Horseback Riding in Iceland

When I was a young Girl Scout I would go away to horseback riding camp every summer for about a week, and I loved it. When a horseback riding tour through a lava field popped up during my planning for Iceland I thought "Yes please!" We had been seeing the horses all over Iceland, and to me they look more like super cute oversized ponies than the ginormous horses we are used to in the States. All of the riders got assigned to horses, and since all of us had minimal experience we were assured our horses were calm and experienced to handle our horseback riding skills (or lack thereof). 

Getting ready for our ride

Once we all got up into the saddles (which was trickier than I thought it would be - that sucker was much taller than I thought!) we headed off on our tour. It was an extremely windy day, and I was just plodding along wondering if my nose was still attached to my face since I could no longer feel it. All of a sudden I see some commotion ahead of me, and the next thing I know one of the riders is flat on her back and her horse is running away from her and eventually lays down and starts rolling on the ground! It all happened so fast, and the guides calmly but quickly had the rest of us dismount our horses until everything was under control. Apparently the wind was whipping the plastic covering on the hay bales which spooked that horse and had it running a little too fast, so the rider decided it'd be better to bail off the horse. She was such a champ - she didn't cry or mope around, she just smiled and hopped back on her horse once it had calmed down. Even though I wasn't the one who had fallen, I was still a little freaked out. It was SUPER windy and I was just worried something else flapping or blowing in the wind would spook the horses, but luckily that was the only incident for the day.

Thomas getting ready to go!

Aside from the crazy wind, the rest of the ride went pretty well. The scenery wasn't quite as great as I had hoped for, but to be honest I was too busy worrying unnecessarily about falling off my horse to pay a whole lot of attention to my surroundings. We stopped at the halfway point to allow the horses some time to snack on grass, but Thomas' horse ate a whole pile of horse poop! We were laughing so hard because it reminded us of our dog Zoe who also eats poop - so disgusting/hilarious. Apparently Thomas' horse was new to walking in a single file line and it kept popping out of line and trying to maneuver its way to the front, but Thomas kept him in check and in line. :) It was a fun little ride, and near the end I was feeling comfortable enough to actually enjoy the little bouts of trotting that we would do, but I was glad when the ride was over - mainly to get out of the wind. If you are a horse lover then this would be a good little excursion, but if you're doing it to see the lava fields then I would recommend another way to do so. The guides were great and experienced, and made us feel safe and calm, so if you want to go horseback riding in Iceland I would recommend Hestar, they were perfect for beginners like us!

Scenery along our ride

Me and my well-behaved, non-poop-eating horse ;)

The Hallgrímskirkja church was right up the road from our apartment, so we walked on over to check it out up close. The architect who designed the church wanted it to resemble the lava flows that are so common in Icelandic landscape, and I think he did a great job of portraying that. Inside the church was very plain, but it was actually a refreshing change of pace from all of the ornate churches and cathedrals that we have seen elsewhere in Europe. It was also beautiful when it was all lit up at night (or early afternoon ha), definitely worth a trip to view this church. 

Hallgrímskirkja church

Me and my new Icelandic friend :)