DAY 2 (Aug 1, 2019) - Explore Borgarfjörður area

HRAUNFOSSAR & BARNAFOSS WATERFALL

HAAFELL GOAT FARM

DEILDARTUNGUHVER HOT SPRINGS & Krauma Spa

VÍÐGELMIR LAVA CAVE

HRAUNFOSSAR & BARNAFOSS WATERFALL

A very short walk to the beautiful Hraunfossar

The trail continues along the water

The trail continues to Barnafoss

On our first day of officially planned fun, we had a really nice breakfast at the hotel. There was fresh bread, pate, deli meat, boiled eggs, cucumber, tomatoes, yogurt and lots of fruits. Yum! We then gathered our stuff and went to Hraunfosser and Barnafoss. They are both next to each other. The waterfall was beautiful. Hraunfosser looks like many many waterfalls in a row. Barnafoss was all about power with the strong current flowing off the mountain. Barnafoss has a sad story behind it. It’s name translate to mean “children’s waterfall.” The legend has it that the parents went to church one day and left the two children behind. When they came back, the kids were gone and all they found were tracks leading to the bridge of the waterfall. The mom got so mad, she destroyed the bridge so that other kids won’t fall into the waterfall ever again.

haafell goat farm

A baby goat

This is the only baby goat in the farm, apparently they keep to a strict breeding calendar and this baby was an "accident"

All natural goat cheese. Too bad I'm not a fan of goat cheese.

Ice cream made of goat milk - Very yummy!

Next stop, Vidgelmir Lava tunnel…or so we thought until we found out it was going to be 32 degree Celsius in the cave with a tour that was going to take 1.5 hours. The weather was unusually warm, so all Ivan was wearing was long sleeves and we had light jackets on…we’ll have to come back. Iceland was unusually warm even for the peak of its summer. It was in the low seventies. During Ivan’s research on Iceland, a goat farm was on the list of places to visit. Since M and A were excited about petting goats, we figured why not. The tour guide and the owner were very nice. They told us about the history of why they are the only goat farm in western Iceland. Turns out goats are considered pets and the brown wool and hornless goats were dying out. The owner didn’t want to see that happen, so she took the few that were left and raised them. But that meant that she had to quarantine them for 10 years…for 10 years, she would not be able to sell anything from the goats. The farm nearly went bankrupted, but an American friend of the owner was able to successfully crowd sourced and saved the farm. Pretty cool! And as a result, M and A were able to hold them and pet the Icelandic goats. At the end of the tour, we had chocolate, vanilla, and mint goat ice cream. So good! Ivan and M’s favorite was vanilla, while Megan and A’s favorite was mint…which is completely different than our usual favorites, especially since M is a die hard chocolate ice cream fan!

Voyagers tips: Park in the lot and visit the small shack where you can pay for the “tour”, where a worker let you pet and hold the goats and tell you about the story of the goat farm. The goat milk ice cream was good. Find out which goat appeared in Game of Thrones.

DEILDARTUNGUHVER HOT SPRINGS

You can see the steam of this hot spring from miles away

Up close, you feel the heat and humidity.

Krauma spa is just a few steps from the hot spring.

Krauma has several different spas, each is set to a different temperature. Temperature is set by combining hot spring water with glacier water.

Nice and relaxing... but Ivan's stomach feels a bit heavy.

This is the "cold pool". The word "cold" doesn't really describe it, Ivan's whole body felt immediate freezer burn the second he sunk in!

The spa area is nicely designed, very clean and modern.

Next stop, Deildartunguhver hot springs, Iceland’s most power hotspring! Man, the names are hard to say! This is the hot spring that provides hot water and heating for a lot of homes, including our hotel that is 40 minutes away! The sulfur created a very potent smell. Whoa, stinky! It’s crazy how you can see the water boiling from the ground. Up the hill from the hot springs was Krauma hot spring spa. Time for relaxation. To get optimal temperature of each temperature-controlled pool, hot and cold water is carefully controlled. Hot water comes from natural hot springs, and cold water is from glacier water. Where else in the world can you get hot spring spas sourced from both natural hot springs and glacier water?? The “cold pool” was more like freezing pool, as Ivan found out.

Voyager tips: Krauma shares the same parking lot as Deildartunguhver Hot Springs. $32 USD per adult, free for kids under 12. Bring your own towel to avoid towel charges.

VÍÐGELMIR LAVA CAVE

We're going in!

You can only enter the cave with a tour guide

Stalagtites or stalagmites? You can tell which one it is by the direction of the drops on the side

It gets pretty dark down there

This is the longest and largest cave in Iceland, almost one mile long!

Layers of cave walls from the way the lava river cools.

Coming back out

We survived!

The spa was nice but we didn’t stay too long. We wanted to make sure we had enough time to go back to the lava cave. The last tour was at 6 pm. We thought we gave ourselves plenty of time to go back, grab our winter coats and maybe even eat dinner before we head over to the lava caves, but Waze told us otherwise. Ivan had to utilize his speeding skills to get us there quickly. The ETA on Google Maps and Waze were all wrong. We were 5 minutes late but still was able to catch up to the tour. Inside the cave was pretty amazing, including the stalactite, stalagmites, and poop looking formations. It was also neat to experience pitch darkness…it is amazing how your senses sharpen when you lose one of your other senses. Didn’t notice the dripping sounds in the cave, but they were so loud when we turned off all the flashlights. Super cool and totally recommend checking out the lava tubes.

Voyager tips: It’s zero degree Celsius in the cave and the tour takes about an hour. Bring a warm jacket! Call and make reservations first, as some tours are booked up and you cannot enter the cave without joining a tour.