Category: Iceland

Skíðaskálinn í Hveradölum – Walter Mitty Restaurant

After finding the Walter Mitty Bridge, Harry Hyundai, my trusty rental car and I went searching for the restaurant where in the movie the characters did the skateboard swap in the parking lot…

Although currently closed thanks to our friendly virus, it was a lovely spot…

Right next to the lodge is a collection of geothermal pools with a walkway…

…although I think their walkway needs just a little bit of attention…

Here are some images from the Walter Mitty movie… Walter is to the left of screen and the white building is the same as above (but it now has graffiti over it)

…and back in time to warm up, and have a lovely dinner… A perfect end to an otherwise perfect day…

~ Bella

Urriðafoss Waterfall and Walter Mitty bridge

Harry Hyundai and I decided to go hunting for a couple of Walter Mitty filming locations, as well as a particular waterfall – and we succeeded on both accounts…

After navigating a road that almost swallowed up poor Harry (he’s such a trooper!)…

… we arrived at the Urriðafoss Waterfall – the most voluminous waterfall in all of Iceland, and sitting on the longest river!

I suggest having the sound turned on to watch the video… the power of the water is astounding…

The Þjórsá River drops down 360 m3/sec by the edge of Þjórsárhraun lava field – a lava field that is the result of the greatest lava flow on earth since the Ice Age!

(back in the car and warming up – and this photo and one other I took at the falls is for everyone who has been sending me messages for ages saying, ‘the scenery is great, but where are the photos of you?’)

…and crossing the same Þjórsá River is Walter Mitty’s bridge!

(image from the movie – he is running onto the bridge, far left of screen)

…and from here it was off to find the restaurant where he did the skateboard swap in the parking lot…

~ Bella

What a wonderful day!

Every now and again one has a day of nothing in particular but that was just ever so wonderful for no real reason at all – today for me was one of those days.

This week, I have heard from three different people who are very dear to me but with whom I have not been in touch for quite some time – I woke up thinking about how lovely that was… and that set the tone for the whole day.

In addition to getting a bunch of work done and running some errands, Harry and I went for a spin just to see what we could find… nowhere in particular in mind… and that, too, was just delightful…

I am not normally one who appreciates modern art, but there is something about these sculptures that reminded me of the work of Simon Stålenhag, who also inspired the fascinating series I thoroughly enjoyed, “Tales from the Loop”.

I don’t know from what material they are made, but there is something very anthropomorphic about them that I find fascinating…

It felt almost like a giant sitting down with the chair and they were having a chat…

…and for me there is also something wonderfully beautiful and nostalgic to be found in old faming equipment…

This little tractor looked like he was smiling…

…and from there, Harry and I went and picked up some delicious food from my favourite Asian take-away, and am now preparing to pick up where I left off watching a mini-series set around the turn of the century in France…

Just a wonderful day…

Sending love and smiles to all…

~ Bella

Historic Lighthouses, Unicorn Swans, Fighting Bulls, Happy Buses, and more…

All in a day’s adventure in Iceland!

After passing the vintage fire truck, we had a day filled with:

rustic cattle yards
murals
Icelandic horses
historic church
dead boat
dead farm equipment
historic stone foundations of an old homestead
more Icelandic horses
more murals
sculpture
dead boating and fishing equipment
live boats
steel crab
swans that weren’t unicorns
more murals
a swan that was a unicorn
a bull having a stand-off with a VW
turf-covered building
historic lighthouse
new lighthouse
another dead boat
more sculpture
more dead boating equipment
a happy bus
the cave of a giantess (yes, giantess)
another dead boat
stone people
more sculpture
more turf-covered buildings
an abundance of happy campers
more stone people
the road to nowhere
an elf conspiracy theory……..

…and although I am being flippant and a little irreverent, I loved every minute of it!

rustic cattle yards

murals

Icelandic horses

historic church

dead boat

dead farm equipment

historic stone foundations of an old homestead

more Icelandic horses

These two were soooo cute together…

more murals

sculpture

dead boating and fishing equipment

live boats

steel crab

swans that weren’t unicorns (at least I think they are swans?)

more murals

a swan that was a unicorn

a bull having a stand-off with a VW

turf-covered building

new lighthouse

historic old lighthouse

another dead boat

more sculpture

more dead boating equipment

a happy bus

the cave of a giantess (yes, giantess)

another dead boat

stone people

more sculpture

more turf-covered buildings

an abundance of ‘happy campers’

more stone people

the road to nowhere

an elf conspiracy theory……..

Someone is obviously wanting to hide the fact that Elves live here…….. who and why??? The people want to know…. 🙂

~ Bella

Neither hail nor sleet, but with hot springs, and shipwrecks!

According to the weather man, it was supposed to be fine and partly sunny, partly cloudy…

So, Harry Hyundai set off on a short adventure… only to be caught within about 30 minutes of our departure in the first of two hail storms!

But, weather cleared… and the landscape was stunning!

We then went in search of a ship that had run around years ago that was apparently near a road … somewhere…

…and although the weather man STILL said it was fine but cloudy…

…Harry and I arrived home in the second of two hail storms…

…but all in all, it was a truly lovely outing!

~ Bella

My Viking Un-Birthday

My birthday was on September 13th, but as I was curled up painting and generally unplugged from the world, the first time I went down to the restaurant for dinner after my birthday was a couple of days later… and little did I know I would get gifts, a cake with sparkler, and a Viking serenade!

The view from the window was simply lovely – watching the sun go down and the world float by…

…and then………

…and even a lovely present so I can bring some Icelandic water with me – complete with my name on it!

I feel so incredibly blessed…

If ever you come to Iceland, you just must stay here (Hotel Viking) – they have made me feel like family.

~ Bella

My Lovely Birthday in Iceland

I am in Iceland at present, and I was in quite the quandary about how to celebrate my birthday weekend this year…

Would I:

Go to somewhere like the Blue Lagoon?
Stay in one of those ice hotels or similar?
Go on another road trip?

While all those options and more sounded interesting, the fact is that I am having such a lovely time basically doing what I am doing, I couldn’t think of anything more lovely than soaking in the private geothermal hot tub, resting, reading, painting, and basically doing nothing but more of what I have been doing!

Then, on Saturday night I received a message on my phone…

…and yes, I did see somewhat of an aurora – very feint and wasn’t able to catch on camera, but it was like God was swirling luminous green translucent paint… So beautiful! So, that was an incredible gift for my birthday!

Sunday (my birthday) I totally unplugged…

I also bought myself some paints and brushes… I had brought a set of pencils, coloured pencils, and pens with me, but really felt like painting (not that I am any Rembrandt!) – and took inspiration for a couple of them from the photos I took on my trip right around the island.

They are mixed media (on plain copy paper – as needs must…) of acrylic paint, pencil, pen, and metallic paint pen.

They are no great works of art, but I am going to give them to the hotel as a thank you for taking such good care of me.

…I really should have finished off the grassy area at the bottom left, but I was getting tired of all those individual strokes of grass leaves, that by the time I was down to the bottom of the painting, my inspiration had deserted me (but I will finish it off before I give it to Unnur)…

…so, I decided to go a little more abstract… (but with another of my favourite subjects!)

…and for my reading pleasure…

…and one can easily tell from the state of Mr Talbot’s book that this is not my first reading – nor is this the book’s first journey with me!

I also invested time journalling what I want for my life in this next year…

I had a haircut and treatment, and a facial…

I rested and slept and had a lovely bed-picnic…

I started learning Spanish…

I listened to music by candlelight…

I spent time in my suite that has three huge windows that overlook the harbour and the park, doing nothing but watching the world float by…

…and in general had the most glorious of birthdays!

PS: then I had the additional gift of receiving all my birthday wishes and messages on Monday morning when I plugged back in again! Feeling so blessed!

~ Bella

Who needs the Blue Lagoon?

Yes, the Blue Lagoon may be a natural wonder, but it also comes with astronomical entry fees and gazillions of people…

So, who needs the Blue Lagoon when one has one’s own private geothermal hot tub?!

It was like entering another world…

Magical!

This place (Hotel Viking) is not only gloriously lovely, but the staff have embraced me like one of the family.

I feel so very, very blessed…

~ Bella

Borgarbyggð

Just over an hour north of where I am staying is the lovely peninsula of Borgarbyggð – but while the area is lovely, the main reason for this little adventure was to check off another of my Walter Mitty locations… Papa Johns.

Scene from the movie:

…and in fact it is a bakery!

After some searching, I managed to find Hlíðartúnshúsin – restored traditional Icelandic turf houses.

Ah, the rare Domesticus Snow Leopard!

He was camera-shy…

I managed to find the perfect place to curl up in Harry and read for a while…

Btw, if you don’t know about this painting, it is not by Rembrandt – but is instead the result of high resolution scans of all of his paintings, AI processing of the data, and the painting itself printed with a 3D printer to mimic the actual style of brushstrokes etc used by the real master.

…and when one considers this was produced back in 2016, one wonders about the future of ‘creative’ expression…

Anyway, the scenery was much too lovely to ponder anything so challenging for too long…

The mountain in front of me looked as though it had newly erupted…

We have such glorious sunsets here…

~ Bella

Iceland’s Westman Islands

Although it was rainy and misty when I left home, by the time Harry and I made it to the main island, it was brilliant sunshine…

This type of sight anywhere else would be thought of as pollution – here it is merely steam…

I always think these car ferries look like crazy parrots with funky beaks…

It was funny, while waiting to board, a woman came over to me and started asking questions about the island and for directions etc… Why is that funny (apart from the obvious that I am not exactly in a position to answer her effectively)? Because almost everywhere I go, someone comes up to me at some point to ask for ‘local’ information – and even funnier here because I hardly look Scandinavian! 🙂

…and so we leave the mainland, and head over to the largest of the Westman Islands, Heimaey.

Btw, you will probably notice some ‘lights in the sky’ in the following photos – no, they are not my alien relatives coming to get me… The back deck was closed so I was inside, and the lights are reflections from the interior of the ferry…

Heimaey, that translates to Home Island, is 4 nautical miles from mainland Iceland. At 13.4 square kilometres, it is the largest island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, and the largest and most populated island off the Icelandic coast.

Interesting, the wool on these sheep looks entirely different from that of the sheep on the East coast of Iceland…

…and although I was just freewheeling around the island with no real destination, I didn’t think I had travelled far enough to find Texas!

Even the trash cans here are pretty!

I went in search of puffins (where I didn’t have to walk too far from the car parking area), but alas… I did, however, find a massive seagull nesting area!