Another look back to our travelling history and to one of the most enchantingly wild parts of Europe…Iceland. Back in 2011 Iceland was still recovering from the infamy of a financial crisis that spread to most of the world and the eruption of its tongue twister volcano Eyjafjallajökull that pretty much shut down travel around Europe for several weeks.
Iceland had not yet grown to the massive tourist hot spot that it is today, so crowds were fewer, nonetheless the crowds will mean nothing when you set foot in Iceland and your breath is taken away by its rugged beauty. The timing of our visit was toward the end of April, well into springtime in the rest of Europe, but up here on the edge of the arctic it was still decidedly chilly,
with grey skies, blustery winds and occasional coverings of snow across the land. One learning for all you future visitors to this part of the world is to pack warm and waterproofed, whatever the time of year, but especially this early in the season.
We had just 6 days to explore the country so our plan was to travel along the various circles and rings that Iceland is famous for…along the edge of the arctic circle, following the outer ring road and taking a tour of the golden circle. We had to move pretty quickly for the time we had, but not too quickly as to end up dizzy!
Reykjavik
Starting in the capital city of Reykjavik you will be welcomed by a nice little picturesque pace that you can pretty much see most of in an hour,
the old harbour, the main street of Laugavegur and all its shops full with woolen garments for those of you who arrived unprepared, and the iconic Hallgrímskirkja church
that looks like it is from the X-Files. Expect accommodation to be pricey and coming with just the bare essentials and plan your finances to be prepared for high food and astronomic drink prices…however the food is excellent.
We ate at the sublime Fishmrkt where you will be overwhelmed with a plethora of small, exceptionally tasty dishes to keep you warm through the chilly night outside – king crab, sushi, iceland duck, salted cod and so much more.
With hindsight, for us (in 2018) Iceland probably has the best food after Japan…and if you’ve ever been to Japan then you’ll understand this high praise.
Whale Watching
If you still have some time in Reykjavik before heading off then try to get on one of the whale watching tours – we went with Elding – where you’ll find things easy and accessible for a couple of hours of cetacean sightseeing.
The sea was a bit on the choppy side on the day we went, so keeping our eyes on the bouncing horizon we made our way through an eventful few hours that had us seeing dolphins, minke whale and our favourite – puffins.
Getting Around in Iceland
Heading out on the road, we hired a modest 4×4 Ford Escape. You’ll realise that for Iceland, this is a modest sized car as 4×4’s here are supersized to the point of making a hummer look like a mini, and as you drive around the country you’ll realise why these vehicles are needed.
Blue Lagoon
Even if your trip to Iceland is just for a few days then you will still have the opportunity to go to the world-famous Blue Lagoon, out near the airport and set in a moonscape that is dominated by the large thermal power plant and dykes of surreal blue and green water.
The Blue lagoon itself will appear as you get closer to the ‘resort’ (it’s actually a man made lagoon fed by the output from a geothermal plant that keeps the water at a nice, toasty 37-39 degrees C ).
Here, there is no dependency on the weather, it can be cold, rainy, snowy, whatever mother nature throws at you but still you will be perfectly warm, and wet and shrouded in mist, so the perfect day out in Iceland. Make sure you take advantage of the abundant free silica mud mask for your own DIY facial treatment.
Snaefellsness Peninsula
We first headed northwest to the Peninsula of Snaefellsness. Even in April the days are getting long, so you will have plenty of daylight to sight see and travel through the impressive snowy mountains that guard the entrance to the peninsula.
Staying in Stykkisholmur you will have a perfect base to explore the peninsula for a cacophony of spectacular landscapes – mountains, seascapes, waterfalls, fjords and all the countryside we could handle.
We then drove through to Grundarfjordur and its waterfalls, past the arrowhead mountain of Kirkjufell, one of the most photographed mountains in all of Iceland (and a future location for GoT).
Dritvik Bay with a black sand beach with a ferocious sea pounding against the shore. On this beach you can try your strength with the Fisherman’s Stones –
different weighted stones that were used to test the strength of the local fisherman. Matt tried his luck and just about managed to lift the baby (23kg) stone…he says it’s a lot harder than it looks!
The Golden Circle
Heading out of the peninsula we stayed at Borgarnes, en route to the golden circle down south. From here, you can easily visit the waterfalls of Hrounfossar and Barnafoss.
Looking for Europe’s largest hot spring was also a bit of a bust as it seems to sit under the the district of Reykholtsdalur, and all you really get to see is are the well heads of the thermal energy collection points.
Thingvellir is a great rift in the countryside of Iceland just near the start of the golden circle. Back in 2011 this was just a stunning natural place that already put visitors in mind of something from Tolkien,
years later this is now the pilgrmage sight for GoT fans who want to see where Brienne and the Hound had their big fight in season 4.
Geysers
Geysir is the Disneyland of thermal activity with the father of all Geysers – ‘Geysir’- sending water up to 70m in the air, although very infrequently (and not whilst we were visiting),
the mighty Strokkur that gushes 15-20m high every 6-10 mins and makes for a wonderful show (fortunately there is no disney-esque music to accompany mother nature in this place).
What is great about nature in Iceland is that it is all free…just how it should be, no entrance tickets, no hot dog stands but maybe a few T-shirts here and there!
Gulfoss Waterfalls
After all this thermal activity, you can cool down with a visit to the roaring falls of Gulfoss where the millions of litres of water will kick up a refreshing mist.
Fortunately, we were also blessed with some rare sunshine for our visit to and along the falls. Lunch in this part of the country should be at the excellent Geysir Hotel, right in the heart of the tourist centre but still with great quality and service that will take a perfect break from your tour of the golden circle.
Kerid Volcano makes for a nice, colourful diversion where you can take a walk down into the caldera for some pictures by the crater lake.
Out in this wilderness we were lucky to eventually find our remote hotel (the ION Adventure Hotel, Nesjavellir) that had our Tom Tom so confused that we had to fall back on the traditional map and asking for directions. What we had booked was in the middle of nowhere
and looked like an abandoned hostel from the outside but inside what greeted us was a warm, super trendy hotel that was a pleasure to stay in, along with outdoor hot-tub to experience the Icelandic night and excellent food and wine. We would surely recommend staying in this lost part of the world.
The Southern Route
One of the amazing things about driving in Iceland is that although there is only one real road encircling the island you will find so many amazing sights just off to the side of the road. Mossy green lunarscapes
that stretch up to nearby mountains that loom impressively above, and waterfalls such as the stunning Skogafoss that if any closer would be cascading onto the road itself.
Together with Seljalandsfoss we spent plenty of time both playing chicken with the mercurial weather (and winning with our waterproofs) as well as exploring both sets of waterfalls from bellow, above and almost behind.
Iceland just gives you all the adventure that you dreamed of as a child and it makes it quite accessible from your car. Quite accessible does not mean fully, as if you do try to stray off the main roads in April then you will soon find yourself in snow drifts that easily bury a little 4×4 like ours, so visiting the centre of the country and places such as the Landmannaugar hot springs is best left for the true summer months.
As you get further out east, your accommodation choices will start to dwindle, hence our place to stay in Vik was the local Youth Hostel. Now there are some pretty impressive Youth Hostels around the world,
and this was our opening foray into this sort of travel accommodation… especially for Lyssa where this would be her first. Unfortunately it will also be her last, as the hostel was modeled on 70’s style of house with creaky and cramped rooms, shared bathrooms and pot noodles and potato chips for dinner, so not the highlight of our trip and a quick end to a short lived YHA experiment.
The reason to stay in Vik is to see some amazing nature in some of the local spots – the peninsula of Dyrtholaey where you may be able to find puffins nesting (usually in summer)
and next door the best beach of Iceland, the Reynisfjara black sand beach…not really for sunbathing, but rather to see the contrast of the white waves on the pure black shore and to clamber up and around the basalt columns that line the beach.
Glacier Hiking
Also in this area you can embark on some hiking on the nearby glaciers of Solheimajokull and Vatnajokull. At the former we had a quick self tour by ourselves to check out the ice caves and glacial lakes
and at Vatnajokull where we took Glacier 101 that had us donning crampons, hardhats and ice axes for a hike across this glacial moonscape.
The glacier itself is more black than blue owing to the soot from a volcanic eruption that took place around 200 years ago,
but there are still ice caverns and walk-throughs where you can get some pictures up close to the blue ice.
With our time starting to run out for our trip we made a last dash to the Jokulsarlon Glacial lake, not too far on the map, but pretty long to go there and all the way back to Reykavik in one afternoon.
Nonetheless, the lake is one of the must-dos of Iceland, to see the calved icebergs slowly drifting across the lake and eventually out to the nearby sea, it is really magical.
So that wraps up our trip to Iceland. It’s probably about time to go back again…we just have to decide if we want to go for the wintry northern lights or the the long summer days that will open up the centre of the country…decisions, decisions. Whatever you choose, you will love a visit to this country, so go for it and enjoy!