Off to the land of ice & fire!

      When we both turned 50, we treated ourselves to a Scandinavia trip to see the northern lights (which we got to see) using planes, trains and automobiles. When 60 came around we wanted to do something similar so Iceland came to mind, only this time it will be using planes, snowmobiles and automobiles.
     
Not as long as the 50th trip, this one only covers 7 days but thanks to a very nice lady in the little travel agents that we found, we have managed to cram in everything we want to do for a lot less than it would have cost us to organise it ourselves.
   
So, before the Coronavirus shuts down travel to absolutely everywhere in the world, its a dark early start to get to Manchester airport for the 1st flight out to Reykjavik
........ after 2nd breakfest of course :)

Granny Jill takes Fleur on Tour

My granddaughter Megs asked me to take Fleur with me on our trip. Gladly agreed to encourage her curiosity of the world and hoping she'll travel too. So first post...

Fleur is all set for her travels ✈ ..early start tomoz...07.15hrs flight so up at 3.30am 😴 😳

Landed

Surprisingly easy fight thru check-in and security, not a face mask in sight. Paid the equivalent of a second mortgage for a full English but hey ho, it's holiday time. 2 and half hour flight ( bit bumpy) and we are shuffling thru a very nice airport to experience the fastest baggage collect ever.

     
Thru the doors and..... ' bloody hell that wind is bitter' but it's all very pretty with snow and pine trees. Shuttle bus to the hotel took about an hour; long straight sections of road thru barren snow covered landscape with hints of mountains in the distance.

     
Not long before civilisation appeared then we transferred from coach to minibus and finally to hotel. No check-in till 2 so off down the road for food and beer

'Skāl'

Just down the road we have a food court type place, all sorts of little places to eat all under one roof. This could be a regular place for us. Started with a counter top place doing a mixture of local stuff. 
While Jill tucked into pancakes I had to have an Icelandic cheese board with a portion of fried seaweed on the side. Melted goats cheese, fennel crackers with a spiced honey dip. Washed down with a 'glass' of Snorri (local lager - it don't come in pints unfortunately)

Skàl 2

...finally arrived...Fleur enjoying her first Icelandic beer with seaweed nibble on the side, followed by pancakes smothered in birch syrup and raisins 😋  ..... Skàl ! 🍻

'Chilly Jilly'

Decided sitting at the bar near the door was not a good idea ( even if it was 20% off happy hour) for Jill's back so went for a wander. Down to the sea front and 'minus wind chill god knows what' but suitably wrapped up it was good. Not many places open on a Suñday so we had to wander back up into the town to see what we could find; yes, they have a Brew Dog!

    
You can't go wrong with a Brew Dog, good music, good selection of beer and the foods decent and plenty. Jet Black Heart - milk stout 4.7% - smooth ! 

    
Nice comfy seats watching the light snowfall outside, trying the beers and pondering over the menu. Pickleback anybody?

(Still not checked in the hotel yet; wonder what time it goes dark and the wolves come out? - come to think of it, where is the hotel ?)

Jill's on the 3rds, the Dutty and the Borg!

Another town... another Brewdog

Wandered to stretch our legs and guess what we found...

also discovered today is Iclandic Beer Day, celebrating the end of their prohibition every year 🍺

Long day...

It's been a long day.. 16.5hrs give or take. Far too much money has been spent ( beer is more expensive than Norway and that's only for 400ml) and a fair amount of beer has been drunk regardless. It's been good tho.  
 Everybody speaks English and everybody is friendly. Can't believe how many Canadians there are, both living here and visiting. The weather is deceivingly cheeky.

    
You sit in your nice warm bar looking out at the odd ripple in the snowy slush. You get all excited when you see a whole roof full of snow suddenly slide off onto the pavement. But then you see people walking past, at an angle, wearing the thickest feather down coats with fur hoods you've ever seen and you remember the icy bitter wind. Another pint, we can check in later.

    
Eventually we leave Brew Dog and head home. The desk staff have changed since dinner time and look us over suspiciously when we turn up with no luggage but once they open the left luggage vault and check passports everybody is happy.

    
The room looks very Scandinavian, plenty of space but not enough hangers and no drawer space to dump stuff. We have a small entrance room with couch and second TV; sure Jill is eyeing it up for me if I snore. Strange thing is the water tastes of hard boiled eggs - sulphur; well, we are on a volcanic island. Night night.

Sunshine & 🏊

1st trip out today. Bus picked us up at noon and took us into the interior of the island to the geothermal pools that have become known as the Secret Lagoon since 1891. We started off in sunshine but then soon found the clouds as we climbed over the mountains. 

It wasn't snowing but the winds had picked up and snow was drifting across the road to the point that it was really difficult to tell road from ditch 😵

But not too worry, our little old driver knew what he was doing. Hour and a half later we had arrived; separated into boys and girls to strip off to the nuddy, shower (Iceland doesn't like you contaminating it's waters) and then put your cossie on before we did the dash of death across the freezing concrete to oh so warm volcanic pool. 

      It was hot. In fact in places it was too hot as boiling water bubbled up in various places dotted around the pool causing hot currents which crept up on you. Around the edges you could find the odd sunken boulder big enough to sit on, up to shoulder depth and just let the mineral loaded, sulphurous waters flow over you. Loved it despite the steamed up glasses.

  Once you'd had enough it was shower time again, a wander round the area then coffee and cake waiting for the bus back to town and happy hour.

(Grand daughters toy about to get hot!) 

Secret Lagoon.

Decided to visit the more natural Secret one as opposed to the famous Blue one... weren't disappointed.

Water was a gorgeously warm, the pool had a very comfortable flat gravelly bottom...very nice. Some small areas near the edges next to the little geysers and springs, surrounding and supplying the pool, were far too hot tho. Later we walked past these watching them erupt and bubble at a balmy 100°C plus !

Been exploited as a source of heat and hot water since 1891 when the first thermal bathing pool was built. Been used to heat buildings, bathe, wash, cook and now even grow food in the large complex of greenhouses and on the warmer land.

A beautiful and impressive area to visit...definitely the land of ice and fire... lots more to explore... it's only our second day ❄ 😁

Hveragerói 🍌☕

The little settlement of Hveragerói is famous in Iceland for its indoor cultivation of bananas and coffee, I kid you not. The biggest green house production of bananas out side of the Philippines it's all possible because it sits on the edge of 2 tectonic plates and has multiple hot springs which provide boiling water under most of the area. It also has lots of earthquakes.

 The boiling water also allows food to be cooked simply by burying it for a few hours, providing the restaurants in the area with unique menus. 

   The curse of this geothermal water is the effect it has on the locals. Stories of hot springs opening overnight in people’s kitchens, bedrooms and living rooms are very common. For this reason there is no cemetery in the area; nobody wants to cook granny 😱.        

Happy hour? Not if your Thai

Came back from the geopool gagging for a beer. 
Left Jill watching 'The Chase' in the room and headed for the tiny bar; its happy hour 5-8. I ask which beers are on happy hour to the the Thai receptionist........

   'Er, im sorry the pumps are not working, I've tried all day but it's not coming out. I've texted my boss and he says he will come and fix, sorry.' 

'Ok, I'll have a bottle from the fridge, oh wait you have pint glasses, I'll have 2...still happy hour prices?'

'No, only wine sorry.'

'Ok' 😡

........

........

........

(Short time later)

'Ooo my boss just txt he say pumps working now'

????? 'ok I'll have a pint please'

'ok, oh it's not right, can not serve you that, I'll try again, oh that's not right I'll try again'

'Stop! All that beer is good beer! Just pull it back a little bit and do it SLOWLY'

' sorry my first day, we do not have bar at my hotel, thank you.....oh, it comes out smooth....!!!'

'So, do I get my 2 bottles at happy hour prices?'

'errr I'll check...'

(On the right £11, on the left £3.67 happy hour!)

Poor little Thai girl.

After the confusion over the beer in the hotel it gets better. Sat at the bar I caught snippets of what was going on ( no, not eves dropping, just waiting for Jill)

3 British woman turn up wanting to check in. Like us they arrived before 3pm so locked luggage in the steel room and went sight seeing.

  
 Returned, they need to get cases to change for the northern lights tour at 2030hrs. Receptionist hands key then gets distracted. Shorty after ( very shortly) same women are at bar throwing back happy hour red wine ( should have been my choice) then disappear to eat.

   
Enter 2 more British woman wanting to check in and get luggage before going on same trip. No key. Who had key? Thai girl can't find. I remind her about the other woman and the penny drops. Under a ever increasing hostile environment from the 2 woman she txts the manager for spare key then travel agent for mobile numbers. By the time Jill comes down its time to get out of Dodge City.

     
Safety settled back at the Skal bar waiting for my beer and spiced pork on a bed of mash I realise I've left my bloody phone on the bar. Running, yes running on the snow in my new boots ( see later) I get back to the hotel to find 2 guys with a crowbar, hammer and chisel trying to get into the steel, left luggage vault ⚒️. Collect phone and exit.🤗

   
Stroll back to bar to find some french b#£#£## has walked away with my beer 😡! All apologies from staff, new beer arrives. What next ?🤔

Drinky time...

Settled back at the Skãl bar it's time to try things new after some excellent food. 
   They have guest beers, they have a cream IPA made with, yes cream. 
    They have a Reykjavik Mule made with vodka, Brennivin ( Icelandic Aquivit), ginger, lemonade and Lovage oil. 
Not forgetting pudding; Omnom Chocolate which is made from  mousse, olive oil, liquorice, salt & Clementine granita. 
We could end up living here 😋

Grey day down the harbour..☁️

No rush, wander day today. Down the coastal path to the water's edge to recalibrate the GPS (we're no longer under the sea now) then ' gingerly' wander to the old harbour. The high winds and overnight minus temperatures has turned the snow to icy glass on the paths. Roads are still clear but a foot or so of dirty ' crunchy' slush lies either side of them.

    After a ☕ and 🍩 stop it was off to the maritime museum. It turned out to be more of a fishing museum, tracing the history of the industry, equipment and details of the over 300 different fish in and around the waters of Iceland.  ( Try and spot the odd one out)

Interesting enough, but not what we expected. Salted fish anybody?

Hungry ?

Despite the museum not being what we thought it was we did spend quite a bit of time in there so it was time for a spot of lunch. Again just wandering, we found another food court. Mainly fish places being by the harbour we decided to opt for some Icelandic lamb instead. Pita bread for me while Jill decided to be adventurous 'you have to try these things' she said, smiling. Turned out to be quite disappointing; not much meat on a head with a little tongue. You live and learn I suppose 

Happy hour is upon us..

The weather has changed; snow, and not before time. Need something to cover the ice. Of course the snow has driven everybody indoors; or is it the 3 - 6 happy hours that a lot of places have. 

     It's getting to be a bit of a detective job finding the best places. Some are 2 for 1 but only on 1 or 2 beers; not always evident till it's poured and on the more expensive beers anyway. Other places do it by percentages dropping the price by 25 or 30% once you work out the prices. Still it's cheaper and that's all that matters.

      So, after Jill's disappointing lunch she needed coffee and pancakes;  I had to 'force' down a 5.6% Viking beer at a reasonable £3 discount while she filled in post cards.😁

Koffin Cellar Bar

Drawn by the extended happy hour till 7pm rather than 6pm the little cellar bar is...well...odd.

    Mixture of Mexican, LBG, and...well not sure what. It sells Viking lager, cheap for happy hour and is not that full. Mixture of Spanish holiday resort type old Brits using the happy hour and some young locals. It's warm and cozy but I'm not convinced the raw fish on the bar covered in well used cling film is actually edible; unless you want food poisoning I suppose. When the table stock of cheap lager is finished we will be on the move again.

Posh part of town...

Moving on we needed a proper feed. Jill's back had had enough of bar stools and bench seats so we needed a proper eating establishment. Although our route was to take us up thru the posh part of town we had confidence we could find something relatively reasonable, price wise.

     You can't go wrong with an Italian; no matter where you are in the world. Food you understand, half decent house red wine and people that understand you.

A sharing platter of bruschetta, 2 pasta meals, glass and a half of red each and a couple of coffees came in at under expected Icelandic prices. Not bad considering. All that was left to do was wonder back to the hotel and look in all the pretty very expensive shops.

The Golden Circle

Trip day today, about 5hrs total by coach.

 The Golden Circle consists of 3 stops / sights. 

The rift valley, Thingvellir,  where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet. Thingvellir became Iceland’s first national park in 1930. It is also home to Iceland’s largest natural lake, Thingvallavatn.

Gullfoss Falls - Golden Falls. Gullfoss waterfall gets its name from the golden color of its water as it churns up silt and sediment. It is fed by Langjökull, Iceland’s second-largest glacier. In total, Gullfoss is 32 meters high, falling two tiers that are 11 and 21 meters high.

Geysir geothermal area is home to bubbling cauldrons of superheated mud, steaming pools, and Strokkur, a geyser that erupts every 6-10 minutes. 

Thingvellir

The rift valley, Thingvellir,  where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet. Probably more impressive in the summer but still worth a visit even if it was a bit dodgy underfoot.

North America on the left, Eurasia on the right.

Strokkur geysey

Not many geyser's of this type actually in the world today. Iceland had a second one but earthquake activity in 2005 sealed that one off. Surrounded by pools of boiling mud and hot springs, it erupts every 5 to 10mins 24/7. During periods of high volcanic activity it can reach much greater heights. Impressive to watch.

  

Gullfoss falls

Very impressive water falls, falling just over 100feet in 2 levels. Oh for a telephoto lens. Pictures from the proper camer will have to wait till we get home so phone pics will have to do for now but the sun was shining and we had some blue sky. Still windy, hands bloody freezing operating the camera without gloves; -4 wind chill 😱