A short 3-day stopover in Iceland on our flight from Frankfurt to New York, where we explored Reykjavík and did the Golden Circle tour.
15 May 2015
After a sad farewell to our families, a super surprise visit from a dear friend and a complete examination of myself at the security gate, we are now sitting in the plane waiting for take-off – and there is no way back…
We landed in Reykjavik at around 4 p.m., the weather was nice and we immediately took the bus to the city. The landscape here is extremely barren, rocky, flat and there are hardly any trees.
When we arrived at the bus station we had to master the only hill anywhere to be seen (= the way to the city) with our luggage.
As we were looking at our city map, a woman approached us and offered help. She spontaneously drove us to the nearest supermarket in her car and from there showed us the way to our accommodation (which was not far to walk).
After we had bought provisions and dinner for the next few days, we went to our Airbnb host.
Luckily someone was there. But the house is a miserable mess, which unfortunately also has children… Extremely dirty. Luckily we have sleeping bags and pillows with us, the sheets don’t seem to have been washed.
After a good portion of spaghetti with tomato sauce (note: 600g of pasta is enough for almost three meals) we left for the city. It was pretty windy and cold. The city is so small and we live so centrally that everything is within easy walking distance. We were at the church, at the sea and in the ‘shopping street’. After a chai latte we went home at a great sunset (at 10:20 p.m.) and with so little contact to any domestic environment we took a shower.
16 May 2015
After a quick breakfast (you have to hold down the toaster manually) we were picked up by a minibus at the house shortly before nine. After we had picked up a few other tourists we left the city for the Golden Circle Tour.
We drove past a geothermal power plant to a town called Hveragerdi in the hot zone, where smoke was pouring out of all possible places and all gullies. Last year a hot spring appeared under a house here and it had to be demolished. We took a short break in the city.
Next we went to the Faxi waterfall. Much spray!
Next we went to the waterfall Gullfoss. The water falls there in two stages, once 11 meters, once 21 meters into a gorge.
After a mini stop at horses on the side of the road…
… we drove to the geyser Strokkur. It erupts about every five minutes with a height of 25-35 meters. The eruption announces itself with bubbling and a level fluctuation in the geyser hole.
Although our guide had explained to us that one should intelligently avoid standing in the wind of the geyser, some people were overconfident (he sacrificed himself in order to be able to take pictures up close, right in the middle of the action. – Although unfortunately he was before sheer shock forgot to press the trigger). Totally soaked, it is a bit chilly at 8°C.
It smelled of sulfur everywhere and in many places hot vapors came out of the ground. It often happens that people who don’t follow the path sink and scald their legs in the boiling water underground.
Next stop was Thingvellir National Park. VERY VERY COOL! This is where the Eurasian and American plates are drifting apart.
On the way back, the guide kindly let us out at the Laugardarlur outdoor thermal baths – thermal baths are Icelanders’ favorite pastime – summer and winter alike. Of course, no photos were allowed inside.
You had to take off your shoes in front of the changing rooms, wash yourself completely with soap before going into the water (the water is not chlorinated) and then you went out into the 38°C pool. Here water wings for kids are provided free of charge!
At some point a loud alarm went off, we had just climbed out of the pool to cool off. We saw that someone had been pulled from the swimmer’s pool and was being CPR. Miserably long. Of course, the police and rescue workers came later. It was really bad to know that someone was almost dying. Luckily the revival was successful.
After almost three hours we left again. After the showers, you can only go into the changing rooms completely dry, there is a 10-second dryer for your bathing suits – awesome!!
Then we went home by bus and foot.
With the second third of yesterday’s portion of pasta and the card reader problem solved, we’re off to bed.
17 May 2015
It doesn’t get completely dark here at night at this time of year, which is taking us to adapt a bit. You quickly lose track of time in the evening and can hardly judge what time it is. Nevertheless, we sleep surprisingly well here and were able to start the day relaxed.
Today we decided to explore the city a little more closely. The first stop was Nautholsvik Thermal Beach on the outskirts of Reykjavík. You can actually swim in the sea here. In order to be able to withstand the cold temperatures, thermal water is also supplied to a small, separate area. Nevertheless, it is very, very cold! So that you can quickly warm up again, there is a thermal pool directly at the beach.
From there we walked through a “forest” to the Perlan.
This building consists of six water tanks that store the warm thermal water for the city. At the same time, it serves as a vantage point from which you can see the entire city and the sea.
After a short stop at home to eat and rest, we went to the flea market that takes place every weekend. In addition to old used things, you can also buy a lot of junk here.
It was very cold today due to the strong wind, but the sun shone almost all day. So we fought our way through the wind to a very nice café where we briefly warmed up…
…before we went on to a small volcano museum. There you could see and touch ash and lapilli from various volcanic eruptions.
Then we made a little detour through the harbor. In addition to large cargo ships, there are plenty of tourist boats for whale watching.
The way home took us a little further along the sea, past a beautiful church, the town hall and the town hall and gulls, ducks and swans.
18 May 2015
This morning we walked around in Reykjavík after packing up, but then we had lunch relatively soon – somehow we had seen enough of the small town. We then smuggled ourselves into an airport shuttle earlier (the ticket inspector carefully checked all the tickets, just not ours 😀 and the bus was packed) – to head off to New York.
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