Iceland

The Blue Lagoon, Iceland

Saturday, March 21 2009

We’re in Reykjavik, it’s my birthday and it looks like a glorious start to the day. We arrived quite late last night at the Einholt Apartments – about 1.30am. Our apartment is a small studio, but big enough, in what appears to be an old office building. On first impressions, the area looks a bit like a business park. We decided to take a little walk down the main drag. To look at it, it reminded me of the main street in a small New England town. There were some very simple, low buildings covered in tin siding, painted red, blue or green. The main street was thronged with young, drunk people. It was a bit like Brighton’s (my home city) West Street on a Friday or Saturday night, with kids lurching about, beautiful women vomiting in the street and men urinating and spitting. Obviously, the high cost of alcohol doesn’t stop people from drinking. Don’t get me wrong – it was great! It was all indicative of a fantastic night life!

Now I am sitting in bed, looking out the window at some buildings with red and green corrugated tin roofs, and in the distance there is a snow-covered mountain. Today I think the plan is to check out the city on foot, get a feel for things, take some photos and later go out for some food and drink. So far, even though we saw a bit of the party element, Reykjavik seems quite laid-back. Well, I’m longing to get up and see more than just those tin roofs. Let’s get up and see what Iceland has to offer.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

We stayed out late last night. We went for a lovely meal. I had cod and Peter had salmon. We both agreed that it was the best cod and salmon we had ever eaten. The fish just tasted so succulent and fresh. Yesterday we took a walk around Reykjavik, the smallest, most northerly capital in the world. It has a very laid back and friendly vibe.

We went to the Hallgrimskirkja, which unfortunately was closed on Saturday and was covered in scaffolding, so I couldn’t even get a photo of the facade. Nevertheless, you could see what an impressive structure it is from the back.  It is such an amazing example of the simple yet strong lines of Icelandic architecture.

The back of the Hallgrimskirkja

We walked to the waterfront and into the old town, saw the Viking ship sculpture against a background of still water and snowy hills, and we went to the Viking settlement museum, which is all underground.

Viking ship sculpture, Reykjavik

Snow in Reykjavik – These were the hugest snowflakes we had ever seen. Some were the size of the palm of your hand!

The weather was starting to get a bit wintry. The biggest snowflakes I have ever seen in my life started swirling around us and sticking to our faces. We went for a coffee to get out of the snow. A guy with ginger hair and beard, who was in a wheel chair, came into the coffee shop. He wheeled himself up to the table next to us and struck up a conversation. His name was Jongunnar and he used to be a tour guide, but he was in a terrible accident in which the jeep he was a passenger in got blown off a mountain road; he lost the use of his legs. Tragic. But he was starting his own business and seemed really happy. He was so kind. He gave us advice where to go and he bought us coffees. He even made us a reservation in one of his friend’s restaurants.After dinner we went to a bar called Cultura. It was a mellow 30-something crowd, so we felt right at home with our pints of Gull and Polar beer.

Reykjavik is very small and resembles a small New England town, but it is confident and intelligent and has a cool insouciant laid-backness. It has culture and personality and it doesn’t have to try too hard. It is a welcoming place and well-located for going off to other places.

Today we are going to try a bit of bird-watching and then we are going to the Blue Lagoon for a good hot soak.

Then tomorrow it’s up early to do the Golden Circle.

Monday 23 March, 2009

Yesterday was absolutely fantastic. We set out in the car to the Reykanes peninsula. We weren’t really sure what we were going to see, but were aiming for some coastal bird watching. We drove through barren lava fields, with huge erupting blisters on top, like the top of a burnt cake. There were some conical snow-capped volcanoes looming behind – probably the culprits of the destruction.

This volcano is called Hekla (hooded) and last erupted in 2000. A plume of ash and steam spewed up to 15km and lava spilled out for two days. The population of Reykjavik descended on the area to watch, only to be caught out by a sudden snowfall, triggering the largest emergency operation in Icelandic history.

We stopped off at a small part of the continental divide between North America and Europe. It was full of soft black sand that felt like a sponge underfoot.

Continental divide – This is where the North American and European tectonic plates collide, causing a huge crack in the ground.

Our curiosity also drew us to an ocean outflow from a geothermal energy plant. It stank badly of sulphur and filled the air with plumes of steam as the hot thermal water hit the freezing cold water of the sea. It was strange seeing the sea steaming like that.

Steaming sea water – hot spring water meeting the sea. It stank like rotten eggs.

Then we drove to the Reykanavesti lighthouse. It was a bumpy, gravel track that led us to a cliff’s edge. The cliffs were covered in kittiwakes and bird guano. There were also a couple of stone outcroppings out in the sea, where there was another colony of birds. The further one, Elvey Island was home to the largest gannet population in Europe, and was also, sadly, the last home of the now extinct great auk. The islands were too far away to see anything, even with the binoculars, unfortunately.

Elðey

Then we tootled up the trail to a hot spring. It was amazing – huge cracks and holes appeared in the earth and steam forced itself out in a powerful rushing plume that made a sound like a huge, boiling kettle. Hot steam and bubbling mud were just coming out of holes in the ground, right on the gravel path we were walking on and there was nothing to prevent you from falling in.

Gunnuhver springs – One hundred degree water was just spewing out of these cracks in the ground and you could hear the steam hissing out like a giant kettle.

After that we headed off towards the Blue Lagoon. It is on a volcanic lava field, dug out and filled with the outflow from a nearby geothermal energy plant. The water is hot, milky, and almost luminescent, and steam constantly lies on the surface. It’s lovely swimming in the hot, milky water, and seeing heads looming out of the thick fog. It felt so wonderful just basking in the water with snow falling on your head.

Blue Lagoon – This has got to be the best place in the world. It is actually the overflow from a geothermal energy plant. They pump sea water over volcanic vents to create steam and then dump the hot sea water into the rocky volcanic plain.

On the side of the pool there were pots of white silica mud to rub on your skin. I felt relaxed and exhausted afterwards.

I’m a bit worried about the weather today, though, for the Golden Circle. It looks snowy and icy out there.

Tuesday 24 March, 2009

I love Iceland! Even though it’s cold, it’s warm inside. I love how the floors are all heated. They’re either wood or stone and the interior décor is sleek, simple lines. Functional yet attractive.  Everything is so relaxed. No crowds, no noise. It’s so peaceful, especially when you are outside standing on a lava plain and all you can hear is the rush of the steam escaping from a hot spring. When we are driving around we are sometimes the only car on the road. I could live here I think.

Isolated house

Yesterday we toured the Golden Circle. On our way we stopped off at a huge volcanic crater.

Kerið crater

We drove up to Thingvellir, where the continental plates are visible, and either side of a massive gorge.

þingvellir tectonic plates

Then we went to Geysir, where there are some very hot springs. The ground bubbles like a witch’s cauldron and every 10 minutes or so a plume of hot water and steam bursts out of the ground and into the sky. This one is called Strokkur (Churner); the original Geysir hasn’t gushed since the 1960s.

Strokkur (churner) geyser

Hot spring

Following on from that, we drove to Gullfoss, or Golden falls. We were surprised at the sheer size and volume of water. Peter and I were both expecting a narrow column of water pouring down a rocky crag. What we did see was a massive uneven crack and two or three levels of water, gushing, churning violently and sending water spraying into the air. It was snowy and icy standing around on the edge of the gorge. One small slip and you could easily have gone right under the ‘safety’ rope and disappeared into certain death. There doesn’t seem to be that fear of health and safety issues that you get in the UK and USA. In a way, I prefer this though, because it is not commercialised. Commercialisation ruins natural beauty.

The Golden Falls

We winded the day up by going to Jongunnar’s friend’s restaurant. It was a lobster restaurant called Fyorubordid, in a nondescript village called Stokkeyri. It reminded me a bit of Camber Sands in the UK or Ocean Beach, NJ in the USA, with lots of temporary-looking pre-fab houses lined up on one road leading down to an ugly, rocky beach. But the restaurant was cute and the lobster soup satisfying and filling. In fact, it was incredibly filling and warming. I felt like I would never feel cold again after eating that soup.

Thursday  26 March, 2009

Our last day in Iceland was amazing. We used every bit of daylight and returned really late, tired and cranky from not having eaten. We didn’t really have a specific plan. We wanted to go see the glaciers as that is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity. We headed east along the south coast. On reaching the glacier area, there were several beautiful waterfalls on the roadside. We tried to drive towards Thorsmork but the road got a bit too rugged for our hire car. When we came across a river gushing over the road, we turned back.

Mýrdals glacier – This is an actual glacier! Ten per cent of Iceland is covered in glaciers.

At the Seljallaland falls we noticed a lone traveller. The first person we’d seen out and about on our excursions. By the time we made it to the next set of falls, the Skolgar falls, the same guy was there again, so we decided to give him a lift this time.

Seljallaland falls

View from Skógar falls

View from Skógar falls – The person in the foreground is a frenchman called Guillaume from Britanny. We kept crossing paths, but we met later on when we picked him up hitchhiking.

We took him further east to Vik, where there was a black, sandy beach. The guy was called Guillaume, a physiotherapist from Brittany, who arrived the day before and was travelling east along the south coast. He wasn’t exactly sure where he was going, or where he was going to end up.

Troll rocks, Vík – Icelandic legend has it that trolls trying to pull a ship into the rocks were caught by the sunlight and turned to stone forever.

Icelandic church

After we dropped him off, we continued back towards Reykjavic and stopped off at a place called Dyrholaey, the southernmost tip of Iceland, where there is a bird sanctuary. This was perhaps one of the most beautiful spots we had seen. It was a bird reserve on top of a cliff top, with ocean on one side and a bay on the other, under the watchful gaze of the glacier. We stayed there until sunset, trying to view puffins, but soon realised it wasn’t their season.

Dyrhólaey causeway

Dyrhólaey

Dead whale, Dyrhólaey – Unfortunately, the only whale we saw was this dead one, washed up and half buried in the volcanic sand. We took the photo from the top of a cliff, so you can’t really see how huge it is.

Every place we went in Iceland, we though was the most beautiful we had ever seen, until we moved on to the next place, which we thought was the most beautiful. Each place was different and stunning – the power of nature is so moving.

Puffins – Too bad the only puffins we saw were these stuffed ones in a souvenir shop.

All words and pictures (c) Kerry Boettcher, 2012