My friend Thorunn took me to her hometown Hveragerdi (Hveragerði) in the south of Iceland, 45km east of Reykjavik.
Going up the mountain on the outskirts of town I understood how small Hveragerdi was, with just 1200 residents (year 2006).
Thorunns father offered to give me a short jeep ride on the edge of the town, we took this road.
In Iceland you really feel the importance of 4x4 jeeps, just going a bit out of Hveragerdi and we had to fjord this river!
Icelandic nature never stopped to amaze me, not only to the famous major sights but everywhere, simple, breath taking, beautiful...
The surrounding area is part of the Hengill central volcano, and is geothermally active. The town is known for its greenhouses, which are heated by hot water from the volcanic hot springs which are also famous.
Was lucky to visit "Eden", a roadside restaurant-greenhouse where you could have a meal or take your time exploring its sprawling greenhouse which featured all kinds of plant species, some of them foreign to Iceland. I write I was lucky because sadly the whole place burnt down in 2011... read some reports they were planning to re-open it in a more modern version in 2015 but don't know if it really happened...
Walking around Hveragerdi you could see many of these beautiful green houses.
Thorunn and her family. Extremely hospitable and lovely people, they were so kind to me and I learned many things spending a bit of time with an Icelandic family. Nobody smoked, nobody drunk alcohol. In order to get by in Iceland both of the parents need to work. Thorunn has been working since 12 years old and her sister was working in the local bonus supermarket. The winter is quite hard with the snow, the cold and the darkness. Although with a good moon there can be some light on the streets during the darkest months. They were concerned about my upcoming trek and gave me many warm clothes. After the trek I came back to their house and they drove me to many places showing me around. The last day before I leave their place (when we took the photo as well) they gave me an amazing present, a knitted woolen sweater, they have been knitting it the time I was away in my trek in order to give me! I still have it, its so warm you can wear it only during days of freezing cold. The day of my departure they drove me to the next town so I could hitch hiking... big thank you to Thorunn and her family for their hospitality and help!
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