A Week in Iceland

We decided when we came over to Europe from the USA that Iceland seemed like an interesting place to visit, and passing through on the way back to the USA meant we would get a chance to check it out. So we booked ourselves in to do a short visit. Being winter, it wasn’t going to be as touristy as it might otherwise have been, so we were hoping that things might be a bit cheaper as well. Turns out, yes it was cheaper, but no, it was not cheap.

We decided to stay in Reykjavik for the week, as moving around only adds more expense, and we planned to avoid hiring a car (if possible). Managed to snag a place on AirBnb that was great, and far and away better value than any of the hotels I had looked at. Kitchen, lounge, bedroom etc and not the size of a shoebox. I was very impressed. Turns out Reykjavik was a great little city to visit. I didn’t have any idea that the population of Iceland was so small (~300,000 people or some such), so exploring Reykjavik was a bit of a surprise. When looking for accommodation in town, I had noticed that it (the city) looked a little on the small side, but this just meant that logistically, we were able to walk everywhere. It was great. Walk everywhere we did.

When we arrived there was no snow, much to our disappointment. After having very little snow in Prague, we were looking forward to enjoying some snowy weather, but the streets were completely clear of snow. Apparently we arrived shortly after a series of storms, and it must have turned all the snow into slush and ice (but there wasn’t all that much of that, either). However, it did snow for us during our stay. Quite a lot, in fact. It was wonderful. Big, fat fluffy flakes, quite different from the light snowfall we had seen in Prague.

What we got up to:

We went on a few excursions during our week, taking the opportunity to do some of the touristy things that we had avoided everywhere else. Tourism is a major source of revenue for Iceland, so there were a lot of things available to do as a tourist even in such a small country with so few inhabitants. Iceland reminds me a little bit of New Zealand, where there are plenty of things to see and do, and even extreme sports if that’s the kind of thing you want to get up to. However, unlike New Zealand, Iceland is one epically expensive place to visit. So although we did let loose a little and do some of the touristy stuff that we normally avoid, it still cost an arm and a leg.

Having said that, we didn’t get up to any of the extreme sports, and many things that are normally offered weren’t available during the winter months. Even the iconic Blue Lagoon was shut down for renovations, so unfortunately, we did miss out on going swimming in a hot spring in subzero conditions.

Our original plan was to hire a car and do the usual thing: do all the touristy drives around the countryside ourselves, and save a packet on money…and if it were summer, I think we would have. Being winter, we were a bit paranoid about the driving situation. Having limited experience driving on icy roads and having read many reports about the foolhardiness of driving as a tourist in Iceland during winter, we decided it would be better to opt out and do some guided tours instead. So that’s what we did. That and a bunch of hoofing it around Reykjavik visiting the various museums, craft beer establishments and various street art.

…We ended up going on a boat tour to see the Northern Lights and two minibus tours around the southern part of Iceland: on the famous Golden Circle route, and also on a coastal tour to go check out some of the more accessible glaciers and the mysterious black sand beaches. It was certainly a relief to not be driving, and it was a nice change to have the constant banter of the tour guides telling us all sorts of interesting whatnot about Iceland during our sojourns out into the icy plains. I’m glad we did go the tour option, since it ended up snowing quite heavily for more than half the day of the first tour…and the minibus (even though equipped with studded tires) still fishtailed around a corner on an icy patch. Having said that, the driver did cruise around at 80-100km/h in snowy, icy conditions for pretty much the whole time, snow or no snow. There was no way we would have gone out in those conditions by ourselves, let alone drive anywhere near that fast.

Golden Circle Tour

The Golden Circle Tour is apparently one of the must do items when in Iceland. Coaches, minibuses, super jeeps, horses and people in cars – everyone does at least some part of the iconic drive. Full of volcanic landscapes, waterfalls, snowy vistas and curious rock formations, the tour showcases some of the most recognisable aspects of Iceland in a convenient loop on one of the generally more navigable roads. For us, it was a great (if long) day out. We had opted to go on full-day tours, where they pick you up at 8.30am and drop you off 8-10 hours later. We waited for the tour bus outside the hotel across the road from our apartment, and while waiting, it started to snow. A lot. I was initially happy with this, since our experience of Iceland thus far was “Ummm…Where is the snow?” but at the same time, it was a bit like planning to go to the beach and discovering that it’s pouring rain. You couldn’t see all that much for all the snowfall, and I was a bit worried that our tour was going to be a bit of a white-out. Nevertheless, we were picked up and on our way (in the dark) so I guess the fact it was also snowing didn’t matter too much when you consider the sun wasn’t even up yet anyway. By the time the tour really got going and there was sunlight to be had, we were in an area that wasn’t snowing anywhere near as much.

We stopped in to visit one of the more accessible waterfalls and more or less slid our way to the viewing area. Much visited, the area was well trampled and largely ice. Having never had to really deal with ice, I was rather paranoid. However, I don’t think anyone fell over. But the waterfall was beautiful, as expected, and was worth the careful treading to see properly. The waterfall bordered on a major sheep-sorting area that the farmers use to sort out their flocks which was interesting. It was basically this large ring-shaped area with compartments to herd sheep in order to figure out what belongs to who. (Iceland has a bit of a relaxed approach to sheep farming…the sheep more or less go do what they want, where they want to, when they want to. Very independent, these sheep.)

Along the way, our tour guide stopped off & we fed a few of the horses that we happened by on the side of the road. Lovely animals, they were definitely familiar with the process of free bread from curious tourists. Soft and fluffy, they were very friendly and pleased to have us…or at least, pleased to have a snack delivered to their doorstep. They were definitely a hit with everyone on the bus. Who doesn’t love a friendly fuzzy horse?

Out at another one of the waterfalls we visited I managed to axe myself on the ice. Basically, sneakers are not the ideal footwear for icy conditions, and the area we were visiting was 100% ice. It was more or less a case of “when” as opposed to “if” regarding me and parking my butt on the ice at some stage. So that wasn’t particularly great. (Ended up giving me a bogey arm for like…6 weeks – even now it’s crunchy, although now at least it works fine.) Others also failed on the ice. But the waterfall was awesome. (This one was mostly frozen, although I’m told it has never totally frozen over.) Afterwards, I sooked over a delicious bowl of traditional Icelandic lamb soup. Like everything else, it was expensive. Surprise.

We also visited the geysers Strokkur and Geysir and stood around and waited for the active geyser to do its thing. Apparently the geyser “Geysir” in Iceland is where the name for the phenomenon was derived. It was a similar experience to visiting Rotorua in New Zealand, although considerably less stinky. For all the sulfur, I guess maybe the cold conditions make the fragrance less noisome. It was nice to explore the park, although the combination of icy ground, boiling hot water and plentiful steam didn’t make for the safest combination.

Our tour guide also dropped us off to do a short hike through the snow at Thingvellir, where we got the opportunity to observe the various examples of the continental rift and volcanic rock formations at closer range. The crystal clear waters in the rifts were amazing – so clear and deep, people regularly go diving there in the super-pristine waters. We dutifully chucked some money in to better observe the depth (you’d never believe the water was so super deep otherwise) and were suitably impressed watching the slow drift all the way to the bottom. A lot of money was in that rift…

Eventually the day was over and we headed home in the dark. It was pretty low key, but it was a lovely day out.

Southern Coast Tour

Another day out in the minibus, this time with a different tour guide. I’ve never heard anyone talk so much. Ever. Seriously. He talked almost incessantly for the entirety of the trip, which lasted for more than 8 hours. I don’t know how he managed it. He made a mammoth effort to pack as much information about Iceland into the tour, and he was extremely knowledgeable about anything he was asked. It was nuts.

We visited another of the local horse farms and hung out with the super friendly Icelandic horses. They are a special breed out of Norway – they are super cute and shaggy and sort of small. Very pretty horsies. Wouldn’t have minded doing one of the horse riding tours, since they were such lovely animals. But maybe not while it was snowing. Too darn cold.

Our tour guide took us out to various waterfalls, visited the coastline and checked out the basalt columns and black sand beaches, all the while regaling us with various stories and information about life in Iceland. It was interesting to learn more about their sheep, which they more or less let loose to roam the mountainsides until the weather starts to get too cold, at which point the farmers band together to round them all up and sort out their respective flocks. That’s some low-intensity farming.

Part of this tour was to visit two of the glaciers near the southern coast, so this time, when we stopped at a service station we invested in some spikes for our shoes. This turned out to be rather invaluable, and I’m glad I had them when we visited the glacier. People were landing on their asses left and right. Me? No falling today, thank you very much. Our guide took us out on a mini-hike onto the glacier, to some of the safer areas that are still beyond the area that non-tour guide people are meant to venture. It was very interesting, and certainly quite different from our last glacier experience. (That was in New Zealand, and we were wearing our thongs. On the glacier. As you do when you’re Australian and it’s summer, I guess.) The sheer size of the glacier was ridiculous, and we were informed that it was already much, much smaller than previously. At any rate, that was one immense ice-cube, receding ice, or not.

The last of the light was spent visiting one last waterfall. However, by the time we got there it was pretty much dark. It’s a bit tough doing an all day tour when the sun doesn’t get up until late morning, and is then gone by early afternoon. Either way, the waterfall was still beautiful, and was also thoughtfully lit with floodlights. By then with the dark, the cold was also back in full force. We didn’t stay long, since it was really *&^$ cold. Some people didn’t even get out of the bus (or at least, for no longer than a moment)…It’s a bit funny to think that some places we didn’t see to best vantage because it was just too cold.

At the end of the tour, as we were driving back in to Reykjavik, our tour guide sang us an Icelandic lullaby, since it was dark and pretty much everyone was tuckered out. It was most peculiar, but nice.

Northern Lights Boat Tour

So, having never been anywhere close to being able to observe the Aurora Borealis, this was likely to be our best opportunity to see it while we were visiting Iceland. The light pollution in the city meant that we were unlikely to see anything without at least leaving the town, so the options were to go on another bus tour or go out on a boat and see what there was to see out at sea. Having already gone on two bus tours, we opted for the boat tour for something a bit different. We had made friends with an American tourist a few days before, so he came with us to go searching for the Northern Lights as well. …It was cold. We toughed it out for a while on the bow for as long as we could uncomfortably manage, before heading back indoors to defrost (our American friend wasn’t quite as rugged up as us, so I’m surprised he managed for as long as he did). There wasn’t a lot of magnetic activity on the night we were out, so although we did see the Northern Lights, it wasn’t exactly a spectacular light show. It was also not anywhere near as colourful as I had expected, although, if I had done more research regarding it before we went, that would have made a lot more sense. Basically, your camera or video camera is at a distinct advantage versus human eyesight. It was a rather dull display of hazy greens and rose pinks in the sky, not the bright colours I’ve repeatedly seen in various photos and videos. The crew were taking photos with their DSLR cameras, and the colour difference was quite distinctly more vibrant. Our phone cameras were not exactly up to the challenge. Still, it was interesting, and a fun trip learning about this curious spectacle.

Weird things in Iceland:

The Supermarket.

The supermarket. As always. Weirdness is always a major factor at supermarkets, and Iceland was no exception. Staying for a week meant that logistically, we were going to need to cook for ourselves at least a couple of times. So it was off to the tiny Bonus supermarket near us to stock up on supplies. Their cold case is just a giant cold room. As in, a walk-in refrigerated area with all of the cold goods inside. It was pretty weird being inside a cold room with supermarket shelves inside it.

They had a lot of smoked meats, but not all that much of the fresh sort. The freezer section was jam packed with lamb chops in giant bags, and various fish and seafood (and later we discovered, Minke whale). We picked up a smoked rack of lamb, which turned out to be delicious, if totally peculiar. Tasted mostly like bacon. It was also cut rather weird, with the rack not being separated at the spine. So I guess we sort of bought most of a ribcage…rather than a rack.

Their Skyr yoghurt was also pretty delicious. Delicious, but healthy. High protein and very little fat, yet somehow still tastes like a full fat yoghurt, and sweetened with stevia. Later, we discovered it was everywhere in Portland. Never seen it previously though. If we had it at home I reckon I’d buy it, although coming from Iceland, you’d probably have to part with half your wallet to buy any.

Strange Food:

We went to a tapas place in Reykjavik to get a bit more of an experience of Icelandic food. Having already eaten their lamb soup and fish stew, this was an altogether different experience. Fairly sure most of the things we ate fall into the “not cool to eat anywhere else” category, but is apparently normal in Iceland, at least. We got a set menu, and it included all manner of wildlife: horse, puffin, lamb, whale, lobster and a bunch of other mystery chow – but fortunately no hakarl (their horrid fermented shark). At any rate, all of it tasted fantastic, but I can officially report I was the unfortunate recipient of some serious puffin-related reflux later. It was worth it to try these things just the once, but I don’t think I would do it again.

Hot water:

More hot water than you could possibly use, although slightly (ok, more than slightly) fragrant of egg. Iceland uses the geothermal bounty at its disposal to provide energy and hot water to the masses, so there was absolutely no feeling guilty about an extended shower. Glorious.

The Penis Museum.

Or more accurately, the Icelandic Phallalogical Museum. We decided to visit, because… well, it’s not likely to get any weirder than that, is it? It was definitely an eye opener. It was largely a collection of the treasured bits of various sea creatures (read: mostly whales and seals) from the surrounding waters, although there were many additional specimens donated from places all over the world. Who knew there was so much variance in such a common anatomical appendage? Unfortunately, there wasn’t much information other than the curated descriptions of which animals the various specimens were obtained from. I feel like there was a lot more to be learned and much more that could have been done with the subject material to make the exhibits more interesting. Oh well. It was still quite an unusual find.

Leaving Iceland

So…after a week, I’d say that I was satisfied with what I had seen and felt like we had done more than enough. I’d rate our trip to Iceland as well worthwhile, although hurtful to the hip pocket when compared to most of our experiences in the rest of Europe. The food was great, the people were lovely and the country is beautiful. Plus, as an added bonus: everyone we met spoke perfect english and I only fell over once. I’d be happy to go back and see more of the country, although perhaps in summer instead?