The travels of Tim and Megan: Iceland

Sunday

On Sunday we went on a full day tour of the "Golden Circle", a popular tourist route in South Iceland, covering about 300 km looping from Reykjavik into central Iceland and back. The three primary stops on the route are the national park Thingvellir, the Gullfoss waterfall (meaning "golden falls"), and the geothermally active valley of Haukadalur, which contains the geysers Geysir and Strokkur. Our tour also included a snowmobile ride on the Langjokull glacier.

We boarded the massive Super Jeep at 9am and left Reykjavik, heading south-east. We passed through the greenhouse village of Hverageroi, where they have dozens of huge greenhouses where they grow all sorts of vegetables and fruit for consumption in Iceland. Apparently, they even grow bananas in the greenhouses!

Our first stop on the tour was the Kerio volcano crater. The sun was still a few minutes away from rising as we got out of the jeep to check out the enormous crater, so it was very cold. Away from the city warmth and shelter of Reykjavik it was a lot colder. At most stops we were out in the open and the wind ripped through us, despite us wearing four layers and hats and gloves! Kerio is a volcanic crater lake, one of several in the area known as Iceland's Western Volcanic Zone, created as the land moved over a localised hotspot. The crater is 55m deep, 170m wide and 270m across. You probably wouldn't want to fall over the edge!

The countryside was really interesting. The large amount of volcanic activity in the area means that there are a lot of lava fields or areas of volcanic rock. In stark contrast, there are other areas of spectacular natural beauty - mountains, rivers and lakes to rival New Zealand. As there is a massive amount of space for a small population, there is plenty of land available for farms. We passed by a lot of farmland, mainly farming horses and sheep. We were informed by our knowledgeable tour guide that there is one horse for every four people in Iceland. They are used mainly for horse-riding, a popular tourist activity in Iceland, however, horse meat is also reasonably popular in the country. There were loads of tiny wooden farmhouses scattered across the fields too, usually sheltered by large grass or dirt banks on one side of the building to block the strong winds.

Our next stop was an area of geothermal activity called Haukadalur, which is home to several massive geysers. The original geyser at this place was called "Geysir" and that is where the generic name "geyser", used to describe these things all over the world, came from. Geysir stopped working around the 1980s, as the channel became clogged with silica. An earthquake in 2000 cleared the channel, reviving eruptions, but they have decreased again and Geysir very rarely erupts these days. Just 50m away, however, is another geyser called "Strokkur", which erupts very obediently every 4-8 minutes, shooting boiling water up to 30m skyward. Out in the open, waiting with camera positioned for the awesome shot below, 4-8 minutes started to feel like a very long time! And you don't want to lose concentration because you only have about two seconds to take the snap, or it's another 4-8 minutes waiting with cold fingers. Apparently a handful of over-eager tourists each year require hospital treatment for boiling water burns - one shouldn't stand downwind of Strokkur... There are around thirty much smaller geysers and hot pools in the area, including one called Litli Geysir ("Little Geysir"), which is really a little bubbling pot of water, which Megan likened to pools you see on the Crater of the Moon walk in Taupo. It also smelt a bit like home!

After a quick refreshment stop at the cafe (where we found that "Lakkrus" means "licorice" in Icelandic and when covered in rice bubbles and coated in chocolate, is rather delicious), we set off towards the Langjokull Glacier and the highlight of the day - snowmobiling! We drove for around an hour over some very rough terrain (luckily we were in such a beast as the Super Jeep) to reach a pit stop, where we were ushered into a shed and helped into full Michelin-Man style oversuits, overshoes and helmets. We looked awesome! Megan actually looked like an astronaut (see photo below). We then got into an even larger vehicle, a Super Super Jeep if you like, but built for snow - a little like a tank on ice - and we were driven right down on to the glacier.

The glacier looked like something from a movie - endless flat expanses of untouched snow and 20 or so snowmobiles lined up waiting for us. After a quick lesson on how to operate a snowmobile (they are probably the easiest things in the world to drive) we were off, Tim taking the first half hour of driving. We had to follow single file in a long line. Apparently over-taking or drifting off the tracks marked by the tour leader can result in you falling into a 200m deep chasm, never to be seen again. Needless to say, everybody followed the instructions strictly! Visibility was good initially, and we rocketed along, faces freezing and fingers even colder! Tim started to wonder if frostbite was setting in, since he couldn't feel his fingers and his forearm started to go numb! We then stopped for a 10 minute break to take some photos and swap drivers. Tim was relieved to discover that the other snowmobile drivers had experienced the same thing with frozen fingers on their right hand (throttle side of the snowmobile).

By this stage we were far out into the middle of the glacier and the wind had picked up - the coldest, most icy wind we had ever felt - and it was seriously battering us. We agreed that this surpassed Christmas in Prague as the coldest place on Earth we had ever been. Megan took the driver's seat for the second leg and driving with a cross-wind was a challenge, making the snowmobile wobble quite a bit. With the strong wind and visibility starting to deteriorate, it felt like we heading for the North Pole! However it came to an end all too quickly and we were back at base, wishing we could go for another ride! Once off the glacier and out of our astronaut suits, we jumped back in the Super Jeep to continue our tour.

Next up was the Gullfoss waterfall, however before we got there we were treated to the rare sight of an arctic fox on the side of the road. The arctic fox is a shy creature that looks a bit like a fluffy cat and it is Iceland's only native mammal. Gullfoss was a little more impressive than the ball of fluff. It is a monster waterfall in two tiers at right angles to each other (see photo below). The total height is 32m, the width 20m and the average amount of water running over this waterfall is 140 cubic metres per second in summer and 80 cubic metres per second in winter. Woah! We spent a few minutes admiring it before Megan had to take shelter in the restaurant/gift shop. The sun was starting to set and it was getting colder by the minute. After some hot soup and bread for a late lunch, we were back on the road to our final stop Thingvellier.

Thingvellir (which loosely translates to "parliament fields") is a site of historical, cultural and geological importance as well as one of most popular tourist spots in Iceland. The Thingvellir National Park was founded in 1930 to protect the remains of the parliament site and natural phenomena in the surrounding area. Iceland was settled around 870 AD. Parliament was established at Thingvellir in the year 930 and continued through to 1789, when it was moved to Reykjavik. The chiefs of the various "tribes" from all over Iceland would meet at this place every couple of years to discuss the issues of the day, rules/laws to address those issues and punishments for those who broke the rules. The Icelandic people claim that this is the oldest continuing parliament in the world.

We got out of the Super Jeep and walked around the parliament fields site for about 10 minutes. It was getting quite dark and, needless to say, rather chilly. The spot is marked by a big flagpole, although there was no flag flying - perhaps it had blown away! The parliament fields sit in a valley brought about by the meeting of two tectonic plates in the area.

The North American and Eurasian plates meet underneath Iceland, which is why there is so much volcanic activity and so many earthquakes in the country. The actual meeting point of two tectonic plates is not usually as visible above ground as it is here in Iceland. There is a steep rocky cliff right behind the deep valley where parliament fields are located. We walked along the valley right next to the cliff face up to a car park where our Super Jeep picked us up again. The view from the car park looking back down along the cliff and valley showed the meeting of the plates quite vividly. Interestingly, these plates cause the western side of Iceland and the eastern side of Iceland to move apart by 2cm every year, which (very slowly) increases the size of the country. It is thought that in 100 million years from now, Iceland will be larger than the Great Britain!

We were grateful to be back in the Super Jeep where it was nice and toasty, as we headed back to Reykjavik. We were dropped off at our hotel around 6pm. We decided to go for a couple of drinks at the Icelandic Bar, which was close to the hotel. Megan had read about it before our trip and it was highly recommended by past travellers. It was really cool - it had really comfortable couches and interesting decor everywhere. The service was top notch and they even gave out free chocolates and biscuits! Tim really wanted to try Polar Beer (he he he) but they had run out. So we had another local beer called Viking, and it was nice. We had dinner at Cafe Solon, another popular cafe/restaurant in the centre, with a lot of modern art on the walls. The food was really nice and it was pretty cheap.

Monday

Monday was a very cruisy day. We slept in a bit after our big day on Sunday. After breakfast we headed for the city and went our separate ways - Megan to check out the clothes shops and Tim to visit some touristy/souvenir shops and play photographer. We met up again at lunchtime for hot dogs at Baejarins Beztu. Yum!

In the afternoon we looked at a few more shops and then went for a walk around Tjornin, the small lake in the middle of Reykjavik. There was thick cloud cover overhead, which was not what we wanted. We were booked in for a Northern Lights tour that night. Iceland is far enough north to make it a great place for viewing the Northern Lights in the winter months. Our tour was to take us out of Reykjavik to the countryside where it is dark enough to see the natural phenomenon clearly. However, when it is cloudy you cannot see the Northern Lights, and as the cloud did not clear on Monday, our tour was cancelled.

After our walk around the lake, we returned to the Icelandic Bar for a hot chocolate, to warm ourselves up, and then a couple of drinks to round off a very relaxing day in Reykjavik. We had dinner at our hotel and it was really good. We grabbed a deck of cards from the bar and played a few card games and tried another Icelandic beer, this one called Gull, while we waited for dinner.

Tuesday

Tuesday was our final day in Iceland, so we checked out of the hotel and caught a bus out to the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa and is one of the most visited attractions in Iceland. It is located in a lava field in Grindavik on the Reykjanes Peninsula, southwestern Iceland, between Reykjavik and the international airport, so it is a good stop-off on the way out to the airport.

The warm waters are rich in minerals like silica and sulfur and bathing in the Blue Lagoon is reputed to help some people suffering from some skin diseases. The water temperature in the pools is around 40 degrees. The lagoon is fed by the water output of the nearby geothermal power plant Svartsengi.

We arrived at the Blue Lagoon spa around 10.45am and we had about three hours in the pools. It was so strange to be in hot water but still have the cold wind hitting our faces. But we found some sheltered parts away from the wind and it was perfect. They have pots of silica mud around the edges of the pools that you can smear on your skin. It is supposed to make your skin smoother and healthier. Megan took great delight in applying some of the mud to Tim's face, as did several other girls to their respective partners! There was one girl in the pools who had gone a little overboard and covered most of her body in the mud - she looked like some sort of swamp monster emerging from the water. They also had a big "waterfall" in the pools that you could stand under and receive a shoulder/back massage, such was the force of the falling water. That was very cool! We had short bursts in the steam bath and the sauna too.

Once out of the pools we had lunch in the cafe at the Blue Lagoon complex, which was surprisingly good. We got a combo that included a sandwich, a berry smoothie and a coke and we threw in a crazy Icelandic chocolate bar too, just to keep it healthy! They actually do really good chocolate in Iceland.

The bus picked us up at 2.15pm and took us down the road to the airport, where we stocked up on the aforementioned Icelandic chocolate in the duty free shop (we had to get rid of our Icelandic kronur somehow...). We both had a brilliant time in Iceland and we would love to go back again some time. Reykjavik is a fun place to visit and we wouldn't mind riding a dog sled (another option on the glaciers) or having another crack on a snowmobile. Spring/summer is a great time for whale watching tours and also for seeing puffins and other bird life. Plus in summer you get almost 24 hours of daylight!