JK'ing Around in Europe: Starting the long drive back to civilization...

Wrote this draft on Saturday night but forgot to upload pictures until now - sorry!

After the high of our successful Northern Lights hunt on Friday night, we slept in a bit then took in the sights of Akeyuri. This is the 'Capital of the North' and the second largest city in Iceland at 18,000 people. It was a pretty nice fishing village/become tourist centre, and we had a nice snack and coffee outside on a patio in the sun.

After this, we headed down the west side of Iceland towards Reykjavik to end our circle, taking in some of the landscapes on the way.

Herding the sheep back to the farms for the winter

When we first started planning this trip, we had read in Lonely Planet guides and TripAdvisor etc that you need 10-14 days to circle the island. Speaking to our Icelandic masseuse, he told us it would be no problem, it only takes about 14 hours to circle the country on the Ring Road (you only get 7 days for a stopover with Icelandair). We were able to circle the whole island in one week, but we're missing a lot of great stuff - if you are planning an Iceland trip I'd encourage you to think about a longer stay, or doing a stopover both on the way to a European destination and again on the way back to North America. It's crazy how much there is to do here - we are truly only scratching the surface!

The Westfjords would have been fun to drive around (we both enjoyed the stunning fjord sights on the East Coast) but that would add another 2 days to the trip. So we headed back down towards Reykjavik, stopped at a hostel in Borgarnes. We got really lucky - the other two people in our semi-private room never showed up, so we got a private room for half the usual price. We also sat with a nice couple from the UK who is here on their third trip, specifically to see the Northern Lights. They, too, were successful on Friday night. We headed out from 9:45 pm to midnight on Saturday, but sadly no aurora was seen tonight. We did however see a very clear sky, lots of start and satellites, and I saw 3-4 meteorites. They invited us to come visit them in their home in the UK, so we're already making friends!

Today we were back in Reykjavik to do the stereotypical things - check out their famous farmer's market and finally get my hands on one of those knitted woolen sweaters that has been tempting me from every tourist centre and souvenir shop. We had some time to walk around and see the sights, and finally got our chance to have some traditional Icelandic cuisine - namely puffin, dried fish and fermented shark! We are off to bed now as we need to be up at 4 am and at the airport by 5:45 am tomorrow morning for our flight to Gatwick. Rental car in the UK is arranged, and fingers crossed for customs and immigration! I'll post my final thoughts on Iceland tomorrow or the next day, as I want to take my time.