Well as I type this I am looking out the plane window over a land of rock and ice as we say goodbye to Iceland. In two hours and 40 minutes we will land in Heathrow where we will experience the torture that is British immigration. I swear, by the time we finish our OE I suspect that if I have ever hear the words “Have your circumstances changed over the past three days?”, I will lose the plot completely! Not that it is an issue at all compared with what we get to experience and have in fact experienced this long weekend in Iceland...
Now I know I harp on about how beautiful many of the places are that we go to, and I’m often quoted saying that XXXX is our favourite place, BUT I can at last confirm that I have a favourite and that favourite is majestic Iceland! A country that is on the very opposite side of the world to New Zealand and is so completely different – not an ounce of greenery to be seen! The clue is very much in the name of the country – ICEland. Because that is exactly what it is – a country built upon rock and ice. It looks like a moon crater and almost nothing grows there. We don’t really feel that far from home more often than not, but this weekend you couldn’t help but feel on the very opposite side of the world. From the landscape, to the weather, the people and the food – just a different world entirely. I could prattle on about how much we loved it for ever really (and I fully intend to next time I see you all so just be wary of this), but for your sake I’ll get on with the blog! Just after I’ve jotted down a few points of interest that is... (You didn’t really think you could get away with me not chewing your ear off for a few more paragraphs did you?)
• Iceland is essentially made up of volcanoes, many of which are active as seen with the volcanic eruption last April which brought a halt to air travel in Europe for weeks!
• In winter there is just four hours of daylight, meaning when we set off to explore each day it was pitch back leading us to believe that it was the middle of the night when in fact it was 10 in the morning!
• The warmest temperature we experienced was -5 degrees, which is a lot worse than it sounds as it is so much colder with the wind that comes off the sea and ice!
• Iceland is where the Vikings settled and to this day Icelanders can read ancient texts as Icelandic is virtually the same today.
• Trolls and ‘hidden people’ originated from Iceland and are said to rule the land, they also rule the souvenir shops! I couldn’t help but think of you Mum – you’d love all the mythology!
• The population of Iceland is just 300,000 with 60 per cent of the population living in Reykjavik and the surrounding area. It’s just so peaceful, which may explain why the prime minister is listed in the phone book!
• Puffins, whales, seals and even polar bears can be found in Iceland, although many migrate for the winter. It’s no wonder considering puffin and whale are a national dish! We didn’t partake in any of the national delicacies this time. Call us wimps, but we didn’t really fancy sheep’s head jelly, fermented shark, whale or puffin! Instead we opted for one of the most common dishes served in Iceland – a hot dog! Did you know that the most popular restaurant in Iceland is a hot dog stand which has been in existence since 1937? It serves all the fisherman as they come ashore, as well as hungry tourists like Brad and I!
So back to it... We departed London on Friday evening, arriving at Keflavic airport at 11.30pm where we had airport transfers as part of our package. The airport is roughly an hour away from Reykjavik so by the time we arrived at our hotel we were shattered, so after a quick inspection of our room (lovely and adequate), I cranked the heating up and we hit the hay. After waking up in a sweat during what we thought was the middle of the night, I then turned the heating back down before realising that it wasn’t actually the middle of the night at all and was time to get up! As I mentioned, there are only four hours of daylight in winter and one hour of darkness in summer, so the weather really knocks you for six and you have to keep checking your watch – it’s a funny feeling. Breakfast was included in our deal which is great and while it wasn’t what we had grown accustomed to during our Christmas and New Year tour (various breads, cheeses, meats, fruit, croissants etc), it was still perfectly adequate. My particular favourite was the skyr, which is a national food and is kind of similar to yoghurt but is leaner and has more protein – the stuff of champions!
After a hearty breakfast of skyr and eggs, we ventured out at 11am just as the sun was rising and my oh my, what a sunrise! The night before we hadn’t really seen anything and had no idea that our hotel was right by the ocean and Reykjavik is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes (which is basically what the entire country is like). After a good half an hour of me gushing and jumping up and down screeching about how amazing it was and how it was the ‘best place on earth’, I took a few thousand photos, some of which you will see above, and we continued on our way! It really is stunning. The ground is just rock and ice, with the few tufts of brown grass, completely encased in ice. Not snow, just pure 100 per cent solid ice – it made for very difficult walking, but beautiful photos! The seats, the rubbish bins, the rocks - all drenched with ice! I was so overwhelmed that i didn’t even notice the gale force ice wind that literally froze your face, although Brad did a fair bit of reminding me! It literally freezes your skin so that it hurts to move your face muscles – the locals don balaclavas or warp their faces up well and truly and it’s easy to see why! As I said though, I was too busy jumping and squealing like a kid at Christmas to notice this little fact at first.
So after slowly walking, slipping and crunching our way along the ocean front, stopping every few seconds for another photo, we eventually made it into the main centre. The Lonely Planet website had told us that Reykjavik essentially consisted of one main street, and they were totally right. It’s such a quaint, beautiful little city that leaves you feeling like you are on the opposite side of the world. We strolled around, pointing things out to each other, before seeking out the Icelandic parliament (of which one member was involved in the whole WikiLeaks scandal) and neighbouring church. I was just about to take a photo, camera poised and ready to snap, when all of a sudden Brad shot past whooping and yahooing as he run off into the distance. I ran after him of course (goodness knows what sort of sticky situation he could get himself into if I, his mature minder, was not keeping an eye on him at all times) noticing for the first time how cold the wind was, while Brad took his turn at squealing and jumping up and down like a fat kid at the first sign of cake... He had spotted a lake, which was completely frozen over, leading the way for people of all ages to waltz right across it, riding bikes, skate-boarding, kicking a ball – you name it. With trepidation I watched him walk out, while I screeched a few warnings and had visions of him falling through the ice, only to be consumed by a waiting whale. Eventually I grew some balls and tip toed out to meet him. It was amazing and the ice was at least 20cm deep – you could have driven a car on it we thought (we are experts after all). We lost track of the time as we took another thousand photos, peered at all sorts of things beneath the ice and slipped and slid around. There was a small little section which wasn’t frozen thanks to geothermal water they pump into the lake in order to ensure the birds have a place to float, but other than that the lake was huge – the size of Hamilton’s lake I’d say. Just amazing!
We then continued our walk around town, visiting all the sights, including their beautiful famous church, before deciding to stop for lunch at a cafe which boasted a traditional Icelandic menu. After one glance at the menu, which included all sorts of grim things, including sheep’s head jelly (with picture in case the title wasn’t suggestive enough), we decided that funnily enough we weren’t that hungry and could wait for dinner after all! Lucky escape I say – that’s no doubt why the locals eat so many hot dogs... Would you want rotting shark for breakfast?
By this time we were frozen through so we mooched our way back to Hotel Cabin, via an Icelandic bakery where we brought a couple of delicious cakes to munch on to tide us over to dinner. We had a quick rest, defrosted, then headed out again for dinner, before hot-footing it back to the hotel to join the Northern Lights tour which was included as part of our tour. The Northern Lights are a natural phenomenon and it’s a bit like bird-watching apparently. You can go the spots where they can often be seen, but at the end of the day it’s all down to luck. One guy from my work has been to Iceland five times and hasn’t seen the Northern Lights once and despite positive conditions, unfortunately we didn’t get to see them either, although the sky was very pretty and they were showing on camera. January is the best time to view them apparently, but even then there is no guarantee. You’re pretty lucky if you do see them, but we’ll keep on trucking and try our luck in the Laplands or Norway some time. Because we didn’t see them we got to go on a tour the following evening to try our luck, although this was later cancelled due to the cloudy weather (no chance). Even though we didn’t get to see them properly, we would still recommend Iceland as a destination a million times over.
The next day we had arranged to visit the Blue Lagoon, which is essentially natural geothermal pools in the heart of volcano country where the water is this beautiful milky baby blue colour – it has to be seen to be believed. Because of the properties in the water, the Blue Lagoon is supposedly amazing for your skin and there are little stations dotted around the lagoon where you can put the natural mud on your face and body to act as a mask. It is beyond words – there are steam baths, waterfalls, a beauty spa (which was voted number one medical spa worldwide as the mud is said to cure many skin conditions). It’s all outside, which of course, is a surreal experience in itself as there you are in all your bikini glory hooning it through snow, to get to the safety of the lagoon! Despite the challenges with getting in and out, the experience is absolutely incredible and we’ve never felt so relaxed!
We got back from the lagoon late afternoon and just spaced out in our hotel room for the evening., After making a futile attempt to get up, get coated up and head out for dinner, we gave up halfway and just managed to make it as far as the service station across the road for a hot dog! Pathetic I know, but the thought of cuddling up inside or braving it through the -8 gale force wind was an easy choice to make!
We woke up on our last day with an air of yearning, three days is just too short in such an amazing place! Nevertheless it was an early one (thankfully the long night’s rest had managed to resurge those energy levels) and after our breakfast, we wrapped up to within an inch of our lives (I was wearing two thermotech thermals, designed in Japan to keep heat against your body, a long woollen vest, a hoodie, a thick scarf, a duck down snowboarding jacket and of course the standard snow gloves and hat – five very thick layers in total) and stepped outside. Of course it was still pitch black despite being 8.30am, but this didn’t stop us as we crunched and slid around, on route to the fishing wharf. As you’re probably aware, Iceland is an important fishing source (I guess they can’t really eat much else!) and we were keen to check out the massive boats as they come in. After this it was back to the pond for some more walking (this time kids were letting off fireworks on it in the hopes of making a crack or two in the ice), via the Iceland-famous hot dog stand of course, followed by coffee and hot chocolate at Kaffitar – the home of the world’s second best barista, where we warmed our souls.
Sadly it was time to leave for the airport (which incidentally is incredible in itself and has received a number of design awards), where we spent out last few Icelandic krone on nasty Icelandic alcohol, chocolate and of course hot dogs!
A wonderful trip!
xx
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