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Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík
November 16th 2014
Published: November 27th 2014
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We set off early on the first morning to catch or flight to Reykjavik. We had no trouble getting through security and had time to sit down and grab some breakfast before getting on the plane.

We arrived in Reykjavik a bit behind schedule, because of the bad weather in Dublin, our plane left late. We settled into our hotel called Reykjavik Lights and then headed to the pizzeria downstairs for some dinner. The pizzas were really tasty, and we tried the local beer, Viking, or as the locals call it, "Wicking".

A bus was waiting for us outside the hotel to take us to the Blue Lagoon and the Northern Lights. On the way to the Blue Lagoon we learned a thing or two about Iceland. The population is only 330,000, with about 200,000 living in and around Reykjavik, and the other 100,000 living elsewhere. The centre of the country is not populated, because it's mainly made up of glaciers and volcanoes. Icelandic people believe in elves, who live underground in burrows in the hills. Every Icelandic person can trace their ancestry back to the original settlers of Vikings and Celts. Our guide then began to tell us
At SkalholtAt SkalholtAt Skalholt

The first stop on the Golden Circle Tour
about the Blue Lagoon. Beside the Lagoon is an electricity plant, which uses geothermal heat to create electricity. There was a lot of spring water wasted, so it was expelled from the building through a pipe. Because the water contained so much silica, it never sank into the ground, it just gathered in this crater. The geothermal heat under the ground heats the water and makes it a perfect place to have a dip. It was first used by a worker in the plant who had a bad skin condition called psoriasis (although our guide pronounced it "sorry-asses" and we couldn't look at each other for the rest of the journey or else we would burst out laughing). His psoriasis improved over time and his doctor couldn't figure it out, but it turns out it's the Blue Lagoon that did it.

So we arrived and headed into the changing rooms which were well fancy, and then headed outside to the lagoon. It was a bit chilly outside but once we got into the water it was roasting! There was a little bar in the lagoon, as well as some stations where they had silica mud you could put on your skin to make it soft. We were warned that although the water is good for your skin it is not good for your hair, so we made sure to keep it out of the water. There was a small strand of my hair left down, and when I got back into the changing rooms I felt it and it was like cement. Yuck. We showered and got dressed before grabbing a beer on dry land in the visitors centre. The bus picked us up to take us to see the Northern Lights, but we were pretty skeptical as it was very cloudy. The guide and bus driver decided we weren't going to see the lights so we went straight back to the hotel.

We were so sleepy after the Lagoon, that we just mustered up enough energy to have a pint back at the hotel before crashing at around 11:30.

The next morning we woke early and headed down for breakfast which was really tasty. There was fresh loaves of bread and croissants and loads of cheese, cold meat and fruit. We headed out for the bus (me and Dave were a little late) which was to bring us on the Golden Circle Tour. It was 9am and it was still dark, so most people on the bus were dozing, except for a couple who sat opposite Mam and Dad. They were having a full loud conversation with the couple sitting behind me and Dave, shouting down the bus about how "chronic" yer man's hair was this morning after the Blue Lagoon. If I ever wanted to kill anyone it was then.

We arrived at our first stop, a small town called Skalholt, which had a church, a school and a few small buildings. At this stage it was about 10:30am and just getting bright. We took a look inside the church which had pretty stained glass windows and then took a stroll around to look at the view. Traditional buildings in Iceland are turf buildings, which are pretty much all disappeared, so most of the buildings are new. We did see a turf house behind the church, which was built in memory of a bishop.

We got back on the bus and headed for the next stop, Geyser. This place actually has a geyser. We took a walk up a slight hill and had
Turf HouseTurf HouseTurf House

This house was built in memory of a past bishop
a look at some of the hot pools. The smell of sulphur was unreal. If you don't know what sulphur smells like, it smells like warm rotten eggs. You can taste it too. We were told the geyser goes off every 8 minutes or so, so we stood on the hill to watch it erupt. We then moved closer down to watch the next eruption close by. Everyone was gathered on the one side. Eejits! So we went around the other side so we had loads of space. Me and Dave were behind Mam and Dad, and as they walked down the hill ahead of us, we heard the water in the geyser pool bubbling, Within seconds, it had shot out and the wind was blowing it...towards us. Me and Dave were out of range, but as I looked up I could see that it was going to come down on top of Mam and Dad. It was like a car crash. I could see it happening but couldn't stop it. Mam and Dad got drenched in water and gravel and sand.... the screams of them! So that's why everyone was on the other side...

After all that, we decided to grab a coffee and I was eager to look in the gift shop. Then it was back on the bus to our next destination, Gullfoss. This was where we got lunch; lamb stew with fresh bread rolls and chocolate cake for dessert. We got chatting to some other people on the tour, all Irish, and hungry. Afterwards we headed to the bathrooms, and me and Mam were in the longer queue. Mam had her eye on the gents in case Dad came out. Dave came out first and shouted, "Jesus, Ann, what are you looking into the gents for?". The whole ladies queue just looked at her. Morto! We were full from dinner so took a walk to the waterfall to stretch our legs and take some photos. It was freezing because it was so open and the wind was icy.

We got back on the bus which took us to Pingvalla, a village at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. As we approached Pingvalla, we saw loads of fissures in the ground, filled with water. Pingvalla is also where the first democratic government met. There was a flag pole which marked the spot where they met, and a church.
At GeyserAt GeyserAt Geyser

This area is called Geyser, after the geyser named Geyser which is where the word geyser came from. The smell of sulphur around here was terrible, reminded us of Rotorua, but definitely wasn't as bad!
We could see the edge of the American Plate. We walked up onto the American Plate and had great views over the Ridge. At this stage the sun was setting so it made for great photos.

On the bus journey home we chilled out and took in the views. Back in Reykjavik, we went back to the hotel to get ready and then headed out for a bite to eat. We had a pint of "Wicking" in the room before we did anything else! We were hopeful to see the Lights that night, so we walked into Reykjavik town by the oceanfront. It took about 40 minutes, but we didn't see any lights. We went wandering looking for food. At this point, it was half 8 and we were all starving. We saw a sign for burgers outside this dingy pub so we just went in. The pub wasn't very inviting at first sight, and we sat down, ordered a pint of "Wicking" and took the place in. Four burgers came out on wooden boards with chips, and we wolfed them down. They were really tasty. We explored the streets for a litte while and then went to a nice place called Cafe Paris for a drink. We were starting to fall asleep we were so wrecked. We went for a walk down to the concert hall which is really like the Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin. It was really cold and we were so tired, so we hopped into a taxi and headed back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep.

The next morning, after breakfast, we chilled in our rooms for while before wrapping up and walking into Reykjavik again. We were headed for the Saga Museum, so we walked straight into town and then walked on the oceanfront down by the concert hall, the marina and the docklands. We had a look in some shops and then spotted a nice cafe called Cafe Haiti, where we had some lattes and croissants. We headed into the Saga Museum which had an audio guide that you listened to while you walked around and looked at models of Vikings. It told the story of the Vikings in Iceland and their way of life. We sat and watched a short film on how they made the models of the Viking people. They basically made body casts and painted them, which was really cool. Afterwards we visited an area where we could dress up in Viking clothes and hold the swords and shields. We took a few photos, had a bit of a laugh and then tried to take off the chain mail which was a challenge!

After that we took a walk to the main square and the pond, before strolling back up the town to a bar called Bravo where we had a few drinks. Me and Mam were in a Christmassy mood so we started singing a few carols much to Dad's disgust. I stopped to look at a shop window, and Mam carried on, singing "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" to a girl who she thought was me but found out quickly that she wasn't. Another morto moment! We had decided to visit this lovely restaurant that evening called Laekjarbrekka which served traditional Icelandic food. After our few drinks we headed down to the restaurant for a bite to eat. We were fairly well on at this stage, and as soon as we got into the restaurant we realised it's fairly posh and quiet. We had to be as sober as possible going up the stairs after our waiter who seemed way posher than us.

We ordered some tasting plates first; Puffin and Minke Whale. Dad wasn't happy about eating Puffin but the rest of us tried it. It wasn't great, tasted just like fish and a bit chewy. The whale was nice though. The tasting plates had literally a thumb-sized bit of meat on them and were fairly pricey. But we were glad we tried them anyway. Next, our main came out, Dave had fish, so did Mam, I had horse and Dad had lamb. I decided to take a picture of our dinners since they looked so nice, and Dad shouts at the top of his voice, " I shoulda taken a photo of the starters... Mind you, I don't have my MACRO LENS with me". The people at the next table, along with the waiter, looked uncomfortable.

Dave and Dad ordered desserts. Dad's dessert was based on the volcano Eyjafjallajokull. There were egg whites for the lava and granola for the blasted rocks. At this point we had way too much to drink and Mam and Dad were demanding the waiter pronounce Eyjafjallajokull and then the four of us kept pronouncing it. Incorrectly.

We headed back to Bravo afterwards where there was more drink taken and we had a game of trivia. Dave asked the question "What was the name of Uranus before it was called Uranus?" and Mam says "Sorry-asses!". We decided to walk home by the Oceanfront to try see the lights again. In Reykjavik, out in the bay on an island is a spot light that shines straight up into the sky. It's called the John Lennon Peace Tower and is lit for a few hours every night from 9th October (his birthday) until 8th December (the date of his death). Yoko Ono asked Iceland to have this tower because they have no military. It costs 5 million a year to light it. It was a really clear night, and we had a great view of the Peace Tower as we walked along the promenade, although our eyes were skyward looking for the Northern Lights. Dad decided to try take a picture of the Peace Tower, so he set up a tripod and set the camera up for a photo. He was a good while getting it just right. We then
At GullfossAt GullfossAt Gullfoss

We stopped here for lunch before walking down to the waterfall.
heard a very loud swear, which came from Dad as he settled in to take a photo and the light went off! We began to see what we thought was cloud up ahead but after a little while we realised it wasn't cloud, although it was white. It was a long winding light over our heads. We convinced ourselves it was a very faint sighting of the Lights. We were happy enough with that, so I sang Christmas songs the whole way home. The next day we heard that they could be seen faintly at 1am (when we were out) but you could clearly see them at 3am.

After breakfast the next morning, we headed back to the room to pack before going for a stroll and grabbing some lunch. We had Mexican food which filled us up for the day. The bus was outside the hotel at 2pm to take us to the airport. After queuing to check in and getting through security, we grabbed one last pint of Wicking (hair of the dog and all that) before boarding the plane. We were exhausted after our holiday but had a great time and even though we didn't see
Gullfoss WaterfallGullfoss WaterfallGullfoss Waterfall

This photo is taken from the top viewing point.
the Northern Lights, it was well worth the trip! It's always an excuse to go back.


Additional photos below
Photos: 52, Displayed: 31


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Gullfoss WaterfallGullfoss Waterfall
Gullfoss Waterfall

You can see the path to the right with people, for scale!
Mam and DadMam and Dad
Mam and Dad

"Wouldya smile Paul for God's sake?"
Mam Dad and MeMam Dad and Me
Mam Dad and Me

It was pretty cold up there since the wind was blowing


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