Iceland, Fifth and Final Day: Blue Lagoon

---

The hot shower refreshed and energized me. I got dressed and headed out into the rain to find something delicious to eat. I went to a place called Saegreifinn, which is famous for its lobster soup. Saegreifinn is a small place located right on the harbor not far from the downtown area. The owner is an old fisherman who still goes and negotiates the best catches from the ship captains. He reminds me of the soup Nazi from Seinfeld. Know what you want if you plan to go in there. I had the lobster soup and a halibut kebab. Both were absolutely excellent. I can’t remember ever having fresher fish, and the lobster soup was amazing. If you go to Reykjavik go eat at this place.

I walked around a bit after dinner and then headed back to my hotel. I was emailing the group from the States, and wanted to meet up before I left the following day. I met them out for one beer at Jacobsen. After a long day and going on little sleep I was exhausted and ready to head home. We made plans to meet at the Blue Lagoon the following day.

In the morning I got packed up, the fullest I have ever had my bags. Sweaters, scarves and other souvenirs fill my bags to the limits of my zippers. I get checked out and sit down to fill out a few postcards. (I mail my little sister, Maleka, a postcard everywhere I go. My niece Hailey is living at home and asked her Dad why Uncle Brent doesn’t send her a postcard. Hailey is getting postcards from everywhere I go now also.) I had the same driver that did the airport pick up when I flew in. In the van with me were two couples from the previous day’s tour. Sebastian and his wife, Aini, from Wales, and Bill and Jody from Boston. They were also going to the Blue Lagoon. Sebastian was staying in Reykjavik on business, but the rest of us were flying out that afternoon.

We arrived at the Blue Lagoon about 11:00. It is nestled in between two volcanoes and I could see the steam coming off of it from miles away. With all of this geothermal energy occurring naturally, it made sense for the Icelanders to build a geothermal plant in the area. The lagoon is like the best spa I have ever gone to times 1000. There is a reason this is this place is the largest attraction. After paying the admission fee and getting showered up I headed outside. The lagoon is set in a young lava field, the water is a milky turquoise with steam coming off from the water; there is a faint sulfuric smell, but that quickly goes away. The whole place looks absolutely surreal. I hung my towel up and headed off into the water, which ranges from 100-108 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on where you are standing. I first headed to one of the stations that has the purified mud that is supposed to make a great facial mask, they sell this all over Iceland and export it all around the world. It is made from the silica mud, algae that grows there and other natural minerals from the lagoon. I rubbed some on my face and gave it about ten minutes, I don’t know that my skin feel any better, but it was all part of the experience. The whole Blue Lagoon is like a giant psoriasis treatment center. I stayed around the geyser in the center mostly. Hot water would pour out of the top it, this was the hottest place I found in the lagoon. I walked around the whole thing just enjoying being in the warm water. If I lived in Iceland I would go once a week, the place is amazing, relaxing, therapeutic, and it eased the tension in my back which was sore from lugging around my back pack for the past four days. I got out about 1:00, showered, grabbed something to eat and wandered around taking a few photos. I didn’t get the chance to meet up with Aaron, Amber and Lindsay. They are kind of a late starting group. Hopefully I get the chance to meet up with them in the near future.

At 2:00 we loaded up and took off for the airport. I checked my bag in, went to the tax free stand where I was reimbursed for the sales tax dollars I had spent because I dropped a ton of money on souvenirs. Well worth it though. With the money I got back I went around and picked through the various shops. The best thing I found was a bottle of Brennevin that came in an Icelandic wool sweater. Pretty excited for some friends to take a shot of this with me. Stuff is awful…

At the airport I had a chance to talk with several of the people I had met on the trip. Tony and Tina were there, Bill and Jody, and Ryan, who is a photographer from Boston, and his fiancée Jill. I sat and thought about the trip: the glaciers, volcanoes, fjords, waterfalls, the food, elves, trolls, the wild night life and of course all of the people I had met. Iceland is an amazing place, unlike anywhere I have been before. My advice to you is to go and to go now. Iceland use to be the most expensive city in the EU. Now the prices are reasonable, the landscape is unbeatable, and if you find nicer people anywhere in the world let me know. Speaking of the people, I was absolutely amazed with their grasp of the English language. Everyone spoke it and spoke it better than any drive through attendant I have found anywhere in Texas, California, Arizona… so on. It was actually irritating. I am a huge fan of learning language when I travel anywhere, they were so proficient in English and spoke so clearly that I felt horrible massacring their language, so I just spoke English.

One last thing I am sure to miss, the water. The water in Iceland is incredible. You can grab any bottle clean it out and fill it with tap and it will be better than any bottled water you find in the States. I will relate the story of how Coke came to Iceland to illustrate the point. There was a guy in Iceland and he wanted to bring Coke to his country. Coke responded back to do a few things and also to bottle a sample of the water there. The guy did as requested and in a few weeks Coke responded back letting him know they had received everything and that everything checks out, but one more request. Send another bottle of water, this time don’t filter it first. Of course he hadn’t. The water is from glacial melt off that filters through miles of volcanic rock and then filtering out naturally through springs. The result is crystal clear water that all they need to do is bottle and export.

If you are a fan of nature and don’t need a hot climate to vacation to, once again, go and go now. You are guaranteed to love it. I think I will use Reykjavik as my new hub when flying to Europe. It is worth a day long layover.

That is it from Iceland. I am back in the States, and planning my next trip.

---

Photos

Aaron, Amber, Lindsay and I
Last night hanging out.

Blue Lagoon
Some girls laying out.