Blogs from Iceland, Europe - page 12

In 2018 Mom and I came to Iceland as part of a long layover coming back from Scotland that Iceland Air offers as part of their fares. We had about 36 hrs, long enough to do the 140 mile golden circle drive and to go to the blue lagoon. Truth be told we weren’t overly impressed, but I heard that to really see the beauty of Iceland you needed to drive the entire ring road around the island. That along with 50% off ticket vouchers from that first trip that were expiring, and Dennis being incredibly jealous of our trip, I decided to come back again and give it a better look. We arrived at 0600 after getting a few lousy hours of sleep on the plane leaving out of Newark, having left AZ that prior ... read more

The day of lava. Not that we hadn’t had some experience before, given that we’re walking on it and the whole place is created by it, but today’s activities were specially focused (entirely unintentionally) on lava. We had to reschedule our semi-sleep in of today for a geology lesson and a quest to find those bloody elusive basalt columns that the good people of Vik had apparently relocated in an attempt to force us into puffin observation. We were not to be foiled and found them just around the point at Reynisfjara (have memorised that one!). Even from the most sleep-hungry among us, it was voted a worthwhile diversion. The columns, having formed when the flowing lava was forced to cool quickly upon meeting the sea, were fascinating to see. Lots of other interesting formations and ... read more

Iceland is famous for its waterfalls so we thought we’d give them a red hot (more on that later) go in one day (other than yesterday’s taster at Gulfoss). Packed up and bade our farewells to Depill and the pregnant mares before hitting the road headed to Seljalandsfoss, famous because of it’s beauty and because you can walk right underneath it, and get a little wet. What the guidebooks fail to mention is that it’s also the ideal place to get stuck halfway up a wet, cold, muddy and slippery rock face because your 13 year old confidence exceeds your ability and foresight, which appeared to run out about half way up. Mother to the rescue! Dried out and warmed up (and calmed down) in the sun before caving at the continual demands for lunch. But ... read more

So we’ve tired of the rolling hills and verdant greenness (yes, that’s a word) of England, and we’ve decided to try something different. So different, in fact, that we had to get up at 3.30am just to manage the excitement and anticipation. Pleasantly surprised with easyjet’s delivery and promptness, we had landed in Iceland by 7.30 local time and we’re on our way…back on the wrong side of the road. Quick refuel at a bakery and headed straight to the recent Fagradalsfjall volcano eruption. While we missed the actual eruption by a few months, we were pretty excited to see the steam pouring out of the recent lava. Very cool (yes, ok, or hot) that we could walk right up to it and our budding geologist was fascinated by the ‘souvenirs’ she found along the way. ... read more

Iceland - Days 16 to 19 of 22 After the shenanigans of weather avoidance of recent days our pace has slowed somewhat for the remainder of the holiday. We had never intended to spend time in the middling-West and certainly not in the "Golden Circle" especially as we had spent time in the latter before, but needs must after our escape from the clutches of blizzards in the NW. Tuesday We woke up to a bright, clear morning and thought all the weather troubles were behind us. We planned for 3 or 4 things that day, but nothing too far away from our hotel. Firstly we set off for "Iceland's Largest Cave", an enormous lava tube which had guided tours and was only around 35 km from our hotel, mostly on tarmaced road though the last ... read more