Iceland (the country, not the supermarket)

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Dear Blog Readers,


I knew three things about Iceland before visiting:

1. It's bloody expensive

2. It has an unpronounceable volcano that exploded in 2010 meaning we 'annoyingly' had to extend our stay in the south of France by two weeks on holiday

3. Their football team puts ours to shame



So I suppose it was time to find out more about this place.



The flights were cheap (£200 for both of us) but forgot about getting a checked bag included...there gone £50. Number 1 above already coming to fruition. We landed in Keflavik just before midnight and found our hire car place (Green Motion) and soon settled into our Ford Fiesta which would become our second home for the next few days. Just outside the capital city, Reykjavik, sat our hotel (Kieunes) which we managed to get for just over £300 for 4 nights. Worth every penny. The room had a great view of the lake/mountain, included a four poster bed, huge bath, a chaise longue and a massage chair! With only four hours of daylight at this time of year ("hope you packed your Vitamin D supplements" P. White), we had to plan wisely.



The first day was quite cloudy and overcast so thought best to stick to the capital city, Reykjavik is an interesting place. It's sort of not made up its mind whether it is a big town or a proper capital city yet. We had a good wander around, scoffed at the prices and saw some of the sights. Iceland's own 10 Downing St. is a large house in the middle of a busy road which sticks out like a sore thumb. We visited the old harbour and the new concert hall, Harpa, which sticks out like a huge glass box. As it was the winter, it certainly felt like things were grinding to a halt, or maybe that's just the Icelandic pace of life. Either way, it was a welcome relief from our norm. We found our new love of Iceland - bakeries selling cinnamon buns the size of your head. Once coiffed, we jumped in the car and headed to Hallgrimskirkja, an immense church designed to mirror the shape of a volcano from the front. Inside, its huge roof was filled with the sound of the organ - with the organist playing some sort of avant-garde 'classic' resembling somebody collapsing onto the keyboard. We came back into the town for dinner and passed on the bowl of soup (only £16) and stumped for a cheaper sandwich and chips.



Day 2 and the weather had improved greatly. Getting up at 9am feels like 5am when it is so dark. We timed our leave well though as it meant a wonderful drive along perhaps Iceland's most famous tourist attraction, the 'Golden Circle'. First stop was the national park of Pingvelir whose history as a ground for shaping Icelandic policy and mythology is as important as its geology. For here is where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates are slowly separating. Once parked, there is a freezing lookout point over the lake where you can clearly see the difference in height of the two plates. A brisk walk along the ridge give plenty of opportunities for a photo as long as you can keep your hands out your pockets for long enough!



Back in the car, we headed around to Laugarvatn and stopped in a wonderfully picturesque house for a coffee and vowed to come and try the hot springs later in the holiday. We needed to get moving to Geysir which lived up to its name! The surface is literally bubbling with activity in this area and the pinnacle is a clockwork geyser eruption every 5 minutes spouting water/steam up 30m into the air. It's nature at its most impressive, as was my video on Instagram (@boringsimon). Continuing the aqua theme - our next stop was Gullfoss (Golden Waterfall). One of Iceland's biggest and most impressive waterfalls. Although freezing cold, the sight of crushing water on the backdrop of a glistening iced waterfall was amazing to see. We couldn't hack the -8°C temperature for long so headed to the next waterfall called Faxi just off the main road. Well worth a quick visit - it was certainly enjoyable for an American couple who saw me slip on the wooden walkway and throw my phone into a nearby bush on my way down.



Escaping my embarrassment, we went on the hunt for the Secret Lagoon. Based in Fluoir, this lovely geothermal spring is half the price of the Blue Lagoon and with only a handful of bathers to boot...including the American couple. Suitably refreshed, we had a lovely sunset drive back to the hotel passing through the town of Selfoss (which doesn't have a waterfall) and stopping for some noodles at a place called Yellow.



Day 3 was going to put Google Maps to the test with its pronunciation of completely indecipherable Icelandic names. We had a phenomenally impressive drive from our hotel to Borganes - we really can't recommend hiring a car enough to see this beautiful country. If travelling in daylight, save yourself £7 and take the scenic route 47 rather than the toll tunnel for route 1. This takes you around the fjord weaving in and out of colossal mountain ranges with a sky filled with an array of pinks and blues.



Once firmly on the Snaefellsnes peninsula, we headed straight up to Stykkisholmur. A quaint little harbour town with colourful houses dotting the landscape. We hiked up to a small lighthouse overlooking the town and tried to see some puffins amidst the countless seagulls and guillemots to no avail. We wandered past a smoke house up the hill to the impressive futuristic church for such a small community. Locked doors sent us back down the hill to the Volcano museum (closed for renovations), the Norska House (closed for winter) and back up to the Library of Water (#boringsimon). This needed tickets purchased at the Volcano Museum. Ah well, with all that walking, we headed to the restaurant with a sign outside proclaiming a Happy 'Hour' from 3pm-9pm. Doors were locked - only open from 7pm in the winter.



Now normally we'd have been disheartened that literally everything that Stykkisholmur had to offer was closed, but nothing could dampen our mood knowing we were going to be driving back at sunset through the breathtaking scenery that had brought us here in the first place. Google Maps was performing impeccably. In Iceland, 'orange' traffic consists of two cars within a 10km radius rather than the car park of the M25. The guide book mentions The Settlement Centre in Borganes no less than 10 times, so decided this will be the place we actually splash out for a decent meal. Housed in one of the oldest buildings in Iceland seemingly carved into the rock, we were the only ones in the restaurant but it served the most amazing food with impeccable service. Freshly baked bread, creamy cheese with volcanic salt, one of the best lamb dinners I've ever had and finished with Icelandic skyr yoghurt. What an absolute treat!



Back at the hotel on full stomachs, we had a tap at the door just after 8pm. Our hotel offers a Northern Lights call service which had been put into action. We quickly got our thermals on and waited patiently outside. The moon was offering just above the horizon so was impressive enough. Slowly, we started seeing an aura of green appear above the tree line. This soon morphed into a sheet which hovered above us and almost danced higher into the atmosphere. You could tell it was moving but then almost felt like it was staying still whilst you observed it. The hotel staff made us some tea and freshly baked cookies whilst we waited for another bout. This time, an arch of green light stretched across the horizon, nearly joining up with where the initial burst of activity started. It was stunning, and for an astrophysicist, I knew how special this was, particularly given we're heading towards a solar minimum and would never bank on seeing much activity. After such a high, getting off to sleep was difficult.



We had a curtailed final day in Iceland as our flight home was in the evening. To make the most of what time we had left, we decided to visit the hot springs in Laugarvatn that we'd seen on the Golden Circle rather than go to the Blue Lagoon - we figured we would definitely be back, and it would be easier going here if we were on a stopover. For half the price, we were able to enjoy some beautifully warm pools amongst a wondrous setting of mountains and steam emanating from the lake that feeds the baths in relative tranquility. What a way to end our holiday...or so we thought.



As we drove back towards Keflavik, we went over a reasonably innocuous pot hole - unable to swerve into on coming traffic or off the other side down an icy ditch. Suddenly, the tyre pressure sensor went off and it wasn't long until we both realised the inevitable. Cue exasperated and panicked phone calls to the car hire company. Advised to use the sealant kit in the boot which resulted in liquid squirting out of the hole in the tyre. Literally in the middle of nowhere, we sat waiting for the tow truck to pick us up, cancelled our flight, and intermittently put the heating on to keep warm. All those years of watching Bear Grylls were finally coming to good use. My offer of using our bottle for water to contain my urine just in case fell on deaf ears.



The tow truck arrived, the bloke took off his jacket and just wore a t-shirt to get the car onto the trailer - I think he was taking the piss...should've just given him my water bottle. Once loaded, we began the drive to the nearest garage when we were flagged down by another car in front of us. The bloke informed us that the back tyre of the trailer had just blown out. Brilliant. Like his attitude to the freezing cold, our driver was ambivalent and proceeded steadfast to the garage regardless.



Tyre replaced, we finally headed to the car hire drop off. They were brilliant to be fair - very sympathetic, granted us extra time and let us go and get some food with the car as we hadn't eaten all day. A £30 KFC ("that's my usual order here" D. White) and plenty of phone calls to insurance companies later, we finally dropped the car off. We'd missed the last flight home for the day so booked the 6:30am flight the following day only to be told they've stopped people sleeping at Keflavik airport now ("but Tom Hanks lived in an airport for 12 years?" P. White). A quick booking to the cheapest available Alex's Guesthouse proved to be our final, unexpected, stopping point on this amazing adventure. Upon opening the door to the bare bones bedroom, we only had one question, where's the massage chair and chaise longue?



Tink & Laura

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