April 1st

This morning it was time to say goodbye to our Icelandic friends. After many, many  tears and warm hugs the Finns and Norwegians headed for Keflavik. Hjördís had planned the bus route so that we could see as many fantastic sights as possible on the way.

Iceland had shown us its all sites during the week as to the weather. We had experienced heavy rains and winds as well as snowfalls, but today the sunny weather was perfect for enjoying the amazing landscapes. We could recognize many places we had visited on the way to Höfn, e.g. Vík, Reynisfjara and Skógafoss. We had a coffee break at the gas station in Skaftafell and a lunch break in Hvolsvöllur.

After having delicious meat soup we drove and drove, admiring the volcanoes Eyjafjallajökull and Hekla, lavafields, Icelandic horses, the change of coastline from black sand to rocks, snowcovered mountains etc. We were even able to see a part of the lavafield from the eruption last year.

We drove past the geothermal area and visited hot springs in Seltún and Gunnuhver. In Seltún we saw steam rising out and we could feel the hot soil under our feet and smell sulphur. In Gunnuhver the hot steam was spraying out of the soil, but the hot spring was not really erupting like a geysir. We also saw the geothermal plant there that uses the energy taken from the hot springs.

Our last stop was the Bridge between Continents in other words the place where the Eurasian plate and the North American plate diverged. After checking in at the BB Hotel Keflavik Airport we had a take-away dinner from the nearby restaurant.