A whistle stop in Reykjavik and surrounds
Trip Start
Oct 15, 2010
1
Trip End
Oct 20, 2010
Reykjavík, Iceland
Friday, October 22, 2010
The flight was great and 3 hours later we found ourselves withdrawing 40,000 Icelandic Krona to take a bus and pay for our apartment for the trip!
One thing to note about Iceland right away is the efficiency of the tourist transport and hotel pickups, secondly the lack of traffic! They say 40 minutes, or if theres heavy traffic: 45 minutes!!
After a good nights sleep it was tourist time and we took ourselves on a walking tour of Reykyavik for a few hours. Taking in all the sights and sounds and taking cover in various restaurants, coffee shops, sweet shops, the city hall and a random rock concert each time the rain came down! It was raining but not really all that cold actually (or maybe we are just immune now!). Reykyavik is a rather quirky little place, although its in Europe its SO not European like at all! The buildings are so different than Europe and the fact that the people WANT to live spread out and not on top of each other like sardines is fairly unique as far as European capitals go. It resembles an old fishing village in some places. Obviously there are all the mod cons you need too but its maintained its character very well indeed. With 3 people per square km on average, they've got even more space than Aussies do! (i think?). The population is small, only 320000 in the country. To put into perspective: 11 million people work in London every day. No wonder we felt a bit agorophobic (in a good way)
Now the most important part of the trip: booking a tour for the Northern lights! There are plenty of agencies around and they all charge the same give or take a few Krona. We decide to book for night one (and every night thereafter!) for the best chances of seeing the elusive Aurora Borealis! Our hopes are dashed for 2 nights in a row as bad weather puts pay to our chances of seeing the lights. A cloudless night is needed and dark skies (no city lights) and they are most likely seen around midnight. Hence: hunting the lights. Apparently its like hunting wild life. There are certain spots on the island more likely to see them etc. Long story short...night 3 brings partly cloudy conditions and they tell us they are going to take a group out...count us in! They warn us not to be disappointed etc etc. Get told we are going to drive 3 hours out of town for best chances as they have not had a spotting since late September! Oh how wrong they were :) :) and oh how happy we were!! Without doubt you could hear the surprise in the guides voice when he told us he'd just seen the lights out the bus window, just 20 minutes out of town!!! Screeching brakes and pushing and shoving, tourists galore pile out, tri-pods in hand and get snap happy! The results speak for themselves (see pics). What a truly mind blowing and special experience. The sky is alight with light green smudges which literally dance before your eyes (slow dance). Each time you look away at a different section you look back to find its got better and better! The camera cant work fast enough!! Almost like a one coloured rainbow in an arch like shape across only one side of the sky, over the ocean and the snow capped mountains - a sight we will never ever forget and the most amazing way to see out the last week of my 20's!
Absolutely buzzing we continue our time in Iceland with some more day trips. One to the well known blue lagoon thermal baths and one called the 'golden circle'
The Blue Lagoon, although a tourist trap of note, is definitely not to be missed! The walk from the towel rack to the baths just about kills you but once you are in...oooooh yeeeees...once you are in all your troubles melt away! Troubles melt away further when you opt for the full tourist trap and have an in water massage. Best half hour of my life so far! More wallowing, face masking, napping in the chill out area, lunch and yet more wallowing used up a day and all was well and chilled in our little world.
The golden circle tour was very cool too...went to go and see some historical sights like where the Viking held their first 'parliment' and learnt a lot about the country itself. Also saw some Iguacu Falls wannabe called 'Gullfoss' and plenty of volcanoes (active and dormant) plus a geyser 'erupting' and also the Geothermal power plant. Iceland is one of the cleanest countries in the world (Reykjavik is the cleanest capital officially) due to the fact that all their energy and heating is created by the earth so to speak! VERY impressive setup they've got going on.
The food on offer is great! loads of nice restaurants around all offering wonderful FRESH seafood! yuuum! Our favourite though had to be the soup IN bread! prefect belly warmer.
Our return to London saw us ADDING layers of clothing instead of removing...maybe England should be called Iceland instead!
Comments
That's on my bucket list, what a stunning holiday.
Did you not go for a ride with the Huskies?
I am green with envy
Been there, done most of it but never had an "in water" massage. Sounds awesome. xx
Wow ... congrats on your blog - it should be in a travel mag, because it creates a longing to echo your experiences!!