Iceland was as raw as I thought it would be.

We headed out at oh-God-hundred on Wednesday morning, hurtling to Gatwick Airport at times when not even the donut man is thinking about making the donuts. We parked our car at a long-term parking place, took the shuttle to the airport, and checked in. It was all basically according to our usuals, including Angus getting into a big argument with security, which saw me frantically pushing him through the metal detector and hoping to Christ we didn't get arrested, and then some time in the BA business lounge while I dialled down the intense ulcer explosion said security bust-up enforced on me.

Once in Reykjavik, we passed through immigrations, customs, and got our rental car, a little Toyota Yaris (if you're not familiar with the Yaris, think "economy car meets bean can" and you've got it.) Armed with our usual travel Bible, the Avis courtesy map, and some tax-free candies, we hit the road.

Iceland is the size of England but with a population of only around 220,000. Sat smack on the two teutonic plates that form the base for North America and Europe, it is a hotbed (pun intended) of activity from a geological perspective-the island is covered in dormant volcanoes which are evidenced by the many, many lava fields that run throughout Iceland. Iceland also has many geysers and bubbling hot springs from water that just appears out of the surface of the ground. For this reason, Iceland is able to say that (aside from cars), it is a completely green country in terms of energy-it only uses wind and geothermic heating, and to that end it only uses 17% of the possible amount it could be using, as its needs are just not high enough to use more energy.

This makes Iceland one of our favorite countries, as it's true that both Angus and I are a couple of crunchy granola hippies who are always on the lookout for environmentally friendly alternatives (but we admit the fact that we use airplanes is naughty. Very naughty.)

We drove through many lavafields, in fact.

It's surreal to know that there's a road simply cut through where once a raging volcano's lava fell. We made our way to Stykkisholmur, which is a fishing village on the far Western peninsula. We stopped at an old church on the way, which was stunning in its setting as it sat below a massive glacier called Snaefellsjokull.

We also stopped at a local beach. I had the feeling I was being watched at one point, and sure enough, I looked up and I was. About 20 feet away was a set of cow-like eyes and bushy whiskers calmly checking me out.

We stayed the night in Stykkisholmur, where we had one of the greatest meals known to mankind - seafood soup and lobster (fresh fish there is heaven. Ironically, most of the locals opt for burgers and pizza most of the time. I guess if you lived around all that seafood, you'd want some cow from time to time, too.)

The next morning we set off. Now, Angus' favorite way to travel around countries is to take the smallest, windiest country roads imaginable. If they're inpaved it's a plus. If they have steep inclines or declines, it's even better. So much of the day was spent hurtling around various dirt roads trying to figure out where the fuck we were-armed with only a crappy Avis map and a guide book, half the time I had no clue what road we were on.

He was itching to ignore a sign that said "Impassable", and drive down a bumpy mountain road that takes you over 4 glaciers and requires some river fording. I promised him that next time we could come back with a 4x4 and he could try it then. I didn't think the Yaris was up for it, and by then we'd been over such rough roads my uterus was nestled somewhere under my throat anyway.

Getting around was made harder by the roadsigns-although our Swedish came in handy time and time again, more often than not we simply hadn't a fucking clue what was going on in terms of translating the Icelandic.

(Click to embiggen and stare in awe at what may or may not be cat scratchings).

We stopped to get water - we'd run out and I suggested we buy more.

"Buy water in Iceland? Never!" cried Angus, and so we stopped at a waterfall that took the water straight off the melting ice cap.

I have to admit, the water was ice cold and perfect. It was a wise choice.

We stopped at two waterfalls-Hraunfossar and Barnafoss Waterfalls (Barnafoss literally means Child Falls. I thought it was named that because it was a small waterfall, but the truth is it was named that as two children plunged to their deaths there. Nice and uplifting.)

We also stopped at the Deildartunguhver Hot Springs. I'd never been around a hot springs or a geyser in my life prior to this, and I can tell you one thing-they don't smell nice. At all. Geysers and hot springs have a very strong sulphuric smell, which is exactly what rotten boiled eggs smell like. Still, they were incredible-boiling hot water just pouring out of the ground and steam just escaping into the air, warming the area. Not something you see every day.

After getting lost we got stuck on a mountain in the driving snow behind a stuck Big Truck who was getting pulled out by his buddy, Even Bigger Truck. So we did what any ordinary person would do in that kind of situation-we pulled a discreet distance away from the truck and had sex in the car. Then we ate potato chips while watching the two truck drivers bounce their way to freedom.

We finally made it to Reykjavik and checked in to our hotel. The hotel was fine, and one thing was clear-the shower was pumping in geyser water. Not only couldn't we get it to come out of the tap in any degree except "so hot it sloughs your skin off", but it smelled strongly of that boiled egg sulphuric smell.

The next day we meandered around Reykjavik in the morning and had lunch there. One thing that I should point out is that while we ate lunch in the sun, a row of baby carriages marked the sidewalk outside the restaurant. This is the norm for Scandinavia. I've seen it all over and actually with the exception of London, I've seen it here, too. When I first moved to Sweden I was shocked at the sleeping babies left outside the shops, pubs and homes in their strollers, snoozing away, their mothers popping out to check on them. But it happened time and time again-this is what people do. Some doctors even advocate letting the babies continue to snooze outside in their prams, provided they are appropriately dressed for the weather. It took a while for me to get used to it, but this is how things work around here. I know it seems very strange, especially if you're an American and have the same view I did, in which it's unheard of to leave your kid outside a shop. I'm not trying to sway your opinion here and I'm not looking for people to cry that it's child abuse, it simply is what it is - we all do things differently. I've yet to hear about an abduction in these countries from a snoozing infant outside a restaurant. So if you hop a plane to Reykjavik (or any multitude of places on this side of the pond), don't be shocked if you see the strollers outside.

What's interesting about Reykjavik is a lot of the homes are covered with corrugated tin, the kind of thing you'd see on the tops of garages or the sidings in shantytowns. But the truth is, most of them are well maintained, painted, and look amazing. I'd never seen houses covered with the stuff before, and it looked crisp and clean.

We strolled around the city some more, went back to the hotel for a bit of afternoon how's your father, and then got in the car. We left Reykjavik and drove to the farthest southwest tip of Iceland. We passed a geothermal plant where Angus was desperate to go inside and tour but the barricades were down. which I tried to impress upon him was the international sign for "Seriously, we don't want people in here." The impression did not take. He passed the first set as he was so eager to see the inside of a geothermal plant (with me wondering if I'd get to see what the inside of an Icelandic prison would look like), but the second set of barriers were definitely impassable, so we left. There we stopped at the hot springs at Krysuvik.

Which again, didn't smell too good.

Then we drove to the furthest southwest point in the country and watched the wild surf.

We went to the point where you can stand on a bridge overlooking the gap between the tectonic plates of America and Europe.

And finally, we went to the place I'd been dying to go to.

We went to the Blue Lagoon.

This is, of course, not the place where Brooke Shields lost her virginity to Christopher Atkins.

Instead, it's where a massive amount of geothermal water is gathered into an unbelievably blue lagoon, where you swim around in water as warm as a comfortable bath and scoop some of the all-natural mud from cnetrally located buckets to scrub your face and arms. The mud, made of salt, lava rock and silica, really does make you feel like a million bucks. The entire lagoon is surrounded by a huge lava field, and you honestly feel like you are walking on the moon (hey, there's a song in that.) You swim around in your swimsuit in a massive lagoon with others dotted here and there in the lagoon, too. The air is freezing but the water is perfectly warm, and although the minerals are great for your skin it turns your hair into a true Brillo pad.

From time to time, you'd come across a little nook where a couple was getting amorous.

They weren't the only ones.

*Ahem.*

I think there's something in the water.

We didn't take any pictures inside the place because we didn't want to get our camera wet, but we took some of the unblievably blue water outside and the official website photo tab has more photos to show the place off.

And then we went back to our hotel, ate a huge meal, slept like babies, and headed for the airport, where we flew back. We got to fly back on business class and use the business class lounge (courtesy of Angus' BA miles). They had a courtesy basket full of small Blue Lagoon spa hand lotion samples, which the Blue Lagoon sells for scary prices. Between Angus and myself, we took about 50 packets. This is what happens when you let riffraff like us in a business class lounge.

Iceland was amazing. I loved it. The people are very kind and remarkably trusting-not once did we have to give a credit card to hold a room or make a deposit. I think it's incredible and sweet and I hope they never get jaded there. Although we only saw a small part of the country, I'd love to go back and see more. Apparently all the geothermal plants open their doors to the public every year from June-August, which of course has registered high with the boy. I don't know if we'll be going back this year, but we'll definitely be going back.

-H.

Full set of photos here.

Posted by: Everydaystranger at 08:18 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
Post contains 1988 words, total size 14 kb.

1 What struck me about the photo is that they are blue and grey. There's two that have an odd bit of green grass in them and they really stand out. The rest - blue and grey. Even the car for heaven's sake. I look out of my window and it's all green, such an intense contrast.

Posted by: CarolineM at May 21, 2007 09:44 AM (x3QDi)

2 Love the photos. Also ha, laughed at the thought of driving round bumpy roads in a Yaris. We went to Cyprus and drove round the mountains, but our rental car was a MICRA! We were in first and second gear most of the time.

Posted by: Elisa at May 21, 2007 10:43 AM (AlPvn)

3 Sounds like you had a great time! It look beautiful and such an interesting country. I would love to visit. Glad you had a good break and enjoyed yourself. Welcome home!

Posted by: Suzie at May 21, 2007 11:11 AM (YqqaU)

4 OOOO...Ahhhhh...ohhhhh... nice!

Posted by: sue at May 21, 2007 01:48 PM (WbfZD)

5 Iceland is so beautiful! Sounds like it was a great vacation

Posted by: geeky at May 21, 2007 01:56 PM (ziVl9)

6 Thanks for the pics-and it sounds like you had a fabulous time. Only 50 packets? Amateurs....

Posted by: Teresa at May 21, 2007 03:10 PM (3uUE8)

7 Why was the church painted black? Oh, probably to absorb heat. Duh. Dude, drinking water from a stream like that? Maybe not so smart, guardia is a bad bad thing for non pregnant women, devastating for those who are. You get it from water that has any kind of animals in the area, (I could be wrong there may be more ways), so if there were sheep, or goats, deer, elk cows, etc in the area, even though it was coming out of the ground, you can still get it. Extremely bad cramping, diarrhea, vomiting, it's a bad thing. But the seal, I love him, really good pictures!

Posted by: Donna at May 21, 2007 03:18 PM (FbccQ)

8 leptospirosis, that's what I was thinking about that you get from drinking water thats not purified. Sorry. And although it's more common in tropical countries, you can get it anywhere there are animals that may have peed in the water. I know, I'm going away now.

Posted by: Donna at May 21, 2007 04:02 PM (FbccQ)

9 Look at YOu! world travellers and all. thanks for the great pics.. allways.

Posted by: J.m at May 21, 2007 06:14 PM (TsXw6)

10 The color of the water is incredible!

Posted by: kenju at May 21, 2007 09:07 PM (DBvE5)

11 The photo of the church looked like it could have been taken in the western US. Very desolate. Since Angus likes power plants, I'd recommend driving down the pass between Palm Springs and Riverside next time you guys are in CA. Windmills. Nothing but windmills as far as the eye can see. Angus would get a kick out of it.

Posted by: maolcolm at May 22, 2007 09:14 AM (A6gp7)

12 A striking landscape to be sure. One minor thing, somewhere near the beginning you referred to the 'teutonic' plates, which I'm sure was just spellcheck wreaking havoc with your prose. The other was that you reminded me of the postcard my brothers and I received from our mother when we were much younger. She was supposed to be on a flight to Germany to visit her own mother. The postcard we received was from Iceland (apparently nobody knew that the plane was making a refuelling stop there) -- you can understand that we were a bit disturbed.

Posted by: Tinker at May 23, 2007 12:50 AM (HGoEM)

13 I was confused until I re-read my entry and saw that "tectonic" had become "teutonic". So Iceland is apparently resting on a Celtic/Germanic tribe. Spell-checker apologizes.

Posted by: Helen at May 23, 2007 06:27 AM (KLMed)

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