It’s sunny when I get up, and the landscape looks so bright and the colors so vibrant that it’s like someone wiped it down in the night. 

I get ready for the day then walk downstairs in my socks. Coffee, hard boiled egg, toast, butter, jam, and a tiny pastry. A simple breakfast.

The American couple at the next table are talking about their trip to the local spa and how much they enjoyed it. I pull up my map and indeed there’s a geothermal hot springs spa a three minute walk from the hostel. Yay! 

I had thought that maybe I’d spend the day writing, catching up on my travel blog and my novel that I need to finish, but a visit to hot springs sounds awesome.

Immediately, I check out the website for Laugarvatn Fontana, and find that they also have a bread experience. I sign up for both bread and spa.

Laugarvatn Fontana

There is a busload of people finishing up their rye bread experience at Laugarvatn Fontana as I walk into the building. The scent of the bread fills the room. It smells like someone just baked gingerbread cookies. I kind of want to pretend I’m with this group so I can nab a piece.

Our guide grabs a pan of unbaked bread and asks us to follow him. In my group are a young woman and her mother from Philly, and an uncle and his niece from Oregon. 

We walk over wooden walkways because the sand, as our guide explains, can be 100° centigrade. The recipe came from the owners grandmother and it takes 24 hours to bake in the hot sand. He talks about the area, the geothermal temperatures, he digs up the bread that’s been baking since yesterday, plants the new bread, and we take some fun photos with the bread and a shovel, then head inside. 

I’m really happy we didn’t have to make the bread, so this was a perfect fun thing to do. Besides, we get to eat the bread! It’s still warm and a thin slice of butter melts quickly. Yum. It’s nothing like rye bread that I’ve ever had. It’s like a ginger cake.

I get to know my cohort a little. Lilly and her mother are from Philly. Her dad inspired her to travel because he would always bring her something from his trips. She asked her mom to come with her and it’s her mom’s first trip. Lilly has been to many countries all ready. I estimate Lilly’s in her twenties and it warms my heart to see women traveling and exploring.

The uncle, Robert, is traveling with his niece, Jan on her first trip out of the U.S. Yay!

Now it’s time for the spa! And I’ve been eyeing those pools since I got here.

Hot Springs of Awesomeness at Laugarvatn Fontana

I check in, I go into the women’s room (there’s only one so no need for workers to hover and send you to the right one like my experience at Blue Lagoon), I change, shower, dress, and dash out to the pools. I’m chilled and I want to get into the closest one but it’s only a few inches deep, but oh well. I get in anyway and walk until it’s at least a couple of feet and sit down. Whew! Heat.

As I explore the pools my smile grows. Each pool is just a little hotter. I find one that’s an infinity pool. A hot springs infinity pool with a view of the lake! I laugh out loud I’m so happy. A gorgeous view, a pool that’s super heated, I could live here. In this pool. 

There are local families here – one of the first times I’ve heard Icelandic spoken and I’m not surrounded by a bunch of tourists, but it is a weekday and maybe that makes a difference. I discover the next pool over is a few degrees hotter. Yes! 

Looking out at the lake, I decide I’ll walk out there to dip my toes into the lake. It can’t be that cold right? I mean it’s right on the edge of a geothermal spot. So I walk over and I hear an American girl say in a hushed, awed voice “Oh, she’s going in!”

I stand a little taller and walk over, dip my toe in. then shake my head and turn back around. I shake my head at the American. “Too cold.” And go back to the nice warm spa pools.

Too bad I can’t write my novel from the spa. I really don’t want to leave, but if I don’t I’ll turn into a super prune. 

Best Burger

On my way out I ask the owner if she can suggest a great seafood restaurant, because I’d really love some seafood. She shakes her head, but she can suggest a burger place that’s fifteen minutes down the road, Efsitidalur.

Burgers it is!

And the signs along the road are impossible to miscommunicate. There’s a sign for cow/hamburger and a sign for ice cream and I follow them carefully. 

The turn in to the burger restaurant is unassuming, the building looks like a big barn. I walk in and it’s a total 360. The inside is shiny and it’s like any other nice restaurant. There’s a bar and behind the bar the menu is in English and Islandic.

I choose not to sit at the window that overlooks the cows, because that seems a little mean. The burger is juicy and super tasty and I finish that thing completely!

Then, I can’t leave without having some ice cream, so I head downstairs where the young woman seems more interested in folding napkins than serving ice cream. I get it in a cone, which is more like chewing on a rawhide. So skip the cone, but the ice cream was so good! This time I sit by the window and thank those cows.

What a day! But I need to get some work done so I head back to the hostel. 

I discard my shoes at the door and go upstairs to change and then realize I brought a few hot hands packets with me! Since I can’t wear shoes in the hostel, I tuck some hot hands in some socks and put them over my socked feet. Why didn’t I think of that sooner!

I walk downstairs and sit at a table, I have a view of the lake from the window, access to coffee, and this beautiful space and my feet are warm. Heaven.

I’m working on the third novel in my series, The Idol Makers, when a group sits behind me at the couch. Two American tourists and two Icelanders. In my novel, I’m deep in the Amazon, my characters trying to make their way through vines and rain and mud.

The Iclandic dude starts talking so loud, they can probably hear him on the next floor, and I can’t put myself in the Amazon anymore. I could move, but if you haven’t figured it out, I’m nosy. 

The Icelander, he went to Vegas with his girlfriend to see if he could make it there as a computer programmer. He didn’t make enough to live on so he and his girlfriend came back to Iceland. 

He asks the Americans very loudly, “Is it true that you have to go on a date to meet someone? Here in Iceland we have sex first and then if we are right for each other, we stick together.”

There ensues a long conversation about dating, Americans, the differences between men and women, Bruce Jenner/Kaitlyn, the difference in work ethics, vacations, and more. It’s interesting hearing the Americans try to explain our dating world, why someone who identified as a man would want to be a woman, and why Americans work so much.

Hmmm. 

They meander into another room and now I have to plan the rest of my days here in Iceland. Normally, I’d find a completely new town, but unfortunately, in order to go back to the U.S. I have to take the Covid test, and it’s best to get it done in Reykjavik. 

Since I have to go back to Reykjavik, I could go to the Kex hostel again, but I’m thinking I need to check out other places. So, I find a place called the Galaxy Pod Hostel where you can sleep in a space age looking pod! Heck yeah.

And, I find an AirBnB that’s near the airport so that my very last day can be as easy as possible.

I didn’t expect that I would love this country so much, especially after that first day, but I do. What is it about this place that makes me love it? The view? The green hills, the hiking, the trails, the history, the spas? I think all of it.

Do you want more information about travel to Iceland? You can sign up here to get The Single Woman’s Guide to Iceland – Post Covid Almost.

Or maybe you just need an adventurous novel for that long flight. You can nab the highly rated thriller/adventure, Toy of the Gods today!

Or check out day one of my Iceland trip or day seven of my trip where I discover great views and arrive at the Galaxy Pod Hostel.