Our time in Reykjavik continued with a day exploring the city. After a couple of back-to-back day tours we wanted to take time to see the city we were visiting, and also wanted (or more like needed) a slower paced day where we didn't necessarily have to be up at the crack of dawn. Or, well, just early here since dawn didn't actually seem to come that early any day this week.
It was a nice quiet day, where we weren't concerned about time or location. Rather we just wandered, looked, explored and generally got to feel the pulse, below the frigid wind, of Reykjavik.
Early morning Reykjavik
Throughout the day we walked to Hallgrimskirkja, the Church of Iceland, entering into a modern, clean, sun filled church with an elevator that takes you feet above to look out over Reykjavik. Then on to the harbour to see the myriad of ships and tour boats, and to enjoy some fresh, traditional fish and chips for lunch. Tres yummy!! We then walked on to the colour changing Opera House and meandered through the thousands of square feet of interesting architecture (the glass on the exterior was amazing!). And finally walked the downtown area to Trolln (frozen pond) which led us on to the Reykjavik Settlement Museum.
Hallgrimskirkja, the Church of Iceland
The city of Reykjavik
When they cleaned this organ it took something like 3 months
from disassemble to reassemble.
Statue out front
Cool old anchor
My scrumptious fish and chips
Harbour
One of three Icelandic coast guard boats
Love the statues here
Opera House
Glint of light off the windows of the Opera House
All glass!
View from the Opera House
My feet LOVE snow ;)
Trolln
Look at that air! ;)
Statue on way to city hall; politician based I believe
City hall
Jonesing for a warm-up, and hoping to feed our curiousity of Icelandic history, we popped into the Reykjavik Settlement museum which gave us an overview of how the country was settled, and how it has changed and developed over time. Quite an interesting, yet I feel not so obvious to tourists, place to visit. I loved how they had a preserved excavation site here in which the museum was built around, so as not to move and disturb it. Also, the time of settlement is a bit of a debate in Iceland but in true Icelandic fashion, instead of dwelling on the time period and arguing over it, they just say Iceland was settlement in 871 + or - 2 yrs ;)
Original building location in the centre of the museum
This was originally built here hundreds of yrs ago
Icelandic writing
The children's section; poor puffin
The rest of our afternoon and evening was spent playing a new board game C had found in the common room of our hostel called Codenames! Super fun and a new one we're definitely adding to our repertoire. Yes, we love our board games and love to keep our minds sharp. We did begrudgingly stop for a quick supper break amid playing though at Hress, but not for too long. ;)
Friday saw us embarking on our final day trip whilst in Iceland. Today we were seeing a couple of waterfalls, a black sand beach and....hiking a glacier! The latter event had a few of us a little anxious most of the morning as the unknowns were getting the better of us....How high is the glacier? What does "hike" actually entail? If I have to wear crampons, what does that say about the terrain we're going to be walking on? What is a crampon? Oi vey! One's mind can really go wild in this case.
South Coast, Waterfalls and Glacier Hike
Needless to say, the tour started off with us boarding what I would refer to as an off road....bus? You should have seen this thing. The wheels were huge! Again, made me wonder exactly where we were going that we'd need a vehicle of this magnitude. Regardless, we boarded with enthusiasm and away we went!
Vroom vroom!
This is like 8am :o
Ready or not!
Scenery along the way
Our first stop was at Skogafoss waterfall. Absolutely beautiful! Unfortunately due to time constraints on our journey (the places we were going to had quite a bit of distance in between most of them and due to road/weather conditions our travel was slowed down here and there, and we had a strict time for the glacier hike) we didn't get too much time at the waterfall which was a little disappointing as there was a staircase up the side so you can overlook the falls that I think would've been cool to go up. Nevertheless, the view we did get was terrific and we got to hear the legend of hidden treasure behind it. :o
Skogafoss
Skogafoss with me :D
Oh the weather
You can faintly see the staircase going up the side of the fall
(on the terrain)
Next we went to a black sand beach,
Reynisfjara. Before even getting here, our tour guide Helga scared the heck out of us by making sure we were well aware that the waves and tide here are very strong and unpredictable so to stay back from the water. She followed this up by informing us that a tourist had died just a few days before at this beach because he got too close to the water, and the waves came in hard and fast and took him with them. Yikes! Needless to say, the fear she instilled worked and we made sure to be very careful. The (ahem, HOT) police beach patrolmen were also here keeping an eye on the tourists, whether you were walking down the black sand beach, crawling into the nearby cave or clambering over the large volcanic rocks. Being "saved" did cross my mind ;) But not literally!
As sad as it was to hear about the accident here, the place was absolutely breathtaking. Listening to the thunder of the waves pulsate the beach and feeling the wind whip through your body was a stilling experience. Just around the corner of the rocky cave, there are two stone pillars extending out of the sea, Reynisdranger stacks, visible from the beach and Icelandic folklore has quite a story about how these came to be.
We had a quick bite at the meagre cafe here then.......dun, dun dun.....on to the glacier hike :s
We arrived at the glacier tongue and met up with guides from
Arctic Adventures who would be leading us on the hike. After being divided into two groups we were quickly fitted with crampons, given hiking boots if needed, shown how to to adhere our crampons to our boots ("thankfully" S volunteered me as the guinea pig for this endeavour - however, considering our guide....I wasn't too upset by this ;) lol), given safety instructions especially since we'd each be wielding an ice axe and then were on our way.
I really have no words to describe the glacier hike. Beautiful, magnificent, spectacular....these words don't seem to really describe the awe of the event. Between the view, both of the glacier and the valley & lake below, the ice caves and the experience itself, I will ever forget this opportunity. Through it all, our guide was very knowledgeable both about safety and explaining why we needed the materials we had, how to stay safe on the paths and what certain markings meant, and in telling us about the history of Iceland and what is currently happening with the glaciers here. All in all, a totally recommended activity and easily accomplishable by people who aren't afraid of a slightly steep accent or decent at times, and haven't hiked before but are willing to give it a go. The 2.5-3 hrs we were here went by in a flash. Would love to try this again in the summer to compare, although we were told by Linas that it is easier to do in the winter as using the crampons to give you grip on the snowy glacier is the best way to manoeuvre up and down it. Also, it's best to go with a guide - you don't know how the landscape can change or the soft spots so best to be safe.
Note: Iceland is an island that is still rising from the sea; it's not completely formed yet and will continue to change in the future.
Fitted and ready
Hi ho, a hiking I do go
Explaining proper body stance for times on the hike
Ie cave
Going up!
At the peak of our hike
Explaining a university gadget that can tell
how much of the glacier melts over time
Our final stop of the day was to Seljalandsfoss waterfall. Usually more free flowing in the summer months, this pretty fall still showed us it's true colours as it's crystal clear waters dropped effortlessly below. Today we couldn't but apparently there is a path behind the waterfall where spectators can go and get a "behind the scenes" view of the fall. Too bad for icy paths today :( Helga informed us that there are many more waterfalls throughout Iceland in the summer, but in the winter many of them freeze up, waiting for warmer temperatures to be revived.
Sun setting on our way to the final stop
Once we'd arrived back in Reykjavik we had a quick, and I mean QUICK, turn around before our next event. Not by our own accord though that is. Let me explain...
At the beginning of our trip, we'd booked a
Northern Lights tour by Super Jeep. Now, because the aurora borealis is, obviously, a weather dependent event we were told that the tour could be cancelled if the weather was bad. Luckily, it was a company that allows you to reschedule your tour free of cost, and for as many times as it takes to get you out to hunt down these lights. So, all week - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday - we'd been cancelled, until now. Friday night, right after our major, longest day tour. Of course, as per our luck. So with 15 minutes to spare we jumped off the Gray Line bus, hustled into the hostel to change and regroup, then were back on the street waiting for our Super Jeep pick-up.
We hopped in a "suped up" van/jeep and headed out to hunt for the Northern Lights. Our vehicle participants joined a caravan of other Super Jeeps at an old, cod drying farm first. We got a mere glimpse of the lights, but mostly a strong fish smell. Then we were off to another location, close to the water. At this point, exhaustion and cold were getting the better of me. Thankfully, our band of merry Super Jeep drivers provided us with a steamy cup of hot chocolate and a shot of vodka to warm us up. My body not being deceived by this deception of warmth, chose to relinquish me to the van. Some time later, and still light-less, we were about to head back to the hotels when....our driver, not one to give up, decided to try one, final place. Success!! Or so I heard, lol. Body = 1, Randeen = 0. Meaning....at this last location I did not partake in the opportunity of seeing the lights, like my travel mates did. They were able to get some beautiful shots of the lights and really see them dancing. I was a little disappointed, but I believe I'll get the chance to see them again sometime.
Man, bed never felt so good at this point! Bunk bed style and all. ;)
Super Jeep caravan
Saturday we packed up our gear, stripped our bed sheets and said goodbye to our home for the last few days. We weren't flying out until tomorrow, but due to the early nature of our flight, and considering the airport was a ways away in Keflavik, we were staying this night at a hotel close to the airport. With a free shuttle there in the morning too. But we weren't headed there just yet. Remember how I said Iceland gears towards tourists.....yep, we had a plan to continue to utilize our time here until the very last second.
After brunch at a lovely french Bistro, we waited for our Reykjavik Excursions pick up to take us to....
The Blue Lagoon! The Disneyland of Iceland, per se. Yes, it is very touristy but it's definitely something I wouldn't miss out on while visiting here.
The bus drove us to the geothermal spa, which was quite a distance outside of Reykjavik. We brought our luggage along because we'd planned on going straight to the hotel from here, and the spa has a building where you can store your luggage while bathing. After dropping off our suitcases, we stood in line to receive our waterproof bracelets, to which all purchases are linked to and you pay for anything you've "bought" at the end, found an electronic locker to store our stuff and got changed. Two things I must relate: a) the electronic locker and I did not get along :(, and b) thankfully the showers had private stalls since you are supposed to shower naked before going into the Blue Lagoon. S tried to freak me out all week that I'd have to shower in an open room. Ha!
With jewellery removed, as platinum and silver jewellery supposedly turn black in the water, and LOTS of conditioner in the hair to avoid it getting extremely dried out by the minerals, we scampered from the building to the water (it was COLD in that frigid winter air with only a swimsuit on). The water was GREAT! Not too hot and not too deep, but you could find hot spots near the heating sources around the lagoon. It was very cool to be in the water with steam rising from it as the breezy, wintry air hit the warm water, bobbing along with dew beads lining your hair strands. The Blue Lagoon is a fair size spa and so although there seemed like quite a few people there, it did not seem overly crowded for our duration. They do limit the amount of people that can enter at each hour, and it's best to make a reservation online ahead of time since they book up fast. Also, mornings & early afternoons are definitely better times to go I feel.
We spent our few hours there exploring all areas of the Lagoon, getting beverages from the swim up bar, hanging out, getting masks (only C did), getting massaged by a waterfall and just generally relaxing and enjoying our final moments in Iceland. Ah! It was fun seeing how literally everything was done right in the Lagoon - eg. swim up mask bar, massages were done while you laid on a mat in the water so the masseurs were in the water whilst delivering the massages.
When we felt we'd wrinkled enough, well really only a couple of us reached this phase, we reluctantly ambled out, paid for our Lagoon purchases, enjoyed a sandwich for supper at the pricey snack bar, then proceeded via cab to our hotel in Keflavik.
Note: Keflavik used to house army personal and our hotel was an old home used to house multiple military families.
And here, we rested our weary heads and bodies, exhausted but contented after an amazing, memorable week in Iceland. A place I can say would not be somewhere I thought I'd go, or even thought about going, a couple yrs ago. But now a place I'd return to in a heartbeat. Friendly people, beautiful scenery, a myriad of things to do.... A place I'd suggest saving your pennies for, as it's not a cheap holiday location, but definitely unforgettable and worth experiencing.
