Iceland

 

May 28, 2012 Monday

Landing into Iceland was very different compared to many places I have been as the landscape was  very barren (as it is in the Arctic tundra region) surrounded by snow covered volcanic mountains.

We landed in Reykjavik at 10.30 a.m. local time and after clearing immigration we headed to the information desk where we were told that our flight to Amsterdam was only next morning. We had an option of going through Copenhagen but that flight was full. We were a little disappointed but at the same time excited as we were going to spend some time in Iceland. There were many passengers in the same boat and had missed their connecting flight. I exchanged some money into the local currency Krona and was surprised to receive so much currency for a small dollar amount. The Icelandic Krona had devalued by half after the 2008 crisis and now stands at  around 125 Krona to a dollar.

Our bus to the hotel was waiting outside. We were glad that Iceland Air was paying for our food and stay!

The air outside was crisp and refreshing. It was sunny but cool. The bus drive to the hotel in Keflavik was through barren tundra landscape and the Atlantic ocean in the distant. Keflavik is a small charming town by the Atlantic Ocean. Our hotel, Flug hotel owned by Icelandair was ultra modern and had the Nordic feel of design and comfort.

We took a shower and headed for lunch downstairs. Our hotel room was overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. We had a wonderful lunch including a healthy salad and mouth watering baked potatoes. We were a little jet-lagged and decided to take a nap for around 3 hours. We called for a taxi to take us to the Blue Lagoon. Since today was a public holiday most of the shops were closed and there were limited buses to the tourist areas.

Iceland is an extremely expensive country. The population is small comprising of 300000 people.

Our cab ride to the Blue Lagoon was $100 roundtrip. This was for a distance of about 20 minutes! The cost to Reykjavik town was three times as much! It is better to rent your own car here (though gasoline sells at over $8/gallon) or go by bus.

An elderly lady picked us up from the hotel to take us to the Blue Lagoon Geothermal pool and resort. She was extremely friendly. It was very interesting to talk to her about the life in Iceland. She was one of the lucky few to have sold her apartment before the great crash of 2008. She talked about the economic hardships that followed. It usually doesn’t snow much in that part of Iceland. It hadn’t snowed there for 12 years until last winter which was one of the worst. 

The drive to the Blue lagoon was through Volcanic landscape with lava rock all around. It was like driving on the moon! In the distant we could see volcanic mountains. As we were approaching our destination we could see the steam rising from the blue lagoon.

Our taxi cab driver showed us the way in and waited for us outside in the parking area. There were many tourists around as this is a very popular area both among tourists and locals. Most of them were bathing in the pool. We walked on the trail outside by the waters.

We were pleasantly surprised on how blue the water was. The contrast with the volcanic rock was breathtaking. We wandered around taking lots of photographs. We went in the Blue Lagoon resort which is this high fashion Nordic resort with a wonderful cafeteria. We had some blueberry shake and cheese. We got to take more photos this time of the blue lagoon pool with lots of people enjoying the warm geothermal waters.

We went to the viewing area upstairs which provided a panoramic view of the blue waters of the lagoon, the volcanic landscape, the volcanic mountains and the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

After spending an hour at the lagoon we headed back. The taxi lady was as cheerful as before. She had guessed where we were from! On the way back she took a detour and showed us around the town of Keflavik. The harbor and the ocean-face around was really pretty. There was a ship building factory and a fish packing factory that didn’t smell! She showed us the apartment she lived in which was a modern apartment with beautiful views. 

After saying goodbye and taking a photo with the taxi lady, we headed for dinner. The front desk lady had asked the chef to make vegetarian dishes for dinner. We were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by the chef who showed us around the vegetarian options. Dinner was very sumptuous with pasta and veggies, salad and a sweet potato/potato dish that was out of the world. Dessert was a bowl of freshly cut mixed fruits!

We decided to take an after dinner walk along the ocean. It was 8.00 p.m. and still sunny. The sun does not set here at this time of the year. The walk along the ocean was magnificent. The waves were hitting the rocks; the weather was cool with a mild breeze. We were about the only ones enjoying with few locals and tourists passing by. In the distant we could see a high table plateau extending out to the ocean. The taxi lady had mentioned that every year in fall there is a festival of celebration and about 70000 people gather on this plateau by the ocean in Keflavik.

We were surprised to meet a couple from back home on this ocean walk. They were spending three days in Iceland before making their onward journey to London. Just by the Keflavik harbor there are couple of huge rocks mounted by a local artist. This artist had rocks all over Keflavik. It was 10.00 p.m. and the sun was shinning bright; the ocean views with the breeze mesmerizing. On our way back we saw locals doing a boot camp like exercise and also a few girls washing their car and also having fun playing with water. I couldn’t have imagined playing with cold water on a cool night. We went to bed around 10.30 p.m. 

May 29, 2012 Tuesday

I got up around 1.30 a.m. and the sun was still shining bright! At around 3.00 a.m. the clouds had come in. There is indeed sunlight here for the entire day/night at this time of the year!. We woke up at 4.30 a.m. and had breakfast at 5.00 a.m. The breakfast offered at the hotel was exquisite with a wide array of healthy continental food. Our bus to the airport showed up at 6.00 a.m. We left beautiful Iceland at 7.40 a.m thankful that we got a day to explore. The bad start to the trip turned out to be very memorable! 

Click here to view all photos from Iceland