Blogs from Iceland, Europe - page 8

"Ooh it's fresh outside". Funny about that Penny. Had we been exiting the airport terminal in Hotandhumidland, an expression of surprise would have been appropriate with the mercury tipping 10 degrees. On the other hand, even if you knew Jack diddly squat about Iceland before arriving, with a name like that you really should have some fleece locked and loaded. The touchdown in Reykjavik was perfectly synchronised with a glowing sun nudging the Atlantic horizon, right on cue at 11.40pm. The light pink hues of that sunset morphed 2 hours later into a soft, pastel orange as the sun poked its head back above that same horizon. In between, the sky never turned completely black. At 66 degrees north, the days are long come July in Iceland. Those long daylight hours sent our body clocks into ... read more

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maKAzaoBks8 We were heading back to Reykjavik from Akureyri in a roundabout way as we still had two days left. The drive took us across northern Iceland travelling west and then down the western coast. Throughout this portion of the drive we noticed that decorating many of the deserted farmhouses was what appeared to be Banksy graffiti! Not too far after setting off we were distracted by signs for a seal museum, we weren’t sure what to expect from this i.e. whether it would have anything to do with seal hunting. We weren’t particularly bothered with the seal museum but we had read that seals could be seen off the coast nearby to the museum. This did result in a 2 hour detour across quite rough gravel roads but we had plenty of time. After what ... read more

I ain't doing cocaine and I am not living high in the clouds by Marijane. Nonetheless, I am an addict and no matter how many times you are telling me it's all in my head, I still feel powerless. Like a bird, all I dream of is to take off on a sunny day and push my wings until the place looks right and be ready to do it all again when it is time. But if really there is a path to fallow, you can try to catch me and cut my wings. Be aware I won't surrender easily and getting carry back into your gaol ain't an option. I know a game isn't one if your opponents have no chance to succeed. So, I am in Iceland at the moment and it's beautiful. Good ... read more

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HAal8pqE7s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg49khqfs2s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqglmwqeBls http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMAcyg55yYA The next day we were up around 5 to ensure that we had time to see all the sites on the journey from Reykjavik to Höfn, travelling from South West to South East Iceland. On the way we passed a number of gorgeous waterfalls at Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss, the former is popular as you can walk behind it, due to the time of the visit we had it all to ourselves. Sandwiched in between these fall was the infamous Eyjafjallajökull volcano which was the cause of the ash cloud over most of Europe in 2010. After nearly 5 hours of driving we arrived at the Vatnajokull glacier for our glacier walk. Due to lack of time we couldn’t do the longer 4 hour walk an... read more

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKBeHqST_g8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khw4x6ZDCKc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bukhf7Noz-c http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duy2yfr1cCc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2u3jTWrxco First of all let me say that Iceland is not the best destination if you are travelling solo or backpacking, it’s just too bloody expensive!! Thankfully I had some company with me this time so that made this trip possible. The reason is that to truly visit all the best sites you need to hire a car plus there are very few hostels outside the main cities. You could visit Reykjavik and do the Golden Circle on a tour but to see anything further afield is difficult using public transport and requires a lot of patience and reliance on hitchhiking. So if you are still interested then please read on:-) As previously stated a hire car was essential to see all the ... read more