Well of all the places in the world to go you would think, why would one pick a cold, dark expensive place! Here is why!
Iceland great! but very cold!!! When we got to Reykjavik, we couldn't believe how small it was.... Literally 1 street (with a few side streets) about a mile long was the capital city! It consisted of a few very expensive restaurants. 2 supermarkets, 1 off license that shuts at 6pm! Expensive shops and that was it really! The daylight time was also pretty sereal, Sunrise 10am - Sunset 4pm! Here are a couple of things we done:
1. Went on a tour to see some geezers, which is hot water or lava under the earth that basically has an opening to the surface and every so often it shoots in the air. Great site, cold place.
2. Saw some frozen water falls which was pretty amazing and I know not to state the obvious but I have never seen so much snow or ice in my life.... that might be why its called Iceland!
3. In the evenings we went out to experience the Icelandic night life! Not to bad as it goes, music was good, good atmosphere, good people, only downfall is the fact that the off license shuts at 6 and we didn't get there in time so no pre- drinks and we ended up having to buy the expensive alcohol in the bars.
4. We went to the famous blue lagoon and I must say it was absolute lush!!! Heaven! Basically a big hot spring to just swim around and indulge in... You can put mud/salt masks to put on our faces and there was other bits and bobs there like massage's, steam rooms saunas etc (all very expensive tho).
5. We went to see the Northern Lights, but we didn't see them as apparently they weren't playing that evening due to the clouds. So don't go to Iceland expecting to see them as you could be let down, apparently the best sightings are in Norway somewhere.
6. We also done a tour for the day, we drove along the south coast of Iceland and the sights where amazing, we went past an active volcano, saw some amazing waterfalls, Glaciers, a stuffed (huge) polar bear in a hotel which had apparently made its way from the north pole to Iceland in search for food (years back), obviously they couldn't have a hungry bear running wild so they had to kill the poor beast :-( it was huge tho!
7. We also went on the husky sleigh, due to no snow we had to go on a trolley but it was just as fun! The dogs where beautiful and we even got to steer the trolley, after the tour we went to the where the Husky's live and saw the puppies, adorable little things!
So all in all Iceland is great, yes it was cold and expensive but was well worth it! At least you can say you've had a different experience and I would recommend it to anyone who's after something a little out of the ordinary!
Tips:- Wrap up warm, gloves,hats, scarfs the lot, if you like a drink buy alcohol from off license but remember it shuts at 6! Take a lot of spending money, do as many tours as possible, expensive but all very worth it. Don't expect to see Northern lights, just see it as an added bonus if you do!
Note:- There's no restaurants that are really cheap to eat in, I would say if you are on a budget then buy food from the super market.
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Oct 28th, 2009
