Iceland: Our experience

                               
                                For stories from my Iceland trip, read Post 1 and Post 2


Travelled in: October 2010

We travelled to Iceland for 2-1/2 weeks. Pictures of Iceland caught my eye a couple of years ago. After resolutely saving up for the trip (It was way too expensive for us, even though we saved some cost by travelling off-season) & debating on the right season to go, we zeroed in on late autumn / early winter. We weren’t sure if we could handle the cold, but, the temptation of the Aurora Borealis was too much to resist. 

About Iceland:

Iceland…. a far-away land, 4 flights away from home. And yet, there I was one rainy winter afternoon, at Reykjavik’s Keflavik Airport, amazed by how different it was from what I’m used to! Iceland’s population density according to my guide-book: 3 people per sq.km……In India; we probably have 3 people every square meter! It’s area is 1,03,000 sq.km (That’s half the size of Karnataka, about the same size as Bihar). The country’s population is 3.2 Lac people, of which almost 40% live in the capital, Reykjavik. As for the other towns – a lot of them have populations ranging from 35 to 300 people. Some larger towns have a few thousand people living there.  Icelanders are of Norse / Viking origin. People are addressed by their first names…. In fact, even the telephone directory is said to be sorted on a first name basis.They have a very interesting naming convention: If Gunnar has a son called Jon & a daughter called Kristin, they would be called Jon Gunnarsson & Kristin Gunnarsdottir (‘sson’ & ‘dottir’ being the suffix-es). As a result, everybody in a family has different last names, which remain un-changed even after marriage.

The main industry is Fishing & farming (no plants, only sheep & poultry). Tourism too is on an upswing. Iceland, especially Reykjavik, has a surprising number of Indian Restaurants that are very popular. This, despite the fact that there is no sizeable Indian population, except, perhaps, the owners/chefs at the restaurant.  And, we tried the food & it was surprisingly good! Their currency is the Icelandic Krona (ISK). The conversion: 1 ISK = 2.5 INR. But, don’t be fooled into thinking that ours is a stronger currency… a coffee costs about 300 ISK, which is 120 Rs. The cheapest meal per person easily costs 1800 ISK, which is approx. 700 Rs.

As the landmass is still relatively volatile, there is a lot of geo-thermal activity. Trees & plants do not grow in Iceland. Fruits & vegetables are imported. So, a lot of the vegetarian food is more expensive than meat! Iceland does have some areas designated as forests, where they try to grow trees, but, it has not always been successful. As the joke goes, “What do you do if you get lost in an Icelandic forest? ……. You just stand up!”

The air is so cool & crisp. And the water - we drank off taps during our entire trip & didn’t fall sick….That was such a novelty for us! We really enjoyed the vast, open spaces in Reykjavik and spent evenings by the half-frozen pond, Tjornin, watching & feeding the ducks. We walked along the harbour road, as people ran or cycled by… I’ve not seen as many people run every day, as I saw at Reykjavik! Iceland also consumes the highest per capita of books in the world. Everybody is into some form of art – music, painting, sculptures, fashion designers, jewellery designers….

I am no socio-political expert, but, I really admire Icelanders for a lot of things: Iceland has no army & no internal conflict. Their President lives in a ‘regular’ house like anybody else, without any security. It is said that you can actually ring the doorbell & there’s a very good chance that the door will be answered by the President or his wife. I respect Icelanders for the fact that they are very egalitarian and also don’t judge people based on their life-style choices… Iceland elected the world’s first openly gay prime minister. To them, no job is beneath anybody. From owners to employees, they all cook, serve, clean the rooms and tend to their sheep…something that you will rarely find elsewhere.  People trust each other (I saw carrots & tomatoes being sold in carts, where you just drop the money in a box after you pick what you want…. It wouldn’t have lasted long in most countries!). When we had to return our rental car, we were told to leave our car, un-locked, on the road, with the key & our rented mobile phone inside the open car. The agency said that they would come whenever possible & take it away. We refused to do it as the very thought alarmed us. After a lot of coaxing & re-assurance by the agents that “people in Iceland do not steal”, we did it & were surprised when the car wasn’t stolen! We met a lot of people who faced difficult times during Iceland’s economic crisis, but, it was inspiring to see how resilient they were. Some people had taken up multiple jobs; others saw the crisis as an opportunity to do something they were passionate about, like music, designing, guiding.

We had so many instances of people being nice to us – At the National Museum at Reykjavik, we lingered over each exhibit for so long that we had barely covered half the museum when it closed. The museum staff noticed that & allowed us to come back the next day using the same ticket, as they said that they were happy to see our interest in the museum. On a particularly cold day, as we had lunch in South Iceland, we were served a bowl of hot soup, on the house! At Skogar Museum, they gave us tickets at half price as they felt that we didn’t have enough time to spend at the museum. When our debit card was charged multiple times at a fuel station, the lady at the store followed up the matter on our behalf with the petrol company. She updated us every few days, as we travelled around Iceland. When we called to tell her that the issue was sorted, she seemed genuinely happy for us.

Our Trip:

We landed in Reykjavik on the first day of the Iceland Airwaves music festival. Reykjavik was teeming with visitors & had a very vibrant feel, with off-venue performances at cafes, clubs & book-stores. We caught a few performances & it was great, with the crowd cheering the performers. We had booked a whale watching trip, but, it was cancelled due to stormy seas. We spent our time just relaxing, orienting ourselves to Reykjavik & acclimatising to Iceland’s weather (We’d just landed from 30 deg.C back home into 2-3 deg). We also went on a day-trip to the Snaefellsnes peninsula, for photography. Two days later, after having shopped for our water/wind-proofs & road maps, we set off on our drive around Iceland.

We drove anti-clockwise around the country, beginning at Reykjavik. Our first few days were rainy. For most of our driving trip, we were one of the very few cars on the road. On Day 1, we had an incident while driving, with very poor visibility & a storm. That particular day, having spent more time than planned at the Gardskagi light-houses, we were behind schedule to reach our destination for the night - Selfoss. At 4pm, we began driving to Selfoss from Grindavik. The road passes through desolate lava fields & hugs the coast, which had pounding waves due to the storm. The fog, the reducing daylight & the poor visibility too added to the eerie effect. After one particularly bad gravel stretch (we had passed a camp of workers repairing the road a few kilometers earlier), our GPS began issuing warnings saying we were off track & subsequently, that we were headed straight for the water! But, my roadmap insisted that there was a road ahead. To make matters worse, we reached a point where the road was just the width of our car, with water on either side. It literally scared the pants off us & we stopped there, wondering if we were floating or still on land. After 10 anxious minutes, we saw the headlights of another car coming from the opposite direction, which hinted that there was a road ahead, leading to somewhere. We tried to stop the vehicle to ask, but it didn’t. Nevertheless, reassured, we switched off our still screaming GPS & drove till we finally reached a town, Thorlakshofn. From there, Selfoss was just 20 minutes away. After this eventful day, we had brilliant, rain-free days (but cold, wind & even some snow!) for the rest of our trip.

From Selfoss, we drove to the waterfall Gulfoss & the hot water springs at Geysir. We were lucky to not have rain that morning. On the way, we stopped at the crater, Kerid. You can take a path down to the bottom of the crater. At Geysir, it was fun watching Strokkur erupt every 10-15 minutes. We felt like we were kids once more, enjoying each eruption & eagerly awaiting the next. We had to force ourselves to leave. Gulfoss was very beautiful! I had read about how some people find it under-whelming, especially after having seen other falls in Iceland.  Having now seen a lot of waterfalls there, I feel that each is so different that they’re all beautiful in their own right. We walked along the path that led to the place where the water begins tumbling downwards. After lunch at Gulfoss, we resumed our drive. We soon spotted Myrdalsjokull at a distance….our first glimpse of a glacier. We stopped at the waterfall Seljalandsfoss, on the way to Skogar. By then, it had begun raining & we could see the waterfall sway (for lack of a better word to describe it) in the breeze. It sprayed us & soon, we were soaking wet! We got back to our car to change out of our soaked jeans into waterproof pants, before going back again. There were a few people attempting to walk on the ledge behind the waterfall. But, as the ledge was very slippery & there were strong winds, we didn’t attempt it. We drove to yet another waterfall, Skogafoss, shortly before sunset. After spending some time there, we drove straight to our halt for the night, Vik.

We left Vik after breakfast, with our guide, to go to the volcanic craters at Laki. We trailed his superjeep till we had to leave the ring road & begin our drive to Laki. We parked our car at the ‘parking lot’ at the entrance to mountain road F206, beyond which it is not possible to drive even in a 4x4. Bumping along in the superjeep, we left behind all signs of habitation. We stopped at Fagrifoss, also known as ‘beautiful falls’ and beautiful, it was! We drove through stark landscapes, fording rivers along the way, to get our first glimpse of the Lakagigar crater row. It seemed so serene now that it belied the havoc that it had wreaked a couple of centuries ago, when 35 craters erupted simultaneously! We continued driving to the volcano, Laki. We were joined by some farmers on their ATVs, rounding up sheep that had strayed here. There was so much lava around, that it was eerie. It was a very humbling experience indeed, to see evidence of nature’s forces. We drove away from the crater row, towards the black sand dunes. The sand had formed beautiful patterns and we were awed by the artistry of it all….Blue crater lakes against the black sand made for compelling images. Our ‘large’ superjeep was completely dwarfed by the vast landscape & it looked no more than a speck, when seen from the top of one of the black sand dunes. By late afternoon, after 8 hours at Laki, we were back in our car, on the road. We stopped at the nearby town of Kirkjubaerklaustur for lunch (at the fuel station) & then drove on, to get our first glimpse of the glacier Vatnajokull, Europe’s largest ice-cap. Vatnajokull stayed with us for the next few days of our trip. At some places, the glacial tongues almost reached the road & looked beautiful & blue in the moonlight. The sudden appearance of the glacial lagoon Jokulsarlon a few kilometers later led to much jaw dropping! We tore ourselves away to drive 15 more kms, to our farm, Gerdi, our home for the next 2 nights. We fell asleep to beautiful views of the full moon & the sound of the ocean beneath our window.

We spent the next day exploring Jokulsarlon, Vatnajokull & Skaftafell National park. After a relaxed morning at the farm, we drove to Jokulsarlon. We were the only ones there & the ticketing office hadn’t opened either. We walked around the shore, watching the surreally beautiful lagoon. We also climbed a small hill behind the ticket office & had great views across the lagoon. Soon, people joined us & we bought tickets for the boat ride. We sipped hot chocolate at the café, as we waited for the boat to be readied. At 10 am, we set out, driving at first & then floating on the water. Our guide explained what we saw, from the glacier, to the icebergs, to the various colours on the ice. We were also given bits of ice to taste. After more than an hour, we were back at the shore. We drove to the Skaftafell National Park, stopping for lunch on the way. We registered ourselves for the 2 pm glacial walk. We were extremely apprehensive as we had no prior experience walking on snow or Ice. As we were harnessed, we spoke to our guide, who allayed our fears. Soon, the 6 of us were on a bus to the glacier Svinafellsjokull. After strapping our crampons on & listening carefully to our guide’s instructions, we began our 2 hour walk. It was not too difficult & soon, our feet adjusted to the rhythm. It was a beautiful, sunny day. I had expected the glacier to be really cold…surprisingly, it felt warmer than on the road! I turned out to be the clumsiest in the group, slipping a couple of times. I was subsequently harnessed to the instructor on a slightly tricky portion of the walk & felt like a cow being led, eliciting much laughter from the others.  We lost track of time, as we enjoyed the walk & were very sad when it had to end. We were dropped back at the Skaftafell visitors’ center. As it was nearing sunset, we made a dash for the waterfall, Svartifoss. We left Svartifoss before it turned dark (again, we were the only ones there & it didn’t seem prudent to stay after dark). That night, the sky seemed really clear so, by 10 pm, we went out to the farmhouse porch, waiting to spot the Northern lights. It was freezing cold & we were lucky that we could go inside the house from time to time, to thaw ourselves! Finally, at midnight, we spotted some green bands, which soon turned into a full-fledged display. It was our first view of the Northern lights & we were awestruck. What a day it had been!

We awoke a little late that morning & lazed around, watching horses at the neighbouring farm. We left Gerdi after breakfast. Soon, we stopped at another farm, Brunnholl, for some home-made ice-cream, which was yummy. We bought a tub of ice-cream. We took a de-tour from the ring road, to go to the small town of Hofn. At the fuel station at Hofn, we washed our car, which had become a bit dusty by then. From Hofn, we had stunning views of Vatnajokull & all its glaciers.  After admiring it for some time, we got back to the ring road, to continue our drive East-wards. Our drive to the East-Fjords was spectacular. A little after Hofn, we crossed the barren land of Lonsoraefi. Soon, the landscape had changed dramatically from what we had seen over the past few days. The roads wound around the fjords, they had turned steep & it was difficult to keep your eyes on the road. The ocean was really close & so were the mountains. It was one of the most desolate stretches of Iceland that we had seen until then. Every now & then, a small town would appear in the fjord. There were signs warning us to look out for falling rocks, many of which were precariously perched.  We drove around, admiring the views, until we reached Breidalsvik, where we halted for the night. We were the only visitors in town & the only occupants of our hotel. That gave us an idea of what was in store for us as we went further north. As we watched the news at the hotel, there were reports of the north & the east being snowed-in, with strong winds to boot.  It struck us that we may not be able to continue our drive any further. As there was nothing we could do about it that night, we had a nice, warm dinner by the fire & decided to figure out our plans the next morning. 

The weather beyond Breidalsvik had turned bad. We called our hotels at our next 3 destinations - Seydisfjordur, Myvatn & Siglufjordur & they confirmed it. East & North Iceland had heavy snow-fall. The weather was bad even by Icelandic standards & we were advised not to travel any further up the East coast. We cancelled plans of driving north & re-traced our southern route back to Reykjavik. Luckily, we were able to go to Laki....the road was inccessible soon after. We drove till Stodvarfjordur in the East Fjords & turned back. I was very disappointed initially, but then, it was a calculated risk when we decided to come in October. The East Fjords are hauntingly beautiful & I'm glad we at least had a chance to spend a couple of days there.  It just means that we will have to go back to Iceland for another visit!

We took our time driving back, to catch some sights that we had missed during our West-East drive. We stopped again at Skaftafell & saw the turf roofed church at Hof.   Our next stop was for a day, at Vik, where we enjoyed the clear weather. We went to the black sand beach at Reynisfjara, saw the stone arches at Dyrholaey & spent more time at Skogafoss & the Skogar museum. We were very lucky to have the museum almost to ourselves that day. The founder of the museum guided us around exhibits, even playing a few musical instruments for us. He spoke to us & showed us around the church, playing hymns on the piano as we sat at the pew. It was a great experience.

From Vik, we drove straight to Reykjavik & used it as a base for day trips. We went to the ‘haunted’ lake Kleifarvatn one day, since we had missed it due to a storm, earlier.  It is said to house a giant worm, the size of a whale! I had initially thought of skipping the thermal bath & spa, the Blue Lagoon, as it seemed too crowded & 'touristy'. Am I glad that we did not! It's a fabulous experience & one we thoroughly enjoyed. To top it all, being winter, there were very few people, adding to the experience.

We cancelled our trip to Landmannalaugar, as it had turned more or less white due to snowfall. Since we couldn’t see the colours that it is so famous for, we took a superjeep trip instead, to West Iceland & Langjokull glacier. We went with a guide in a superjeep to the top of ‘Reykjavik’s mountain’, Mt. Esja at sunrise, for fabulous views over Reykjavik. Next, we drove to see the seat of the first parliament at Thingvellir. Thingvellir is also a National Park, where the earth is tearing apart (The European & North American plates). We then drove via the barren mountain pass Kaldidalur, to Langjokull glacier. We had thought of driving to other parts of Iceland, but dropped the idea after there were serious storm warnings for the entire country, for a couple of days. We ended up spending a week in Reyjkavik & its surroundings, but, I don't regret it. Reykjavik has tons of things to see & do and, frankly, I could have maybe even spent 10 days there. The city is so full of music, sculptures, art-work, museums.....

We got a little lucky with the Northern lights. We didn’t see very strong displays, but we did see many. We first saw northern lights at the farm Gerdi, near Jokulsarlon, on 19th Oct and again, at the end of our trip. The most fabulous Northen lights display we had was on 26th Oct, right over Reykjavik city and at 7.30 pm, at that! It caught us completely by surprise (we were on the Perlan viewing deck, shooting night shots of Reykjavik). It was, by far, the strongest northern lights we saw. And, it lasted for almost 40 minutes. I could imagine how strong the intensity might have been, had we been able to see them without the city lights dulling them!

I can understand the kind of effort that goes into clicking spectacular pictures that we've seen, of Iceland. We were blown away by so many landscapes & had to work really hard to try & capture even a bit of the magic into a picture. Even more challenging was to attempt doing this in Icelandic weather, which, on most days, was bitterly cold with a howling wind! Not to mention rain, storms & freak snow-showers. Before going to Iceland, I would have refused to step out in such weather with my camera, but, I spent this entire trip lugging around my equipment & resolutely attempting photography, come what may!

We had a fabulous trip & it was difficult to leave, especially when you are leaving a place full of stunning landscapes, peace & solitude and coming back to a hectic lifestyle & a city full of chaos & noise!

Read this for my Iceland itinerary, information and tips.