Wednesday, 15 February, 2012.
Visiting Iceland was an absolutely incredible experience. From the people to the landscape. All incredible!
When first arriving we noticed how efficient & clean everything was (A nice change from typical UK). Within half an hour we had collected our luggage and had got ourselves our hire car and were on the way to Reykjavik! Driving is sometimes frustrating due to a rural limit of 90kmh (around 55mph). Once out on the open roads though, you don't want to be speeding along so you can take in the great views!
After a 40 minute drive from the airport, travelling through the lava plains, you reach Reykjavik. It's the smallest capital city in Europe, and due to this you can drive to the very centre within around 15 minutes. Which is of course very handy! Most big hotels are located around 5 minutes walk from the city centre as well.
I found the people in Reykjavik to be some of the most kind, approachable people I've ever met in a foreign country. Everyone speaks English (to an even better standard than I do!), with a very slight American accent. The majority of people also dress well, which is another nice change from the UK ;). Fashion seems to be big business in Iceland, and people seem to really take pride in their appearance. I think I could probably happily spend a week in Reykjavik alone, just bouncing from one coffee shop to another!
When heading out of the city you are greeted by an absolutely surreal landscape. Plains of cracked lava cover the lowlands. Miles and Miles of black dusk from recent volcanic eruptions scatter the landscape. And then of course there are mountains, waterfalls, glaciers, geysers, boiling mud pools, and more!
It's a very odd moment when you first see the sulphurous steam billowing out of the ground. There aren't many places in the world where you can see this! The below photo was taken out of a car window, and was the first of many geothermal power stations we saw. Getting up close to some of the geothermal areas you can see how they manage to make 60% of all their electricity from these places! An endless deafening flow of red hot steam jetting out of holes in the Earth. It's pretty epic! But a bit smelly unfortunately.
The waterfalls are of course one of the big tourist attractions for Iceland! The below picture is of Gullfoss, the biggest waterfall in all of Europe by volume. On average this waterfall has 140m³/s going over it. However the maximum amount ever recorded was 2000m³/s. I can't even imagine what that would look like, but I'm sure it would be pretty scary!
Heading south from Reykjavik you enter the Reykjanes peninsula, where the famous Blue Lagoon spa is. The roads weave & wind their way around cracked sheets of lava. It's a barren landscape due to being covered in volcanic rock. Not much grows apart from a few weeds at the sides of the road. The roads are also strangely empty. You can drive for half an hour without seeing another soul, which just adds to the eeriness.
A 380km drive outside of Reykjavik (around a 3rd of the Icelandic Ringroad) lies Jökulsárlón. It's a glacial lagoon, where bits of ice the size of houses drop off the end of the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier (There's no way I could ever pronounce that!). The air temperature drops when you get near to the lagoon, and you can certainly feel it when you step out of the car and have the wind coming at you off the glacier. Many seals play around on the icebergs, which seem to enjoy the attention of tourists wandering around taking pictures.
The last photo is a picture of myself, stood at the corner of the Rekyjanes peninsula. That behind me is the Atlantic ocean, and if you were to head south from where I am standing, the first bit of land you would reach would be Cape Verde off the coast of Central Africa. You can certainly feel the power of the ocean. The water crashes dramatically along the coast line, creating some amazing cliff edges!
I'll possibly post some more pictures at a later date, but for now you can see more over at my Facebook page.
