Wednesday was our last full day in Iceland. Originally I’d thought of going west to see Snæfellsnes, which was a two-hour drive each way, but after talking to Ollie from Iceland while on the Israel trip about hot springs, he suggested Reykjadalur and we were set.

We had breakfast in Reykjavik at Sandholt, a fancy bakery that served breakfast. Most other open places were attached to hotels and we wanted something simple. The yoghurt and berries were nice too.

The drive to Reykjadalur was about 50 minutes and included a retrace of our steps and then a U-turn to get to because we hadn’t keyed in the right location to the GPS. Words were had but we eventually arrived.

The sky was grey but at least it didn’t rain. I’d assumed to hot springs were ‘right there’ and we could go from the car park to hot water in no time at all. But I read up on it the day before and that wasn’t the case.

We parked the car and set off with a growing number of people for a 45-60 minute hike up and down hills, beside waterfalls and flowing streams, and 100°C+ sulphuric pools and great wafts of sulphur dioxide.

Eventually we reached the hot springs part which has had a boardwalk put in on either bank to stop it from subsiding because it’s now a popular destination. 

We got changed into our boardies in roughly 9°C weather which wasn’t as cold as some other people there were making it out to be, even after getting out of the water. We stepped into the stream at a luke warm section, the stream strong enough to pull you along if you weren’t holding on.

We walked further up the stream and the water got hotter and hotter. It was like being in a hot spa without the chlorine. It was magic. We soaked for about an hour, also finding a spot where a separate cold trickle of water joined the stream and there was a nice mix between hot and cold.

This hot spring was just what I was after. We’d been to the Blue Lagoon last time, which is manmade and touristy, but this was outdoors and natural and I loved it.

After a while it was time to go. We got changed and hiked back. When we arrived back to our car, it was to find that there were now double the amount of cars so I was glad we went when we did. We drove back to the main town, had cod and chips in a fishmonger’s and sat in the window taking our time. I felt so relaxed.

We arrived back in Reykjavik around about 2:30 or so, parked the car near the bit cathedral, and then chilled out in our room in the afternoon. After being go-go-go for the past few days, it was nice to have some downtime.

In the evening we went to Rey and Oli’s place for dinner. We’d met them on the Israel tour so it was great to catch up. They brought out fermented shark and Brennivin (an Icelandic schnapps also called Black Death) as the pre-dinner snack. I took a small piece of shark and it was hard enough to get that down. Definitely an acquired taste. The Brennivin helped with the taste.

Dinner was lovely, lots of chats, and time flew, talking a lot about travel, which is always fun. We bid farewell at 10:30 and walked back to our accommodation, finished packing and slept ready for the next day’s flight to Toronto.

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