My tour was organised through Discover the World, who I generally highly recommend but unfortunately this time I had a few issues. Nothing too major, but it caused me a bit of stress that I could have done without. I flew out from Heathrow T2 on Monday and landed at Keflavík airport mid-afternoon. Keflavík is Iceland's international airport, and is about an hour away by coach from the capital city Reykjavík. The coaches, taxis, and minibuses are right outside the entrance/exit, and you can easily buy tickets for them just before you leave the airport building.
I spent my first night in Reykjavík at Hótel Klettur I'd highly recommend it as a hotel. It's an easy walk to the high street and is near to the motorway in and out of the city so it is very accessible. The rooms are nice and spacious, and are always clean. I've stayed there on previous trips, and have never had any problems with them. The staff are lovely and incredibly helpful (as I found out when I had to book a taxi to the airport in a hurry on my way home).
Rather than eating in the hotel restaurant, I had a quick walk along the high street and decided to eat at the Old Iceland Restaurant. It's quite small, but they were able to seat me with no problems. The menu has a good range of Icelandic and fusion dishes, and it is really well priced. I went for the Icelandic seafood soup, which was delicious and had properly large chunks of fish. There's something very comforting about traditional Icelandic food for me (excluding fermented shark), as it isn't overly fancy, but is incredibly tasty and filling.
On the Tuesday, I was picked up from my hotel by my tour guide Kristian from Arctic Adventures and the rest of the group I'd be travelling with. We drove out of the city to our first stop - Seljalandsfoss.
Seljalandsfoss is a 65m waterfall that drops over the old coastline of Iceland. During the last Ice Age, the weight of the ice over Iceland weighed it down. When it melted, the country lifted which means that the old coastal cliffs are now inland and very high, so there are lots of waterfalls. You can actually walk behind Seljalandsfoss, but only if you're prepared to get wet! When I was there, the path was far too icy to do it safely although a few people did manage it. The following photos are of the waterfall and the scenery that you can see from it.
Next was Skógafoss, another waterfall a little further up the coast.
Skógafoss is similar to Seljalandsfoss in that it falls over the old sea cliffs, but you can't walk behind this one and it is much wider and a little shorter. Either way, I think it is much more impressive, and has featured in Sólstafir's "Fjara", Thor, and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The river comes from the Eyjafjallajökull glacier, which is an outlet glacier of Vatnajökull and was put on the map after the volcano beneath it erupted in 2010.
The last stop of the day was Reynisfjara - a black sand/pebble beach with a cave of lava columns called Hálsanefshellir. Reynisfjara is the southernmost beach in Iceland, and is notorious for sweeping tourists out to sea. There are also a set of stacks a little out to sea that are known as Reynisdangar, and are made of two trolls and a 3-masted ship according to legend.
From the beach, you can also get a really good view of the mountains and the glacier inland. I was fortunate that we had good weather when I was there, and we were at the beach near sunset so the light on the snow was really pretty.
We stayed in Hótel Skaftafell for the night and had a really good meal there. Unfortunately, there were no Northern Lights, so I was able to get an early night after watching a bit of the handball match that our guide had told us about. It's a silly game, really, but it's quite entertaining. Anyway, because we arrived a night we didn't know what the area around the hotel looked like until the sun came up at around 10am the next morning (Wednesday). Apparently, the hotel is surrounded by mountains, and dawn was really rather lovely.
Wednesday was the day I'd most been looking forwards to because we got to go to the famous glacial lagoon.
Jökulsárlón is perhaps the most beautiful place that I've ever been to. It is a lagoon formed from the retreat of the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier - another outlet of Vatnajökull - and is nearly 250m deep! The ice breaks off from the glacier and floats as ice bergs through the lagoon, before making its way to the beach. Jökulsárlón is stunning, and definitely worth a visit if you have time. If you're lucky, you can even see seals swimming in it.
At around 11am, we met up with a different tour guide for our next stop. This time, it was Nick from Glacier Guides, who took us up to an ice cave in the Vatnajökull glacier. We got there by an Icelandified minibus, which effectively is a minibus with a bigger engine and massive wheels. I'm a big fan of the super jeep and it's extended family, so I was really rather happy.
The ice cave has a very ethereal beauty, and is completely natural. The only man-made addition was a rope to help you get down into it, and a spade used to clear the snow out when needed. These caves form in the summer when the melt water leaves the glacier as a river. In the winter, the glacier isn't melting (at least not as much), so it is sometimes possible to access them. Please don't go hunting for them by yourself though!
Anyway, the ice in the glacier is blue because it is so compacted that the vast majority of the air in it has been pushed out. It is wonderful to experience, and really quite surreal. In the cave, you can see small pebbles and bands of ash, dirt, dust, and gravel that have been caught in the ice during the glacier's development and movement.
Once we were done at the cave, we rejoined our original guide at the lagoon before crossing the road to go to the ice beach at the end of Jökulsárlón.
The ice bergs in the lagoon never really make it out to sea because they are washed back onto shore by the waves. Also, at low tide the flow of the river out of the lagoon reverses, so some of the ice bergs are swept back up into the lagoon. The beach itself is beautiful as well, and much safer than Reynisfjara (provided you don't go clambering too near the water's edge). We were there as the sun was setting, and thanks to the cloud the light was really soft and incredibly atmospheric.
The last proper stop of the tour was Fjaðrárgljúfur - a 100m deep canyon carved out through layers of tuff and palagonite by the river Fjaðrá. We arrived as it was going dark, so the pictures aren't the best. Despite the lack of light, the canyon has a distinctly Icelandic feel to it, and you can get a good view down to the coast from it. According to our guide, it is very popular for swimming and walking in the summer, and I imagine that it must be beautiful.
After Fjaðrárgljúfur, we headed back to Reykjavík. Kristian recommended that we go for a group meal in the town where he went to college, so we did. It was a good choice. He booked us a table with a set meal of lamb/cod and dessert for 5900kr at Tyrggvaskáli in Selfoss. The food was glorious, and the restaurant has a nice feel about it - almost as if you're eating in someone's house! I was also very impressed by their selection of teas...
So, that was that. We were dropped off at our respective hotels in the city around 11pm, so I was exhausted. I got another good night sleep at Hótel Klettur, and woke up in time to watch the sun rise at the near Harpa by the waterside. It was hellishly windy though, so it was near impossible to take a photo that wasn't blurry.
Following that, I headed up the high street to Hallgrímskirkja - the iconic church that marks Reykjavík's skyline. It wasn't the best day to get photos of it, and the lighting made it a challenge...
I had lunch at Cafe Loki, which is just opposite the church and serves traditional Icelandic food. I avoided the fermented shark as I've tried it before, but I did the pleasure of watching a pair of middle aged Brits try it. If anything, I think they preferred the shark to the Brennivin. I played it safe and had a slice of homemade rye bread with plokkfiskur (mashed fish, potato, and egg), and their own blend of tea. It was made primarily of birch and arctic moss, and it was really rather nice.
I spent a little bit of time wandering up and down the high street, mostly to find all the paintings on the buildings. This year, I found two new ones, both of which were Viking themed.
Eventually, it was time to go home. After a bit of a kerfuffle with a bus not showing up, I got a taxi to the airport and had a very good chat with the taxi driver. The ride was 13,000kr, which was actually pretty reasonable and it was a much nicer and faster ride than on a bus, so I'll definitely use a taxi from now on. In the airport, I bought a bottle of Vor Icelandic Gin as a souvenir (I like gin and it was recommended to me), as well as some chocolate for my parents.
All in all, it was a wonderful trip. I got to see some of the places that I've been dreaming of for years, and they did not disappoint me. I am always happy to spend time in Iceland, as I feel incredibly at home there. The people are lovely. The culture is wonderful. The landscape is awe inspiring.
I always recommend Iceland to people who are looking to travel. It is a great way to see an unusual part of the world with a unique culture, in a very friendly and easy environment. As long as you're prepared to wear warm clothing and a waterproof, you'll be fine.
ALL PHOTOS AND GIFS WERE TAKEN AND CREATED BY ME
26.01.2016
I compiled a load of footage from my trip to make this video. Please enjoy.
