Iceland, the land of BrrJingles…
Day 1 (Oct 12, 2021)
There’s a a book I once read where the author describes the rain in New York City twenty different ways. I wonder if she has ever been to Iceland? For here, it is the wind that seems to carry more than black sand across the beach, or the purple flowers across a field; it holds the beauty in the sky as it punches the clouds apart to sneak a peak of the blue behind, but it also whips the frost into your eyes as you stare in awe of this countries pure beauty. The wind speaks loudly to the mountains, or maybe it’s the mountains that are calling the wind and that’s why it moves so quickly across the land, to reach those mountain peaks for the best view here. It never tires, it runs with the horses on the flats and climbs the Ridgeline without consequence. For gravity is one of the many things it defies. In no surprise there are 156 words describing wind in the Icelandic language.
Long before boarding the final flight to Iceland the itinerary had been finalized. The route had been looked over a hundred times and my anxiety of being cold had settled right into the frontal lobe. This trips goal, like most, is to see as much of the countryside as possible in a condensed time period, while of course enjoying myself tremendously and taking the time to stop and smell any wild flowers that could have sprouted up in October between volcanic rock, or glaciers along the way…doubtful but still hopeful.
Embarking on this cool journey (pun intended) with me was my friend Rachael Zimmerman, who is also a professional photographer who took pretty much any photo that I’m in. (You can check out her website here.)
Just short of 2 hours after landing in Reyk we had reservations at the Blue Lagoon, 10am. The lagoon is relatively close to the airport, making it the first stop on a trip a popular trend. Quickly checked in with the premier pass, only cost $15 more and they supplied you with a robe; plus rubber slippers you actually get to keep. The biggest bonus was there’s a separate line for this check in and it probably saved us at least 20min of waiting. So for those in a hurry, go for that.
I was expecting the experience to be something like Disneyland, but I was graciously surprised. The facilities were sleek and clean, the lagoon its self was larger than I had assumed. We were able to find secluded pockets to enjoy our 3 different face masks (part of the premiere package perk), complimentary drink and easy sit ledges to relax and simply take it all in.
From there we continued towards the hotel with only one other pit stop to snap a few pictures on the side of the road purely because we had quickly fallen in love with the moss covered black rock. Checked into the Grandi Hotel and then headed to lunch at a cute spot on the harbor called Kopar, walking distance and delicious. Total home run for our now lethargic state of mind. (Hello jet-lag) Took a nap after running back to our hotel in the rain. Woke in time for our dinner reservations at the Fish Market. I TRULY CANT SAY ENOUGH GOOD THINGS ABOUT THIS PLACE. It was AMAZING. Absolute must go if you’re staying in the city.
After dinner we laid in the room, awkwardly full and exhausted, curious of the northern lights and if we would be lucky enough to see them during our visit. Rachael had been following a site that tracked the aurora, which measured how powerful they were. The site was showing them visible in our area, we gathered all the layers we had and headed out towards the Lighthouse. (Which is the closest place in the city people can try and see the Northern lights.) And there, under the Arctic circle sky with howling wind, we saw the ribbon of green stretched across the midnight.
Day 2 -Our Version of the Golden Circle-
The next morning it was a bit of a challenge to get up, but when we saw the hint of orange across the grey it was a quick motivator, for the weather was supposed to be raining all day and we currently had a path of clear sky we wanted to take full advantage of.
The river was where our adventure started, 50min drive from Reyk. The hike up tp the hot springs was actually more strenuous than I had initially expected. 1.5 miles, pretty much all incline. The hike was beautiful and takes about an hour, (which included some photo stops). Once you arrive at the designated area to get into the river there or a few man made structures built to help block peeping eyes to change into your swimsuit.
We had booked a few brands to bring along with us on the trip. One of them was a swimsuit company, Maui Girl . Mustering up the courage to strip down and then pose before fully submerging myself into the “hot river” was a big mental leap. After much convincing I did it. As I dipped into this thermal hot spring river that I had been recommended by multiple people my body slowly froze. I had been lied to, this river in fact was lukewarm at best, and in my current windswept-bikini state I was not a happy camper. I sat there as the cool water wrapped itself around me, shivering. The walk back down was quick, in search of the warmth behind inside would bring. There’s a new cool cafe at the trail head, which is the perfect spot to warm up with a satisfying cup of hot cocoa after your trek.
So the experience as a whole was great, the views of the actual hike up to the river makes it worth it, but my actual river experience is something I wouldn’t do again, I was also told during the hike down by a stranger that the “hotter” water is further up the river and that we got in at a lower point.. GOOD TO KNOW…
The next dot on the map was the Kerid Crater, right off the road, incredible easy to access, free parking and cost something around 400 krona ($3usd) to enter- They take card- The color of the lake in the crater was strikingly bold and beautiful, the sands and rocks around the water only seem to highlight the drastic colors individually.
We continued onto Gulfoss waterfall which is the farthest dot on the Golden Circle road map. The waterfall reminded me a lot of Niagara Falls. Extremely wide with much force. It created a lot of mist that pretty much soaked through your coat if you stood there for more than a few minutes (which I learned from experience), but also all that mist created almost full circle rainbows, the entire circumference of the waterfall, which was beautiful. (Theres a full cafe, gift shop, and bathrooms here if ya need any of that.)
Geyser - Underwhelming, I’d like to write more but I was pretty unimpressed. Lots of people, lots of wind and A LOT of waiting. When it finally “went off” it just seemed like a 15ft fog bomb had gone off.
That night dinner was at Apotek, again REALLY great. Incredible mixology and unique food creations. I was a little skeptical when I saw they had their menu blown up on the sidewalk soliciting themselves, in the past usually restaurants that had to promote their food like that weren’t that good, but this was by far the exception.
