Extreme Iceland: Day 1 & 2

Here I am back again with a new blog post. I know it has been long time since I wrote my last blog post. I have been to Istanbul and Bulgaria for Christmas vacation and for two more weeks afterwards, that was mostly spending time with family and lovely friends but not discovering new places. That is why I haven't been posting for a while. Well, things have changed. I had my dream trip to Iceland! and of course I am willing to share it with you. This time I will do a favor to my foreign friends and write in English.

DAY 1

Before the departure, I have planned the trip day by day. I made this trip with 4 friends from Uppsala and thanks to them I had a great time. Prior to go to Reykjavik we have rented an apartment and a big car for 5. Due to his studies Esko joined us the next day, the first day we were only four people. From Stockholm to Reykjavik is quite a flight, 3 hours long. When we approached Iceland the view from the plane window was just indescribable. Huge mountains all covered with snow and kilometers long seashores. When we arrived to the airport we had a little disappointment regarding our car,  instead of Toyota Rav4 (diesel) we got Suzuki Vitara (petrol) but in compensation we were given an navigation. Well it is kinda fair yes, accept that we needed to feel the tank more often, anyway no reason to ruin our day. On the way to the city Reykjavik, we were already amazed by the nature, even more surprised when we arrived to the apartment, everything clean and comfortable, including a dish washer. Our arrival to the apartment was around the evening, since we landed in the afternoon and spend time for grocery shopping. Taking the opportunity of clear sky, we went a bit out of the city to hunt for northern lights. According to Youtube videos Grotta light house had a small hot tub just near by the sea, where we could warm up our feet. Unfortunately the road was flooded by the sea so that we couldn't realy reach that point. Well, it was amazingly windy and cold, plus no northern lights activity. Apart from that the strong wind blew my tripod and camera, but I was lucky that it did not have much damage, just some scratches.

 

After the light house we decide to take a look at the west part of the city hoping to catch some northern lights since it is further away from city lights and supposed to be darker. Yes, it was dark but still no aurora. After that we though it would be a good idea to go back to the hotel to have a rest and be fresh for the next day.

DAY 2

It is a big day, we are going for whale watching! Now that I look back I can't believe I woke up at 7:30am and made Turkish traditional/common dish for breakfast (menemen), to feed my kids, well yes, I felt like their mother :)

Sooo, the whale watching tour was really interesting. First we were given some special, warm but heavy, workwear clothes for sea, that makes us feel like astronaut and asked to take a pill against sea sickness. Well, when we sailed the pill help till some point yes, but I didn't manage to keep my precious breakfast in.

According to our tour guide, the last two days they could only see some sea birds, no whales or dolphins. Such a nice information after we payed and left the main land! In like one hour we saw our first dolphin. Actually it was a pack of them. They were fast, so do my camera, ... most of the times. One of them came really close to the boat, it was a total surprise and I couldn't catch that shot.

After whale/dolphin watching we headed to the city center to see the main tourist attraction points. The church Hallgrímskirkja is 73 metres long that is visible from most of the point of the city. I really appreciated it had an elevator for the tower unlike many other churches in Europe. The entrance to the church is free but view from the top is really worth paying the fee for the elevator. All over the city center there are those little houses painted in different colors, which creates warm atmosphere.  While we were in the church they were also regulating the organ so that we were lucky hear its sound. The pipe organ is huge! 15 tall and weights 25 tons. Amazing!

Reykjavik city view from the top of Hallgrímskirkja.

 

 

After the church visit we moved towards the airport to pick up Esko. On the way we passed through a nice seashore with little houses. Very interesting Icelandic architecture, the houses' roof is covered with grass. If it wasn't snowing and windy we could enjoy it even more. Well, in Iceland we experienced that the weather can change every 5 minutes, so you never know, it is better keep moving.

 

Finally we picked up Esko and headed to Blue Lagoon all together. It is good that we had a navigation system. Driving in Iceland feels like driving in the middle of no where. The scene on the road gives us the hint that we are almost there. The view o the road is like a dream, sulfur smelly one, plus it is snowing.

 

No matter how touristic it sounds, blue lagoon is a must seen/swim place. Hot spring water + snowy weather + black volcanic rocks + snow covered mountain view, such a nice way to end the day.

To be continued...