Tag: iceland
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Book Flood
Books are the most popular Christmas gift in Iceland → https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_Christmas_book_flood Yet another reason to love Iceland, and Icelanders. The Jólabókaflóðið is one of the things that Icelanders are most proud of, and make sure to tell all tourists. Pretty sure I heard about it four or five times when I was there.
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Volcano Cam
A live stream of the results of the volcano explosion in Iceland → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRV23X3H9xE I had already set my phone’s lock screen to show an amazing image from this live stream, and this entirely appropriate dollar amount came in for the food I bought on my card at the airport today 👹
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Heart Lights
The red lights in the stoplights in Akureyri, Iceland’s second largest city, are hearts → https://www.northiceland.is/en/place/hearts-of-akureyri Iceland is in the news these days, which reminded of this charming little thing they do in Akureyri. And I have proof of it from my visit: I took the pic above when I was there earlier this year.
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I’m now back in DC, which means it’s time to wrap up my Iceland trip #2 posts, which means a second post on the sculptures I love so much in this country. This one greets you right outside the airport as you wait for the Reykjavik/rental car busses: Along the water in Reykjavik: Perhaps my…
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I feel like “gorges” is the only thing I haven’t mentioned when describing the amazing scenery that is Iceland. But because waterfalls = rivers = gorges, of course it has some, and Fjaðrárgljúfur (here’s how you say it) is a spectacular one, especially with all the green summer growth: Embedded within is a confluence of…
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It wouldn’t be an eyeintim visit to a country without some toilet pics. Iceland’s were all about the setting, including this one that is along the Ring road, but the middle of nowhere. It even has a viewing platform on the roof (it also cost $2, meaning my visit was view-only). It wouldn’t be Iceland…
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One of my favorite things about Iceland is the weather. The norm is cool/cold, grey, and rainy/snowy, which makes the scenery & sights even more atmospheric (and, fun). So it was great luck that my re-visit to Reynisfjara Beach coincided with a spectacular, day-long, wind & rain storm. It was actually sometimes difficult to walk…
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Basalt columns, especially in waterfalls like Svartifoss, are magical, and always feel like a movie set
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One of the fun things about travel is figuring out how things you know well & use all the time at home are different abroad. Getting gas is one of those things, and since I rented a car in Iceland this time, it was something I got to work through here. My first experience didn’t…
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There are black sand beaches. And then there are black sand beaches in Iceland in the summer.
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Hot Pots
For some reason I’m pretty proud that I never went to the world famous Blue Lagoon the first time I visited Iceland. I instead just like going to the local pools & hot springs, if for nothing else than they’re much, much cheaper. So my goal is to avoid going there this time as well.…
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I’m back in Iceland, and the scenery continues to stun. I know glaciers are made of ice, but two months ago they were covered with snow, so it was kinda hard to picture that they’re made of ice. Not now — the snow has melted in many parts and what’s left is clearly ice, sometimes…
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I’ve been back home in the States for over a week, and I still have so much I want to post about Iceland. But we need to move on with our lives here. The final day of the tour was spent on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, said to contain examples of all of the best things…
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I’m not a nostalgic person. So one of the things I dislike about posting every day is that it means I have to go through the 1000s of photos I’ve taken to find one to talk about. But, sometimes you come across a photo that makes it all worth it
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Wildlife time continued on our tour with a stop at a beach for seals: Mountains & ice always loom in the distance: Didn’t see many seals, but this one gave us some nice oohs & ahhhs It’s Iceland, so there’s always more to see nearby:
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Wildlife is one thing we haven’t seen much of in Iceland. But of course it has that also – Iceland is the best! So it’s whale watching we go, from the tiny port of Haugenes, a 45 minute drive up from Akureyri, the northern capital of Iceland. There’s our boat in the fjord: We’re all…
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As if it’s name wasn’t cool enough, Iceland brilliantly** calls itself “The Land of Fire & Ice”. We’ve seen lots of ice; it’s time for some fire. Hverir in the NW of the country, is Martian landscape that bubbles & steams like…um, I don’t know – this place was unique to me. **Iceland really does…
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It’s called Iceland, so there are many ice adventures to be had there. We walked on glaciers before, but now it was time to go IN them in Vatnajökull National Park. To get there, everybody jumps into a “Super Jeep”: The land starts looking like the moon: Group walking on the glacier, which is covered…
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The way I saw most of Iceland was via a small group van tour around the ring road (using fantastic https://troll.is/ – more on this in a later post). It’s lots of driving, and the money shot I always hoped to capture when on the road was the lone, red-roofed dwelling set in the stark…
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I don’t feel like writing today, so thank goodness this stunning place came up next in my camera roll
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I really don’t want to this become a waterfall blog, but it’s so hard to not always post about them from Iceland. It’s partially because there are so many of them, and partially because they’re all so gorgeous; so accessible; so different; in amazing settings. Skógafoss is a perfect example of this. You first notice…
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Went hiking on a glacier. Other than getting to wear crampons & carry an ice axe, the hiking itself wasn’t too exciting. But Iceland, as always, came through with some spectacular scenery.
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I’m telling you, Iceland does things just a little bit differently, and it’s magical
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Iceland Bathing
There’s a big bathing culture in Iceland. Public pools are everywhere, and they’re geothermally-heated complexes with lots of hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms, slides, etc. The locals go to them all the time to meetup with friends, exercise the kids, and relax, weather-be-damned. There are also lots of private ones that are a little bit…
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Iceland is the kind of place where you can publicly declare that you’ve seen the best waterfall ever, and about 20 minutes, and 750 meters, later you see an even better one. Gljúfrabúi is special because it’s hidden in a crack in the canyon: After clinging to the side and tip-toeing across small rocks, you…
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Everybody knows this, but Iceland is stunning. Breath-takingly, “holy shit"-sayingly beautiful. I went on an eight day small group van tour around the country, and was instantly overwhelmed with the scenery, just from inside the van. I took a bazillion pictures, and quickly learned that my photography skillz were also overwhelmed. It’s impossible to capture…
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Reykjavik is much bigger & city-like than I expected, but it’s got a great feel. I especially like the public art they have scattered throughout. I’m most definitely not a sculpture-loving fella, but there’s something about the sculptures here that had me continually stopping, looking, and taking a pic: Hmmm – there seems to be…
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Hello Iceland
Once I was done with the Camino, it was time to start heading back towards DC via another country. So I squinted my eyes a whole bunch and decided that Iceland, a place I’ve always wanted to go, was between Spain & the US. But Iceland could not be more different than Spain! • From…
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