Travel

Jul15

Iceland – An Alien Landscape

Posted on Jul 15, 2014 in Travel

I have been to 4 continents and have been lucky enough to visit more than 20 countries. The strangest place I have ever encountered was Iceland.

The landscape was like nothing I have ever seen. The soil is mostly volcanic ash, which makes the flora very different from other places. There are no trees and the ‘grass’ is more like miniature shrubs. Also, the whole country runs off of geothermal power, so there are hot springs and pools in every town around the country. (This is the location for filming scenes from Game of Thrones)

Iceland is SUPER easy to get to from Boston. Just a 5 hour flight and you are there! We went in late June, during the summer soltice which was amazing. The sun did not set at all! I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to sleep, but that was not a problem. Even though it was summer, the daily temp was in the 50s.

Here I am at 1:00am!

We started our 1 week trip in the capital, Reykjavik.

They have wonderful architecture throughout the easily-walkable city. The main feature is the Hallgrimskirkia Church

It is basically in the center of town, and if you ever got lost, you just had to look up, find the church and work your way back to your desired location. It is beautiful inside

And it offers great 360 degree views from the top

Down by the water, there is the Sun Voyager, a viking ship sculpture

There is also the Harpa, which is a concert hall that has beautiful hexagonal windows

We stayed at an airbnb (which I highly recommend) and had a very interesting Icelandic dinner that first night. It was a tasting menu of typical (aka touristy) Iceland foods, including:

Puffin – purple, cold, very gamey meat that I don’t recommend, though people told us that puffin wasn’t ‘in season’

Whale (not good) and foal (which I’m sad to say was delicious!!). They also give you Brennivin, an alcohol that translates, literally, into ‘burning wine’. Try it once, then avoid it.

We stayed a few days in the capital and went to the public pool – Laugardalslaug, which was awesome! Since the water comes from a spring, there is no chlorine, so you must shower with soap before entering. They have a lap pool (though I don’t know anyone who would want to swim laps in an 80 degree pool), a regular pool and 2 hot tubs, one hotter than the next. It was fantastic!

We then rented a car and traveled northwest through the fjords to Isafjordur. The roads were….well, some were paved and others were gravel roads with crazy inclines up the glaciers. The views, however, were breathtaking

We drove up and down fjords. It was amazing.

Before getting into Isafjordur, we passed the Troll’s Seat, a natural depression between 2 hills that literally looks like a seat.

We grabbed some food and then asked the waitress where we should go hiking. Basically her response was ‘anywhere’. With no trees or big changes in elevation, you can see your destination without any problems.

So we went hiking and met some goats

Later that day we hiked up Trolls’ Seat. It was hard! Straight up for about 30 min, but the view was great. Since the sun never set below the horizon, we left for this hike at 9pm!

That night we had the most amazing dinner in this little cabin that has been a family business for generations. It’s called Tjoruhusid – it is buffet style with the most delicious fish soup (I wanted to lick the bowl) and the freshest fish dishes, along with salad and bread. It was by-far the best meal we had all trip!

We started the drive back to the south the following day. We stopped along the way and introduced ourselves to the local flora and fauna

We even found candy named NOA!!!

Once we got back to Rekjavik we signed up for a few day tours.

One was a glacier hike through Eskimos Iceland. It was expensive but they give you lunch and pick you up/dropped you off from your hotel. And when is the next time we would walk on a glacier and do ice-wall climbing?? We went on Solheimajokull Glacier with a large group. We were given pick-axes, crampons and helmets. It was rainy and cold for the first part of the hike, but it cleared up as the day went on.

crampons – you had to jam your feet into the ice with every step!

Crazy blue ice and volcanic ash

The other day tour we did was through Reykjavik Excursions which was the “Golden Circle”. It was an easy day trip from the capital. They take you to Gullfoss (an amazing waterfall), an active geyser and Thingvellier National Park.

Our last day we went to the Blue Lagoon (again using Reykjavik Excursions). It is expensive, but so worth it! The water is a crazy color blue. It is a natural hot spring with a swim up bar!