Today was our last full day in Iceland and as we had nowhere particular we wanted to be by any particular time, we did not set the alarm and enjoyed a lazy morning. Eventually we were out the door and decided to drive to the town of Grindavík near The Blue Lagoon and where recent volcanic activity has occurred.
It was a rainy and foggy morning....
As we approached Grindavik, we could see the lava fields.
We could also see the barriers the town erected to help keep the lava away from the residential areas.....
Grindavik was interesting - it was pretty much deserted as it had been evacuated last year - but what was most interesting is that there were no homes boarded up against vandals, no graffiti, no fences keeping people away from homes - so unlike the US - which was both impressive (as far as Icelanders) and sad (as far as the US).
As we mentioned before, we did not realize that we needed to make advanced reservations for The Blue Lagoon, so we ended up with a 7pm time slot this evening. (We did try to see if any earlier openings happened, but nope.) So we went to The Blue Lagoon to see it during the day, knowing that it would look very different in the evening. There are short walking paths from the parking area to the main building.....
We headed back to the Airbnb to chill for a while, nap, and hang out until it was time to head for our Blue Lagoon experience. The lava is still cooling along the roads, which was cool (no pun intended) to see.....
We purchased the "comfort" ticket (a bit more than $100 per person) which includes a towel, a mud mask, and one drink - this was more than enough for us to have a complete experience. Once we arrived, we went to the separate lockers rooms, changed to swimsuits, and headed to the lagoon. What was really cool was that it was dark and foggy, along with the steam from the hot water, and while we walked/swam around, we could barely see in front of us. It was also a but rainy on-and-off, so that was neat too. We eventually made our way to the mask bar and got our mud masks (they stay on for 10 minutes) and then to the drink bar for our one complementary drink (we each got a smoothy type of drink). We hung our for nearly two hours - unfortunately no pictures as we did not have a waterproof camera - and eventually went back to the locker rooms to shower and change. We were actually glad that we were "forced" to experience the Blue Lagoon at night - it was less crowded, there were less children, and the atmosphere was very sublime.
It was back to the Airbnb for our last night in Iceland, While we were freezing the first night there, by the third night we started sleeping with the windows open so we could enjoy the (too?) heavy down comforters on the bed! 😏
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