Fire and Ice

Near Vik on the south coast

First I should say, I have never before planned a holiday around a single attraction so much, missed out on the particular attraction, yet had one of the best holidays ever. When I decided to go to Iceland for a week, one of my main aims was to see the Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights. The concept of particles from the sun streaming into the atmosphere and putting on a light show seems so magical and I really wanted to see it for myself. I ditched Northern Norway in favour of Iceland figuring there were so many other things to do there I would probably have a better time, so off I went. All the while I knew that in addition to solar activity, one of the major factors for seeing the Aurora is cloud cover. Unfortunately, the weather for the 9 nights I was in Iceland could not really have been much worse. Cloud cover was 8/8 almost constantly, with only the occasional break for some moon-rays. Oh well, I may have to make a trip to Northern Norway after all...

The days in Iceland are extremely short this time of year. Sunrise was around 10:30-11:00 and sunset around 16:00 (it's very hard to really know when the sun is up when it is totally overcast and twilight seems to last forever). Similarly, the cities (or rather, 1 town and multiple villages) seem to operate based on daylight hours too. It is very hard to get up in the mornings when it's pitch black outside, but even worse when you step into the main street in the capital city and most the shops are still closed and there is barely a soul around. It seems like the only time there is congestion (both pedestrian and vehicular) is between around midnight and 2am on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Party time really is the only time Reykjavik gets busy, and the locals come out in force. And there is definitely no shortage of drinking establishments in town.

Downtown Reykjavik

Reykjavik is a very pretty and modern city, yet its extremely refreshing and the people are unbelievable polite. If you stand close to the curb, most motorists will assume you want to cross the road and will consequently stop their car and wait for you to cross. This happens whether you are at an intersection or not - zebra crossings are most certainly not required. The level of spoken English is amazing and people in shops and restaurants are so friendly in such a genuine way. The city is clean - I understand 99% of Iceland's energy needs comes from renewable sources, primarily geothermal power. Hot water from the various hot springs is pumped around the country into people's homes for heating and washing. Pure cold water straight from the glaciers is second to none. The place is clean and litter free - what more could you want?

Iceland has some great bars and restaurants, and we enjoyed them thoroughly. In fact, I can't remember the last time I ate so well for a full week. Naturally I had to try some of the local delicacies (though Minke whale was not one of them), so we did indulge in lamb, deer, lots and lots of fish, skyr (a yoghurt-like concoction) and of course, lobster. Yes, I ate lobster! Well, langoustine tails to be precise. And I was quite impressed! I also of course tried out dried salted cod as well as Hákarl from the local markets (the latter being something to try once, but after smelling, to never try again).


Touristy Things

The site that stands out above everything else in Reykjavik is Hallgrímskirkja, the church at the top of the hill. Apart from some newish apartment buildings on the foreshore, this looks like the highest building in town. It provides a great viewpoint of the city. Of course this was one of our stops, along with the National Museum, the Saga Museum at Perlan and a good few hours wandering the streets of the capital, the real special parts of this country lie outside of Reykjavik...

The Blue Lagoon is an unbelievably magical place. Lonely Planet describes it as being akin to Paris Disneyland. You either love it or you hate it - or both. I think the only way I would have hated it is if I was there in the middle of summer when it was packed with tourists (we were definitely the odd ones out - being tourists in Iceland in January...) It's a lagoon heated by natural hot water springs in an area containing some unusual minerals and pure white silica. The result is milky blue water that looks like something out of a movie. We spent a good couple of hours relaxing in the lagoon, under the waterfall, in the steam rooms and giving ourselves a white mud facial. Definitely a fun way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.

The Golden Circle is a standard tour to the East of Reykjavik that encompasses Geysir (the geysir after which all others are named), Gulfoss (a spectacular waterfall - Gold Falls) and Þingvellir - pronounced Thingveller (the site of the first parliament soon after the settlement of Iceland by Vikings). Although we had yet another crappy day of weather (plenty of snow and wind), it was a great tour with a very entertaining guide. It was a bit annoying not being able to see the full glory of the waterfalls for example, but they did appear quite spectacular. And while Geysir itself no longer spouts water, its close neighbour Strokkur emits a burst of water a good few metres high every few minutes - definite fun for all the family!

The snow on the day did at least provide a pretty surreal landscape of white as far as the eye could see. There aren't really any 'real' trees in Iceland, so the landscape is extremely barren, especially since much of it is lava fields, so if you picture a moonscape covered in snow, you'll get a pretty good idea of what it looked like.

For 2 nights and 3 days we drove along the South coast of the country. Although in the back of my mind I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the Aurora away from the city lights of Reykjavik, I realised the weather had other plans. However, this short trip was most definitely a highlight of the whole holiday. Our first stop was the greenhouse village of Hveragerði. So called because much of the fresh produced consumed in Iceland is grown in greenhouses due to the climate. The orange lights used in the greenhouses emit a glow which can be seen many miles away and illuminates the overcast clouds above. Yet another extremely sleepy town, but an interesting one none-the-less.

Our Lonely Planet mentioned a hot river near the town which we thought we would go to for a swim (hot river amongst the snow sounded interesting). However, after realising we were running a bit late and had a 3km walk in the snow, we decided to just find the first pool of hot water and go swimming there. Whilst the hot-pot we found felt nice and warm on our fingers, it turned out to be too bloody hot to actually get into. But at least we can say we tried!

We spent our first night in a farm hotel following a rather unexciting ride on Icelandic horses. Whilst I think it could have been an interesting experience, our guide wasn't exactly informative and the snow blizzard that kicked in mid-way didn't help either!

On the second day though, we headed on to Sólheimajökull ("jökull" in Icelandic means glacier). Sólheimajökull  is a glacier tongue coming off the Myrdalsjokull ice-cap near the Southern tip of Iceland and is right next to Eyjafjallajökull - the volcano made famous in 2010 that Icelanders pronounce with such ease! There we went for an absolutely amazing walk with Mountain Guides. Our guide was brilliant, friendly and informative. And walking on the glacier was an experience I can hardly describe with words. The glacier itself was so different to what I expected, the pure blue of the ice was just beautiful and didn't look real. It seemed at times as though we were walking on one thick sheet of glass. We all had special cramp-ons connected to our shoes to allow our feet to grip while walking on the glacier and this made it surprisingly easy. After a short walk onto the glacier we were already standing on top of 60m of ice, yet we also learnt how the ice cap is retreating at a staggering rate of up to 50m some years. I am really not sure how to describe it - but this walk was most definitely one of the greatest highlights of the trip.

Being right next to Eyjafjallajökull, following the infamous eruption of 2010, Sólheimajökull became totally covered in black ash which is still visible in many parts. This ash is the blackest of black, and finer than the finest beach sand I have ever come across. It provides for spectacular contract against the deep blue glacier. Previous volcanic eruptions as well as the impact of the destructive forces of glacial movements are also visible throughout in the rocks torn from the mountains as well as the layers of silt embedded in the glacier.

That night we stayed at Hotel Ranga - supposedly the fanciest hotel in Iceland. Definitely a nice treat as it had a great restaurant there as well. Best of all - the hot-pot jacuzzi right outside our room!

On our last day we drove further along the South coast to Vik, hoping to see the famous rock formations off the coast. Unfortunately, the weather was against us yet again, so although seeing them, they didn't look like much through all the rain and fog. We did however get to see a spectacular black sand beach and also had the pleasure of climbing a hill to find a cave that was mentioned in Njal's Saga (whilst not sounding impressive - I have never in my life had to do any sort of physical activity, never mind climbing up a steep hill, in such strong wind with rain pelting at my face like small stones). A memorable experience at least!

Þingvellir National Park is a UNESCO protected area for cultural reasons. Obviously it is of immense historical significance. However, it is also hugely important from a geological point of view. In the park is the Rift Valley between the continental plates of North America and Eurasia. There is a mountain range that runs up along the tectonic plate boundary through the North Atlantic, and then right up through the middle of Iceland. When you hear about it and see it, all the volcanoes and earthquakes there start to make sense! Due to a lack of upwards lava flow in the Þingvellir area, the mountain range turns into a bit of a valley - the continental plates are slowly drifting apart and Iceland is slowly getting larger.

Interestingly, many companies offer snorkelling and dive trips in the glacial lake called Silfra which is between the two continental plates. Naturally I thought this would be a great experience so signed up to go SCUBA diving. Apart from crystal clear waters and some great rock formations, there really isn't that much to see underwater as there is no life there whatsoever. However, it sounded like an interesting experience. So off I went with the local diving crew. The diving is done in dry-suits (at least that is what they are called) which is a necessity. The day I went the water was 4'C and the air temperature was possibly a little cooler (add in some strong winds and occasional rain too). So I suit up for my first dry-suit dive along with a few others and enter the water - this involved wearing thermals, then an under-suit, and then a dry-suit). However, before long I started feeling my left elbow getting wet, yet managed to convince myself it was either just cold, or there was just a tiny bit of water in there. Boy was I wrong! Whilst I was able to accept the numbing feeling of the ice cold water on my face (and my hands, since the gloves did indeed let water in), by the end of the drive whatever leak there was in my suit had let so much water in I was soaked from head to toe to the point where I was able to literally pour water out of my dry-suit after I took it off and had to wring out my thermals. Not fun at all! Due to my depleting amount of dry clothes available and the fact that I really was damn cold, I decided to pass on the second dive and try return myself to normal body temperature in the warmth of the van.

 The dive site

A random selection  of photos from the trip should appear below, or in the Picasa Album.