The start of our weekend brought us to the town of Borganes, about an hours drive North from Reykjavik.. This is where David lived for a few summers, driving with his Uncle who was a large animal veterinarian.
This is a lovely town, right on the coast. We stayed at The Apartment for one night, which is at the top of a cliff overlooking the water and a wonderful place to stay. They have a very nice cafe. There are lovely walking paths along the coast and another restaurant right on the water.
We visited Rauða Húsið, or The Red House for dinner. I ordered a large plate of langoustine, which is typically referred to as a lobster in Iceland, but is smaller than a Maine lobster. Following dinner we went for a walk along the coast.
The restaurant is in the town of Eyrarbakki, where the Ölfusá river drains into the ocean. This is Iceland’s largest river by volume and home to a lot of bird life. I later learned that the area is close to a Flói Bird Reserve. Although we missed the bird reserve on this trip, we saw several large groups a lot of swans flying near the shore.
I am documenting our Icelandic Summer Travels. Here it goes!
We arrived early morning on Sunday June 20, the summer solstice and our 6th wedding anniversary. Technically, we married on June 21st, but I like the solstice to celebrate.
We had dinner at the Fiskfélagið, or The Fish Company. Highly recommend for a nice dinner and great sushi.
The main things I wanted to do the first week was visit the volcano, which we did twice. Wednesday we visited the base of the volcano. The next day, David and I went back and hiked to a point across the lava field where we could get a view of the lava bubbling.
The movement of the bright red color was pretty mesmerizing.
On Saturday we drove visited the Caves of Hella. The caves are man-made and appear to be from very early Icelandic settlers that are believed to be from Ireland.
We also had lunch at a nearby Hotel Ranga.
In case your wondering, the name Meam Beam is a nickname given to me as a child by a family friend Wally Broom. The meaning was never really clear but for some reason it stuck. When asked what it means Wally would reply, “She’s not a sunbeam, she’s a MEAM BEAM.”
