adventure, camping, Champagne Bucket trips, Iceland

Our first Icelandic adventure: Journey to the Highlands! (part seven)

In the late afternoon of September 1, Bill, Ivar, and I landed at Hotel Klaustur, a pleasant hotel in Kirkjubaejarklaustur. This was the one hotel Ivar stayed in with us. It was the least fancy of the five hotels we visited, although it was perfectly fine for a night. I was just happy to see that it had a bar, because after all of the traipsing around in the wind and rain, I really needed a drink. Ivar had suggested stopping for a short hike to a waterfall, but I was cold and wet and not in the mood. I noticed neither he nor Bill objected when I said I’d rather not.

After we checked in to the hotel, I ended up making our dinner reservations, because Bill had urgent personal business to attend to. When the guy asked how many would be dining, I looked at Ivar, mainly because I didn’t want to be rude. And he, probably just as eager not to be rude, quickly said he was going to be dining with friends in town. I have a feeling that might have been a “white lie”, since I noticed the Land Cruiser in the parking lot while we were having dinner. But then, he could have walked or maybe his friends picked him up… Either way, it was no big deal, as I could certainly understand a guide wanting to take a few hours away from their clients.

Bill and I enjoyed a drink in the bar area. I had an Irish coffee that really hit the spot. Bill had a beer. We heard many American voices, especially when we sat down to dinner. I was a little crabby because I think I just wanted a quiet dinner, but everyone was seated in a sunroom, rather than in the larger dining room. The food was okay, although it wasn’t really my favorite of what we had on this trip. I have a feeling there aren’t a lot of nice hotels in the area, but I can’t confirm it.

After dinner, we went to our room, which Bill really had to push hard to get into. He was confused at first, and actually went to reception, where he was told he had to put his shoulder into opening the door. I was glad to see an extra pillow on a stand near the door, because the bed was made up in a style we’ve come to know in German gasthouses. But it had everything we needed, and we were soon watching the end of a movie with Heath Ledger in it. I wasn’t familiar with Ledger when he was still alive, but I can see why he was so famous. He was quite a hottie… and he had a lot of charisma. He reminded me of a filled out Andy Gibb. 😀 Below are a few photos of our room and the hotel itself.

In the morning, we saw Ivar in the restaurant. He invited us to sit with him, which we did. We bonded a little more. I think he was amused when Bill brought me a cappuccino without being asked. For some reason, Bill is very invested in making sure I drink coffee. When we met, I wasn’t that much of a coffee fan. Even today, I could take it or leave it, although I do like really good coffee. Bill needs it every day, and it’s the one thing I join him in, even if sometimes I’d rather have hot chocolate.

Ivar told us that where we were going in the Highlands is short on restaurants or other food sources. We would stop at a convenience store before leaving the area to stock up on water and snacks, and hopefully the “mini mall”, where we were headed, might be open for business. Fair enough. It turned out the snacks weren’t necessary, but they came in handy later.

This part of the trip is where the weather started to improve. I was continually stunned by how beautiful the landscapes of Iceland are, and the many vibrant colors in every place we visited. Even in the rain, Iceland is extraordinary. But it’s more enjoyable for me when it’s not raining… and on Monday, the rain finally let up a bit for us.

I took a whole lot of photos and a few videos as we headed into the Highlands…

A short video offering an idea of what the landscape looked like.

As we were making our way into the wilderness, Ivar explained that in the summer, sheep are allowed to run wild in the hills and mountains. Then, in the fall, they are rounded up and brought back to civilization. The lambs are taken for slaughter. Supposedly, Icelandic lamb is among the best in the world. I don’t like lamb myself, so I wouldn’t know. Bill does like it and he said it was very good. Anyway, during our visit, the sheep were still running free, but it’s about time for them to be rounded up by their respective owners. They are identified by markings left by the farmers.

Continuing on, we passed several deserted shacks, which Ivar said are used by the rangers who stay in the park for a couple of weeks at a time. We eventually stopped at a parking area, where there was a female ranger on duty. She informed Ivar that the WC wasn’t working, so Bill and I ended up finding a bush. Ivar laughed and said that Americans are always so private about peeing, while Icelanders are fine with just letting ‘er rip. Germans are pretty much the same way. When you gotta go, you gotta go.

We took a short hike that perhaps would have been longer if we (or I) had been fitter. I could have gone longer, to be honest. But it was just as well that we didn’t take a longer hike, because the day was very full, anyway. Below are some photos from our entry to the Highlands:

I found this part of the trip mesmerizing. It looked like something out of a different world, with happy sheep all over the place, peacefully grazing with no worries about predators. Ivar told us the only animal native to Iceland are Arctic foxes. Every once in awhile, a polar bear from Greenland might try to venture close. When they do, if they are spotted, they are usually shot by the authorities. Some reindeer were also introduced, although a lot of them died. The ones that survived are still around. I saw reindeer offered on a menu at a subsequent hotel.

After our brief hike, we got back into the Land Cruiser and continued on to a campground called Landmannalaugar, where there was a natural hot spring, bathroom facilities, and the aforementioned “mini mall.” To be honest, I didn’t find the campground that beautiful, but it was a very interesting stop. A lot of people go to this camp so they can hike the Fjallabak Nature Reserve.

The first thing we did was use the WC, which was very much a communal affair with many signs advising users what not to put in the toilets. Then we visited the natural hot spring. Some people were bathing in it. I was content to just crouch down and touch the water, which was fairly warm, but not that hot. After that, Ivar asked if we wanted to visit the “mini mall.” We agreed, so off we went… and that’s where we encountered a guy named Alex who cooks hot dogs and does boat tours from Iceland to Greenland.

Alex and his colleague(s) work out of several green US school busses that make up a small restaurant and shop. I got a kick out of one of the busses, because it was a Blue Bird Bus, probably made in my mom’s hometown of Buena Vista, Virginia. We made the mistake of going into the restaurant part of the “mini mall” first, and Alex kindly asked us to visit the first bus, make our orders and pay, then bring him the receipt. He also asked me to bring him a six pack of Stella Artois and promised me a freebie from the pack!

So we went into the little shop in the first bus and ordered hot dogs with cheese. Later, I told Bill I wished I’d gotten the hot dog without the cheese, since it was a little “musty”. Both Ivar and Bill were surprised, since they hadn’t tasted the cheese at all. We asked the shop dude for the six pack of beer. I noticed he was selling coffee to people and prompting them to buy shots of Bailey’s Irish Cream. They were doing a brisk business!

We went back into the bus where Alex was working. A female couple were there joking around with him. It turned out they knew him from his other business, sailing people from Iceland to Greenland. Alex is apparently popular on Instagram and has a business called The Laid-Back Company. After talking to him, I can see why he named his business that. He was quite a character. Dirty jokes were flying as we enjoyed the hot dogs. One of the women, who turned out to be from Alaska, presented Alex with a gift she’d brought back… it appeared to be some kind of baton. Alex asked if it was a dildo. She said it was a whale penis, and she was afraid it was going to be confiscated before she could present it to him!

Alex invited us to pick up a couple of stickers from the first bus, after he handed me the aforementioned free beer. I guess he figured we were laid back enough to join his laid back boat tour! The woman who gave him the gift said she loved Alex’s boat tour because he interviews all participants before the trip and makes sure they will be compatible with everyone. I will admit, it did sound like an interesting concept, and they were obviously very happy with Alex’s services. Maybe if we ever plan to go to Greenland, we’ll look into it, although if I know myself, I think I might get irritated by the non-stop dirty jokes. I do like jokes, but I have limits. As we were leaving, Alex was talking about a polar bear rug he had somehow acquired and was planning to hang on his wall. It was probably the right time for us to be going! Below are some photos from our stop at Landmannalaugar.

I enjoyed meeting the folks at the “mini mall”, and they gave me a surge of energy for our next stop of Lekafossar… an incredible waterfall system that wasn’t too far away. That was a good thing, since it had started raining again and was getting cold and windy. I’m still so glad we stopped here for this:

As beautiful as those waterfalls are in my pictures, they were even more beautiful from our vantage point. But we couldn’t stay long, because the skies were darkening. So we climbed back into the Land Cruiser and continued our journey toward Hotel Geysir, our Monday night accommodations. On the way there, we stopped for one more waterfall… Unfortunately, I don’t know what this one is called. I’ll see if I can find the name of it and will update accordingly, if I am successful.

Well, this post is now pretty long, so I think I’ll end here and pick up in the next post with our check in to Hotel Geysir. See you in the next part!

caves, Sundays

A very special Sunday in southern Germany… part two of our 2023 Czech tour!

Sunday morning, Bill went to the bakery to get us some breakfast. He had already gone to the store the night before to get snacks, wine, and orange juice, so his bakery stop was just for croissants and coffee. We could have had the breakfast at the hotel on Sunday, but we decided not to bother with it. Hotel breakfasts are often pretty overpriced, and we had already paid for the room.

While we were eating, I discovered that we happened to be in the area at a fortuitous time… if you like visiting caves, that is. On the first Sunday of the warm months, a local caving club opens the Olgahöhle. Since it was the first Sunday of October, they opened the cave to the public (it can also be booked by special request). We decided to head to Lichtenstein-Honau, the little village where the cave is located. We happened to catch the last tour date until spring.

I have already written about our visit to this very special cave, but in the interest of continuity, I will recap a bit with this post and add some more photos. There was a group of German teenagers at the cave, notable because it’s a primary cave made of tufa, a type of stone. Unlike most other caves, this particular cave isn’t formed from limestone. It’s also described as a “very young” cave, as it formed post Ice Age.

As caves go, this one was pretty easy to visit. There was just one flight of stairs to go up and down. The tour was done in German, but we managed to understand a little of what was said. Plus, the club had information in English for us, which was handy. A few of these photos are in the earlier post about this cave, but I figure I might as well share them again. Check out the cauliflower rock!

A few seconds of water dripping in the cave… Water is an artist in its own way.

While we were waiting for our turn to tour the cave, I looked up and noticed the dramatic sight of Lichtenstein Castle, which is a gorgeous Schloss on a mountain top. Bill and I tried to visit the castle after our visit to the cave, but there was no parking anywhere. It was okay, though, since we’d been there before and I already had many beautiful pictures of the grounds. I was glad to be able to take photos from another vantage point, down in a village overlooked by the castle.

It also turned out to be lucky that we missed the castle, because if we’d gone there, we would have missed watching sheep cross the road to another pasture, as well as meeting a couple from Augsburg. We ate lunch at Nebelhöhle Cave, which we chose not to tour, since we’ve been there before. Instead, we just hung out and people watched, enjoying the fantastic weather.

Please excuse Neil Diamond and my goofy comments and laughter…

I got some very pretty photos of the trees that were just about to turn into a spectacular color show… It was just a great day to be in that part of Germany!

When we got back to the hotel, we decided to change into cooler clothes. We were dressed for a chilly cave, which it actually wasn’t on October 1. Since it was Sunday and we’d had a rather active day, we decided to stay in and watch goofy German game shows while we ate pizza from the local joint. I suspect that some Germans have learned some English from watching South Park. This one show we watched involved the host holding up a fake piece of shit. One of the contestants called it a “hankey”, as in Mr. Hankey, the Christmas poo. But a “hankey” or a “hanky” is actually a handkerchief, not a piece of shit. On the other hand, maybe it was an actual Mr. Hankey doll. Who knows? If that’s the case, then the contestant wasn’t wrong to call it that.

Eh well… yet another one of the thoughts that kept me out of the really good schools…

Stay tuned for part 3!

Uncategorized

Chasing lakes and waterfalls in Aus-cro-slo-aus… part seven

As I mentioned in a previous post, Bill and I gave serious consideration to trying for a visit to the Krka National Park on Sunday. It was located within a two hour’s drive of where we were staying in Croatia, and we had nothing else planned. But when we went to try to buy online tickets for the park, they were all sold out. I suppose we could have shown up at the park and tried to buy a ticket on the spot, but that would have been a risky proposition, given how far away the park was from our accommodation. We were also considering this plan BEFORE we knew how tired and sore we were going to be on Sunday morning.

What we ended up doing was buying tickets to go back to the Plitvice Lakes on Sunday, only we planned to enter through entrance 2, which is on the other side of the park. To be honest, when we got back to the house late Saturday afternoon, I wasn’t really wanting to go back to the park on Sunday. Duje, the Croatian caretaker, had suggested it. But Saturday evening, I was just really tired, stiff, sore, and hungry. Bill cooked, which put me in a worse mood, not because he’s a terrible cook, but because I had a real craving for barbecue and would have preferred takeout. I love and appreciate Bill very much, but sometimes he’s makes productions out of things that don’t need to be overthought… or overwrought.

We woke up on Sunday to warmer temperatures and clearer skies. I knew I wouldn’t need to bundle up like I did on Saturday. And I also knew that I would not be walking all over the park. Instead, we walked to the boat area closest to the entrance and just sat down on a bench. We listened to the wind and the waterfalls, and watched people set off on the massive hike we did on Saturday from the other side of the park. I watched ducks beg for food, and people rented boats and paddled around. Maybe we should have rented a boat, too, although we were both really sore.

Just sitting at the park, sipping Croatian beer, talking to each other, and enjoying the natural beauty was enough. I realized that Duje was right. It is worth it to spend two days at the park. Maybe it would have been better to do two shorter walks over both days instead of the super long one on Saturday. But, again, I didn’t have a concept of what the park was like until we went there. If we ever go back, I might plan differently. I want to go to the Krka National Park first, though. Check out this scenery…

This video was made by drone. I’m sure the park forbids drones, just as they are forbidden at Plitvice.

I’m sorry we missed our opportunity to visit this park on the Krka River. But now we have a great reason to visit again. We still got some beautiful photos on our second day, too. Have a look.

The boats where people are taken to other parts of the park. We knew that if we got on one, we would be committed…

It was almost lunchtime, so I decided to have a Croatian beer… As you can see by the first photo, Bill was amused.

Some people were rowing. We didn’t see anyone doing this the day prior.

We only stayed at the park for an hour or so, then went to get lunch at a local roadside restaurant I kept noticing. I took a few parting shots before we made our way to Vila Velabita for hearty, authentic Croatian food.

We probably should have gone to Vila Velabita on Saturday, as they had the kind of food I was craving after our long hike. I am glad we stopped on Sunday, so I could try smoked chicken. Bill had sausages made with beef and pork. We finished with an espresso for him, and locally made brandy for me.

Monday morning, we awoke to a glorious sunrise. I’d had a look at the forecast for Slovenia and figured it might be the last we’d see of the sun for the week, so I took some pictures. We loaded up the car, cleaned up the house, and Bill went over to Duje’s house to hand off the keys. While he was giving the keys to the caretaker, Bill mentioned the Jung book he found, which was inscribed by Duje. He told Duje that he was also a student of Jung’s. Duje smiled and said, “You’ll come back next year.”

Maybe we will… I wouldn’t be opposed to it. Croatia is officially wonderful. Below are a few parting shots of Croatia.