Up early and excited about flying to Iceland. Neither of us have been there before and it just sounds and looks awesome in all the photos and information.
So we make it to the airport. Due to flying Icelandic Air we can’t access BA Executive Club (Qantas Club), besides we haven’t been to Terminal 1 before, so it is a chance to wander around and see the huge array of shops, eateries etc. Wish Perth would learn a few lessons from other airports, but we all know what Perth is like so no point in hoping for something vaguely interesting to be implemented.
We board our flight and are blown away – fantastic plane, huge space for the seats (and yes we are in economy), Scott didn’t even have to get up when I went to the toilet – yes there is that much space. It is a budget airline, so no food etc unless you want to pay for it, but we settle in with our Lonely Planet and pick what we want to do, or try and do, in addition to Scott’s hope to see the Northern Lights.
It is only a three hour flight, so before you know it, we are landing at Keflavik Airport, quickly pick up our bags and head straight out to the shuttle service into Reykjavik – all very well organised and so far so good. We had booked a City Breaks package with Icelandic Air, which included flights, hotel, the Northern Lights tour and the shuttle service between the international airport at Keflavik and the capital Reykjavik.
The drive was approximately 40 minutes and it felt like we were driving through a lunar landscape – huge lava fields, moss and the clearest water you can imagine. We then arrived at Cabin Hotel, which was targeted towards the discerning traveller looking for a good hotel but at budget prices. We were at the back end of a huge group of school children and were immediately in panic mode. We fought our way to the front of reception, checked in and got our room key – there is nothing “good” about this hotel and as soon as we walked into the room, we quickly backed out in dread. The room was tiny (and I mean tiny), it had twin beds, there wasn’t any room to put your bag anywhere and it was noisy. I quickly headed back down to reception, and asked for another room, to be told – it is busy, there is nothing else and we are more than welcome to find another hotel! So we grabbed our map and wandered towards the old part of the city, which was a long walk away and found a hotel (Foss Baron), who let us look at a room, which overlooked the harbour, was clean, tidy and perfect for us. So back at the Cabin we grabbed our bags and left – what a start to the holiday. I have since complained about the hotel, but did not receive any feedback (no surprise).
We checked into the Foss Hotel, who changed our trip bookings etc, and walked into the old part of the town. We were meant to be going on the Northern Lights tour for tonight, but due to the cloud cover etc it was cancelled and rescheduled to the following night. It is very very cold and windy here today, but we walked into town. There are several streets that are small and although open to traffic, there isn’t a lot around and the shops are a good variety of clothes, shops, bars and eateries along with art galleries and studios. Most of the streets have a glimpse of Hallgrimskirkja, which is an immense concrete church (Lutheran?)
The town is quite large with lots of shops, cafes, sites. We headed to the Reykjavik Hotel/Restaurant so Scott could have an Icelandic buffet of seafood and I had veggie lasagne, which was surprisingly good.
There is also meant to be an ice bar here, which he had a quick look into and the term “crap” came to mind. It was a tiny room, where most of the ice had melted – even worse you had to pay just to get into the room. Very strange.
Anyway, we had a couple of drinks in the other bar, before walking back towards the hotel.
8 April 2011
The Hotel does a buffet breakfast, so Scott attempts to eat his body weight in salmon and other fish whereas I stick with the fruit. Today we are off to the Blug Lagoon at 10am. The bus picks you up and drops you there, then you just catch any shuttle bus back into town. Apparently the average length of time people stay here is 2 hours. So the Blue Lagoon is touted as the Eiffel Tower equivalent to Paris. It is set in a black lava field inbetween Keflavik and Reykjavik with the water being a milky-blue colour. It states that it is 38oC, but it is definately hotter and cooler in different areas. There was a constant rolling mist coming over the thermal springs when we were there, just giving it an other worldiness.
We arrived and it was snowing and bitterly cold, but after running from the warm building we were into the fantastic warm waters of the blue lagoon.
This is everything it is described as. You are in the middle of nowhere and the water is warm (varying degrees of warm) and it is a whitey/blue colour. We spent ages just floating around and putting loads of silica mud on our faces hoping that I came out of the water looking like a super model.
Not convinced it will work – but hey, have to give it a go. The water is rich in blue-green algae, mineral salts and fine silica mud, all supposedly to condition and exfoliate the skin. I have also booked at salt glow treatment at 1:30, so we jump out of the lagoon and have something to eat, before getting back in for yet more silica mud and just floating around. At 1:30, I head to the treatment area, which is still within the water and have a wonderful salt scrub and massage. You are on a mat where you just float near the surface on a sort of floating lilo and then you are kept you warm with large blankets. Weird feeling, but sooooooo relaxing, just floating while you are also being pummelled by the masseuse.
Sadly it is over all too soon, and we are back to floating in the lagoon. You don’t just have to be in the thermal spas, I am sure on a warmer day you can lie out on the wooden decks, plus there is a pumelling waterfall that Scott was particularly partial too, in addition there are sauna’s and steam rooms to keep you occupied.
At about 3 they open the swim up bar for beers/cocktails, but after a whole day in the thermal springs, we decide to give it a miss and eventually drag ourselves out of the springs and head back to Reykjavik on the 4pm bus, definately getting our monies worth of the whole trip. If you are heading there – note: take conditioner and plenty of it, even after using the toiletries provided, my hair was like straw for days.
On the way back we decide to hire a car for the following day, as the weather is still raining and cold and we can get out of the city and head towards the coast line, so back at the hotel, the receptionist organises everything for us and we head out into the nightlife for dinner and drinks.
Reykjavik is meant to have a heaving nightlife, not sure if the global financial crisis has quietened things down, but there aren’t a lot of people around and we find a small little bar/cafe where we had some drinks and snacks for dinner whilst watching the Icelanders wander by. There are some interesting sights of people and due to the cold nearly everyone is rugged up to the eyeballs. We have stupidly only brought one pair of thermals each and are feeling the cold. So fortified with drinks and food, we call it a night.
9 April 2011
We pick up our Hyundai i30 hire car (with Garmin gps) from Procar in Reykjavik and head off with our limited maps to go past the black lakeof Kleifarvatn and down towards the coast. This area, although on the Reykjanes peninsula doesn’t seem to attract the tourists heading to the more extreme glaciers to the East and North of the city. The first problem is remembering to drive on the other side of the road – something we need to get used to and also work out road names which aren’t in English. Kleifarvatn is the largest lake in the Reykjanes peninsula. It is a deep grey (black to us) lake with submerged hot springes and black-sand beaches and although it says the lake can be reached by a track, on the maps it definately is described as a “road”.
The city is much bigger than we expected, but soon enough we are heading along the road – which suddenly becomes a non-road and the gps tells us we are off road? It is bleak weather, the snow is coming sideways and we are almost blown off the gravel path on many occasions. We are soon off the gps map and heading up into the mountains where the tarmac becomes gravel, becomes potholes and continues to climb. We now have no clear idea of where we are except somewhere in the vicinity of Lake Kleifarvatn. We feel like a million miles from anywhere. Driving along the roads is amazing, the roads seem to have been carves through giant lava fields where the boulders have been covered in moss which go on fore miles. We pass fish drying racks, some of which just seem to have collapsed, but you are reminded that fishing is what Iceland is famous for. This area is meant to be covered in walking trails and we did see lots of signposts etc, however I would suggest the weather needs to be a tad warmer and not blowing a gale force wind to enjoy which I would suggest is fantastic scenery.
We get to Kleifarvatn which is awesome, looks so fantastic with black water, black sand, black rocks. Big downside was the wind which meant our car was soon caked in black sand, along with everything else we owned.
We just out of the car for some pictures and a video, but it doesn’t do it justice.
We continue along the twisting road which initially follows the lakeshore, before coming to Seltún.
You can smell Seltún before you arrive there – it is a huge area of sulphur springs within a geothermal field. The rain has continued, so photography isn’t fantastic, but we head out of the dry confines of the car following the path through the snow covered hillsides with wafts of steam and sulphur smells. There is a wooden walkway (although collapsed in parts), which guides you through the area – be warned, it is extremely slippery in parts. You do get close to the bubbling mud, but again it has an eerie out of world feel. The Krisuvik valley has lots of sulfur springs, but we felt that Seltún was the easiest and best signposted/documented. We then travel further up the road and stop at some sulfer springs. Even though the weather is freezing we do a small walk around the area – with Scott deciding the best pictures can only be achieved when standing next to them and by ignoring the safety signs. Oh well.
We continue driving through the countryside and through some small villages, that you can’t even imagine what life out here would be like – this is almost summer but still everything is coated in snow and ice. Then there is the wind which just goes straight through you and finally, the lack of roads, once you leave the main centre it is pretty much potholes held together with more potholes – glad it isn’t our car and that we also took out the additional gravel insurance. We have now given up with the GPS it is a shocker – never buy a Garmin, or ensure that the maps are up to date and I am sure there are other things to check, but it was constantly wrong, gave the wrong advise and it spent most of the time sayign “drive 1.2 kms and turn around”. We found a lovely spot in Selfoss for a warm lunch. The one thing about Iceland is that food/drinks are very expensive, but it is good quality.
After lunch we decide to drive back to Reykjavik a different way and end up heading towards Blafjoll ski Resort. The road was trecherous, you could hardly see due to the fog and then all of a sudden it said the road was closed, hmm, reverse out and head up another route to find that the ski resort was closed.
The weather was by now even worse, you could hardly see a hand in front of your face – enough time for some photos before back into the car.
Doing down the mountain to the main road, I just out and take a few photos of the lava rocks with moss and was absolutely drenched through and I am sure on the way to frostbite. Anyway, once back in the car we decide we are not leaving the car again. The weather has not improved all day, so we head back to Reykjavik. We did however do a small detour to through the city and dropped the car back. Had a long hot shower and as the Northern Lights tour was cancelled again, we headed back out for some dinner/drinks.
The weather then decided to change and became clear, so we took some night photos along the harbour.
Unfortunately with the night clearing, it also became even colder.
10 April 2011
Last morning in Reykavik, so we went for a walk along the harbour.
The area is meant to have many bird spotting places, but due to the wind and crappy weather, they are probably rugged up warm somewhere else.
We checked out of the hotel and got our shuttle bus (yep on time again) back to Keflavik Airport. Now the fun started. It was windy, very very windy, so just as we arrived, they started to delay flights. No planes were taking off and only a couple landed, so we waited. Eventually we decamped to the bar and Icealandic Air gave out food vouchers, so we had a comfy spot, some drinks, some sandwiches. By this time, the people who had landed were still stuck on the planes, as the docking stations couldn’t meet the planes and they had the planes all stacked up tip to tail so they wouldn’t blow over. The Airport room sounded like it was going to blow off. After a few hours, Icelandic air gave us vouchers etc for the Hilton hotel and we headed back into town for a luxury night in the Hilton Executive Club.
11 April 2011
Okay the choice is be at work – or be here in Iceland. Overnight the wind had dropped, but now it was snowing, so we stayed inside the hotel.
Scott taking advantage of the constant supply of salmon and various other fish treats while we waited for our shuttle bus to take us back to the airport. I am sure my boss didn’t believe me when I sent him a message about being delayed.