Iceland,
January, 2015
I have always wanted to
see the northern lights and what better place to see them than in Iceland!!! Icelandair (www.icelandair.com) has a nice,
inexpensive northern lights tour on their website so I booked it adding an
extra day in Akureyri. The tour includes
flights to Reykjavik from many U.S. cities, 2 nights in Reykjavik, northern lights tour and 2 nights
in Akureyri.
I flew to Seattle
on January 20 at 10:00 a.m. from Orange
County which was the
cheapest way for me to connect to an Icelandair flight. Arrived in Reykjavik on January 21 about 6:45 a.m. Took the Flybus to the Icelandair Natura
hotel where they gave me a bus pass for the day. It was a little below 0 degrees F which was pretty
cold for a California
girl. I had brought along long
underwear, heavy windproof jacket, hat, gloves, snow boots, etc. so I put
everything on and took the bus into the center of town.
There was snow everywhere
but it was beautiful. The city is clean
and bright, people are friendly and walking in the snow felt wonderful. Stopped at Sandlot bakery for coffee and
pastry before heading down the main street to see the town. No skyscrapers, only lots of quaint little shops,
cafes, etc. along the way. Walked around the harbor, passed the city hall and walked up to the Church of Hallgrimur,
at 244 feet, the largest in Iceland. Construction began in 1946 and ended in
1986. It also houses a beautiful large
pipe organ by the German organ builder Johannes Klais of Bonn.
I had read about the open
air museum (arbaejarsafn) which had several old buildings taken from different
parts of Iceland
and that there was only one tour per day at 1 p.m. I took a bus which took almost an hour but
arrived just in time for the tour. I was
the only person as we first visited the old church and then a few other people
from Ireland
appeared which made the tour much more interesting. We learned and saw how people lived several
hundred years ago and even up until 1970.
We visited their homes, churches and farms and the guide gave an
excellent explanation of their lives.
Afterwards, I was so fortunate that the people from the tour had a car
and dropped me off at my hotel. I was a
bit hungry so had a nice hot coffee, chocolate tart and some fresh fruit before
checking in and taking a nice hot shower.
It felt so good to get warm!!!
Later that evening I took
the bus back into town and had a wonderful dinner at Foretta Bar Inn. It is known for its little plates and I dined
on house smoked salmon with potato rosti and yogurt sauce and smoked duck with
dates and beets and goat cheese crumble.
Walked back to the bus and returned to the hotel which is really nice,
very modern, quiet and clean.
Breakfast in the morning
was an nice assortment of dark breads which you could slice and toast yourself,
hard cooked eggs, cheeses, smoked salmon and fresh fruit. We flew up to Akureyri which took only an
hour and had the day to ourselves. I
wandered down into town dressed in my warmest clothes as it was 10 degrees
below freezing!!! Cute little town with
low buildings and a great cozy bookstore.
I booked a dog sled ride for the next day and then walked towards the
folk museum along the old houses, being careful as I walked as it was rather
slippery on the ice. The museum was open
from 2 – 4 and I was too early so I walked back into town and decided to go
there the following day. Had a slice of
deep dish pizza at the bakery and then walked back up to the hotel. Later in the afternoon I went to the outdoor
bath/swimming pool close by heated by hot
springs. First
you shower, then put on your swim suit and then walk out into the freezing air
and hop into one of the 9 pools all at different temperatures. There is a large “swimming pool” with lanes
to swim in, one heated to 38 degrees C and one to 43 degrees C with a few
cooler ones in between. It is a communal
environment where friends and family meet and relaxed together. There is supposedly one such “bath” in every
town. Took a shower at the hotel and
later went down to R23 for dinner. It’s
a “sushi” restaurant mainly so I ordered a sushi platter which was quite nice,
especially the sushi pizza, one of their specialties.
About 10:00 p.m. a bus
came and picked us up to look for the northern lights. We stopped at several locations and our guide
was able to spot some nice green and faint red lights which we saw move across
the sky – quite lovely. The camera
seemed to pick up the colors better than the naked eye. It was, however, VERY cold!!!!
Inpiration Iceland (www.inspiration-iceland.com
) picked me up at 10:00 a.m. for the dog
sled tour and off three of us went, each in turn to lead a team of 3 Siberian
huskies through the snow for about an hour.
It was great fun!!! I rode behind
12 Alaskan huskies in July In Alaska
(not in the snow!!) so this was quite different. I would still love to do a full 12 dog sled
ride someday but this will do for now!!!
Afterwards I warmed up a
bit at the hotel and then walked down into town for a flaky croissant sandwich and
hot tea for lunch. Slowly and carefully,
I walked back to the museum which was closed yesterday and found it very
interesting. In the basement were
exhibits of life in Akureyri, i.e. people catching and selling fish, using
geothermal water for heating and electricity, doing daily chores, etc.
Dinner was at Strikid
overlooking the harbor that night. The
chef had been part of a culinary competition whose team had come in 5th
so he was recreating some of their winning dishes on his menu. Starter was arctic cod wrapped in spinach
mousseline which just melted in your mouth with langoustine, main course was
slow cooked lamb with potato croquette and vegetables, beautifully prepared and,
for dessert, their signature flourless chocolate cake with raspberry drizzle.
After breakfast I was
picked up by saga travel for the myvatn winter tour which was very
interesting. Saga offers many other
tours, i.e. four wheel drive tours to ice caves, horsebacking riding, etc. but the myvatn tour
interested me the most. We visited
Dimmuborgir, a lava labyrinth where Game of Thrones was filmed, Godafoss
waterfall, Namaskard, the high temperature geothermal zone, Drjotagja, a
popular underground bathing cave which is now too hot to bath in and Hverfjall,
an explosion crater formed about 2800 years ago. The landscape is very stark with few trees
and miles and miles of snow.
We stopped for lunch at a
little local restaurant where the cows were settled inside. During the winter it is too cold for most of
the animals, except the Icelandic horses, to remain outside. Food was delicious. I had the grilled arctic char with potato
pancake and a fresh salad with tomatoes and feta cheese. Afterwards we visited the Myvatn nature
baths, an outdoor geothermal lagoon, before returning to our hotel. After a hot shower, I walked into town to get
alittle exercise and had some tea and a delicious chocolate cookie at the
bookstore before turning in.
We flew back to Reykjavik in the morning
and when we arrived there was a big storm.
It was snowing and very windy and I was disappointed to find out that my
horsebacking riding tour had been cancelled…So, I took the bus into town and
visited the Settlement museum. In 2001,
as construction on a new building began, a perfectly preserved ancient Viking
longhouse was uncovered which is in this museum. It also houses excavated artifacts and
exhibits which explain how these tools were used by the Viking. Very interesting.
Afterwards I had a slice
of delicious chocolate hazelnut cake and hot coffee at Sandlot Bakery and about
5:30 p.m. headed out to Kjallarinn Kitchen Bar for dinner. As I was so early and no one else would
arrive for awhile the chef created a delicious 5 course menu for me which I
thoroughly enjoyed. The food was cutting
edge and the chef came out occasionally to pour some sauce or add some liquid
nitrogen herbs to my dish. Each course
was served in a different glass, bowl, dish or even a jar. The meal went as follows: Black and blue tuna on tomato marmalade with
bacon popcorn, langoustine and cauliflower served in a jar with foie gras and
chile sauce, shrimp cocktail served in a champagne glass with egg slices, ocean
perch on a horizontal plate with crisp potato croquette, lemongrass sauce and
white asparagus, thin slices of rare duck on a bed of cabbage with twice cooked
bacon and roasted nectarine and chocolate “bombe”, i.e. like a large truffle
except inside was a creamy chocolate mousse.
Absolutely outstanding!!! It
might just be the best restaurant in Reykjavik!
In the morning after a
leisurely breakfast, I was picked up and delivered to the Blue Lagoon en route
to the airport. It is a geothermal spa
located in a lava field in Grindavik, about 20 minutes from the airport. The lagoon is man-made and fed by the water
output of the nearby geothermal power plant.
The water temperature averages 98 – 102F and is rich in minerals such as
silica and sulfur. First you have to
check your baggage, then buy your ticket and get a towel, shower and finally
walk outside into the cold air and get into the lagoon as quickly as
possible!!! It was very relaxing and an
excellent way to end my trip, especially as it was my birthday!!!
Bus picked us up and
delivered us timely to the airport.
Luckily I was heading West as there were big storms in the East and many
flights had been cancelled. I relaxed at a little table and throughly enjoyed a delicious open-faced smoked salmon, egg and cucumber sandwich on rye bread, a very plesant ending for my trip. I would love
to return to Iceland
someday, perhaps in the Spring or Summer when the weather is a bit nicer!!!
