I wanted to travel in Iceland before I went anywhere else on the planet. And so while I was in France for a short term educational tour, on the last night of my tour, I booked my tickets for the very next day from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris to Keflavik International Airport in southern Iceland as I just couldn’t dare to go back to my home country without meeting, greeting and soaking up in this Majestic remote island. I booked Iceland Air and within 3 hours I landed on the most beautiful country in the world – As proclaimed by most influential globetrotters and photographers.
Was it comfortable? No.
Was it extraordinary and safe? Absolutely Yes. Read on to know how.
You won’t have comfort while sightseeing because the climate remains quite harsh. The weather is no joke. As long as I stayed there, every single day I experienced several different seasons in a single day. It was mostly extremely windy and rainy and sometimes sunny. Since there are few trees in Iceland and the houses in the cities are only a few storages high there is not a lot of shelter to be found. It was usual to have sunshine, clouds, rain, sleet, Ice and high winds all in the same day. There were times when I would wake up in the morning and would be greeted by unending rains and high winds and I would see people gathering all courage, coming out of their tents, lifting their tents/cookware/etc. off and packing it all while getting all drenched in cold cold weather but there would be no option to wait because nobody would want to mess up with the predefined itinerary.
Lot of people perceive it as a risky destination because internet mentions that it is a land of Fire and Ice and it is secluded with no army or airforce but I found it extremely safe. Unless you dare to not follow the signs on roads, tunnels, and sites - you are safe! Believe me when I say that I lost my wallet and found it back after seven days with all currency and documents in it! I could see even couples with their babies on their back and in strollers. Safety is beyond doubt.
Since I had been travelling in Europe for a month, I had 30 kg luggage with me, and so as soon as I landed airport, I wanted to get rid of all the unnecessary stuff as I prefer to travel light. I immediately walked up to Geysir to drop my luggage off. Next step was to look for car rental companies as I neither wanted to remain confined to the city, nor I had any intention to book tour operators/excursions because I wanted to explore all four directions in Iceland rather than visiting few mainstream sites on the most sought after Golden circle. Thankfully I prepared an Itinerary and included a mix of some of the most popular sites as well as the lesser known, offbeat but beautiful sites from all South, East, North and West Iceland.
In the meanwhile, I updated my details on couchsurfing. To my surprise I found three wonderful men from Germany (Indian by Nationality). Their dates of travelling and itinerary coincidentally matched with mine and so we immediately joined to share costs. One of them was a data scientist but had keen interest in geology, another one was software developer and was my kind of crazy, third one had got superb sense of humor. There was never a dull moment when I was with them. They introduced me to Spanish, Mongolian, Finnish songs and they were full of stories.
Started off in 4*4 Suzuki SX4 from South Iceland. Stocked up groceries for the day from the supermarket at Hella and headed forward with just one goal in head – See, Do and Experience as much as possible. The first site I visited was Skogafoss waterfall. Headed another 175 km to park car in the Svinafell campground. The guys with me chose to camp but I chose to sleep inside the car with a sleeping bag on. I observed that the South Iceland is too mainstream and lot of tourists could be seen there. It is also the most populated part of Iceland with 2/3rd of the population living there, as per the facts.
I wanted to experience the unspoiled nature and so headed towards Eastern part of Iceland next. The drive offered breathtaking views of low but rugged mountains, lavafields, narrow fjords, viking horses and small picturesque villages. Went Dyrholaey from black sand beach then further up to diamond beach, hoffel tubs wherein I paid 1000 ISK as a fee, Stayed at Tehusid Hostel, Egilsstaðir during night. Each hostel in Iceland offers one of its kind experience. I will probably write a separate post explaining why.
Next up was North part of Iceland. This part was the coldest and least populated. offered breathtaking vistas and landscape like no other. It was a Land of contrast – Mountains and canyons, hot springs at 100 degrees and waterfalls as cold as icebergs, rainy and sunny. The vistas were painted by an otherworldly spectrum of colours. While all of Iceland's regions have great waterfalls, the biggest is in the North. The mighty feature is Dettifoss, Europe's most voluminous waterfall and Bluest Myvatn lake. Floated in Myvatn nature baths next till the sun went down the horizon. Ditched Blue lagoon for this as Blue lagoon seemed overhyped and over priced. Drove straight towards a small gorgeous city - Akureyri wherein I enjoyed the capsule stay.
Visited few sites in Northwest of Iceland next day – Reykjaskólavegur, siglufjordur, dalvik, kolugljúfur canyon and enjoyed number of interesting rock formations around. Decided to spend the following night at Saeberg camping site.
Western part of Iceland had to be the next destination. Iceland is dotted with seething, bubbling, vividly coloured geothermal areas. On the way, the landscapes were ever changing, from grassy fields to black lava sands, waterfalls to views of glaciers, fjords between rugged mountains, picturesque rivers, horses. There was so much to see that I totally forgotten about time and distance. Got awestruck viewing Kirkjufell mountain (considered one of the top 10 beautiful mountains in the world). Planned my stay in a Hostel in reykjavik.
Before I depart, I wanted to pay homage to the nation in verse. So after exploring all of Iceland like a crazyhead, I thought it would be a wise idea to explore the capital city of Iceland – Reykjavik. Visited three Museums including an Art Museum that was close to my hostel, admired beautiful wall art and the most iconic building in the city - Hallgrimskirkja church - while taking a stroll, shopped at a duty free store and stopped for munching at an Icelandic chips cafe. I would see sharp semicircular rainbows so often while I was in Iceland. While back in India, I am supposed to wait for a certain part of the year to have even a slight chance of witnessing a rainbow.
I Also tried carpooling while I was in the city. And closed my day with a visit to Reykjadalur that offered a combination of natural hot springs, Waterfall and hiking. I will allow pictures to narrate rest of the story.
I would say Go Iceland if you wish to experience something more than just a few minutes of illumination-show (Aurora) in the sky, If you really deeply sincerely wish to have a raw, authentic, unworldly experience! If you get to see northern lights dancing, that can be, if anything at all, just an added bonus.
I met people who had already visited anything between 17-192 countries and Iceland reminded them of a lot of destinations like Scotland, Finland, Greenland, Hawaii, America but none of them seen a place more beautiful than this beautiful little island :) Have a look at some more pictures!
