Two weeks after our nearly 40,000-mile trip, I was off to Iceland. This trip was planned with friends. Or, more accurately, friends did 100% of the planning. All excursions and accommodation was sorted out, all I had to do was turn up which was great! It helped that my friend was another knowledgeable traveller so I was happy to go with the flow. He booked an accommodation near the downtown area not too far away from the bars and shops. And the excursions for each day were carefully selected and booked months in advance. So, off I went!
The journey to Iceland didn’t go smoothly as unfortunately there was a recent air traffic control strike that affected our arrival time. We were originally due to arrive at our Airbnb around midnight but didn't get there until 3:30am which made our 7am meet time for our Golden Circle tour the next day a tough ask. We managed to wake back up though and head off to our first excursion, the Golden Circle tour. The day started off with lots of rain and extreme winds, but did improve a little as the day went on. Fortunately we packed well so we were equipped for all types of weather and comfortable throughout.
The first stop on the Golden Circle tour was Þingvellir National Park roughly 40km northeast of Reykjavik. Here we saw the assembly site of the ancient Icelandic Parliament along with the Almannagjá gorge where the tectonic plates of America and Eurasia split apart. This area is also popular for diving where you can swim between the two plates. We then headed to the Secret Lagoon at Flúðir. Here we enjoyed the lovely lagoon with great views over the lake. Whilst less famous than the Blue Lagoon, the Secret Lagoon was wonderful! It is less crowded then the Blue Lagoon, has steam rooms and saunas, plus you can take a dip in the ice cold lake to cool off.
After the lagoon visit, we went to see one of the most popular attractions in Iceland, the Gullfoss waterfall also known as the Golden Falls. We enjoyed the golden showers as our humor helped to keep us warm when we drew close to the falls. The falls are very accessible and you can go right up to the drop and get the perfect shot of the waterfall dropping into the narrow Hvítárgjljúfur ravine.
Next we went on to see the Geysir in the Haukadalur valley on the slopes of Laugarfjall hill. We also saw the Konungshver & Strokkur geysers. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get a good picture of the erupting Stokkur geyser, although it was incredible to witness. Throughout the tour, our tour guide was very chatty and he threw out lots of random knowledge that at times were questionable but overall we learnt a lot. This was our final stop on the Golden Circle tour and with the early start and a full day of touring bed was sorely needed.
The following day we went on a 4-hour walking food tour, which was brilliant. Our guide was very knowledgeable, and debunked some of the stories our previous guide shared with us during the Golden Circle tour, which added to our experience. The food portions at each of our stops on the food tour were generous and we felt we more than got our monies worth. I always like to try the local cuisine and this was a great way of getting a variety of local dishes plus snippets of information and recommendations for dining options for later. On the food tour, we started with traditional lamb stew with bread, followed by cheeses and cured meats. Although you may have reservations, trust me the horse and goose was great! After the cured meets, we had rye bread ice cream and hot dogs from a street vendor. This was followed by the well-known Skyr yogurt which is popular everywhere not just Iceland. We then went on to a fish store near the harbor where we had lobster soup, which was very tender and tasty, followed by a sampling of whale. We were discussing our Golden Circle tour from the previous day and the Icelandic whale consumption and our guide corrected what we were told by the other tour guide, and then proceeded to get us some whale meat to try. Specifically it was Finn Whale and I was surprised at the taste of it. It was just like steak but extremely tender and flavorful. We were given a bit more background on the whaling industry and I was pleased our guide was open enough to explain this part of the culture. The food tour ended with dessert, and we left feeling extremely fulfilled and with a better grasp on Icelandic cuisine. I even tried Puffin later that day and it was great. If not for the food tour I would not have been inclined to try some of the taboo food. I highly recommend giving the local cuisine a try.
The next day we had a private tour scheduled, which was another early start with lots of hiking planned. This was going to be another long day. Our first stop was at the black sand beaches near Vík í Mýrdal roughly 180km southeast of Reykjavik. We had a great guide who told us many stories about the surrounding landscape and some of the traditional folklore and troll stories.
After the beach stop and lunch we continued on to Sólheimajökull glacier, which actually extends from the Mýrdalsjökull glacier down to the sandy plains of the Icelandic south coast. We were given basic glacier equipment crampons and an ice axe and directions on how to walk on the glacier. Due to the retreat of the glacier, we had to walk for roughly 20 minutes to reach the glacier.
The glacier and its surroundings were spectacular and the blue color of the ice mixed in with the ash from the famous Eyjafjallajökull volcano made it seem as if we were on an alien planet. We must have heard the Eyjafjallajökull volcano’s name pronounced a hundred times and were still mesmerized by how effortlessly the name was said by the locals, but they do speak the language after all! We saw sinkholes, ice formations along with ice caves and streams of clear glacier water. The crampons were easy enough to get to grips with and the walk while at first glances looked steep enough was easy and not strenuous at all. We had plenty of time to take photos and chip away with our ice axes.
After the glacier visit, we went on to the nearby waterfalls Skógafoss situated on the Skógá River in the south of Iceland at the cliffs of the former coastline. The most popular waterfall Seljalandsfoss, which is part of the Seljalands river, has its origin in the volcano glacier Eyjafjallajökull. At the Seljalandsfoss waterfall you can walk behind it and get some stunning shots. After this stop we headed back to Reykjavik to have a chilled night out before our last day.
On our last day we strategically planned a visit to the Blue Lagoon to recover from the walking glacier hiking from the day prior. The Blue Lagoon is near the airport and is roughly a 45-minute coach journey from Reykjavik. We booked comfort tickets at the Blue Lagoon, which included a drink and the miracle masks in addition to access to the lagoon. The Lagoon had just recently undergone an expansion which we were told made it feel less crowded and it certainly did not feel that way. Here we relaxed, applied some facial masks, sipped some alcohol and reflected on a successful trip. I would love to explore Iceland again and maybe visit between September and April, as these are the months where there are full dark nights. It never got dark during our visit, which although very neat was also discombobulating. The scenery is fantastic and I wish I took a few hundred more pictures. I can see why Iceland is so popular as a tourist destination and I'm glad I went with such a great group of friends.
