The city of Reykjavik is the only city in Iceland as
it's the only place the population tops 100,000. Everywhere else is either a town or a village (less than 1000). Pretty much the entire population of ~330,000 lives around the
coast with ~200,000 living in Reykjavik or its surrounding region. The view soon became the outer suburbs and then the city
although even with tourists there is a nice relaxed feeling and less people to
dodge.
After checking in to our apartment we ventured out
get the lay of the land and do the usual - visit the supermarket and the info
office.
As we are here at the beginning of winter we decided
to base ourselves in Reykjavik and day trip to the outer areas rather than
attempt to drive ourselves around (which is usually the best option - and the
most popular in summer). We spent the rest of
the day deciding on our day trip itinerary and then spent day 2 indoors
attempting to get rid of the colds we both had. We did venture out for a couple of short walks and made a visit
to the famous soup restaurant (one of the very few affordable restaurants in
Iceland) and were not disappointed with soup that was a delight for the taste
buds served in its own bread bowl - yum!
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| Posting Christmas wishes to Icelandic Santa |
On day three we did our first day trip and probably
the most popular - "the Golden Circle" which covers about 300kms
looping from the city up into the southern uplands of Iceland and back. Our driver/guide Garpur (we called him Kevin) was great from the
start with lots of stories about Iceland and his family to keep us entertained
and easy listening Icelandic music to listen to in between times.
Our first stop was Faxi waterfall. Unfortunately the weather wasn't playing ball and visibility was
limited but it made for the most beautiful scenery as everything, literally
everything was white and wintery. Faxi is off limits to kayaking and is usually teeming with
salmon, so much so it has its own salmon ladder to help the fish back up river
when the time comes.
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| Salmon ladder |
Next was Gullfoss waterfall which even with our
limited view environment was wonderful to see. It has two drops and a couple of turns in it making it
interesting viewing, the first drop is 11m and the second 20m which may not
seem a lot but it is wide and there is a tremendous amount of water flowing
over it.
It is also the site that established one of
Iceland's first environmentalists (Sigridur Tomasdottier 1871-1957), who saved
the waterfall and area from development and who also become one of the first
guides to the area.
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| Sigridur Tomasdottier Memorial |
Next up was the Geyser geothermal area - it wasn't
Rotorua!
However, if you have never seen anything like this
it would still be spectacular and the main attraction named 'Strokkur' geyser
is good at drawing gasps of excitement as it 'erupts' every 5 minutes or so
10-12m in the air. Pre each eruption the water in the large pool is sucked back
inside the shaft and then erupts as a huge bubble of brilliant blue water.
The first of two pit stops on the way back was a
nice surprise as we got to see a working farm in action. Some of the cows were outside but most have been bought inside
for the winter so we saw them in their winter homes being fed and cleaned up
after.
They looked pretty cosy and it was just as well as
the snow was easily 6 inches deep outside.
The second was a geothermal lake and an area where
bread is baked in an underground oven (effectively a hole dug where the bread
is placed, and then the earth’s heat cooks it over a few hours). The lake was really warm and even though quite large was only up
to 2m deep.
Last but not least may well have been the most
exceptional site of the day (maybe because the clouds had cleared some!). Þingvellir (in English Thingvellir) marks the crest of the
Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the boundary between the North American and Eurasian
tectonic plates. As you walk through
the area the highest rock wall is the North American side and the lower side
the Eurasian side and it is an area that is well and truly alive. The gap between the two is growing by ~2cm every year and the
scenery is quite simply stunning.
What a site to finish our tour on - we have had a
really interesting day, back to nature and some amazingly beautiful scenery
(even though some of it was hard to see!). There is a real raw beauty that is fast becoming the Iceland we
will remember.
Next Day trip 2 - “Snæfellsnes National Park and
Peninsula”. Again we had a great driver/guide with another name we
couldn't pronounce (this time we called him Willie), with family history from
the area so personal stories to share which always make things more
interesting. The weather was much
the same as yesterday, only wetter, but we can't control that and it is winter
after all. We left early
(7.30am) as it's a 500km round trip today so plenty of driving to do and on the
way out went through Iceland’s only sea tunnel (fjord crossing) at 6km long and
~240m beneath the sea. Timing is everything
as the tour companies try to make the most of the diminishing daylight (just
over 4 hours with sunrise around 10.50am), which was timed perfectly for our
first stop.
Spring water straight from the land and full of iron
(which tasted like it) and then to the sea to see if we could spot any seals. Only a lone one to be seen but a beautiful Atlantic coastline
with beautiful colours - golden sand frozen white, the sea, the breakwater and
the moody sky, then you turn around and there are mountains everywhere - quite
stunning.
On the way to our next site we stopped to say hello
to, and photograph, the Icelandic horses. They are short and stocky with really long thick hair to keep
them warm (they remain outside all year round). They are the only horses in Iceland and no other breeds are
allowed - in fact if they are taken off the island they are not allowed back
this is to continue to protect the breed.
On to the dramatic landscape at the westernmost part of the peninsula. The rock formations and cliffs are quite something and although it decided to teem with rain we walked the 20min track to take in the views and beautiful but rugged coastline.
After a short stop for lunch, and to dry out, we
were on our way to Vatnshellir cave. The cave is an 8000 year old lava tube which runs for over 200m
and is 35m below the surface. Ironically the first
lava cave either of us have been inside and armed with flashlights and helmets
we could see the formations, colours and listen to the sounds of the cave. Unlike most caves this one is not living and has not changed at
all in 8000 years.
Next up was Djúpalónssandur beach. Like so many other places it's like stepping into an ancient
lava wonderland and the walkway opens up to a beautiful black beach. The beach is made of small black smooth pebbles called the
Pearls of Djúpalón, which are protected and there are two small freshwater
lagoons by the beach, called The Deep Lagoons. On the beach there are iron remains from the British trawler,
The Epine GY7, which was wrecked here on the night of 13th March 1948 taking 14
lives.
The iron remains have been left as a memorial.
Last scenic stop for the day is Kirkjufell - the
most photographed mountain in Iceland and the waterfall nearby Kirkjufellsfoss
(or Church Mountain Falls). From our position
the mountain appears to have a perfect shape and juts out from the sea making
it a real focal point. The waterfall
alongside and winter colours just make the stop a bonus.
We had a 2-3 hour drive home from here so stopped in
the small town of Grundarfjordur for coffee and cake before attacking the
return journey in the dark. Thankfully Willie
was driving as he drove through four different seasons easily on the way back,
and had we been driving am sure it would have taken twice as long. Another wonderful day getting to know Iceland and its natural
beauty...
Day off the next day so a bit of a sleep in and
after Gary's 10km run we went for a walk around town. Reykjavik is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean so we headed down
to the waterfront and the Sun Voyager sculpture. The sculpture resembles a Viking ship but is in fact a dream
boat and ode to the sun. It is said to
contain within itself the promise of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope,
progress and freedom. The backdrop of
Mount Esja is also very pretty (and we can see it today).
We walked around the waterfront and up the main
shopping street, really just relaxing and taking in our surroundings, including
all the Christmas lights that continue to go up daily. We walked to the end of the street only to find a small ice
skating rink in amongst the pretty lights and a few keen skaters giving it a
go. A nice relaxing day finished off at the super tasty
soup restaurant before an early night and our last full day excursion the
following day.
Setting
off for our "South Coast" tour we were collected by Garpur (Kevin)
who we had on our first tour. It was nice to see a familiar face although
we had lucked out on the weather today – thick fog just about everywhere that
gradually got worse as the day went on. However, not able to control that
we set out and a couple of hours later arrived at our first stop.
Skogafoss Waterfall is one of the biggest waterfalls in Iceland at 25m wide
with a 60m drop. Today we can only just see it courtesy of the fog but
apparently it often has rainbows surrounding it (when the sun shines!).
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| This is what the waterfall should look like, without fog and darkness... |
The Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach was our next stop – it is regarded as Iceland’s most impressive black sand beach and was foreboding and mysterious in the weather. The rockscapes were something else and looked like a giant game of ‘Jenga’ and the huge waves made the whole area really beautiful. At the beach it was a lot of fun to watch people seeing black sand for the first time, taking photos of their feet in the sand – reminds us (not that we had forgotten) how much NZ has to offer.
Next
up was Solheimajokull Glacier which like most around the world is retreating
and has shrunk by a kilometre in the last decade. It’s an arm of a larger
glacier that ironically is attached to a volcano (Katla) that they are expecting
to erupt in the short term future. The lower end of the glacier is below
sea level so it will likely leave a lake behind as it retreats; currently it is
250m thick (it’s ‘parent’ glacier is 700m thick). With the weather not
getting any better we were allowed to walk right up to the end of the glacier
and touch it. Being up close it was amazing, the structures and shapes were
intriguing but looking into the ice and seeing the air bubbles and clarity of
it was quite stunning. It was a really fantastic site to visit.
Our
last site for the day was Seljalandsfoss Waterfall. Also one of the best
known waterfalls in Iceland it also had a 60m drop and was really fantastic as
you can walk right round behind the falls into a small cave. It gives you
a whole new perspective watching such a huge quantity of water fall from behind
it – listening to the thunderous sounds it made and failing to avoid the spray
coming from it in all directions. A really unique opportunity and another
wonderful site to experience. Again the weather was still super foggy and
it was now starting to get dark so our photos certainly don’t do it
justice. The weather decided to fog over the entire country this day but
it didn’t manage to spoil too much – the wider view yes, but the actual sites
no. We can take comfort in that everyone in Iceland was experiencing the
same. We arrived back in Reykjavik 10 hours after we started.
The
following day we walked around town again just absorbing all the Christmas’ness
around us. The lights and lit up trees are really beautiful. We
walked down to the ice skating rink again as well and being Sunday it was much
more alive with families and children and oodles of Christmas spirit and
happiness. Finished off by a couple of angels purchased for our Christmas
tree and a nice dinner out which cost us 2-3 times what it would have at home
(and it was cheap!).
Our
final full day in Iceland we visited the Blue Lagoon, the geothermal Lagoon is
one of the most visited attractions in Iceland and you have to book in advance
for certain time slots to gain entry. It’s located in a lava field in a
small place called Grindavik on the Reykjanes Peninsula. It’s man-made
and is fed by the water output of a nearby geothermal plant and is renewed
every two days. As per most geothermal waters it is said to have healing
properties but for us it’s a perfect way to complete our time in Iceland, and
in fact Northern Europe.
Things
that we will remember about Iceland:
Waterfalls
Mountains
Glaciers
Black
sand beaches
Moody
scenery
The
Christmas Lights
Rain
Fog
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| A twist on the usual traffic barrier... |
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| Car wheels with studs... stops em slipping! |
Heading south…
A couple of big travel days marked the beginning of
our travel back towards home - first back to Norway and a night in Oslo and
then a 10 1/2 hour flight from Oslo to Miami.
We arrived back in Oslo just after 5pm and couldn't
resist a chance to check out their Christmas market. Everywhere we've been we've been just ahead of the Christmas
market scene and this will be our last chance (it really seems to be more of a
European thing). After checking our
bags in at the airport for a couple of hours we got on the direct train into
the city and soon found ourselves surrounded by Christmas lights, shops, a
Ferris wheel, Carousel and an ice rink.
There were open fires, bars and all sorts of yummy food morsels
including the most amazing looking toffee apples and lots of people having lots
of fun.
We stayed for a while soaking up our last bit of
cold and wintery Christmas. A perfect ending to our dose of winter
wonderland.
