Iceland

Last Day in Iceland : Blue Lagoon

/ brisbanefrannie / 5 Comments

I’m a little sad we are leaving tomorrow. When planning this holiday we had so many things we wanted to do and we thought 6 days here would give us a good taste. Now I would love to do more. To go north. A little more exploring. But I still consider myself lucky to spend 6 beautiful days here in the land of Fire & Ice.

We set off in brilliant sunshine though as always there were amazing clouds. Streaky ones, fluffy white ones & grey snowy ones. The sky is interesting here. I think coming from Queensland where we have such bright blue skies ( unless it’s stormy) this is a contrast.

We searched for the basalt stones. This series of columns Kirkjugolf. ( the Church Floor) is a series of eroded and shaped columnar outcrops where only the top of these basalt columns can be seen.

The columns were formed by lava flow and the way it cooled then eroded smooth by the weather. There is no evidence a church stood here but perhaps was an area occupied by Irish hermits in the years before Iceland was settled !

Sellfoss is one of the larger centres in Iceland. it was very small but has grown to over 4,000 residents. And lots of tourists

Some lovely shops and restaurants.

We went volcano hunting by choosing the coast road toward the Blue Lagoon. We saw the turns offs to car parks with walks into view the volcano. But I could spot it from the car park. Big black and imposing. But no firey lava.

We were early for our 5 pm Blue Lagoon booking but the lady took pity on my crutch and let us in.

It’s a very well organised operation. It’s expensive – there are two packages you can take. The Comfort: includes entry, a towel , 1 drink and a silica mud mask and well equipped bathrooms with good shampoos , conditioners and body creams.

Or you can take the Premium: entry, towel, a robe, 2 drinks 2 masks. We thought the Comfort package was fine so that’s what we did.

I was excited ! we scanned our wristbands and in we went. You use the band to scan any extra drinks , masks, food or products you buy.

The shower area is well set up with lockers you scan to access. You change , shower ( I thought it was in the nude like other spas but this one allows you to dress in swimwear first )

They encourage you to put conditioner in your hair as the water can make hair dry and brittle. I lathered it on

Then out to the pool I was pleasantly surprise it wasn’t as crowded as I thought it might be. We slipped in. Delightfully warm

Pictures don’t do the colour justice. Ut was a milky blue.

After a good soak I move over to the mud house. You are given s big scoop and you apply it all over your face. It was strange seeing lots of people with white or mud faces.

Its supposed to give you beautiful soft skin!

We got our free drinks. Water and a rather good carrot apple ginger juice. No beer for us! So healthy!

After about 2 hours of being constantly in the warm water where my knee felt wonderfully light and not sore we dragged ourselves out.

Unfortunately back on hard floors it was indeed still sore! I had a long warm shower using lots of the included shampoos etc. the shower room has individual shower stalls. Unlike l when we went to the spas in Budapest where it’s all communal.

We drove to a little apartment I had found in Keflavik because we have to return the car and get to the airport early tomorrow. It’s only about 10 mins from the airport.

What a nice surprise. It was such a comfortable place. The bonus was the great view over the water and the beautiful shower and bed. Luckily we had brought dinner with us so enjoyed staying in.

It was lovely place to stay so a 🛌🛌🛌. 3 bed rating. SOL Apartment. it’s on booking.com

Photo from Booking.com

Iceland : Glacial World

/ brisbanefrannie / 8 Comments

After a good night in out little cabin we were ready for some ice.

I have noticed lots of cabins and hotel seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It’s because they are away from lights because when the northern lights arrive you don’t want any light around.

Driving to our first stop I can’t stop looking at the landscape. the contrast between lava fields, glacial tracts the cloud formations. Like nothing I’ve seen anywhere else.

View from my car seat of not only of Steve but …. A glacier.
The clouds the glacier. Otherworldly

You can see when an attraction is coming up because of the cluster of cars parked and a small sign. Not big signs here. No billboards. ( they’d probably blow over). But very little visual pollution to compete with the landscape.

Our destination. Another waterfall

There is a 4 km round trip to view this waterfall so Steve headed off on his own and I sat quietly observing people and writing a postcard to my grandsons. Who writes postcards any more. Not usually me but I think the boys will enjoys getting them.

Back to the people. All nationalities, all types of gear, all sizes and definitely all levels of fitness. Steve said a few struggled with the sometimes steep path.

Not Steve. He had taken over bring the walker in our family.

Back on the road towards the Glacial Lagoon. Here they offer boat trips up the lagoon to the wall of the glacier. We nearly missed out on a seat as they book out so quickly.

Crossing the bridge

As you cross the bridge you can see large icebergs all around. the landcover is barren and brown which contrasts with the pearling white water and the icebergs.

We checked in at the truck for Jokulsarlon Ice Tours truck and told to come back in 30 minutes to ‘suit up’ This gave us time for a quick bite from one of the food trucks offering fish ‘n chips , lobster soup or lobster rolls , hot dogs or pancakes. All pretty good and all expensive. I have to stop thinking $$

Our group arrived for suiting up and Adam our Swedish guide helped fit us out. Shoes off , suits on , shoes on, cameras in pockets. Life jacket on then onto the bus for a 5 min ride to where the boats come and go on the hour.

It was quite cool but we were lucky as the sun was out most of the time. The suits keep you pretty warm and a hat helps for when the boat picks up speed for the 7 km ride through big and little chucks of ice broken off from the main glacier.

Bob one of the resident seals

The glacier lagoon opens to the sea so seals and fish can enter the lagoon.

The ice chunks are like sculptures & look amazing.

Our guide Paulina was a great source of information and kept us entertained and informed us about glaciers. And how we need another ice age as the glaciers are melting and receding at an alarming rate.

We saw some Arctic tern birds who journey each season from the Antarctic to here each season. Quite a journey.

Beautiful little terns.
I couldn’t resist selecting an ice cube for my scotch tonight!

We were out in the lagoon for about 1 hour 30 and it was breathtaking.

The colours changed. The blue , the grey , the ash embedded in the ice giving it a striped appearance.

Finally time to return. And I thought how lucky we were to experience this one such a beautiful day.

Back in the car Steve , my Australian driver husband said ‘let’s continue on to Hofn’. This is a little fishing town about another hour up the road.

Hofn

It was a pretty little harbour town

The thing about these towns is that they appear so quiet. Everything is designed for cold weather. Freezing weather so the buildings are block like. No verandahs, no decks, no outdoor living. Not much in the way of gardens. Few trees , stark buildings.

We found a lovely looking restaurant. Went in. Sat down. Checked the menu. Got up with an apologetic voice said we actually wanted some lobster. They only had a bisque. Steve wanted some lobster. Went to Ossin down the road and had a lovely meal before our nearly 3 hour drive back to our cabin.

But it’s no problem here. It stays light until around 10pm.

Our special day was complete.

Falling for Waterfalls in Iceland

/ brisbanefrannie / 11 Comments

We woke to silence. Not a noise from outside. Sleeping in a yurt is a great novelty. Unfortunately no thermal pool on site. I didn’t appreciate when booking that I should have looked for place that offered their own hot tub. I thought the various bigger spa would be great. But they are so crowded.

We had breakfast in the main yurt. It was just great. And had such a great chat to the manager.

Breakfast was on a wheel in the centre of the yurt.

Rating for this place Nattura Yurtel would be 🛌🛌 missed a 3 because of having to go to the shower room.

Saying good by to the horses we headed 6 minutes up the road to Gullfoss waterfall. Wow. It’s stunning. The noise warned us we were close – thundering! The spray caught us and there it was. You could view from above you walk down lots of stairs to see it up close.

Photos don’t do it justice.

It was quite warm after our walk so back into the car to head towards the coast to Vik. We passed horse riders. It’s big here in Iceland. There are so many horse centres offering riding. You mostly see girls ! Girls seem to love horses !

Driving through the valley towards the coast was beautiful. Green fields , wildflowers Neatly rolled and packed hay for the winter and lovely homes.

Around every corner there’s another waterfall. And quite a few people. It always amuses me the variety of gear worn – suitable or otherwise. There’s the intrepid pole wielding ‘hikers’ , the out for a stroll sandal walkers, the families in coordinated gear, the young old and adventurous.

We spied this from the road
Up close it was impressive
You could even walk behind. The spray was incredible.

We wanted to visit the Skogar museum. The other museum we had in mind – the Saga Centre was closed.

The The Skogar museum is an outdoor village style depicting how people lived. It was almost empty as there had been a downpour and scared people away. We visited the indoor museum first, viewing the tools, arts & crafts, fishing gear used by the locals years ago.

All the long cold nights led to a lot of tapestry.
Houses from the past

I love the social history of a society and I didn’t know much about Icelandic history. It was a relatively late settled country from the Norse Viking people around 870-900. There was no one living here then. I can’t imagine how hardy those people had to be. Even today it would be difficult living with the dark and the cold.

Lunch at Freya’s, the museum’s restaurant was delightful. A great coffee set the tone. Steve had prawn pasta and I had avocado with smoked salmon. Both were great. A light dinner tonight. I browsed the very good bookstore and bought a few picture books. They love their trolls, ogres and rather gruesome folk takes here in Iceland but I found some I think won’t scare the grandchildren too much.

Freya’s Restaurant

Our next stop was the black sands beach. Reynisfjara Beach. It featured in the SBS tv series Black Sands. It’s famous, not just for its black sand and the basalt column sitting up in the water but also for its ‘ sneaky waves’. There are several deaths a year. Always tourists.

The signs point out the danger and today was an yellow alert with lines drawn on a map showing how far you could go towards the waters edge. Did this stop the tourists.

No. Of course not! We stood for awhile in the stiff breeze watching and kind of wanted a ‘sneaky wave ‘ to appear.

Watch out. A sneaky wave could appear.

We gave up and went back to the car, careful not to lose the car door in a freak wind. We were warned by the car rental place not to open the door with only 1 hand.

Iceland is full of danger. A bit like Australia but different dangers.

I managed to spot a bride veil blowing in the breeze. They were Japanese so I think it was more a honeymoon with wedding photos thrown in.

Bride and Groom outside the sweetest church

Vik is a small town on the coast and we drove up the hill to a church and looked back to the basalt columns off the black sands beach. impressive.

Vik in the foreground with the basalt columns from near the beach.

Talk about amazing landscapes. The next half hour we drove through what looked like ash covered rocks. Then flat plains where glaciers has been. You could see the glaciers where they are now standing back up the slope a little. Frozen!

Our next stop is for two nights. It’s a little cottage guesthouse. Quite new in a nice location. The cottage is beautifully fitted out and has a little kitchen which suits us as brought some cheese and beer to have for our light dinner. After lunch at Freya’s we didn’t need much.

Have I mentioned how expensive everything is? Wise friend Patsy who has been here a few days before us sent a message saying don’t try and convert into $$$$ – you’ll get too much of a shock. Eat, drink and enjoy. We are Patsy!

But out of interest – a one course dinner with one drink each – a beer is around $100 Aus $!

Tomorrow we go on a zodiac onto the Glacial Lagoon. I am very excited about it.

Rainy Iceland

/ brisbanefrannie / 4 Comments

Despite the cool rainy morning we got going early. Lots to see before heading out of Reykjavik. People say not to spend much if any time here so we decided to check it out.

Breakfast at nearby Kactus. I was only going to have coffee but decided I’d try their marriage cake! It’s rough and knobbly outside and all sweet inside. A bit like a marriage really. It’s a well know Icelandic traditional cake. In fact I think it was mentioned in Hannah Kent’s Buriel Rites book.

Marriage cake ! For breakfast.

Next it was up the hill to the big imposing church. Hallgrímskirkja. Started being built in 1842 it took until 1986 to complete.

The church is stunning in its size simplicity especially compared to the ornate but beautiful cathedral in Strasbourg. It reflects the personality of Iceland. Clean simple lines, stunning to look at.

The altar
The one and only stained glass window

The bell tower has gorgeous views across the city.

We were to have a short organ recital. Not the grand organ. The smaller one.

We walked slowly down the street from Leif Ericsson statue. Lovely quirky shops and lots of ceramic. Then a beautiful coloured rainbow finishing to the end of the street.

Looking back up to the Cathedral. It’s THE land mark spotted from around the city.

By now having walked awhile in rain with lots more to see we decided to do the hop on hop off bus. It was great. Just an hour.

The Perlan Museum was good. We went into an ice cave and the Planetarium for a show on the Northern nights . We’re not going to see that display in August . The best months for the Northern lights are late Sept Oct and early November.

We were on the road for Geysir after a delicious lunch at the old bus terminal – now home to a variety of mini restaurants. We had some fish and prawns

It doesn’t take long to leave Reykjavík and get out into the landscape. The first part of today we passed large areas of flat green field. No real evidence of crops or animals.

On the road to Thingvellir National Park

Our first stop was Thingvellir. It’s a National Park. – we’ll it seems all of Iceland could be considered a NP. Here there is evidence of the tectonic plates. And a waterfall. One of many in this country of high mountains lots of snow and volcanoes.

Not the towering falls we expected
The Icelandic names are so hard to say …. And spell

We walked a kilometre to the waterfall but we’re a little underwhelmed. I know tomorrow we’ll see some big waterfalls.

We called into Fontana Spa. I had high hopes for a thermal plunge. A wallow……Only problem was there were too many people wallowing already.

There are several pools but 5pm is probably a busy time as hikers have finished their walks and are ready to soak in one of the hot tubs.

So we moved onto Geyser. Walking from the car we could see the stream rising from the Geysirs. There are a few but Stokker is the most active and spurts the highest. Every 8-10 minutes. We waited patiently finger hovering on the camera button. Looking …..looking at the water until …. Bubble bubble up he went.

I got the beginning of a very high spurt.

With satisfaction we headed for our room for the night. A yurt. A Mongolian yurt. The owner thought the design would work here so painstakingly had 10 yurts built. I thought it would be a novel bed for the night.

It was. Very comfy with a toilet and lovely basin. The shower however was in an adjacent small building. Fine. As it’s summer and the top of 15 is balmy. But I wouldn’t want to be shuffling to the shower in rain snow or high winds!

Our view from the yurt towards the snowy fields

It was fun unpacking into the yurt. Lots of room! Dinner was a short walk down hill to Skoll tavern which had a camp ground. Most people had vans but a few hardy souls were pitching tents. Brrrr.

Further along the road was a horse farm. You could stay there and go riding for a day overnight or a week trail ride.

The yurt had a heated floor so was cosy and with the rain putter patter on the canvas roof was the only sound we heard as we drifted off into a sound sleep.

https://www.natturayurtel.com