Iceland - part 1
It was sometime during my High School years, when my fascination for the Nordic countries began to fully bloom, that I started to wish for a trip to Iceland. The "land of ice and fire" seemed really amazing and felt quite extreme back then... ;) Unfortuantely, it was also a really expensive country and a trip there remained a dream of mine for many years... Now, after several unsuccessful tries to organize a vacation there which would not kiil my budget, the time has finally come! We bought the flight tickets back in November and booked all the accommodations no later than January, to make sure we'd get the best deals. Iceland may have become cheaper due to the recent economic crisis, but it is still not exactly CHEAP! So some serious planning was definitely needed in order to save money...
6/7/2011
Our trip started with a smooth flight to Copenhagen, where the LONG wait begins.... According to the schedule, it would be only about 7 hours later when our connecting flight to Keflavik would depart, but Iceland Express proves its fame by delaying our flight an additional 2 hours - which means we are leaving at 0.45! Ouch... :( It's about 2.30 in the morning by the time we land in Iceland and saying that I'm tired and sleepy is quite an understatement! Fortunately though our airport pick-up guy is still there (and one big Viking he is!) and takes us to our guesthouse with no further issues. Of course it's light outside and although that does not make me any more awake I'm indeed pretty excited about finally being in Iceland!
7/7/2011
Despite going to bed after 3am, we are still dragging ourselves up at a decent hour today and after breakfast we head to the central bus station, to pick up our Bus Passports (the special tickets which will allow us to go around the country on the Ring Road) and meet up with velvetchamber ! It's a beautiful sunny day and we decide to spend most of it outside, visiting the open air museum Árbæjarsafn where you can see old Icelandic houses and other buildings.
It's a very interesting and pretty place and Freyja is the best guide we could ask for! :) We spend the whole morning and lunch time there and after saying goodbye to F., me and the Corvid Boy head to the city center. We stroll around there for a while, visit the Hallgrim's Kirkja and even get up to the tower top, from which you can get some great views of Reykjavik.
Isn't it just pretty? :)
After walking around for hours, checking out some shops and admiring all the lovely little houses, we are definitely hungry and head for one of the veggie restaurants I had bookmarked. We get some really yummy food for a cheap price and then decide to walk back to the guesthouse. We are not staying exacty downtown, but in a residential area near the domestic airport. Still, the weather is so amazing that despite being quite tired we want to enjoy it until the very last moment! :)
8/7/2011
Time to start playing the real tourists today, by going for a guided tour on the Golden Circle! That's the one thing everyone coming to Iceland ends up doing, but despite not being keen on guided tours, we really can't miss that sort of highlights...
Tingvellir - the old Icelandic parliament, one of the very first worldwide:
The Nordic history student in me is quite happy to be here, believe me! Yeah, there is nothing pointing out that this is where the Ting (=parliament) was held, but it is still a quite exciting feeling... Not to mention a very beautiful place! :)
After that we continue our tour to the Geyser area, which is really amazing and where Stokkur does not fail to impress us:
This geyser goes off every 5-10 minutes and even if you know it's going to happen you just can't help getting surprised and amazed every time! :) it was a really cool thing to see and I could have spent quite some time there.... But unfortunately being on a guided tour has its downsides, so after a quick bite at the local tourist-ripping self-service "restaurant", we get back on the bus for some more driving.
Our next stop is Guldfoss:
When I first spotted it from the bus, I could not avoid a loud "oh wow"! Yeah, it really is an amazing view and the annoying mosquitoes all around you there don't really manage to dimimuish the experience of this great waterfall....
On the way back to the capital, we stop to see another nice waterfall and then it's one long drive (made longer by a car accident on the way) all the way to Rey. Despite the fact that we were in the middlle of several other tourist groups today, I quite enjoyed this tour and agree that you can't really miss it! ;)
Back to our guesthouse, we decide to walk the short way to one of Rey.'s swimming pools, which is especially famous for the imported Morocco sand..eh, eh! It's one first time in a geothermal pool and it's really nice! There are actually 2 pools with different temperatures and then there's the Ocean..or actually a limited area of it which is a bit warmer than normal due to the hot water pouring in from the pools! It is still too cold for me, so I don't go furtther than jumping right in and out, but lingering in the other hot pools is really relaxing! Definitely a good way to end our day! :)
9/11/2011
Today we are leaving the capital to start our round trip along the country. Our first stop is Hella and our bus leaves at 8.30am. We get there in good time unaware of the kind of news expecting us... During the night some vulcanic activity took place and a flood destroyed one big bridge on the Ring Road, thus closing it until further notice... :( As if this weren't enough, we are also informed that Katla may erupt any time now...Gulp! Despite all the flight probles caused by the Icelandic vulcanos during the past year, we weren't really expecting to be faced with the real thing once here! Anyway, as we are told, "it's Nature, you can't know what's going to happen!". And because we can still get to our destination without any problem today, we get on the bus and hope for the best for the following legs of the trip!
It's only one and a half hour to Hella, which is a small village on the South coast. We are staying at the Guesthouse Nonni, where an old, super friendly man with 11 grandchildren (that's what we are told, not that to we meet them!) and currently petsitting the lovely dog of one of them welcomes us in his nice home! :) We get some pancakes and coffee straight away, chat a bit with him and then are picked up for our next adventure: horse-back riding! :) The people we are going with have a farm/stable about half an hour from Hella and prove really nice and kind! We go on a 2-hour long tour with some other foreigners (most are Americans, but there is also one Dutch lady) and it's a really ncie experience!
I was afraid that my back would complaining about the horseback riding, but the Icelandic tölt is much kinder on my back and actually allows me to enjoy our tour a whole lot! And besides, Icelandic horses are just too cute! ;)
After the tour, we get driven back to Hella tourist office, where we try to get some more information about the volcanic situation and how we are going to continue the journey. Fortunately Katla is behaving well and it does not seem to want to erupt any time soon! Still, the bridge is gone and the Ring Road is closed past Vik... "The only way around that is the Mountain Road", which will probably become of the most quoted saying during the next few days... We are left pondering what to do, trying to rearrange our accommodations to allow taking the 12-hr long Mountain Road, and building up a plan B.. Despite this inconvenience, we still have to call ourselves lucky because unlike many other foreigners who rented a normal car (not a 4x4 vehicle) we do have the option to go "the other way". As we will soon see, that road is undoable with a regular car...
After coming up with some sort of new plan, we make dinner and then go for a walk along the river. It's been another lovely day....
10/7/2011
Our hiking shoes are ready and so are we! After one really tasty and big breakfast (Thanks, Nonni!), we go catch the bus to Landmannalaugar, where we are going hiking for the day. The bus trip there takes a LONG time, but the landscape we go through is so unreal and amazing that you can't really get bored! We drive through endless lava fields, reminding of a moon landing more than anything else, see beautiful mountains spotted by glaciers, meet horses and riders, and finally we are there: amazing Landmannalaugar, so colourful and pretty that it actually loooks like a painting!
We don't have too much time to explore the area (as we need to catch the bus back to Hella), but the few hour hike that we can do is enough to give us a good idea of how incredible this place is...
The pictures don't really do it justice, unfortunately...So, so beautiful it is!
When in Iceland you never have to wait long to see it steaming..I guess it's the country's way to show you it's alive! ;)
After our hike, we get on the bus for another long drive. This time the bus goes through a totally different area, though: it's much greener and we get to pass several small rivers! Exciting! :) But we are late... later than we should be considering that we do need to catch a connecting bus to another village! Thanks goodness, the other bus is also late, so once we finally reach Hella we enough time to run back to the gueshouse, collect our luggage and then return to the bus stop in time for another trip...
We are following the southern coast and our next stop is Vik. This is the part of Iceland that mostly reminds me of Faroe Islands, thanks to its green mountains right above the ocean...
We get to our destination quite late in the evening, and after dragging our stuff all though the village, we can finally check in the Gueshouse Lundi. That's one old wooden house on three stores which is probably as typically Icelandic as it gets! It's very colourful, with steep stairs, no curtains on the windows and diagonally opening kitchen drawers! ;) It also feels a little spooky becuase we seem to be the only guests there right now... I suppose that because Vik is a sort of "point of no return" at the moment, many travellers must have changed their plans and avoided it... It's a pity 'cause it definitely looks like a lovely village!
After this really long day, we go to bed right after getting settled in and we are so tired that we manage to fall asleep despite the totally right room (no curtains, remember?!).
11/7/2011
After making breakfast, going to the tourist info office to get the lastest news on the closed RIng Road (I bet that tourist info people must be really tired of these questions by now!), we start Vik's most famous walk...
...To get to the black sand beach and see amazing lava formations!
We are definitely having the best of luck with weather: it's yet another lovely sunny day and despite the strong wind we really get to enjoy our long walk as well as the time spent on this great black beach! :)
Once back in the village, we try to get some further updates regarding the road condition: we are not too keen on going back to Hella and take the super long Mountain Road, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that they may come up with some alternative solution... And they are! They have started to truck cars over the river, so albeit with some delays you can now continue on the Ring Road... yay! This means we can spend another night in Vik and go back to the original plan! :)
So after making dinner, we head to the local swimming pool for some well-deserved relax in the hot pools here! Nice! :)
12/7/2011
Today is the day when we are going to experience something that most travellers won't experience while in Iceland...
We are going to Skaftafell National Park and the only way there is through a river where there is no bridge anymore... Sounds exciting, doesn't it? Yeah, that's why we decide to take it easier in the morning, walking along the bach in Vik, looking at puffins and all the other birds on the cliffs... It's quite lively here!
When we finally get to the bus stop, we are told that the bus will leave with a two-hour delay because we need to wait for the mtaching bus on the other side of the river...The adventure has definitely begun! We get advantage of the prologued stay here by going for lunch at the restaurant by the bus stop and then it's finally time to leave... A short drive away and we reach the river and the point where the bridge used to...
See, it's really gone!
And a little further away, in the middle of the river, there is a bus, laying on its side..... That's the one that tried to cross right before us, failing it! :P (That's not a regular bus, but a mountain one with special wheels...And don't worry, nobody got hurt or even wet!)
Due to this little accident, the river crossing process has been stopped: they need to rescue the bus and stabilize the river before any further attempts can be made... So we drive back to Vik and are told that we are spending another three hours there... I must admit that's when I start thinking that maybe the Moutain Road would not have been so bad! At least we would have been sure to make it to Skaftafell eventually, whereas right now that's a big question mark! :( But of course we would have missed the adventure... :P And besides, it's too late for regrets now!
After killing too much time at Vik bus station, by 6pm, we go back to the river: in the meantime a big truck has been sent from Reykjavik, so we have good hopes to make it through the river now! Still, it's going to take time... By now we backpackers on the bus are all starting to become friends, chatting and comparing plans and hopes... The main one being getting on the other side, of course! And then finally we can get on the big truck which is going to make us cross...
And there we go...driving through the river! I can't say I was exactly afraid of that, but I do believe that none of us was particularly fine with this little trip: while sitting on the orange monster we were all giggling like mad and I wouldn't bet that it was due to enjoyment! ;)
But after a few minutes, we realize we have done it - we are on the other side and can continue the journey! Yay!!! :D
Two hours later we finally, at long last, reach Skaftafell National Park, and shortly after we are checking in at our farm/guesthouse. It's been a really long day and one we certainly won't forget!
6/7/2011
Our trip started with a smooth flight to Copenhagen, where the LONG wait begins.... According to the schedule, it would be only about 7 hours later when our connecting flight to Keflavik would depart, but Iceland Express proves its fame by delaying our flight an additional 2 hours - which means we are leaving at 0.45! Ouch... :( It's about 2.30 in the morning by the time we land in Iceland and saying that I'm tired and sleepy is quite an understatement! Fortunately though our airport pick-up guy is still there (and one big Viking he is!) and takes us to our guesthouse with no further issues. Of course it's light outside and although that does not make me any more awake I'm indeed pretty excited about finally being in Iceland!
7/7/2011
Despite going to bed after 3am, we are still dragging ourselves up at a decent hour today and after breakfast we head to the central bus station, to pick up our Bus Passports (the special tickets which will allow us to go around the country on the Ring Road) and meet up with velvetchamber ! It's a beautiful sunny day and we decide to spend most of it outside, visiting the open air museum Árbæjarsafn where you can see old Icelandic houses and other buildings.
It's a very interesting and pretty place and Freyja is the best guide we could ask for! :) We spend the whole morning and lunch time there and after saying goodbye to F., me and the Corvid Boy head to the city center. We stroll around there for a while, visit the Hallgrim's Kirkja and even get up to the tower top, from which you can get some great views of Reykjavik.
Isn't it just pretty? :)
After walking around for hours, checking out some shops and admiring all the lovely little houses, we are definitely hungry and head for one of the veggie restaurants I had bookmarked. We get some really yummy food for a cheap price and then decide to walk back to the guesthouse. We are not staying exacty downtown, but in a residential area near the domestic airport. Still, the weather is so amazing that despite being quite tired we want to enjoy it until the very last moment! :)
8/7/2011
Time to start playing the real tourists today, by going for a guided tour on the Golden Circle! That's the one thing everyone coming to Iceland ends up doing, but despite not being keen on guided tours, we really can't miss that sort of highlights...
Tingvellir - the old Icelandic parliament, one of the very first worldwide:
The Nordic history student in me is quite happy to be here, believe me! Yeah, there is nothing pointing out that this is where the Ting (=parliament) was held, but it is still a quite exciting feeling... Not to mention a very beautiful place! :)
After that we continue our tour to the Geyser area, which is really amazing and where Stokkur does not fail to impress us:
This geyser goes off every 5-10 minutes and even if you know it's going to happen you just can't help getting surprised and amazed every time! :) it was a really cool thing to see and I could have spent quite some time there.... But unfortunately being on a guided tour has its downsides, so after a quick bite at the local tourist-ripping self-service "restaurant", we get back on the bus for some more driving.
Our next stop is Guldfoss:
When I first spotted it from the bus, I could not avoid a loud "oh wow"! Yeah, it really is an amazing view and the annoying mosquitoes all around you there don't really manage to dimimuish the experience of this great waterfall....
On the way back to the capital, we stop to see another nice waterfall and then it's one long drive (made longer by a car accident on the way) all the way to Rey. Despite the fact that we were in the middlle of several other tourist groups today, I quite enjoyed this tour and agree that you can't really miss it! ;)
Back to our guesthouse, we decide to walk the short way to one of Rey.'s swimming pools, which is especially famous for the imported Morocco sand..eh, eh! It's one first time in a geothermal pool and it's really nice! There are actually 2 pools with different temperatures and then there's the Ocean..or actually a limited area of it which is a bit warmer than normal due to the hot water pouring in from the pools! It is still too cold for me, so I don't go furtther than jumping right in and out, but lingering in the other hot pools is really relaxing! Definitely a good way to end our day! :)
9/11/2011
Today we are leaving the capital to start our round trip along the country. Our first stop is Hella and our bus leaves at 8.30am. We get there in good time unaware of the kind of news expecting us... During the night some vulcanic activity took place and a flood destroyed one big bridge on the Ring Road, thus closing it until further notice... :( As if this weren't enough, we are also informed that Katla may erupt any time now...Gulp! Despite all the flight probles caused by the Icelandic vulcanos during the past year, we weren't really expecting to be faced with the real thing once here! Anyway, as we are told, "it's Nature, you can't know what's going to happen!". And because we can still get to our destination without any problem today, we get on the bus and hope for the best for the following legs of the trip!
It's only one and a half hour to Hella, which is a small village on the South coast. We are staying at the Guesthouse Nonni, where an old, super friendly man with 11 grandchildren (that's what we are told, not that to we meet them!) and currently petsitting the lovely dog of one of them welcomes us in his nice home! :) We get some pancakes and coffee straight away, chat a bit with him and then are picked up for our next adventure: horse-back riding! :) The people we are going with have a farm/stable about half an hour from Hella and prove really nice and kind! We go on a 2-hour long tour with some other foreigners (most are Americans, but there is also one Dutch lady) and it's a really ncie experience!
I was afraid that my back would complaining about the horseback riding, but the Icelandic tölt is much kinder on my back and actually allows me to enjoy our tour a whole lot! And besides, Icelandic horses are just too cute! ;)
After the tour, we get driven back to Hella tourist office, where we try to get some more information about the volcanic situation and how we are going to continue the journey. Fortunately Katla is behaving well and it does not seem to want to erupt any time soon! Still, the bridge is gone and the Ring Road is closed past Vik... "The only way around that is the Mountain Road", which will probably become of the most quoted saying during the next few days... We are left pondering what to do, trying to rearrange our accommodations to allow taking the 12-hr long Mountain Road, and building up a plan B.. Despite this inconvenience, we still have to call ourselves lucky because unlike many other foreigners who rented a normal car (not a 4x4 vehicle) we do have the option to go "the other way". As we will soon see, that road is undoable with a regular car...
After coming up with some sort of new plan, we make dinner and then go for a walk along the river. It's been another lovely day....
10/7/2011
Our hiking shoes are ready and so are we! After one really tasty and big breakfast (Thanks, Nonni!), we go catch the bus to Landmannalaugar, where we are going hiking for the day. The bus trip there takes a LONG time, but the landscape we go through is so unreal and amazing that you can't really get bored! We drive through endless lava fields, reminding of a moon landing more than anything else, see beautiful mountains spotted by glaciers, meet horses and riders, and finally we are there: amazing Landmannalaugar, so colourful and pretty that it actually loooks like a painting!
We don't have too much time to explore the area (as we need to catch the bus back to Hella), but the few hour hike that we can do is enough to give us a good idea of how incredible this place is...
The pictures don't really do it justice, unfortunately...So, so beautiful it is!
When in Iceland you never have to wait long to see it steaming..I guess it's the country's way to show you it's alive! ;)
After our hike, we get on the bus for another long drive. This time the bus goes through a totally different area, though: it's much greener and we get to pass several small rivers! Exciting! :) But we are late... later than we should be considering that we do need to catch a connecting bus to another village! Thanks goodness, the other bus is also late, so once we finally reach Hella we enough time to run back to the gueshouse, collect our luggage and then return to the bus stop in time for another trip...
We are following the southern coast and our next stop is Vik. This is the part of Iceland that mostly reminds me of Faroe Islands, thanks to its green mountains right above the ocean...
We get to our destination quite late in the evening, and after dragging our stuff all though the village, we can finally check in the Gueshouse Lundi. That's one old wooden house on three stores which is probably as typically Icelandic as it gets! It's very colourful, with steep stairs, no curtains on the windows and diagonally opening kitchen drawers! ;) It also feels a little spooky becuase we seem to be the only guests there right now... I suppose that because Vik is a sort of "point of no return" at the moment, many travellers must have changed their plans and avoided it... It's a pity 'cause it definitely looks like a lovely village!
After this really long day, we go to bed right after getting settled in and we are so tired that we manage to fall asleep despite the totally right room (no curtains, remember?!).
11/7/2011
After making breakfast, going to the tourist info office to get the lastest news on the closed RIng Road (I bet that tourist info people must be really tired of these questions by now!), we start Vik's most famous walk...
...To get to the black sand beach and see amazing lava formations!
We are definitely having the best of luck with weather: it's yet another lovely sunny day and despite the strong wind we really get to enjoy our long walk as well as the time spent on this great black beach! :)
Once back in the village, we try to get some further updates regarding the road condition: we are not too keen on going back to Hella and take the super long Mountain Road, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that they may come up with some alternative solution... And they are! They have started to truck cars over the river, so albeit with some delays you can now continue on the Ring Road... yay! This means we can spend another night in Vik and go back to the original plan! :)
So after making dinner, we head to the local swimming pool for some well-deserved relax in the hot pools here! Nice! :)
12/7/2011
Today is the day when we are going to experience something that most travellers won't experience while in Iceland...
We are going to Skaftafell National Park and the only way there is through a river where there is no bridge anymore... Sounds exciting, doesn't it? Yeah, that's why we decide to take it easier in the morning, walking along the bach in Vik, looking at puffins and all the other birds on the cliffs... It's quite lively here!
When we finally get to the bus stop, we are told that the bus will leave with a two-hour delay because we need to wait for the mtaching bus on the other side of the river...The adventure has definitely begun! We get advantage of the prologued stay here by going for lunch at the restaurant by the bus stop and then it's finally time to leave... A short drive away and we reach the river and the point where the bridge used to...
See, it's really gone!
And a little further away, in the middle of the river, there is a bus, laying on its side..... That's the one that tried to cross right before us, failing it! :P (That's not a regular bus, but a mountain one with special wheels...And don't worry, nobody got hurt or even wet!)
Due to this little accident, the river crossing process has been stopped: they need to rescue the bus and stabilize the river before any further attempts can be made... So we drive back to Vik and are told that we are spending another three hours there... I must admit that's when I start thinking that maybe the Moutain Road would not have been so bad! At least we would have been sure to make it to Skaftafell eventually, whereas right now that's a big question mark! :( But of course we would have missed the adventure... :P And besides, it's too late for regrets now!
After killing too much time at Vik bus station, by 6pm, we go back to the river: in the meantime a big truck has been sent from Reykjavik, so we have good hopes to make it through the river now! Still, it's going to take time... By now we backpackers on the bus are all starting to become friends, chatting and comparing plans and hopes... The main one being getting on the other side, of course! And then finally we can get on the big truck which is going to make us cross...
And there we go...driving through the river! I can't say I was exactly afraid of that, but I do believe that none of us was particularly fine with this little trip: while sitting on the orange monster we were all giggling like mad and I wouldn't bet that it was due to enjoyment! ;)
But after a few minutes, we realize we have done it - we are on the other side and can continue the journey! Yay!!! :D
Two hours later we finally, at long last, reach Skaftafell National Park, and shortly after we are checking in at our farm/guesthouse. It's been a really long day and one we certainly won't forget!