Hi day 6! The sunrise this morning was gorgeous. I ate my breakfast next to a window so I could watch the sky brighten. Once we hit the road, we made several small stops just to admire the scenery. We were headed back to Reykjavik this evening so we had a lot of ground to cover. Then, we went to a black sand beach. This beach is notorious for being incredibly dangerous because the waves are so powerful. After the beach, the next stop was some cliffs with great views of waves crashing against them. The views were incredible and the ocean was beautiful. Then we went to the waterfall we have been waiting for. This waterfall you can walk all the way behind it. This is an incredibly unique feature that I was thrilled to see in person. Lastly, we stopped at a crater. It was quite slippery and I ended up on the ground twice!
Later this night, we went to a restaurant to try some traditional Icelandic foods. The sampler we were given included a horse tartare, smoked artic char, lamb, and puffin. I was little scared to try the horse tartare but I was brave and gave it a bite. It was much better than I thought it was but I did not have more of it. Icelandic horse is a very hardy animal and is the only animal that Icelandic farmers keep outside. Having this many horses on the island, it only makes sense that they would be used as meat. Next, I tried the puffin. I had no qualms against eating puffin but it was not what I expected. I really did think it was going to be like chicken so I was expecting a white meat. But it was definitely more of a dark meat and felt oilier. I believe puffin are very abundant in the summer so it also makes sense that they get eaten. Next, I tried the lamb. I don’t normally eat lamb but I thought it was quite yummy. I’ve been told that Icelandic lamb is especially good because they allow the sheep to roam free in the highlands in the summer. The last item of the sampler was the smoked atlantic char. I am a big fan of smoked salmon and it was incredibly reminiscent of that. I would definitely have it again!
Today was a lot of driving and sight seeing but the food was lovely. Trying foods is a great way to learn more about a culture and we definitely got to learn more tonight!
Swanson School of Engineering 