Humera & Meagan Go to Iceland:Day 2- Exploring the Rekyjanes Peninsula

Day two starts out early on the morning of Thursday April 12, 2018. Meagan and I had a 10 AM appointment at Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa, however, first we needed to shower and drive an hour to our destination. 

Showering, such a simple task until you add geothermal heating into the mix. I should start by explaining that the cold water out of the tap in Iceland is pure and people are able to drink straight from it without a filter. Our hotel uses geothermal heating to heat the hot water which meant the water smelled like rotten eggs as you showered. No joke, I had PTSD after returning because smelling my body wash in the shower reminded me of the gross smell of the Iceland shower; I had to go buy new body wash to cope.

After lots of 'girl complaining' to each other about the water's smell, we got in the car on a windy, overcast morning that felt like 45 degrees Fahrenheit and drove out of the capital down the Rekyjanes Peninsula towards Grindavik, Iceland. 

Upon arriving at Blue Lagoon we raced to park and get in as quickly as possible because a bus full of tourist was also unloading. Laughing from excitement we walked through the pathway to the entrance of the building. The sides of the path we lain with Icelandic moss covered lava rocks piled about seven feet high. 

No matter the rushing to get inside the check-in line was almost out the door. Patiently waiting you could hear languages from all over the world excitedly chattering. By far the most touristy destination on our Iceland Bucket List we were too excited to care about the crowd because we were at one of the twenty-five wonders of the world.

Once checked in, changed and showered we headed out to to the geothermal pool. Only wearing our swimsuits we stepped outside into the cold. The water is an ice blue and steam rises off it as the hot 99-102 degree Fahrenheit water is exposed to the cold spring day. The water is rich in minerals such as sulfur and silica and is said to help cure skin diseases.

Geothermal Pool at Blue Lagoon 

Water around the main building at Blue Lagoon

After spending a good hour in the water, we decided we had pruned up enough to have gotten our $100 worth to get in. We showered, changed and decided to head to Gunnuhver Hot Springs.

Gunnuhver Hot Spring

Gunnuhver Hot Springs are located near the south western tip of the Rekyjanes Peninsula in Möðruvallavegur. Named Gunnuhver after legend states a female ghost was laid to rest in the area around four hundred years ago.  The mud pools take form where steam from boiling geothermal reservoir water emanates, condenses and mixes with surface water. Accompanying gases such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide make the water acid. This causes alteration of the fresh lava rock to clay.

Continuing our exploration of the southwest peninsula of Iceland we headed to the Bridge Between Continents next. On our way we stopped to watch the waves beat against the coast of Grindavíkurbær.

It was a fun experience to watch the Iceland weather change every few hours. While many question why anyone would want to spend their vacation in the cold wind the first two days, I thought experiencing the good and bad weather of Iceland made the trip authentic. 

Coast of Grindavíkurbær

When we arrived at the Bridge Between Continents in Reykjanesbær, Iceland it was pretty sparse of tourists. The Bridge Between Continents is a footbridge over a large fissure that provides clear evidence of the presence of a diverging plate margin. The bridge was built as a symbol for the connection between Eurasian and North America tectonic plates.

Bridge Between Continents

We walked over the bridge into the fissure which was composed of black sand and foot prints from the visitors before us. We looked at the rock formations before we decided to take 'basic' photos of us holding the bridge up.

Basic tourist photo of me 'holding' the bridge.

We decided to end the day with a visit to Thrihnukagigur volcano. Sadly, this is one of those times when selecting a location on Google Maps didn't get us where we wanted to go. Google Maps basically took us to the base of a massive volcano using a dirt road. The entire journey consisted of a lot of Meagan saying, "Are you sure we are going the right way?" and me replying "Google Maps says so." We arrived at our destination confused and really unsure about where we were. Not really sure if we even saw the volcano we went back to our hotel still happy because we had seen so many breath-taking natural wonders that day.