The land of fire and ice
As a Scandinavian, the weather is always our go-to-topic, and it seems that we can never get enough weather-talk into our lives. It turns out that the weather in Iceland is even more temperamental than the Scandinavian one. We spent 5 days on Iceland, and the weather had more ups and downs than female pregnant-hormones on speed.
We arrived on 22nd of March to a rainy and cold place with a striking landscape full of moss, and a noticeable lack of trees. We picked up the sad car (from Sadcars.com) and set course towards Blue Lagoon, in order to start off our vacation with a nice and warm swim - outside, of course. We smudged our faces with facial masks and had some cold and refreshing drinks, as we floated around in the hot water for a few hours. It was still windy and somewhat rainy, but the water was nice and warm. A good way to start off a vacation, for swimming enthusiasts as ourselves.
Once we were done at Blue Lagoon we drove down passed Selfoss, to Hella where we spent the first two nights of our trip.
The second day was a new day with water as our main element. This time in the shape of waterfalls. We started off our waterfall-tour with the majestic Seljalandsfoss. A 60m drop from the top, and the possibility to walk behind the waterfall, was enough to make us as excited as 4 drunks in a liquor store, and of course pretty much as wet as the day before.
The weather was a bit on the rainy side, a bit on the sunny side, and as we approached the second waterfall of the day - Skogafoss, we were pretty much dried up, and ready to get wet again. This time we were not able to walk around the waterfall, but with another 60m drop and the possibility to hike up the cliffs and see the waterfall from above, it was equally impressive.
Next stop on our itinerary was Puffin Rock. Again the weather was less than stabile, but just when the rain decided to go on a well deserved coffee break, we headed out for some spectacular views and the hope to spot some puffins. The views really were spectacular, and the well-carved nature came with a black lava beach, and a rainbow, strong enough to make even the partially color-blind part of our company cry of happiness. OK, he didn't cry. But he said that it looked fancy, even to him. The puffins on the other hand didn't seem very impressed, and the "Puffin Rock" was the only puffin we got to see on the trip.
Since we managed to dry up again on our way back to the hotel, we naturally, decided to go for another "swim" in one of the outdoor hot-tubs. The temperature was nicer than expected, so we may have lost track of time. Once we realized that beer and wine would not suffice as dinner that night, we began the hunt for food. At this point, we did not have a designated driver, so once it was confirmed that the restaurant across the street was closed, the only remaining option was the hotel bar.
Luckily, they had sandwiches. Unfortunately, the fillings of the sandwiches were all different varieties of dead animals. When we (as politely as we could) pointed this out, in hope for them to feed us something other than death, the man behind the bar pointed out that they also had cake. The following seconds happened in slow-motion. Henrik briefly looked at me with a smile so big that The Joker would have been jealous. Then he turned to the bartender and asked "so our options are cake, or death"?
We ended up having cake for dinner that night.
After the 'cake or death'-episode, we had a large breakfast, packed up our stuff and headed out for new adventures. We left Hella behind and headed towards Laxarbakki. We made a few stops along the way and explored Gullfoss, a geyser called Strokkur, and Thingvellir, where you can see that two of the tectonic plate drifted apart. (Must have been quite a nasty divorce...) We had lunch in the greenhouse of a tomato plantation, and the weather was even more schizophrenic than usual. We got rained on, snowed on, almost blown away by the wind, and then came the sun, all within a time phrame of about 15 minutes. Most of the day it was really windy, and it rained quite hard. It would be fair to say that unfortunately we didn't get the best out of these three places, but we still enjoyed it.
After a good nights sleep at Laxarbakki, we set course towards Stykkisholmur. It was a beautiful day, no rain in sight and clear blue skies. We stopped a few times along the way and enthusiastically took in the greatness of the nature, some coffee, and a new-found appreciation for the warmth of the Icelandic sun.
The final example of the greatness of the Icelandic nature was scheduled at the basalt columns by Gerðuberg, a 1.5 hour drive from Reykjavik where we spent the night.
Upon the arrival in the capital, we parked the car and headed out for a quick drink before dinner. We ended up in a bar called Bravo. Happy hour and live music filled up 3 of us, but I had my eyes on something else. At the very end of the bar was a painting of something that we guessed was a mix between a cat and a goat. We later learned that it was a snow leopard, but the painting was so striking, that we asked about it at the bar, and we were pointed towards the direction of the artist, who had his studio close by.
The next day we arrived at the studio, that turned out to be closed until the 1st of April. Damn. Just when we were about to leave, the artist showed up, and we got to see the studio, and where the magic of his paintings happened. A very unique experience, paintings and paint everywhere, and a charismatic, yet humble artist who let us see a glimpse of his world. My personal interest in art lies more in music and the written word, but I do recommend this artist, whom can be found at www.dead.is
We spent the rest of the day wandering around the streets of Reykjavik, dropped off the car and rounded off the trip in close proximity to the airport.
Before we went on this trip, many people told me that Icland was a place that they also really wanted to visit. I only have three pieces of advice to anyone who are thinking about making this trip: Go, go and go. Also, remember to bring your bikini.
