Iceland 2012

August

Day 1

basel - keflavik - reykjavik

I'm so excited: after all the months I spent reading about this country today I am going to be there: Iceland I come! The flight seems to last for days and after flying over Scotland I look every 5 min out of the window to check if Iceland is there. And finally, behind the clouds I see it!😃

And it's love at first sight: the line coasts , the glaciers, the colors are for ever impressed in my mind. As we land and after waiting for the luggages we finally go out of the airport I breath in the fresh sea air and feel fulfilled and ...home ❤️

We rent a car and drive to Reykjavik: on the way there I cannot stop smiling looking at the lava field covered with moss along the way, looking at the craters in the background.

We reach Reykjavik and go for a walk through Laugavegur until Harpa (Concert Hall and Conference Centre), Tjörnin ( the pond in the city centre, which is even used for ice skating in winter) and then back to Hallgrimskirkja, one of the city's best-known landmarks and visible throughout the city. We then try the famous "pylsur", the icelandic hotdog. And later for dinner we try our first whale meat steak : I expect it to taste of fish, but actually is more kind of a liver meat taste than a fishy one, I like it!

I like Reykjavik, but I need freedom and I cannot wait for tomorrow to come and be again out in the icelandic nature.

Day 2

Reykjavik -Blue Lagoon

Here I am Iceland! Here I am! I wake up full of inner peace and joy and after taking breakfast at Kaffitar and a super lunch at the Sea Baron at the port (with delicious lobster soup and whale grill spares) our next destination is the famous blue lagoon.

For those who never heard of it (cannot believe it, but who knows) , the blue lagoon is a geothermal spa located in a lava field near Grindavik, on the Reykjanes Peninsula.

The lagoon’s water is the output of a nearby geothermal power plant and the warm waters, with temperatures around 37–39 °C, are rich in silicate minerals, which give the waters the typical milky blue colour.

Before going in, a funny picture shows us how to shower correctly before going into the lagoon: we have to take particular care of cleaning hair, underarm, feet and...well..the private zone ;)

We enjoy some amazing hours in this warm milky soup, surrounded by the wonderful volcanic landscape! There is even a bar in the pool and many enjoy a beer (but we go for water!).

Later we check in the blue lagoon hotel and go for dinner at the Lava restaurant of the lagoon.

After dinner we spend another hour in the private lagoon of the hotel, make a mask with the white mud and spend some romantic moments together.

I could really fall so much in love with this country that I could decide to never go back.

Day 3

Blue lagoon - thingvellir - geysir - gullfoss - ejafjallajökull

New day and a very intense one: we have planned to do so much!

Today is time for the famous Golden Circle: first step (and stop) at Thingvellir national park, which has historical and geological importance. Historically Thingvellir is associated with the Althing, the national parliament of Iceland, which was established at the site in 930 AD. From a geological point of view it lies between the North American tectonic plate and the Eurasian, which drift about 2 cm farther apart every year. This land is just incredible, you get the feeling the country itself is a creature, you can hear it breath, see it grow, guess its moods. After a nice walk to Þingvallavatn (the lake, by the way "vatn" means water) we walk back to the car. What we did not do because we did not know about it, but which I think could be super great, is scuba diving or at least snorkelling in Silfra, the rift formed in the divergent tectonic boundary between the North American and Eurasian plates, I guess it feels like flying as a bird in the Grand Canyon. Anyway, this time we did not do it (it would have not fitted in our travel plan anyway), maybe next time.

Next stop with quick lunch is at Geysir, where the first world ever discovered geyser is still alive and from which the name of all the other around the world comes. I am happy I have been there, but I will not come back, did not impress me that much, do not know why.

Gullfoss, on the other side, is majestic: the water goes down in a curve with a kind of three-step staircase and there is an average amount of water running down the waterfall of 140 cubic metres per sec in the summer and 80 cubic metres per sec in the winter. Faboulous to look at that from above and feel the waterfall's power when getting closer.

It's already late, we have to go, we still have to drive about 2 hours to our guesthouse at the feet of Eyjafjallajökull, the famous volcano which erupting in 2010 caused so many problems to the flights around the world, but fortunately not many to the inhabitants.

On the way there, we discover Seljalandsfoss and walk behind the waterfall as every tourist do.

Late at night we reach our guesthouse, in the middle of nowhere, it's already night (yes, in August there is a night!) and the weather is foggy, so we have no idea what a fantastic view will expect us the morning after.

Day 4

vestmannaeyjar

Wake up early to take the ferry boat to Vestmannaeyjar and stare speachless at the phantastic view from our window: the Ejafjallajökull covered with snow looks down to us and I would never want to leave this place, I'm just happy tomorrow evening we are going to be here again!

As we drive to the port we see the Vestmannaeyjar islands at the horizon, they emerge out of the ocean and show their silhouette modelled by the forces of nature.

This archipelago is composed of 15 islands, the biggest and only one inhabited (to which we are heading to) is Heimaey. In 1973 the Eldfell volcano on Heimaey erupted, destroying many buildings and creating a new part of the island.

A submarine eruption beginning in 1963 and lasting about four years gave birth to Surtsey, the 15th island in the group.

It' incredible to be here, in this "young" world, on this "baby" soil, to imagine the soil I'm walking on is not much older than me or my boyfriend (actually my boyfriend is a couple of years older than the new Heimaey 😉)

After leaving the luggages at the hotel, we go for a walk, hoping to see puffins. Instead we have our first approach with sheeps...a lot of sheeps!

Being a city girl (after all, I was born in Rome) this is (I guess) my first approach with sheeps and I'm a bit scared, I try to keep distance, but after a while I notice they do the same with me, so no need to panic. And here I take the photo you see in the picture above, "the medidative sheep" as I call it, which is my mobile phone screen saver since then.

We walk and walk, but no puffins 😒 I am quite disappointed, so when we go back for dinner later and see "marinated puffin" on the menu, we have nothing against trying it: but believe me, it's not worth it!

Day 5

vestmannaeyjar

This morning we decide to go up the Eldfell volcano but before doing that we ask at the reception how safe this is and how long in advance they get to know if there is going to be an eruption. The guy at the desk answers quite relaxed "it's no problem to go up there at all, you'll know 1 HOUR in advance if there is going to be an eruption"

My reaction 😳😳😳

Wait wait wait...1 hour? Is it a long time for you?!?

If I am up the summit until I walk down I am already a new exhibition piece for the next Pompei museum!

Well, we decide anyway to go up, since there have been no earthquakes in the last weeks, which is mostly a sign of volcanic activity too.

Although I am not trained at all, we manage to go up quite fast. Unfortunately we cannot enjoy any view since it is so foggy I cannot even say if I am on the top of a volcano or in a disco.

Once down we go for a walk on the "baby ground" and a couple of hours before leaving we go on a boat tour. The weather is nice and we can enjoy the island from another perspective. After reaching the famous "elephant rock" we are not sure we are still sober: on a rock, in the middle of the sea, we see sheeps 🐏 a lot of them! What are they doing on this rock??who brought them there and why?!

Or did they just booked a family vacation in a very isolated resort? We will never know.

Tonight we fall sleep again looking at the Eyafjallajökull from our window: life is great 😎

Day 6

ejafjallajökull - SKOGAfoss - dyrholaey - jökulsarlon

Today we have a big plan: 230 Km to go in front of us with stops in some of the most beautiful and famous places in Iceland.

First stop is Skogafoss, one of the biggest waterfalls in the country. It's super nice weather and we walk up the top of it to enjoy the view. We discover it would be possible from there to go hiking till Thorsmork, that's a pity that we did not know and we have other plans: but we will do it next time. It's a 23 Km trail going up and down 1000 m, it normally takes aroung 8 hours...so not for beginners!

Next stop is Dyrholaey, a small promontory not far away from Vik.

From there you have a view over the glacier Myrdalsjökull, the black lava columns of Reynisdrangar and a wonderful arch of lava standing in the sea.

But the best we see is......tons of puffins! They are so cute, especially as they land coming back from fishing, they look like babies learning how to walk.

We spend a lot of time there and my partners shoots thousands photos of the little funny birds he loves since always.

We have to drive further, we booked our hotel not far away from Jökulsarlon, so we have to go.

Jökulsarlon's scenery is even more beautiful and mystic than what I imagined, I could spend hours looking at the icebergs floating through the lagoon, heading to the sea.

Walking to the beach, in the conjuction (kind of a river) between lagoon and sea it's common to see some seals: and there they are! Hello small animals! (I am happy like a kid!)

After today I don't know what I could see in the next days which could surprise and thrill me more. I am in peace with the universe.

Day 7

jökulsarlon - highland

Today we are going to reach the highlands of Iceland: so cool! But before we stop again for a while at Jökulsarlon and let our minds flow with the icebergs.

Checking the route to take to reach the Hotel Highland, we realize we have a long drive in front of us: the longest but fastest way to go is almost back to Selfoss and then up the road 26, it will take us about 4 1/2 hours. My boyfriend then suggests another option: what if we take the road F208 after Kirkjubaejarklaustur? (I had to check 5 times to write it correctly and the next time I'll do copy-paste) It will be slowlier but with a much more beautiful landscape. Ok, sounds good, let's do that! (poor me, I still had no idea about what the F in front of the road number stays for... 😒 and it is whether four-wheel drive for professionals or as I think it's more appropriate: FUXX 😳 which is the first thing which comes up to your mind when you are on it).

We stop first at Fjallsarlon (a super nice glacier lagoon just west of the most famous one) and later at -wait wait (select-copy-paste) -Kirkjubaejarklaustur for a look at Systrafoss, not really worth it.

And then we leave the ring road for the road 208 which will become soon enough an F- FUXXING road. At a certain point we stop: a little river in front of us : where is the bridge? We look left, we look right: there is no bridge. All of a sudden from the other direction comes another car and just crosses it 😳 are WE supposed to do the same?!

I grew up in Rome, how am I supposed to imagine I would ever have to cross rivers by car?!? Why??? 😦 Didn't they have enough money to build a bridge or it's just to keep the adventure feeling?

My partner checks the river, how deep it is and where we should drive through and then: our first river crossing! (I keep being ready to jump out of the car and swim - ok, I'm exaggerating, was not so deep, but I had this feeling)

Later we will cross much more rivers (around 25 or so) to reach our final destination. But the landscape is really gorgeous, never seen something so beautiful in my all life! It's like looking at a fauvism's picture: the colors are wild and strong in a way I've never experienced before.

We arrive at our hotel shortly before sunset ( uhhh - deep breathe ) , enjoy dinner with a very good red wine and fall asleep happy and exhausted.

Day 8

landmannalaugar

Today we are heading to Landmannalaugar, the famous landscape at the edge of the Laugahraun lava field, which was formed around the year 1470.

First we have breakfast: here in Iceland I am starting to have toasts with butter (smjor!), tomatoes, cucumber and cheese (ostur!): my super Icelandic breakfast ( or at least I think so, since these are the basic ingredients you find really in every hotel). My boyfriend keeps eating his usual toasts with butter and jam (maybe this is typical too since it's also always offered 🤔).

As we switch on the car, we notice a yellow sign on the screen, the symbol of the motor : oh oh 😳

We have no idea what this means: is something not working well? Is it because of the river crossings?

We ask at our hotel for a car repair shop to let the car have a check up but they tell us the nearest one is in Selfoss 😳 then they suggest to go to another hotel, maybe the guy there has an idea or knows someone which can come to check our car.

Well, then, let's try! For sure we do not want to drive to Landmannalaugar on a gravel road and then get stuck in the middle of nowhere. The guy at the reception of the other hotel (a few Kms away from ours) listen to our story and then comments: " it's just a yellow light, if it would be really bad it would be red, so don't worry" ok...😒

Then he teaches us how to cross rivers by car and the main rule is "low low (gear), slow slow (driving)" after which he tells us about a wonderful place which apparently it's not well known: he takes a map and shows us " so you go here..then turn here ...and then when you reach a sign which tells you "for workers only" go there for another Km" Ok..to me it sounds illegal but ok 🙃

And so instead of letting our car have a check up we drive to Lekafossar and we are breathless: in a canyon there are dozens of waterfalls,bigger and smaller pouring through the side wall of the canyon, just amazing! About one hour later we reach Landmannalaugar and we park at, so to say, the entrance parking (so just on the side of the road) since there is a huge river crossing and we do not want to risk our car any further than we already did. We then walk and the landscape remembers me of some Georgia O'Keeffe landscapes (well, her subjects were in New Mexico) , just incredible. We walk for 3 hours around the easy hiking trail and see for the first time in our life the fluffy flowers in the photo above, like the ones in the cartoon"the Lorax" (didn't even think they existed!).

And last but not least, with around 5 degrees outside, we undress, wear our swim suits and jump in the warm river in front of the camping site: the best experience I ever made. Sheeps eat the grass around us, the beautiful mountains fill our eyes and we are having a nature offered spa treatment:just amazing!😃

Day 9

landmannalaugar - hellnar

Today we leave the highlands, I am sooo sad! If I would have known how I would have felt here, I would have planned some days more! But we just have the days we have: after flying back to Zurich, we have a flight to Rome for a wedding, so we did not have so many alternatives!

On the way to our next destination, Hellnar, we stop in Reykjavik and the little yellow motor symbol who caused so many thoughts just disappears from the car screen: good so!

We see Snaefellsnes at the horizon as soon as we are out of Reykjavik but the travel is still long and we know it. On the way we stop in Borgarnes and enjoy a delicious meal at the Settlement Center Restaurant. I would have never expected food to be so good in Iceland: as an Italian I tend to be very critical with food (although my Swiss boyfriend is even more snobbish about food 😉 but he is an Italian lover 🙃) but here we always had super delicious meals (mainly based on fish, but I have no problem with that 😋).

After additional 1 1/2 hours driving we reach the Hotel Hellnar and the place is just amazing: on the one side we look at the volcano covered with its icy hat (the glacier!), on the other at the wonderful ocean. The hotel itself is also pretty nice, in kind of a marine-design style. We got the only super bedroom with terrace on the ocean and we immediately decide to book a night more here (tomorrow we should have stayed at another hotel not far away from here, but we cannot resist - even if we cannot cancel our reservation with such a short notice, so we will pay for both rooms 😒 - by the way my boyfriend decided right away to book a night more here as soon as I told him that in the other hotel there is a shared bathroom; so typical of him 😑). A few steps away from the hotel there is a little nice white church with a red roof to which we walk to just before dinner. There is a cute little white door at the entrance to the path which leads to the church and a graveyard behind. And for the first time we speak about marriage and that if and when we will get married, it would be nice to do it in this church.

After a romantic dinner, with view of the ocean, the waiter tells us a few days ago there were Northern lights! So we set the alarm at 2:00 a.m. to give a look outside. I fall asleep feeling like I'm a child again, waiting for Santa Claus to come tomorrow.

Day 10

snaefellsnes

2:00 a.m. the alarm clock wakes me up and I jump out of the bed as if there would be an earthquake.It takes me a while to realize what happened, so I go to the window and look outside:nothing. I open the balcony door and go outside. In the meanwhile my boyfriend comes silently behind me "Is there something?" and I just jump again 🙃

"I don't see anything..." 😩 it's windy, I hear the noise of the waves on the coast, the sky is clear, I see some stars but no Northern Lights!

My boyfriend goes inside, I sit down and look up for some more minutes: nothing.

I start getting fear of being alone on the terrace, don't even know why so I ask my boyfriend to come and sit with me. We look for half an hour and see very far away at the horizon some kind of violet light but it's very far, so we wonder if maybe it's just the effect of the city lights from Reykjavik. After a while we go back to bed, I'm quite disappointed 😒

We wake up around 10 a.m. have breakfast and start our day with a trip to Stykkisholmur. I read there is a hill in front of Stykkisholmur where the legend says, if you hike up and you never turn back nor talk during hiking, you can then wish you something and your wish will become true. I would have some wishes to fulfill...🤔 why not!

In the end my boyfriend is not so much interested in this option so we end strolling through Stykkisholmur itself. From here there are ships going to the West Fjords, next time we absolutely have to go. Later we go to Kirkjufell, without knowing it was a known attraction 😳 we are just driving around as we notice (before seeing the waterfall) the famous mountain. The waterfall is actually not so impressive in my opinion.

We end the day with a walk along the basalt coast between Hellnar and Arnastapi with the sunset light. The day after tomorrow we are going to fly early in the morning, so the plan for tomorrow is to go to Reykjavik and later sleep near the airport.

I am so sad we are soon going to leave that I already know I won't enjoy tomorrow 😩

Day 11

hellnar - keflavik

Last day of this wonderful trip 😩 but I am already planning next one!😉

Before leaving Hellnar we give again a look at"our" church 💒

On the drive to Reykjavik we stop at Eldborg, a crater which erupted last time around 5000 to 6000 years ago (so no need to worry! or should we?😳).

We spend the last hours in the capital city strolling around, visiting the Cathedral of Christ the King (with very suggestive sculptures outside) and buying/writing/sending last minute postcards to our families. I wish my father could come to Iceland, he would love it. After dinner and a short walk to our car at the port, I say goodbye to Reykjavik. We drive to a guesthouse near the airport which totally positively surprises us: there are in total 6 rooms and a bathroom and every room is different (we gave a look in some open doors), but all in a fairy/troll/magic way. Outside in the garden there is a natural hotpot made of black big oval smooth stones: we go in!

And so we chill out and let the evening pass until it's definitely time to go to sleep.

Day 12

keflavik - zürich

I'm sooo pissed off 😡 (poor boyfriend!)

- I do not want to wake up

- I do not want to get ready

- I do not want to leave (Iceland!)

But in the end I do all this stuff. We almost miss our flight (yeah!) because of a Kms-long queue at the check in and because my boyfriend (in the meanwhile) cannot find a fuel station around the airport (there actually is one, but you have to know where it is to find it) to tank up before giving back the rented car.

So here we are: flying back. I'll come back Iceland, I promise!