From Geldingadalir to Reykjavik
It was our last day in Iceland, and the weather was still amazing. Overall, we'd had perfect weather this year with only two days that required some adjustment to our initial schedule.
We hit the road early enough in the morning to make the most of the day. A few days earlier, we had seen that the volcano of current ill reputre was showing some intense activity, even more than when we arrived. So we planned to see it again in the morning before wandering Reykjavik to run some errands.
Arriving early in the morning, the car parks were obviously less full, so we got to park closest to the trail.
The hike to the eruption
Helicopters were already spinning over the volcano, but this helped us appreciate the scale and size of the crater and the lava eruptions, which sometimes rose to several tens of meters.
Since our visit on July 28, lava had begun flowing in the Meradalir valley, and smoke was everywhere shrouding the black lava flow.
We stayed several hours on-site to admire the eruption, still fascinated by this incredible sight, but we had to get back on the road.
Walking the streets of the capital
We had planned to spend the afternoon on the streets of the capital. The downtown area was great and there were still far fewer tourists overall than in recent years. The streets were quiet, and Icelanders had taken to the terraces of the cafes to enjoy the sun.
We walked through the old port, up to the Thufá hill, before returning to the Drakkar level, passing Harpa. This evening we ate our last meal in Reykjavik. We found a nice little restaurant on the famous Skólavörðustígur street, near the church, called Salka Valka, which had a very good value compared to most restaurants in the capital, which were quite expensive.
After walking for long hours on Laugavegur Street and the Vesturbær district, we resigned ourselves to get to bed because tomorrow the Icelandair plane would take off early (7:45), and we had to be there 3 hours in advance, and we also had to return the car, and it was going to be a rough experience waking up at 3:00 am...
