Iceland
I think Reykjavik has got to be the perfect vacation spot for me. An exotic location without the heat! In Seattle, as in NY, there is a direct route to Iceland. As such, there have been tons of promotions to lure tourists. One caught the eye of a friend so off we went.
With no real agenda for the day, we followed the recommendations of this cheesy promotional video that was available on the plane. The highlight was the Hallgrímskirkja, a Lutheran church with amazing views of the city. Outside of that, the first day was a tad bit rough for us. We arrived to heavy wind and rain. As we walked, soaked through downtown, I think we were all wondering why we left Seattle for this.
But rest assured, the trip got dramatically better. The next day we were scheduled on an official tour. This tour took us to several landmarks including a couple of waterfalls and detailed the country’s efforts to utilize sustainable energy sources. The centerpiece of the tour was the glacier walk. We strapped on crampons to our boots and actually went hiking on a glacier! The highlight of the day for me came at night. We went hunting, and found the Northern Lights! Honestly, they weren’t all that spectacular to look at. But when I started taking pictures with the shutter open for 30 or so seconds, I began to see the amazing color displays usually seen in photographs. Granted, with no tripod to stabilize my camera, mine came out a little blurry.
For the last full day of our trip, we ended up doing one of my favorite vacation activities: driving! We rented an SUV and drove around the Golden Circle. The route four is a scenic hour drive around South Iceland. The highlights of the trip were the Strokkur geyser and the Gullfoss waterfall. Both of which were stunning. I kind of figured seeing water shoot out of the ground would be kind of dull until I saw it. And as for the waterfall, it was like seeing an ice capped version of the Grand Canyon with the Niagra falls running through it; amazing! Much like the Grand Canyon, words can’t do it justice. I can try to explain it, I can show you pictures, but until you see it for yourself, you can’t understand how magnificent it truly is.
On the day of our return flight, we stopped off at the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is a spa featuring a resort pool sized geothermally heated lagoon. Pretty decadent.
What also made the trip great was the locals. They worked so hard to make our stay pleasant. When we were driving and not understanding any of the Icelandic street signs, twice people offered to let us follow them towards our destination. And there was the waiter who offered to increase the portion size of anything on the menu once he realized I was American :)
Iceland’s travel pitch is that it is the perfect weekend getaway when traveling between the United States and Europe. I’d recommend it to anyone on that path.
Pics
posted by Mr. Sharps at 4:38 PM
