on time, go with the companies that do the pick-up and drop-off right at the port itself. It is worth the extra.

Do read my blog posts for many more pictures -

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/06/adventure-of-seas-day-5-reykjavik.html

We head to Akureyri, Iceland. The Adventure of the Seas have these touchscreen displays installed now.

The sail-in was beautiful.

Great views from the aft balcony.

View of the port. Look at the cloud cover.

Here are some videos of the sail-in.

First part

[YOUTUBE]uct5Jh1k5I0[/YOUTUBE]

Second part

[YOUTUBE]aup84cjxWsU[/YOUTUBE]

Third part

[YOUTUBE]0LpOoF3kIE0[/YOUTUBE]

Just outside the Akureyri docks

[YOUTUBE]e2x9ezqrzLo[/YOUTUBE]

The ship arrived in Akureyri on schedule, at about 8:30am in the morning.

Passengers disembarking.

A map of the region

Cruise ship passengers boarding the coaches - ship organized tours.

Similar to Reykjavik, we had pre-booked a car from Enterprise car rental. Similar to the Reykjavik, the chaps in Akureyri told us that the office was just a very short drive away, not more than 5 minutes. With the experience from Reykjavik, we were now mentally prepared that the rental office may be some distance away.

The good news was that the Enterprise car rental was much, much nearer. First, the chap was waiting for us at the port gate and we could move off once we arrive. We didn't have to wait for other renters (not sure why). Second, the office was indeed less than 5 minutes. I reckon a short 3-min drive and the route was very easy, so I could back-track very easily.

Our rental car was a huge Ford Explorer. This vehicle was even bigger than the Volvo XC90. This must be the biggest vehicle I have driven in my life.

After collecting the car, we drove back to port to pick up the family. And then we were off, to Godafoss Waterfalls!

The distance from the port to Godafoss was about 50km. The drive to Godafoss was very scenic.

We had to go around the Fjord and cross some hill (or was it mountain) before going down into valleys. Breathtaking stuff.

Here is a video -

[YOUTUBE]7rBBvZRTQlo[/YOUTUBE]

It took us almost an hour to reach Godafoss. We couldn't go too quickly. There was traffic, and also the roads were somewhat undulating.

The place was easy to spot. There were clear signs. There was also a visitor centre and I could see the tour coaches from a distance.

The sight that greeted us.

Godafoss. You could get very close. Don't fall off!

Still pictures can't do this place any justice. Here is the video I made.

[YOUTUBE]Ul-y9C6ko0Y[/YOUTUBE]

We spend some time at the Godafoss Waterfalls (see part 2). When we were done, we got back to the car and drove to the visitor's centre. By foot, it was about 800M away. Here is car parked outside the visitor's centre.

They sold souvenirs too, though I didn't see people buying any.

The cafe had some business. A cappucno cost 480ISK, or more than USD4.

A view of the foot bridge.

After a short break toilet break here, we would head back to Akureyri. When I first planned this trip, I had ambitiously thought that we could travel all the way to Lake Myvatn to view the sights. It was another 50km to the Lake from Godafoss. It would be tad too rush, I thought. So, let's chill and take it slow and easy. Also, my kids like waterfalls, but I'm not so sure they would like lakes.

The drive back to Akureyri was also scenic. We stopped at a lookout point on the opposite side of the Fjord (on the way back) to take some photos.

From Godafoss, it took us about an hour to get back to Akureyri. Thereafter, the town is really small, so it is not difficult to navigate. Even if you got lost, just go around a few times.

We made it to the Akureyri Botanical Gardens which was supposedly the northern most Botanical Gardens in the world! Parked the car in the lot. Ooops, not a very good way to park, but then again, I could hardly squeeze the Ford Explorer into a standard lot.

[YOUTUBE]z7P-SQwnkB4[/YOUTUBE]

The signboard at one of the entrances to the Gardens. Public park, free of charge.

Now, time for some flowers.

Adding some colour to my review.

Happy Birthday, to whoever is celebrating their birthday.

Oh, you're so intense!

You could see the ship from here. The gardens was within walk of the cruise port.

After spending about 30 minutes in the gardens, we drove back to the city centre, parked the car, and walked the pedestrianized main street.

Hotel Kea, at one end of the street.

Some signposts.

This was an Indian Curry Hut. I see that Indian food is all over the world.

This was the menu.

Some artwork on the side of a building.

A short video of the main street -

[YOUTUBE]J2tCOvalZ08[/YOUTUBE]

The street wasn't very long. Takes about 5 minutes to walk from one end to the other.

Thereafter, we returned the car and headed back to the ship. Here is another video of the port entrance, showing the easy pathway to walk into the town from the ship.

[YOUTUBE]bnTC5P3zy5o[/YOUTUBE]

Great review, great job with the pictures and videos!

Thank you for the great pictures and useful information ! we look forward to our visit in June 2015.

Eaglewar

I enjoyed the photos and videos. We are going to Iceland in June 2015, nice to get a preview.

Thanks for the photos and information.

I look forward to being in Iceland in June.

You have such a complete review. I am glad you decided to post the Iceland section in this message board, too. :)

Thank you for the great review! We'll be sailing on the Caribbean Princess to Iceland in September. We look forward to retracing some of your steps and seeing the beautiful sights.