This is Iceland

I took a couple days after finals to go on my last solo trip. This time it was to Reykjavik, Iceland. What would have been a more cost-effective way to go about this would have been to do one of the free stopovers that Icelandair offers on the journey home. Unfortunately, my dad already got a non-refundable return ticket for my sister, and my parents weren’t about to let me ditch her and stop at Iceland by myself on the way back from our January adventures, so I had to fly solo and on my own time for this one. I didn’t mind, I’ve come to really enjoy travelling by myself.

Iceland is an amazing, beautiful country. It’s one of the top places that I’ve visited so far, and one of the few where I could actually see myself living there. I’m not quite sure why, a mixture of the people being so friendly and the culture being fascinating I guess. I’d love to go back and spend more time and money there, haha.

I flew out from Glasgow last Sunday, and arrived in Reykjavik around 6. Navigating my way from the BSI bus terminal to my hostel was interesting, but I managed. Transportation in Reykjavik is a little different as there isn’t a subway system, it’s just buses. So if you have the money and the need, renting a car is probably the most convenient way to go. (However you can make it just by walking, as I will describe shortly.) Since vehicles are the most common mode of transport, it often seems like you’re just walking along the side of a highway instead of in a city, which can be a little strange. Stuff is also really expensive in Iceland, similar to other Scandinavian countries. Thankfully most places take credit cards, and you can find dinner for around $20 if you know where to look.

On Monday I started my day by visiting Hallgrimskirkja, Reykjavik’s most impressive church. (Note: the sun doesn’t really rise in Reykjavik in December until around 11 am so 9 am looks pretty similar to 12 pm.) The inside didn’t impress me as much as the outside, but there is a pretty cool organ. You can pay to get up to the top of the tower, but I wasn’t interested in that. There’s a free way to get a pretty good view of Reykjavik from high up that I’ll describe later. After that I headed into the city center, and walked along Tjornin Lake/Reykjavik Pond (I saw it called both) for a bit. The lake (or pond) was frozen over, but there’s one corner near city hall that didn’t have ice, and that’s where all the geese and swans congregated for bread. Quite the sight. I walked past that to the University Library, which is a really cool building before you even go in. There’s a small moat-like thing around it, and the inside is nice with a pretty good view as well. Then I walked back to the Parliament building for the free CityWalk walking tour done by local history students. I can’t recommend this enough, it’s a great tour, Eric was a great guide and very friendly! Definitely do this if you’re in Reykjavik! After that I walked past the Yule town nearby. It’s tiny and cute, you can go ice skating for a small fee. In addition to this, there are a few Christmas creatures hidden around the city. They’re the Yule Lads, or Iceland’s 13 Santa Claus equivalents, one for each day of advent. There’s 5 hidden around the city, and spotting them wasn’t hard but a lot of fun. I then checked out the Reykjavik Art Museum, which is spread out between 3 buildings. It’s not that expansive of a collection, and the buildings are kind of far if you’re walking, but was a neat way to spend the afternoon (and admission isn’t too bad either). There’s also the photography collection in the city library next to the art museum that’s free!

The next day I started off by going to one of the public pools in the city, Sundhollin. This one is the oldest in Reykjavik, but also only has outdoors hot tubs with an indoor pool. Still a cool experience, and they’re building an outdoors pool so that will soon change. It was essentially me and a bunch of locals going for a dip before work, which was really interesting. There was also a small device to dry your bathing suit and a hair dryer! A really great way to start the day! (You can go to the Blue Lagoon, but this is a fraction of the cost and essentially the same, all of the pools are geothermally heated and everything. Only difference is that Blue Lagoon is natural while these are manmade.) Afterwards I went to the Saga Museum because Vikings. This was a neat museum, although I might have gotten more out of it if I already knew more about Icelandic history. Essentially they built statues and models to illustrate the more important and exciting parts of Iceland’s history, which looks really cool, but is kind of disjointed if you don’t already have a general sense of what Iceland’s history is. Afterwards you can dress up as a Viking, which I did (got a few strange looks too, but I don’t care). Another museum I checked out is the Einar Jonsson Museum. The museum itself costs money, but the sculpture garden is open 24/7 and looks really cool, so I walked around that for a bit. Finally I went on a long walk to Perlan, a restaurant a little outside the city. The food itself is expensive, but it has a 365 degree view around it, and on a clear day you can see mountains and all the buildings and it is absolutely gorgeous. I was stunned. Having finished that long walk, I took an even longer one to Ellidaardalur, a park even farther outside the city. It has gorgeous waterfalls and rivers, but it was really ice-y so I couldn’t walk around too much.

That night the Northern Lights were supposed to be pretty active, so I thought I’d try my luck at seeing them on my own. I walked down to the Grotto lighthouse, in the Seltjarnes area. I didn’t see anything that night, but I talked to others who did. I don’t know, try it if you get the chance! I also did one of the bus tours (with Sterna) the next night, had similar luck, but I don’t think there’s huge difference between the two. The nice thing about the tour was that I didn’t have to walk far, and they take you farther away from the city so the sky has less light pollution. Try a bus tour early on in your trip, since you get a free voucher for another one if you don’t see the Northern Lights.

Wednesday was my third and last full day, so I had already booked a glacier walk with Icelandic Mountain Guides. It was a great way to spend the day, the bus picks you up at your lodgings and takes you out to the glacier. The driver tells some tales along the way, to keep you awake and interested, and the guides at the glacier were incredibly friendly. I didn’t have hiking boots or waterproof pants with me, and I was fine, they didn’t charge me extra to borrow boots or anything. And you get some awesome pictures, the views are spectacular from the glacier. (Literally if you like the Scottish highlands you will love this.) Our guide said that it’s estimated that the glaciers in Iceland will have melted in 150 years at the rate that they’re going, so check your energy consumption and try to see one as soon as you can! There were even two stops on the way back at some waterfalls that had a magnificent view of the sunset.

Then the next day I had to get up and get back to BSI to catch my plane. And that was the end of my arctic adventure. The weather really put Glasgow in perspective, at least I wasn’t slipping on ice everywhere in Scotland. I loved it in Iceland, it’s a gorgeous place and the people are great. The literacy and education rates are ridiculous, and I didn’t see anyone on the streets during my entire time there. It’s also a very feminist and liberal country, with gender equality much better than many other places in the western world and a huge pride festival in August. I loved it. The different language is also fascinating to listen to, Icelandic sounds musical and lovely. And nearly everyone there speaks Icelandic, English, and Danish, which seems ridiculous to my American only-English-speaking brain. And the ability to hear Icelandic while still interacting with people in English is remarkable.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the food a little. The candy in Iceland is really different and cool! Icelandic people really like licorice and chocolate, so it’s pretty common to get a random candy bar that includes both. There’s also Skyr, the not-yogurt-but-no-one-cares snack in Iceland. It has ridiculous levels of protein and no fat or something like that. Tasted pretty similar to yogurt to me. The main delicacies of the country are fish and lamb. The fish of course is always freshly caught and delicious, especially the salmon. Then there’s the more traditional dish of fermented shark. I tried a little, it didn’t taste too bad, expect for the funny aftertaste. (For people worried about the environmental impact, as far as I know Iceland is pretty good about stuff like that, but it doesn’t hurt to do your research beforehand! Investigate the restaurant and the fishing practices before buying!) The lamb is also very special in Iceland because they roam around the farmland freely, eating any plants or herbs that happen to be around. This means that they’re essentially marinating their entire lives, and gives them a unique taste. The more traditional dishes include half a sheep head and ram’s testicles. I didn’t have the testicles, but the café in BSI is apparently the only place in Reykjavik where you can get the sheep’s head, so I had that and is was definitely an experience. Tasted pretty good, but the fact that you were cutting the meat off of an animal’s face was interesting. Also Scandinavia seems to have a fascination with hot dogs? Reykjavik has the famous hot dog stand near the harbor, but you can also get more fancy ones in most restaurants. I had both, and they were both delicious!

So that’s Iceland, essentially real life Berk. I don’t know why, but I really jived with the place, definitely want to return again someday, hopefully for longer. I can see why people want to leave, there are tourists everywhere and it’s just an island in the middle of the Atlantic. But it has an amazing, fascinating culture, great people, and tons of things to do and see. I personally couldn’t get enough of it, and fully intend to return and experience more of it.