Iceland trip-Horse riding and hiking

Woke up to this beautiful view after a good night rest. Today’s activity is Icelandic horse riding and hiking up a mountain. 

Waited for our pick up at Bus Stop 2 and the time is 7.45am. Our pick up finally came at 8.15am. We spent about 30mins outside shivering in the cold...it’s really cold. 

On the journey there, it’s a view of white expanse all around. 

Upon reaching eldhestar horse riding farm, we quickly suited up in their overalls and helmet. So excited meeting an Icelandic horse! They quite small and tame compared to other horses.

I had zero horse riding experience so maybe they gave me a horse that moves slowly and dun like to run. It had a mind of its own and run when it feels like it but most of the time, it just walk slowly. 

Anyway it was a fun and memorable experience for me and I enjoyed it v much. 

After 1.5-2 hrs of horse riding, we had lunch at the hotel. Turned out eldhestar operates a hotel and a horse ranch also. Lunch was simple and nice. 

It’s buffet style and consist mainly of soup, bread, salad and some cold deli. I like the garlic soup. 

After lunch, the activity was supposed to be hiking to the geothermal river but our guide advised us not to get as it’s v difficult to hike up the mountains in deep snow and told us to go dip in the swimming pool instead. However, we din have any bathing suits with us and we really prefer hiking to dipping in a hot tub which sounds so boring. In the end, we are the only 2 person who went for the hike together with our guide. 

Luckily it was a beautiful day. 

The climb up was pretty steep and I was already out of breathe after 15 mins. 

Passed by some hot springs along the way.

View during the climb. Actually it was quite scary coz it’s quite high and the trail was narrow and uneven. One wrong step and I could have tumbled down.....

The view was awesome. 

Even managed to saw a rainbow.

Taking a short break....

We managed to make it to the waterfall after an br which is about 1/4 of the journey and decided to turn back coz realistically it’s not possible to make it all the way coz my legs are gone and I’m halfway dead already. Plus there’s not enough time since we are moving at turtle speed. It’s really hard hiking up the mountains in deep snow! Every step is an effort. But I’m glad and proud to be able to make it this far! So glad I came for this hike! 

On the way back, the weather suddenly changed as so typical of weather here in Iceland. The clear blue sky is suddenly replaced by dark clouds and then it started snowing. 

The hike down is easier and faster but I fell and landed on my butt...haha....realized that hiking up is painful of my lungs but hiking down is painful for my knees....

Back in Reykjavik, we went to try the famous hotdog stall.

It’s really yummy and nice!

At the end of this memorable day, even though my whole body is aching all over, we experienced our first horse riding, our hiking up a snow deep mountain and tried delicious famous hotdog!