We’re back! We had such long and busy days in Iceland so when we got home we just we just went to bed. We are back in London now so we will be able to blog more. Before we talk about London again though, lets recap on some things we did in Iceland.

On Friday July 5th, we decided to drive over to the Reykjanes Peninsula. We made up a path to take around the area with various stops that we thought would be cool. For us planning this on our own with no real route to follow, I would say it was pretty successful! We woke up around 8:30 to pack our lunch and dinner and hit the road by 9:30. The drive was absolutely beautiful! On one side of the road it looked like Mars. It was all rocks and dirt. On the other side it was all green, hilly, and full of wild flowers. It was so insane the contrast just on the other side of the road. It was something we have never experienced before. The views on the drive were so stunning. Some of our drive times were about 2 hours, but it only felt like a few minutes because we were all so captivated by the landscape. Our first stop of the day was near some mountains. This was on the side of the road that looked like Mars. While walking through there alone, it felt like we were living in a post-apocalyptic world. It was so neat. After that we drove just across the street and hiked up a little hill to get a view of all the wild flowers and beautiful green grass. It was very calming to walk through the grass. Our next stop was at a place called Brimketill, a lava rock pool. We were able to climb on these rocks and see a few little pools that have been created due to the beating waves. It was so beautiful up there. We loved just climbing on the rocks and watching the waves crash below us. Our fourth stop of the day was at a bridge called “the bridge between Continents.” It is a bridge that connects the North American and Eurasian plates. It is one of the only places you are able to do this. It was a really cool experience. We then stopped in a town called Grindavik. It is a really cute little town. While we were there we saw the tallest lighthouse in Iceland. It made for a very pretty photo because the sky was so blue and clear that day! We then headed to our favorite stop of the day. One that we had not originally planned but added on last minute. We went to the Hafnarberg sea cliffs. We were the only people out there so it was so peaceful. We hiked about a mile and a half to the cliffs. It was so gorgeous. We stood way up on the cliffs for some really great pictures. It was so beautiful walking along the cliffs and looking out at the ocean. After we were done exploring the cliffs we walked over to the ocean. It was a stunning black sand beach. We were able to touch the water and it was SO cold! We ended up walking to some sand dunes to get an even prettier view of the landscape around us. It was there we noticed we could hardly see the car and realized we had a long hike to the car. After about a 3 mile hike (most of which in the sand) back to the car, we drove to our second to last stop of the day, the Gunnuhver hot springs. When we arrived we opened the car door and immediately shut it due to the horrid smell. We soon realized that we needed to get over it because it was going to smell like sulfur the whole time we were there. It was so worth the bad smell! It was like walking through clouds. It was amazing! We did get wet though, but the water was very warm, unlike the ocean. It was a really cool experience. After that we headed to our last stop, the place we had been planning on going to for months: the Blue Lagoon.

After checking into the Blue Lagoon, we headed up to the changing rooms to shower and put our suits on. It is mandatory to shower before going into the water. We then walked out to the lagoon and were amazed by how beautiful it was. The water was so warm (38 degrees Celsius or 100 degrees Fahrenheit) it felt incredible. We spent the first few minutes taking pictures in the water and exploring the lagoon. We then went to the bar in the water to order our included drink. We all got the local beer called Gull. It was probably the best beer we’ve ever had. We relaxed by the rocks drinking our beer before heading to the face mask bar. We were given a silica face mask which made us all look crazy. However, it felt so nice and made our skin so soft. We then just wandered around the water for a while. We sat in the shallow area watching the sun go down behind the mountains which so so pretty. Just before we left, we went over to the waterfall. The water felt so good on our backs. Sadly, it was already 11:30 (although it didn’t feel that late because the sun was still out) so we needed to get out of the water. On the drive back to the apartment we were all so tired from our long day, but we still enjoyed the beautiful views. We made it back to the apartment at 12:30 so we all showered, had a snack, and went straight for bed. It was such a long but incredible day! -SYD & SAM