Iceland July 2017
My Lonely Planet Guide to Iceland is from 2001, which must have been when I first wanted to travel there. As life does, plans changed and it wasn't until this year that I finally got around to going. A lot had happened in sixteen years, the most notable being that Iceland had become one of the most popular tourist destinations. When booking my tour and flights I asked the agent why this had happened and the explanation was that first there was the volcanic eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in 2010. This definitely put Iceland on the map. Next was the world famous television show Game of Thrones which premiered in 2011 and progressively gained immense popularity. Much of the dramatic landscape is from Iceland and there are now tours that take fans to the filming sites. And finally, Iceland beat England at the World Cup in 2016! Iceland has a population of 350,000 people but now receives over four million tourists every year.
My husband could not join me on this trip so the original idea of doing a self drive tour was cancelled and instead I signed up with the company Intrepid, which I had traveled with before, for a ten day circumnavigation of the island. In preparation for the trip I read a bit of history which many know contains the Sagas of the Vikings who came predominantly from Norway to settle on the island. The Vikings are known for their sailing expertise and violent raids and plundering. They are quite proud to note that they are in fact the first discoverers of America.
I chose to fly with the new airline WOW which started doing cheap flights to Iceland in 2012. They were indeed the cheapest way to get from San Francisco to Reykjavic with a direct overnight flight. However, they charged for every detail including water! I jokingly asked the flight attendant if I would also need to pay to use the toilet.
Upon arrival in the early afternoon it was apparent that Iceland had the tourist industry nailed. Everything from start to finish was seamlessly organized. I easily caught a bus to town and signed in to my guest house in the old part of the city by the iconic church, Hallgrimskirkja. I was grateful that Intrepid had chosen this spot because no matter where I was in the city, I could find my way home by just looking for the church that towered over everything else. Guest houses are the most popular, if not only, form of accommodation in Iceland. They are simply homes or buildings that have been divided into many rooms where all share a bathroom and kitchen. And they are not cheap. Nothing is cheap in Iceland. A small bottle of Coca Cola costs six dollars! A night in this guest house is two hundred!
After I settled in to my room I went out wandering. I was looking for some place that I might be able to listen to some music and meet the locals. The universe guided me to a small place in the heart of down town called Gaukurinn. The sign on the wall as I entered said, "We welcome everyone... except for assholes," and I knew I had found my place. After grabbing a beer and heading to the outside patio I was immediately greeted with a group of young people smoking and drinking and laughing. I asked if I could join them and they readily accepted. That started what I am sure will be a long friendship with some of the most alive and talented and interesting people I have been honored with meeting.
The following day I toured the city on my own and saw all of the highlights including the fascinating architecture of the Harpa concert hall which is all glass in the form of a honeycomb or plant chloroplasts. I also walked to one of the most popular places and activities in Iceland, the Laugardalslaug. It had an olympic size pool plus many smaller tubs filled with varying temperatures and one with the ocean fed thermal healing waters. All of the water in Iceland is amazing. You can drink right out of the faucets.
That evening I met the Intrepid tour group and leader, Snorri. Yes, that is his name and it is a common one. There were two couples from Australia, two younger women from Australia, one lady from Switzerland, a young man from England, and three of us from the U.S. Our ages ranged from twenty six to seventy six. We were invited out to a welcome dinner that was not free and the restaurant was quite fancy. The dinner was going to cost at least sixty dollars and I just was not interested in that. So one of the ladies from the U.S. and I went and got a hot dog which was made from lamb and quite tasty. Lamb is the most popular meat in Iceland. They also eat beef, pork, chicken, puffin, whale, reindeer, and a lot of fish. In addition there are a lot of root vegetables like beets, potatoes, carrots and onions. Most of which are grown in large greenhouses. My new found friends from the night before had invited me to return this night for a comedy show and I had invited the Intrepid group. Only my hot dog dinner companion chose to join me. Now I have seen a lot of comedy in my time and I have to say that this show was one of the best I had ever seen! The performers came from Canada, the U.S., England, and Iceland. The show was in English. In fact, everyone speaks English. It seemed to be more prevalent than Icelandic because there were so many transplants here. I tried to understand how so many people could choose to live in a place that goes completely dark in the winter and then with no darkness in the summer. I believe and hope I came to understand a bit and absorb the magic of this place.
The following day the Intrepid group headed out from Rekyjavic to the Golden Circle. This area starts with Pingeliir National Park which is the location of Iceland’s first parliament founded in 930 AD. There are not really any buildings here since the gatherings were in tents, but what is remarkable is the Silfra fissure where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling apart and you can actually see the different colors of the land. The second stop on the triangle was the Geyser geothermal area where the Strokkur Geyser shoots up at intervals. It reminded me of Yellowstone and Old Faithful. The final stop was Gullfoss waterfall where we walked through a black lava crevice to see the raging falls. It was cold, rainy and the wind was so strong it was hard to walk. We heard that just the next day a tourist taking a selfie fell in and disappeared. This happens quite frequently and sadly shows that, one, this phenomenon of selfies is dangerous, and two, that people are not respecting how powerful nature is and just because a place doesn’t have signs and ropes doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use your common sense!
We stayed in the Hvolsvollur area at a guest house. For the entire trip we stayed in guest houses with shared bathrooms and kitchens. This turned out to be a challenge at times since we were an uneven number of people and so one of us would get a single room. Eventually I was the one who would get the single room since I was snoring and was undoubtedly the most antisocial of the group. This group never really clicked like my previous Intrepid groups did. My theory is that Iceland is an expensive destination and therefore attracts an upper class wealthier clientele. I am sad to say that they were just not as fun as my other groups were. I also realized how important it is to have a guide who is assertive, knowledgable, and funny. As sweet as Snorri was, he was not in control of our group and much information got lost in translation. I learned there is a term, Thetta Reddast, which means “it will work out” that many Icelanders do not appreciate and feel is too laid back and leaves too much undone.
The next day we visited my favorite waterfall, Seljalandsfoss, where we could actually walk behind the water as it fell over the high cliff. Daily we would visit waterfalls and pass thousands more. I asked if anyone had ever counted all the waterfalls and Snorri answered a flat out NO. Even looking this up on the internet reveals there is no count for them.
We continued this day by stopping at Reynisfjara black lava beach and seeing fields of lava bumps covered in moss. And we saw our first of many glaciers Solheimajokull where we were able to walk right along side of it!
This trip had daily waterfalls and glaciers and lava fields and walks and hikes and drives with stops for “technical” bathroom use or shopping at supermarkets for food rather than paying the exorbitant prices for dinner out. The Eastern shores of Iceland were cold, rainy and windy. The highlight of this area was the glacier lagoon of Jokulsarion. Here the glacier would break off and form icebergs that floated in the lagoon. We took a boat, wearing full body life suits, and rode in and around the beautiful works of ice art. The icebergs slowly move toward the bridge leading out to the ocean. If the icebergs are too big to pass under the bridge they pile up sand around them to hold them until they melt down enough to pass under the bridge. On the other side is Diamond Beach where the ice has washed up on shore in such forms that they resemble diamonds. This was a spot that was truly magical.
We started heading inland toward Egilsstadir and the Moorudalur valley. The ring road of Iceland is a two lane highway in fairly good condition but still with breathtaking views and heart stopping cliffs where I imagined I could use my new knowledge of how to survive a water entry by breaking out the glass and escaping before sinking.
For me the highlight of this inland area was a visit to Myvatn Nature Baths. Even though it is man made, it appears natural and is surrounded by the thermal waters. It has different temperature areas and as you float around you find warm spots. Only three of our group went including me and I found this odd since it is such an iconic Icelandic activity. I had chosen not to go to the famous Blue Lagoon near Reykjavic because I’d heard it had become like Disney Land, so built up and crowded, not to mention expensive! It does however provide all the hot water to Rekyjavic.
Akureyri is the second largest city in Iceland and here we were finally treated to beautiful, warm sunny weather. We all joined a whale watching tour that went in a zodiac. The seats were facing forward and you straddled them like a saddle. This was so you could use your legs like posting on a horse to absorb the bumps of the ocean. Our driver’s nickname was Viking and he was a fun driver who would ride in the wake of the larger boats scaring us into peels of laughter. We did see quite a few Humpback whales and one breached out of the water. Of course I have actually swam with Humpbacks so this was not as great as that, but it was a fun boat ride and it is always wonderful to get close to whales! In the town we saw restaurants serving whale steaks and were told they did not serve Humpback but did serve Minke. I am not a vegetarian, and probably should be, however I cannot eat an animal that is smarter than I am, or that I have become so attached to and lets me ride it, like a horse. I kept my opinions to myself since the people here seem to not abuse this food source and if I don’t go full vegetarian I do not think I have any right to judge.
What is amazing to think about with Iceland is that it is mostly volcanic. They are everywhere and of course surrounded with the millions of glaciers, waterfalls, geysers, thermal lakes, icebergs, moss covered lava fields, black lava beaches, outcroppings of troll looking lava pillars, caves and of course volcano calderas. We climbed up and around one of these and it was extinct which meant there was no red flowing lava. What Iceland has figured out is how to use its natural resources in a responsible way. Everywhere you see a clean efficient use of the hot thermal waters or the natural gas. The people are kind, friendly and the tourist system runs near flawlessly. I never used cash, always a credit card.
On my last night in Reykjavik I went out to see my new friends rather than the goodbye dinner with the Intrepid group. I had gotten to see Katrin do stand up comedy, and this night I got to see Krus do her beat boxing word smithing, and it was amazing. I spoke at length with Oscar who is a Socialist, and with James who is transgender, and with Jamie whose father had become a woman, and with the myriad beautiful people, many from other countries, who have excelled in mind, spirit, and community. I was welcomed and enveloped in this loving atmosphere and energized by the creativity and sensitivity of a people come alive by the extremes of life and environment. I felt safe and warm and happy as I walked home at 1:00 AM in the soft light before another brilliant day would begin. All were living fully before the winter when they would be forced to retreat and look inside for their comfort and inspiration. As I lowered my shade and drew my thick curtains and placed on my eye covers, I knew I would cherish these friendships, respect this land, and hold dear this hope for humanity.
