Who’s to say we weren’t on Mars instead of Iceland? The country has such unusual geographic features – volcanos, lava fields, geysers, hot springs, etc. It was stark but also beautifully unusual. We got the opportunity go to Iceland because Icelandair had a promotion allowing a layover up to five days for free when headed to Europe. So this was perfect, a free flight to Iceland!
Our first day included a Golden Circle tour of Thingvellir, Kerid, Silfra, ‘Geysir’, and Gullfloss. On the way out to Thingvellir, where the mid-atlantic rift is, we saw some trailers, crews, and horses on the side of the road – and our guide told us there was filming for game of thrones going on over the hill. I asked him to pretty please take us back instead of taking us on our tour, but the rest of the folks on the tour didn’t like this idea so much. Thingvellir was our first stop, where the vikings used to meet once a year to have ‘parliament’ and also to mate. Yes, that’s right. They used to live so spread out that they had to get together once a year to mix up the bloodlines a bit. Thingvellir was fine but right over the cliff was Silfra, aka the mid-atlantic rift. In Silfra, we went on our first dry suit dive, in the 4 degree (Celsius), crystal clear water of the mid-altantic rift. I never could imagine that I would be able to say that I was 12 meters down, in between continents, able to touch europe with one hand, and north america with the other. SO COOL. There are no words. Really, none! I did take a video though.
The rest of the day was great too. We saw the great geysir, which erupted very frequently. We saw kerid, a volcanic crater lake, and even a beautiful two tired waterfall called Gullfloss. All of the nature was incredible!
The next day we explored Reykjavik, which didn’t really have anything spectacular. Although it did have something unusual: a phallological museum … yes, a penis museum. We didn’t go in cause it was like €12 pp, and also I’m not sure either of us really wanted to go. Reykjavik also has BEAUTIFUL street art. It felt very scandinavian.
We went over to the famous blue lagoon, even though we forgot our bathing suits (we had to rent them, yes … gross!). The blue lagoon is smack in the middle of a lava field next to a geothermal power plant. It wasn’t super hot, but the water was warm and looked like milk due to the silicon and sulfur in the water. There were huge tubs of silicon mud all around the lagoon (to apply to your face) and a bar IN the water (so you could stay hydrated, or in the case of others, get drunk). Totally a unique experience. We both plan on coming back sometime.
There and back again 