Hope (for hot) springs eternal

After a night in the car, we were a bit stiff and enjoyed stretching our legs on a morning hike through Vatnajokull National Park.  We were at one tip of it, near Skaftafell.  Our hike first took us past some minor waterfalls (such as Hundafoss and Magnúsarfoss) and then out to a more famous one, Svartifoss.  This beautiful waterfall is surrounded by curious hexagonal blocks of stone (reminiscent of some I had seen in Scotland).  Those around the waterfall were broken off such that only the top portions remained, giving the waterfall the odd likeness of an organ.  

From Svartifoss, we continued east to Sjónarnípa, where a cliff provides a fantastic view of the Skaftafellsjökull glacier and adjacent mountains.  

We the returned along Austurbrekker to the Skaftafell Visitor Centre, feeling small amidst the mountains.  Oddly, upon returning we ran into another couple that we had seen yesterday that the other glacier as well as at various gas stations.  Such is the fate of winter tourists who strike out from the city; everyone is on a fairly similar schedule.

Jumping in the car, we headed slightly further east, to Jokulsarlon, a beautiful ice lagoon.  If you've seen Die Another Day, the ice palace for the Icarus exhibition was built upon this site.  It's gorgeous; chunks of blue-green ice float in the frigid water.  White ice lay beached on the black volcanic pebbles. Melt revealed cruel scimitar projections off of icebergs.  

We walked down the beach, exploring the vastness of the lagoon.  After passing around a hill into another inlet, we spotted black lumps on one of the larger icebergs.  We had found seals!  They lay clumsily on their sides, seeming embarrassed by their own awkwardness on land.  Their little sausage bodies ended in two flipped feet, which they pressed together In a point.  Heads raised, they log rolled into the water, where they were suddenly agile and powerful.  Pairs of seals played quite close to shore, often swimming close to examine us with the same curiosity that caused us to stare back. 

Josh and I had hoped to take a boat tour around the lagoon, but due to the melting, there are too many icebergs in the lake and we were confined to shore.  We wondered if this had any effect in concentrating the seals near the shore, because there were few icebergs that looked big and flat enough for a large group of them.

At last, we headed back west, starting a slow and stop-filled trip back toward the capital.  Along route 1, we stopped at a few places we had passed on our journey out, namely Skogafoss

and Eyjafjallajökull (known lovingly as E15, because it's name is E followed by 15 letters), the famous volcano from the 2010 eruption.  

From there, we turned to head toward Thingvellir, where we planned to spend the night, but had a better idea.  What about finding a natural hot spring?  From everything we had read, most towns have one or two that are regularly used by locals.  Luckily, we had done a bit of research while in Reykjavik on local hot springs and had jotted down the very vague directions given on one blog.  We tried to enter the town name in our GPS and found nothing, so we entered the largest nearby town and hoped for the best.  Riding down route 30, we were about to give up when we saw a street sign on one side with the name of the town supposedly containing the hot spring and turned.  We tried several turns before finally finding our way to the hot spring.  But victory was ours at last.  This hot spring had one deep pool, next to which a small hut had been built for changing and hanging up your clothes.  We sank into the deepest pool and felt our tight muscles relax.  It felt amazing.

I now present to you the definitive directions to the hot spring in the hamlet of Hruni, Iceland:

- If you're traveling on route 1, as we were, take route 30 north

- Keep going, following signs toward Fluoir (the "o" is actually a weird d but I don't have that letter)

- JUST before you hit Fluoir, you should see a sign for route 344 on the right that says "Hruni".  Turn right.

- Follow the main road past several other small villages.  Don't turn off anywhere until you see the next sign on the right that says "Hruni".  Turn R (this is Hrunavegur).

- Head towards the church, but then pass the small road on the left leading toward it.

- Instead, take the road on the R (Solheimavegur) and drive down it until you see a blue sign on the left with a "no camping" symbol on it.  Park here.

- Grab your swim suit and walk over the hill. You'll see a path; follow it and it will lead you (after a 2-4 minute walk) to the hut and the hot spring.

Note: "vegur" seems to mean street, so many of the signs just say the first part of the word without the vegur part.  Don't be put off.

Refreshed from our soak, we drove the rest of the way to Thingvellir, drove on to the camp grounds, and found one bathroom that, though closed for the winter, had fortunately been locked open.  A great end to a great day.

Spotted: Headlights.  By Icelandic law (according to SADcars and seemingly verified by our experience), headlights must always be on while driving.  Perhaps due to the greater use or perhaps because they're on more we notice it, but many cars only had one functioning headlight.

Suggested listening: "One Headlight" by The Wallflowers.  Great song.

Spotted 2: Perhaps this is the reason behind the headlight law: Icelandic weather is very variable, leading to the common advice, "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes".  They even have it on magnets!  Makes me feel like I'm back in Seattle.