Another video is ready to view here, and this one takes you with us as we tour the small town of Vík í Mýrdal in southern Iceland. In under an hour, you can see the weather change from rain to sun yet again as we visit churches, beaches, caves, and grab some of the famous black crust pizza. I sort of dubbed this portion of the trip our Star Wars adventure, as you’ll find out.
I love all things spooky, so as we drove back from Reynisfjara Beach and the fog and rain increased to properly haunting proportions, I had to stop and see the church and graveyard by the side of the road. Peaceful, serene, quiet, and surrounded by the beauty of Iceland. I am so glad I stopped to pay respect to this little piece of the world.
Next, we headed into Vík to see the more famous church on the hill and grab food. We got delicious pizza at Black Crust Pizzeria in Vík. Leave yourself plenty of time and expect long lines because it is extremely popular with tourists. We had to wait for about twenty minutes to get a table, though I am noticing on their website that they now take reservations. But, it’s kind of fun to hang out with all the other tourists from around the world. We ended up getting a pepperoni and date pesto pizza that was so good we had to recreate it at home.
The church is another one of those places that may look isolated in photos, but in reality, the road up and the parking lot are generally busy. The view from the top of the hill can’t be beat, though, and even in cloudy weather, we got some interesting pictures. I think these of the beach are really cool because they look black and white, even though they aren’t. It was a perfect resting spot for us before we headed to our next big stop: Gígjagjá.
Only a few minutes further down the road, you’ll find a long, bumpy drive leading to every Star Wars fan’s favorite cave, Gígjagjá. This cave is on private property, so be sure to pay the parking fee. I believe it was around $7 USD. The cave itself is on a giant, seemingly endless stretch of sand. A smaller cave is off to the side, and you can go inside that one, as well. The main cave is right by the parking and easily accessible. From the inside, the opening does appear to be Yoda. The cave ceiling towers above you, with the image of Yoda directly ahead. It really was cool, and the pictures we got are some of my favorites of the whole trip. It really isn’t too far off of Route 1, so add this stop into your itinerary if you are into Star Wars! The black sand beaches near Reynisfjara and Víkurfjara are also Rogue One filming areas, so really, you can do an entire Star Wars adventure in this area.
We hope you enjoyed this video, though it is shorter than some of the others. The next and last part of this day’s adventure will be out soon, too, and then we will head further up the coast for more lagoons, glaciers, and a canine Icelandic ambassador we met along the way.