Day 17 – Reykjavik, Iceland

We flew from London, leaving at around 9pm (because they were running late) to Iceland and arrived at around midnight.  Outside it was blowing below freezing winds and sleeting.

We then had to catch a bus from the airport to the bus terminal and then a smaller bus to our hotel.

By the time we got to the hotel and got into the room and had a shower it was like 2am in the morning!

We were up again before 9:30am to have breakfast as we were getting picked up at 10am for our day tour.

Our tour was very small and our tour guide, Bjorn was a very funny character!  He was extremely knowledgeable (he could answer any question regarding Iceland), shared Icelandic folk stories, sang Icelandic songs and kept us laughing for the entire trip.

As we headed to our first stop we watched the sun rise (they only have 6hrs of daylight).

Our first stop on our Golden Circle tour was Þingvellir National Park. This area has historical significance as it is where the Althing, an open-air assembly representing the whole of Iceland, was established in 930 and continued to meet until 1798. Over two weeks a year, the assembly set laws – seen as a covenant between free men – and settled disputes. The Althing has deep historical and symbolic associations for the people of Iceland.

The area we went to also lies in a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. To its south lies Þingvallavatn, the largest natural lake in Iceland.

You will see from the video how damn cold it was that day!

Next we stopped in the geothermal area of Haukadalur, which contains the geysers Geysir and Strokkur. Though Geysir has been mostly dormant for many years, Strokkur, on the other hand, continues to erupt every 5–10 minutes. You had to make sure you were downwind of the water otherwise you got wet!  The name ‘Geysir’ originated from this place.

We stopped at the Gullfoss waterfall, which was very beautiful! But the wind and icy spray was freezing cold and we couldn’t stand there for more than a couple of minutes otherwise the water would have penetrated our clothes.

Bjorn took us to another smaller waterfall, then we headed to some hot springs where we went swimming and enjoyed a glass of wine (watch this space for photo – on Silvia’s camera)

Our 6-hours of sunlight was up as we headed back to Reykjavik.  We were all cold and exhausted, so we decided to catch a few hours sleep before venturing out to witness NYE Icelandic style.

It was a fireworks free-for-all in one of the church squares in town which was a great vantage point to witness the spectacular (not withstanding we were freaking out as rockets were whizzing past us only a few meters away).  I’m surprised that some of the folks walked away with all their limbs attached (alcohol and fireworks should not be mixed)