Iceland

I'm back from Iceland, and from Florida, too - what a contrast. I'll write about Iceland first and apologise in advance because my photos don't do it justice. But then photos don't do it justice. I think this might be because Iceland is the only place I have been where the weather is an active, living part of the landscape.  It is violent, unpredictable and moody, as if under the control of a none-too-benign god of nature.   If you've watched the utterly gripping and fantastic Icelandic detective series "Trapped" you'll recognise the kind of freezing snowy weather we encountered at times, and I felt inspired to record it in a short video clip to give an idea of it.



Although the snow had stopped for most of our trip, the wind was still hurling it almost horizontally as you can perhaps see in the distance of this lonely road, and our 4 x 4 was rocking around.

I had visited Iceland once before, years ago,and went some way into the interior then, but this time, with young A in tow, we confined ourselves to  the Reykjanes peninsula, where the scenery is fairly gentle by Icelandic standards - no towering volcanoes, huge waterfalls or glaciers, just a curious monochrome landscape of oddly shaped black lava,  and an icy blue-grey sea beating against the shores.  Sometimes in the snow it felt like being in a black and white photo.

The small valley shown below is where the continental plates of America and Europe meet, with what I suppose is a frozen river at the bottom.

 It was hard not to believe something supernatural was at the bottom of this cliff, because sulphurous steam was pouring out at top speed and being blown along by a furious gale.   I didn't dare go too near the edge.  The ice has been melted by the heat of the steam.

There were gigantic icicles larger than a person.

 We'd planned to walk around the headland on the coast  (below)  but it was actually too windy, and although you can't see in this film, snow was being picked up and hurled by the wind into great drifts over the path round the rock, making it impassable, so we didn't manage our walk.   I wish I could have taken a better film,  but after a few seconds I was afraid my little camera would be blown out of my freezing hands.



Most visitors take bus tours in winter, although some hardy souls do drive themselves through unpredictable weather along gravelled roads. We hired a guide, Thorsteinn Ragnasson and we were glad we did. Thorsteinn took us wherever we wanted in his 4 x 4 and he was great - good company, knowledgable and very calm and competent,  I was glad not to be in charge when blizzard conditions suddenly set in on a narrow mountain road. Ever had that experience when the car windows seem to have suddenly been replaced with illuminated white glass?

With young A sitting in the back it didn't seem like a good idea to try and make it the next few kilometres,  even though the snow would probably have stopped - so we  took a different route, and within twenty minutes all was clear and the sun was shining.

Boiling magma from the earth's centre forces its way near to the surface at some places in this highly volcanic island, and friends have told me how they have swum in summer in the hot water of remote country lakes,  miles from human life  - something I would love to do. But not in winter, when an urban setting seems a better bet for outdoor bathing.

The Blue Lagoon is one of Iceland's major tourist attractions, created from a huge blue lake which had been excavated in the making of a geothermal power station.  Many years ago, on my only other trip to Iceland, I passed the Blue Lagoon on a January night. I gazed longingly at it but didn't have time to go in, so I resolved to come back one day in winter, and float in the water and admire the snow on the distant hills.

And so I did.  The best way I can describe the experience is that it was like hovering in the sky.  It is timelessly calm as you float effortlessly in the warm, pale blue water, while mist rises around like cloud, and the sun's rays gild the mountain tops.

I didn't take my camera into the pool, but I went out onto the deck after I got dressed and took a few shots.  You will see that the lagoon is not over full - they wisely control the number of people who go in and so it is best to pre book, even in winter.

 You can enter the water via a heated indoor pool - seen here from the outside.  The indoor pool is cooler than the water outdoors, and when you are acclimatised you swim through a gate into the warmer water beyond.

There is a pontoon where you can get the white silica mud that occurs naturally and is particularly good for skin complaints.  There's also a cheerful floating bar where you pay for drinks via a wristband.  Young A, as a reward for enduring an afternoon of blizzards, was allowed to have an icecold drink with the unfortunate (to our ears)  name of "KRAP" which is apparently the Icelandic word for "slush."  (The picture below was taken in a roadside cafe where we stopped for lunch, by the way, not in the Blue Lagoon.)

The whole place is very efficient and modern, with sparkling clean changing rooms with heated floors - which are fairly easy to arrange in Iceland, for obvious reasons. There's a restaurant (which we didn't try) and they are building a hotel, too.  

Still on the swimming theme, I also wanted to go to one of the municipal swimming pools - most communities have one, and these pools too are warm. Although they look utilitarian, the town pools appear to be community spaces too, where people gather to socialise as well as to swim.

Ah well, another time.  I've now been twice to Iceland in the winter, and I'd love to go back in the summer. When I do I hope there'll be room again at the guesthouse where we stayed. It's called Guesthouse 1x6, and the owners, Andi and Yuki (below) seem to love their work. At least, they do crazy things like rising to give guests free airport transfers at 5 AM, cook them little treats and make excellent organic coffees on request.  So much nicer than an impersonal hotel.
.

Don't you like this cool little 1950s themed seating area for guests - complete with painted birch trees on the left and free apples and bananas?  Not surprisingly, Guesthouse 1x6 has shot up the Tripadvisor ratings in its first year of existence, and is almost fully booked out for the summer already.

Just to say that apart from getting a free trip to the Blue Lagoon, I paid most of my own costs during the stopover. Actually, though, I got to travel free to Iceland simply by making a transatlantic flight via Reykjavik, and accepting the stopover offer of up to 7 days when changing planes.  It's as easy as that. (Although of course you have to make the transatlantic crossing too! )

Icelandair is a pretty good airline, spacious and modern, although the inflight entertainment didn't enthral me. There's a limited choice of international films and music and I'm afraid my appetite for up-and-coming Icelandic bands and documentaries about Iceland's attractions is small. I'm sure though that I would have felt different about their inflight entertainment f they'd offered the whole series of the utterly wonderful "Trapped"!