Day 12 Solitude

We only have one full day in Iceland, so we are just going to hang out in the city and see how it's changed since our last visit. My plan for the morning is a self guided tour of street art, and a walk to an art installation that forms a hill with a view back into the city. My phone's plan is "ha ha fuck you, I am no longer a cell phone" which was an interesting choice. I had wifi, but no cellular data so Bill had to figure out the tour on the spot as the only one of us with a working version of the internet. 

It was cold and windy and we were definitely walking through the pedestrian friendly portion of the harbor, not the back sides of warehouses with gates to keep cars out. We did find the hill, and the wind tried it's best to throw us into the harbor while we climbed the narrow stone pathway that was somehow full of small children even though no one else was around. 

It was a good view, but at some point, I just decided I was done being cold and having my plans thwarted so I went back to the hotel to troubleshoot my phone and take a tour of the hotel spa. The fucking phone had turned off my sim card for some reason. Once I was on wifi, this wasn't hard to diagnose. Well, once I was on wifi and had scrolled sufficiently to get past the idiotic AI answer to not my question. I hate technology and want to go back to paper maps. 

The spa was great, steam room, sauna, and a giant hot stone all in the same place and entirely to myself. I did the circuit a few times, then stepped out into their seating area to enjoy tea and snacks. Then did it all again. 

Now properly warmed up and relaxed, I met back up with Bill to wander the more pedestrian friendly part of the city and stick my head into whatever shops looked interesting. We found Orr, a jewelry store I'd gotten a cool necklace at last visit - their current selection isn't my style, but glad to see they are still around. 

This whole area feels like it has way more shops and cafes than we remember. I did not end up purchasing anything other than a belt from Reykjavik Raincoats (I am a small there for future reference). If I had the luggage space for a puzzle, something from Hjarta Reykjavikur would likely also have been purchase. 

Eventually, we wander into another bar, pretty much at random, and get some excellent cocktails and advise on other bars to hit. The bartender is very young, but has his shit together in terms of craft. The owner is apparently a UA grad as well. We also meet some tourists from Colorado who are at the tail end of their first visit to Iceland. 

This was followed by a trip to Jungle Bar, where the cocktails were good, but the bartender was so insistent on boring attractive women with his talk of fluid dynamics simulations that he didn't get around to chatting up the engineer and computer scientist who would actually have engaged on the topic. 

Next we stopped for dinner at a vegetarian restaurant and then it was time for me to laze about some more with a book in the hotel room. Five cocktails and a full belly apparently being some kind of hard limit for me. Here's my street art photos from throughout the day:

Reykjavik-a-go-go (Day 12)

Today is our day to explore Reykjavik. We were here 15 years ago, time to figure out how this town how changed. Our morning mission is to find a piece of land art that didn't exist last time we were here called the pufa. The hill is super obvious from our hotel, but as we walk towards it, it becomes ever more elusive. 

On the way we stop to take in some mural artwork. As we get closer, the environment becomes more and more industrial. There is not a giant hill, until we turn a corner and there is. We climb it, discover is wind dried fishy treats at the top and check our mental checklist. 

Afterwards we explore this part of Reykjavik that wasn't really a touristy portion of the city last time we were here. I can't say we were impressed. This is my best guess on how this played out. The weather in Iceland can be dicey. During the winter it's down-right punishing. What you need is some in-door tourist attractions that can amuse visiting families. Let's install those in our warehouse district. We can have a lava show, a volcano show, a northern light show, a virtual fly over of the island. These are obviously not attractions aimed at us. I kind of find it borderline offensive to fly all the way to an island and then sit in a theater and what a virtual representation of the island. Like, why did you even come here in the first place!?! But, again I feel these attractions are not aimed at me. 

After our morning stroll, Dawn retires to the hotel to take advantage of the spa facilities while I strike out to take advantage of Reykjavik's coffee shops. A couple of hours later we join up and do a bit of window shopping along Reykjavik's pedestrian shopping corridor. Ah, this is more like the Reykjavik I remember. Sure, there are more souvenir shops than I remember, but there are also some interesting Nordic design shops to visit. 

As the afternoon turns into the late afternoon it's time to turn our attention to cocktails. One of the things that has definately changed about Reykjavik is it's cocktail culture. Before cocktails were rare and now there are many-many options. We stop by a random local bar (Einstok) that is advertising happy hours and order a couple of drinks. The bartender turns out to be pretty cool and we asking him about other cocktail options. He points us to Jungle Bar (which was already on my list) and Vedur. 

After Einstok we hunt down an Icelandic hotdog. Their hotdogs are made with lamb and superior to US hotdogs, we are not disappointed. Then we go to Jungle Bar and have a delightful set of cocktails. 

After that we try out a vegetarian restaurant called Mama Reykjavik that had a promising menu. Man, this place smells amazing. The food is good too. I get a West African peanut curry and am very pleased. 

After dinner, Dawn retires to the hotel to read while I make my way to Vedur, where I have another delightful round of cocktails and chat up the local bartenders about working in the industry. As they start to get busy I bow out and make my way back to the room. We've been lucky to have great weather while we're in Iceland. During our layover to the Faroe Island we stopped here for a few hours and it was downright cold. Today the sun has been out and walking around town has been a joy. 

Reykjavik, you've changed, but you're still alright. Thanks for a delightful day.

Day 11 The Long Drive

I woke up stupid early today and enjoyed one last long stretching routine with the harbor view. This morning, we leave Klaksvik and the Faroe Islands, but first we'll do a bit of sight seeing on Vagar, the island we started on. 

We head for Gasadalur for yet more waterfall viewing, and this is the longest drive we've done, taking slightly more than an hour and a half. Google Maps helpfully offers to save us 3 minutes by rerouting us through a ~$50 toll tunnel, but I add a few stops to the route to force the software to actually use the fucking route I fucking selected. We walk out to a scenic view: 

Puffin Island off the coast

We then take a longer walk back that loops through the village before getting back in the car. 

The Drangarnir that's on basically every brochure for the country is off this island. Getting to it involves both boating and hiking so we gave it no serious consideration. Turns out it's visible from the road we're on, so we stop a few times to get different vantage points before hitting a gas station and turning in the rental car. 

In the rental car parking lot, a very helpful man that we hope actually works for Enterprise checks us in (we got the email receipt about 30 minutes later) and then we are all set to hang out in the tiny airport with all the hotdogs and coffee one could want. We are headed to Reykjvik next, which is also hotdog & coffee country, but I apparently could not wait a few hours. Faroes hotdogs are twice as long as the buns, which are hollowed in the middle, forming a pocket that's only open at one end. Sauce gets sprayed in the hole, then the dog goes in, leaving you with a hand held that isn't trying to fall out the entire time you eat it. 

An uneventful flight later, we were in Iceland, headed for the city via Fly Bus. We're staying at a fancy hotel right on the harbor, so the water views from our windows continue. Between credit card rewards and hotel offers, we have a decent amount of credit to spend on food and drinks at the hotel, so we take the opportunity to get cocktails from the restaurant and ask the bartender for recommendations. We walked around the city a bit, finding the cocktail bar he recommended, Tipsy, which had a DJ and happy hour specials. Bill may have thrown his first cocktail all over both of us, but aside from that, great stop. 

We found the recommended restaurant, but the menu heavily featured cream cheese, so we kept looking, soon happening upon Torfan, which had some great options, including reindeer carpaccio and roasted lamb. I was pretty tired at this point, so I went to bed while Bill checked out the secret bar in the hotel.

Last Morning in the Faroes (Day 11)

Sadly, our time in the Faroes is drawing to a close and today we need to catch a plane to Reykjavik. We're laying over in Iceland for nearly two days to get a chance to visit the city on the backend of this trip. It will be interesting to see how the city has changed since we visited Reykjavik some 15 years ago. 

Even though Klaksvik is in the north-east part of the Faroes and the airport in Sorvagur is in the west part of the islands, the drive is still barely more than an hour. On our way across the islands we're trying to drink in the stunning scenery one last time. 

Since our flight isn't until 2:00 we also have a bit of time to do some sight seeing on Valgar. One of the "must do" sights is a waterfall called Mulafossur in the village of Gasadalur. As promised, the waterfull is amazing and looks like something that would be created for a fantasy village in a movie or video game. 

From Gasadalur we're also able to see one of the Faroe Islands that we're not going to get to visit: Mykines. As far as I can tell this island is synonymous with puffins. The island is basically a big bird sanctuary. It can only be reached by boat and they control how many people can visit the island and require that a guide chaperones you while you're out there. While I'm sure seeing puffins would be cool, there just wasn't time to fit it into this trip. On the way back we hunt for a pullover to try and photograph another popular site of Vagar island, the Drangarnir sea arch.When doing research for our trip we found boat tours offering to take you out to the sea arch and to strategic scenic view points around the sea arch. 

Even from the road this is still a cool site. I bet it is truly impressive as you get closer to it. Lastly, before we head to the airport, we fill up the rental car. After figuring out how the island's gas stations work earlier in the trip this goes smoothly. As does dropping the car off at the airport. 

One intriguing thing is checking your bag for your flight is completely automated at the airport. You can scan your boarding pass to print your luggage tag. Then you put your bag on a conveyor belt and scan the luggage tag and away it goes. No waiting on a person. Which is neat, but as Dawn later noted we were able to get on our plane to Iceland without a single person checking our ID's. As long as you have a valid boarding pass you can scan yourself through the flying process. 

The flight to Iceland is fast and smooth clocking in at an hour and forty minutes. Once we reclaim our bags we need to navigate the bus system to get from the international airport, which is 45 minutes outside of Reykjavik to the city central. Fortunately Dawn has bought us tickets and done the research so I get to mostly follow her around and zone out on buses. The only hiccup is that Dawn's duffle bag was damaged on the flight to Iceland and it's handle will no longer extended... which makes rolling it to the bus and from the bus stop to the hotel a bit of an ordeal. 

Once we get checked into our hotel room I'm able to dissemble the handle enough to get it functional again. Our hotel room as view of the harbor, so we're three-for-three for harbor view on this vacation. This view is probably the least impressive of the set, but I'm glad to know our vacation habit of waking up and winding down with the sea will continue. 

After catching our breath we head down to the hotel lobby and grab a cocktail at the bar. The hotel has giving us a daily credit because we booked with Chase and the lady who checked us in advised that the credit will expire each night, so should find a way to take advantage of it while we can. After our welcome to Iceland cocktail we head out to the streets of Reykjavik. Go to Tipsy bar, where I promptly spill half my drink over Dawn and myself when the bottom of my Nick and Nora glass catches my cellphone. 

For dinner we ultimately settled on Torfan Veitingahus for Nordic cuisine. We got cod tongue and reindeer starters. Dawn got the lamb and I got the fish of the day and both were great. I can't tell if it is my imagination or not, but the city feels like it is buzzing more than last time we were here. Maybe it's the part of town we're in or maybe the city has evolved in the last 15 years.

After Dawn decides to turn in for the evening I sneak down to the hotels speakeasy turned members club.  Access to this bar is included in our stay.  I have to scan my hotel card to make a door open.  I'm rewarded with a bar playing jazz music and a only a single other couple visiting.  After awhile they leave and I have the bar to myself. The bartender is attentive and talkative.  The vibe is very agreeable and I'm at home in a wonderful experience. 

Day 10 It’s Pronounced Teatime

This morning, we didn't set an alarm, but still got up early and went to the hiking trail just above town. The road was of questionable repair, so we parked about a km before the trailhead and just walked a bit further. This trail is far steeper than anything we've done so far, but the views are amazing. 

We managed to get there and back again without getting covered in mud as well. We then walked to a different bakery, which turned out to not actually be open, but pointed us to the grocery store selling their goods. The items at the grocery store looked good but were far to large a portion for use on this, the last full day here. So we walked back to the bakery we've visited previously and got entirely different pastries to take back and relax with coffee and rye bread at the apartment. 

I didn't get any pictures, but the bird watching from our apartment has been pretty great. We've seen several of the ones from the sign we saw in Torshavn. As the tide comes in and out, the come pick at whatever is left on the shore. 

Our next stop is the liquor store, but this time to return bottles. There is a fun machine you feed bottles and cans to with a conveyor belt that automatically sorts and calculates a payment for returning each. Then it shoots out a receipt to take into the store so they can credit your card. Far more fun than I expected from recycling. 

We also hit a different bakery that opened at 1PM and Bill tried on some clothes at a shop full of Danish brands. Our only structured plan for the day was afternoon tea. I'd seen a brochure for this place at the cafe and it sounded like fun. 

The location is a replica of a house built by national hero, Nólsoyar Páll, and named after his wife, Marin Malenu, a Klaksvik woman who got much of the northern island population vaccinated against small pox. The woman running the place also owns the cafe, which is named after Nólsoyar's smuggling ship, which he used to defy Danish officials by bringing Faroes goods to other markets. His entire story is wild, he brought a case to court in England against an Englishman who sank his boat, arguing that just because Denmark was occupied by France, that did not mean the Faroe Islands were allied with the French. He won, got a new ship, and then was lost at sea, likely to a battle with a Norwegian privateer hired by corrupt officials from Torshavn. 

We also got to hear about local building developments, a cooking school, some history from the brewery/distillery in town (and a bad idea of moving it from the waterfront to make room for hotel parking - the town was build around the brewery, why would you then make it move). And also try lamb several different ways, fermented, roasted, as sausage, and testicles. All in all, quite a good stop. 

After that, we went to a local wool spinning club that claimed to have events every Thursday night, but was closed. Instead, we hit the local pub. I asked for a cocktail menu and the bartender assured me that she could make me anything I wanted. I immediately called her bluff, asking for something with aquavit, a nonstarter. Instead we just ordered shots, trying more of the Einar's spirits, including their quite lovely peated whiskey - Islay on the nose with an almost caramel finish. This was the last full day here. Sadly I feel like we're just getting into vacation mode. I guess next time we'll have to take a whole month!

Klaksvik Staycation (Day 10)

Today is our last full day in the Faroe Islands. Instead of hopping in the car and visiting somewhere else, we're going to spend the day in and around Klaksvik. From the jump, we can tell it's going to be another beautiful day. The plan for the morning it take the car up to the top of Klaksvik and then hop out and do a hike the the local visitor info kiosk lady recommended. 

 The hike is supposed to be 90 minutes round trip. The information placard says the hike is easy and recommended for children. I suspect Faroese children must be robust and immune to steep inclines. I can imagine a version of the hike where the wind is whipping around you constantly, but today the weather is glorious and it's views at the top are amazing as promised. 

Once we return to town we're on a mission to find pastries. There is a bakery that we haven't tried yet, so we make that our goal. Unfortunately, when we get there they look closed (no baked goods in the display cases) but there are people in the building. I poke my head in and inquire if they are open and they tell us that they're selling their baked goods in the small grocery store across the street. We check out the grocery store and find the baked goods. Everything is a full cake or jelly roll and we decide nothing is enticing enough to buy something that we're going to have to throw half of out. 

Once again, Amarant saves the day. We walk back there and get a cookie and a slice of cake and then return to the apartment. I make a decent pot of coffee, slice and toast some rye bread (also from Amarant) and we have a bite to eat. 

After walking around town for a bit, we have our afternoon event which is a tea and traditional Faroese snacks at Marin Malena. The tea room is named after a famous Klaksvik woman from the early 1800's who was instrumental in laying the groundwork for Faroese independence. The tea room is a reproduction of the original house which was located just a few meters away (in what is now a road). The experience is part history, part high tea, and part traditional Faroese foodways preservation. 

The person in charge of running the tea room also owns/runs the Cafe Frida located next door. She explained the history and importance of Nolsoyar Poul and Marin Malena to Fareose independence and it's obvious that this whole thing is a passion project for her. The space is charming, the teas are good, but the real star of the show (for me at least) is the traditional Faroese snacks. 

Afterwards the tea the owner welcomes us to just hang out and ask questions, so we start to inquire about Klaksvik itself. It's always fun when you can get a local to dish on their town. There is a lot of building going on around the harbor, but she says no one can follow the plan because it keeps changing. It seems that Klaksvik is trying to embrace the fact that outside of Torshavn they are the number two destination for tourist (points to self). I detect that there is a local struggle between evolving Klaksvik into a town that welcome tourist and wholesale replacing what is here to be more tourist friendly. The owner has opinions on the correct path. I hope they get it right, because this town is charming and doesn't need to be something it's not. It will be interesting to see how things shake out over the next five years or so. 

Tea takes us to nearly 5:00. After which we walk up to this studio on the edge of town that claims to teach traditional Faroese wool making crafts on Thursday nights. Alas, they are not open. Perhaps that is a tourist season thing. Since it is Thursday, that means bars might be open. Bars only seem to be open Thursday night (limited to a few hours), Friday night (longer hours), Saturday night (extended hours) and sometimes on Sunday in the Faroes islands. I've not seen a single bar open Monday - Wednesday. We try one place that appears to be closed. The second one is open, but is a very simple pub. They have beer and some local bottles on a shelf behind the bar. We ask to try some of the local bottles since we weren't able to arrange a distillery tour while we were in town.  We more or less assemble our own local tasting to the semi-frustration of pub owners who are used to slinging pints to cigarette smokers.

Day 9 The Seal Woman

This was another early start as the ferry for Kalsoy leaves at 8AM. It's just around the harbor, about 3 minutes away - we've been watching it come back and forth for the last few days. This is the ferry Bill has been the most concerned about because he read that locals get priority so you may not be allowed on. And he does not want to get stranded. The tourist information office assured us that as long as we booked in advance, we were guaranteed a spot. Of course, having waited until last night to book, our options are limited. So we're heading out early and not coming back until 5:30. 

The ferry was full on the way out, so they were packing us as close together as possible to make room for as many cars as they could. On the Klaksvic side, the ferry backs up to the dock. On the Syðradalur side, the ferry goes straight in and the front of the boat lifts to let us drive forward out of the tiny craft.

 

Most of the cars immediately headed to the northmost village as this is where the hike to Kellur lighthouse begins. I suggested we stop at Mikladalur first to see the seal woman statue as that would get us a little out of sync with the rest of the hikers. The light wasn't great, but given weather here, who knows what cloud cover could be here at any moment: 

The building where you buy tickets for the hike also includes a Thai restaurant that's open 9 AM to 9PM. It is the only restaurant on the entire island. There is a cafe in Mikladalur that is only open during tourist season, but that starts next month. 

We headed up the steep gravel path - the challenging climb on this hike is definitely front loaded. This is the only hike we've had to pay for. It's very common for hiking trails through private land to either charge a fee or charge a fee and require a guide. We are not exactly outdoorsy folk, though, so the less adventurous public hikes to scenic overlooks have been more than sufficient until now. 

This one, in addition to spectacular views, can be done in a couple of hours. There are 3 to 4 primary viewing points. This first involved a stretch that was too narrow for Bill's comfort, so I headed out alone. 

Next up was the lighthouse itself, with it's own spectacular view:

There is also an even more narrow path to a viewpoint beyond the lighthouse, but we opted out of that particular bit. I'm pretty sure Bill would have had a panic attack just watching me do that one. 

Finally, along some spectacular bird covered cliffs is James Bond's grave. 

This section of the island was where he died in the latest Bond film - heavily CG to add an evil lair in place of the lighthouse, but recognizable in the film. 

We were closer to 3 hours mostly for taking some time to just sit and enjoy the views. And then it was lunch time. The restaurant is basically the living room of the farmhouse. The food is far better than it needs to be. My pad Thai had a good amount of fish sauce and Bill's basil pork was excellent. As we didn't have a tight timetable to get back to the ferry, we could also just sit and enjoy the meal, including an after lunch coffee. We also considered some candlesticks made by the local blacksmith, but neither of us actually uses the kind of candles they are meant for. 

We followed that up with a quick walk around the town of Trøllanes (translates to Troll Peninsula) which has a souvenir kiosk - the only shop open on the island. In spite of being tiny, it had a great selection of knitwear accessories (hats, gloves, socks) and the best postcard selection we've seen in the whole country. 

Next up, since we have plenty of time, we went back to the seal woman, now with much better light. The place was packed at this point, with 6 or 7 other tourists hanging about. The rocks were also considerably dryer, which meant more exploration along the shore now that they aren't super slick. 

Next up, we head back to the town with the ferry, where the public toilets have this amazing view: 

We are still well ahead of the ferry, but there is a free hiking path the the southern most lighthouse on the island, which we also do. This trail is not nearly as well travelled, and at some point I suggested that perhaps the sign about this "hiking path" is a prank pulled on tourists by the locals, but we do make it to the lighthouse. 

As we are hiking back, the earlier ferry is coming in for pick up. I guess it's good we couldn't get tickets as we would have probably missed it. Once we are back at the car, we only have about an hour left so we just sit and enjoy the view. I brought my knitting project along for just this eventuality. 

On the ferry ride, back, I got out of the car to enjoy the view from the sea. 

Once back in town, we went back to the bakery we tried yesterday and got way too much food. My bagel was great! 

We then retired to the apartment for an aquavit tasting, with one from Einar's, two from some place that uses Faroes water, but isn't produced here, and the remains of the ocean truffle bottle. We also split a cider from Einar's, which was good but much sweeter than expected. All in all, a full but not rushed day.