In a number of fellow bloggers' posts, we had read about Gjain, which was described by most who had been there, as the "Garden of Eden", "fairy tale world" and "pearl in the desert". And yet if you read most published guide books to Iceland, it is rarely mentioned.
Perhaps that should have been a clue to us that this is not an easy accessible place.
I entered it into Waze and into Google Maps and both apps gave me directions. And so, confident that we could get there, we set off on the two hour drive to Gjain. And guess what, both Waze and Google maps directed me to different places in the same vicinity and the recommended sign posts indicated in the blogs I had read were either too small and faded to read or were non existent.
But we had come this far, and so we continued to search. We finally came to a dirt road with a small faded sign and an indication that the road was restricted to 4 x 4 vehicles, which we did NOT have. But we had come this far and were not going to be deterred. We carefully drove the road and finally saw another car coming toward us. We asked whether we could get there with our car and they told us that there were others in the Gjain parking lot with non 4 x 4 vehicles, so we continued on our way.
It was a rocky uneven road and we even had to drive thru a small creek until we finally arrived at the parking area. I should say that in the many Kms surrounding this spot, we saw only desolation, almost desert type conditions with little growing and rocks everywhere, just like the following picture:
But talk about a dramatic contrast! When we walked to the top of the hill and looked down in the small valley beneath us, the sight simply took our breath away. Literally like a Garden of Eden! Paradise! A Pearl in the Desert! It is simply impossible to capture in words what we saw, it was too perfect and too beautiful. And while we took some good pictures, we will also share with you a few pictures that we found on the Internet that were taken by professionals.
First, a number of our pictures; our view from the parking lot, above Gjain in the valley below:
And a few from the floor of the valley:
It was what we call the "Oseh Maaseh Bereishit" moment (a Hebrew blessing that you say when you see a wonder of God's creations!).
And now the pictures online taken by professionals:
And a little video, so you can hear the sounds of this magical place:
This is truly a breathtaking place located in the Þjórsárdalur valley. It is one of the hidden treasures of Iceland. Rauðá river (Red River) runs through here, with a small lovely waterfall ever so beautifully framed by the surroundings. It is called Gjárfoss falls and cascades into the gorge of Gjáin. We spent about an hour in this beautiful fairyland filled with waterfalls, columnar basalt, lush vegetation and angelica in abundance.
There were a few other visitors; and we have to conclude that the reason why this is not a popular tourist spot is because it is so difficult to get to; tour buses cannot get in and it is off the beaten path but it was definitely worth the trip to Gjain.
Interestingly, while walking thru the garden, I heard a voice saying "you will not find a minyan here". We met a visitor from the UK who, after playing Jewish geography for a few moments, knew my namesake, first cousin from Manchester. Small world!
From here we journeyed to the small town of Laugavatn, to the spa called Fontana. Laugarvatn belongs to a hot zone. In the grounds of the village, the lake and the shore of the lake you'll find boiling waters erupting into hot springs. This hot water and various hot springs have been used for cooking, bathing, geothermal househeating and healing steam bathing.
We came here, not for the spa or the hot springs but to bake geothermal bread. We had found on the Internet that in this spa, they bake special rye bread and what is unique about it is that the bread is baked in the ground.
We wrote to them, explained that we had a very strict kosher diet and asked for the ingredients. They were all purely natural and kosher. But there was still the pot and the method of greasing or lining the pot. So we asked whether they would buy a new pot for us, grease the pot with butter only and bake us a loaf of this special rye bread. They agreed.
The ingredients are mixed together in the pot and then the pot is placed into the ground for about 15 to 20 hours whereupon it is dug out of the hot steaming earth and voila, you have a loaf of bread.
We arrived and went to the lakefront where you could see mounds of earth indicating the number of loaves currently being baked. This is a video of our guide digging the bread out of the boiling ground.
Our guide took her shovel and dug our pot out of the ground and we had a steaming hot, very dense, dark rye bread. We went into the spa and she cut the bread for us, which we buttered and tasted....delicious.
And now for the tasting.....
Within the list of ingredients, there were 5 cups of rye, 2 cups of flour 2 cups of sugar and so the bread must have weighed over 5 pounds when it emerged from the pot.
We tasted a few slices and then were able to take the remainder of the bread with us. Most expensive loaf we have ever bought, but what a "chavaya" (Hebrew for "experience")!
Our last day in Iceland and we had not yet been to the most visited tourist attraction in Iceland, the Blue Lagoon. The spa is located in a lava field between Reykjavik and the airport in Keflavik. It is a man-made lagoon which is fed by the water output of the nearby geothermal plant and is renewed every two days.
In 1976 a pool formed at the site from the waste water of the geothermal power plant that had just been built there. In 1981 people started bathing in it after its purported healing powers were popularized. In 1992 the Blue Lagoon company was established and the bathing facility was opened for the public.
The warm waters, averaging 37 - 39 degrees C., are rich in minerals like silica and sulphur and therefore are reputed to help some people suffering from skin diseases such as psoriasis.
We drove from the spa/bakery to see the Blue Lagoon. The approach to it off the main airport expressway was through a desolate looking lava field. And then you turn into the parking lot and you see a modern facility which is the Blue Lagoon. What amazed us was the number of people. We did not arrive until 7 PM and the place was packed with tourists. It is a huge lagoon and the building attached to it has a restaurant and a very large and busy gift shop selling medicated cleansers and creams under the Blue Lagoon name.
There must have been 400 to 500 people in the building and the lagoon. Entry is quite steep, at €40 to €70 euro a person. And most people are there not for the therapeutic or medicinal benefits but rather for the "chavaya".
We headed back to our apartment to complete our packing and get ready for a very early morning drive to the airport.
Our flight to Dublin for our third Shabbat there was at 6:15 AM and therefore we had to be at the airport by 4:30 AM, so we left the apartment at 3:45 AM.
The flight was smooth, we picked up our car rental and since we were in the same Airbnb for this Shabbat, we went right over, unpacked and got everything ready for Shabbat.
We spent the rest of the day at the Kildare Outlet Mall, about a 30 minute drive away.
On Friday night after davening, we were invited once again to Tova and Lewis Citron's home and they had a full table; there were 11 of us in total. They are such gracious hosts and we thoroughly enjoyed the food, the company, the conversation and the lively zemirot. Lewis in fact taught me the tune for the end of benching sung to Paddy McGuinty, a popular Irish tune.
We got home after midnight and looked forward to the next stage in our third Shabbat in Dublin.
More to come
All the best
Fran and David
I truly enjoyed reading your blog. We also went from Sunday to Friday but started with 3 days of rain which put a 'damper' on our tours. On Friday we were taxiing on the runway when the pilot braked and turned back. Engine trouble. We got stranded in Keflavik for Shabbos. Needless to say, no minyan, but we made the best of it and it turned out fine. Havdala after 11.
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