Icelandair Hotel Ranga - Hella

... yet described the incredible numbers of Icelandic horses, but I will.  Anyway, the hotel was extra comfortable and pleasant.
The next morning we drove the short distance down to some of the coastal fishing villages.  It was Sunday morning and everyone was sleeping in.  The only person we saw was the local guy out with his friendly labrador retriever emptying the town trash bins in the public areas.  In a little park area at the foot of the seawall was this ...

... Supposedly, it has silica and other minerals that are sure to cure any ailment. It's a fantastic set-up. Very efficient and orderly, and oh so soothing to our weary bones. And, they have beer!
I happen to love this country, but methinks my wife is ready to move on to a warmer clime.

... for lunch we tried those veggie cakes. They are layers of bread, a jello hold on the top. Senica's was filled with ham, ****, peas, mayonnaise, and shreds of veggies, it was wrapped with a thinly shaved ham. Mine was tuna, topped with grapes and tomatoes wedges. The mountains in this area are steaming and red with the hot spring water vents everywhere.

... kids Glacier?) Then we went for a walk around the town and could here periodic cheering throughout the evening. It seems Everyone in the town, and probably country, was glued to the TV for this Idol competition. We don't really care about it though, the sky is aglow behind the mountains and we are on top of the world. We have been so blessed with a warm and sunny day. Hopefully we'll have more like these - they are glorious!

... beautiful and unique), and whites of snow peaks and crevices from where cold sinks and waterfall mist rises, and purples of moors and yellows of straw grasses and moguls of peat. Even the rocks were all colours. Harsh and stark and barren. We felt so isolated in that iselandic countryside.
We saw ridges of lava, honeycombed and some was tumbling away like dominos. We saw deep crevices and caves and valleys and meadows. Fields of green and horses (hestar) roaming.

... glaciers across the center of Iceland. It´s a desert like land scape with survival huts, and a small shop about half way. Cyclists can cover it in about 3 days, but good weather is essential and unfortunately I have left it a little too late in the season to get 3 days of good weather in in the Highlands. A few cyclists that I´d met didn´t recommend the experience and thought that it would be pretty miserable by myself. My assessment of the ...

... than the ferry, only took 6 minutes to get to the main land instead of 3 hours and I didn´t have to line up with the trucks and cars to take the plane.... it was an easy decision to jump on the 10 seater! The pilot let me ride shot gun, which was pretty cool - sitting up there in the co-pilots seat I just had to make sure that all my junk didn´t get in the way of the peddles in the plane! I managed to end up a bit ...

• Hveragerði:
  stayed in cabin at Eldhestar Hotel (quite expensive and no kitchen),
  did a horse ride

... the-beaten track spot - no other senior citizen tourist buses in sight!! Because I felt that I'd seen enough glaciers at this point, I ended up bypassing Skaftafell. I had at least 3 hours of driving to do and didn't want to exhaust myself prematurely. My only other stop en route to Laugarvatn was at Vik. This town is famous for its black sandy beach and sea stacks. If I'd had more time, I would've plucked myself down in the sand and ...