Reykjavík

Reykjavik - the world's northernmost capital, and the largest city of Iceland! End of April, a short 3 hour flight across the Atlantic brought us directly from Oslo to Reykjavik. From the plane we could very well see that the winter had most of Iceland still in its icy fist. Glaciers flowing into the sea, and a white desert until the horizon. However, close to the coast around Reykjavik, the snow had already given way to white and greenish iceland moss, growing on black lava outflows.

The capital is - well - tiny. I did not expect it to be that tiny. The cover of the Lonely planet Pocket guide shows a large, modern, steel framed building covered with geometric shaped glass panels of different colors, that I imagined being surrounded by similar impressive buildings. But no. This really is the only impressive large, modern building in Reykjavik. It is the concert hall called 'harpa', and build at a beautiful location by the sea with the snow capped volcanic Esja mountain range in the background. All other buildings are rather small, and colorful.

In the inner city, everything can also easily be reached by foot - a tour from our hotel close to the University of Iceland to the city hall where a large 80 square meter topographical model of Iceland is displayed, past the Reykjavik Cathedral and the 'Alþingishúsið', the Parliament House, along the shopping street up to the church of Hallgrímur (Hallgrímskirkja), and then down again to the harpa, doesn't take longer than 30 minutes. But although this capital appears tiny, it is full of life! Cafés, bars, colorful graffiti on almost every wall, artistic decorations of traffic signs, fashionably dressed locals, picture-taking tourists, and tourist shops filled with toy puffins (the small seabird with the colorful beak) in all shapes and sizes.

After having explored the city thoroughly, we visited some of Iceland’s most stunning sights in a day-trip form Reykjavik. The 'Golden circle' tour first took us to a site of historical, cultural, and geological importance, the 'Þingvellir'. In this rift valley, formed by the North American and Eurasian continental plates drifting apart from each other, the Icelandic parliament was established in 930, and remained there until 1798. It is a really impressive sight and whilst being there, I could very well understand why the first settlers would turn this into a special meeting place.

Our next sightseeing stop was the geothermal area where the geysir giving all geysirs its name resides now calm and inactive. However, the close-by Strokkur geyser shoots every couple minutes a water column of up to 30 meters into the air, and numerous other smaller hot and bubbling pools generated an intense sulfurous smell in that area. It was fascinating to watch the water building slowly up until a domed hemisphere was formed that suddenly broke free in an intense water fountain (see the gif below!).

Our tour continued with a stop at Gullfoss, the 'Golden waterfall', created by the river Hvítá, which tumbles and plunges into a crevice some 32 m deep. And finally, we stopped at the ancient fishing station 'Selatangar', abandoned since 1880 and now only consisting of ruins. Formerly, these houses were occupied by men fishing in the winter season for farmers who employed them. Even if these stone houses back then had a roof, I don't want to imagine how horrible it was to live there in a freezing and stormy winter... .

On our second last day, Micha and me chose different activities. While Micha went for a hike up the snowy Esja mountain ridge, I booked a three hour horse ride tour on the back of Icelandic horses! The people in Iceland get furious if you call those sturdy horses a pony, but to be honest, they are not much larger ;) They are well known for their ability to display two more gaits in addition to the typical walk, trot, and canter: the 'tölt', and a fast 'flying pace'. While most Icelandic horses have the ability to tölt, the flying pace is more special and only the best-trained horses are able to 'fly'. Unfortunately, I also had to learn that not all Icelandic horses prefer to tölt, but rather perform the usually uncomfortable trot, or a "Pig's Pace" that is closer to a trot than a tölt. Riding an Icelandic horse for the first time, I wasn't aware of that and first feared the tölt not being as comfortable as people described it. Since the tölt is a four-beat gait where the sequence of steps is the same as in the walk, always keeping at least one foot on the ground, there is no period of suspension where the rider bounces out of the saddle. However, I was bouncing a lot! After some practice though, I managed to bring my horse to tölt! I was just one of the unlucky ones that got a horse that naturally prefers the trot. Well, I got a glimpse of how comfortable it can be to be tölted by an Icelandic horse through the rough lava landscape, and I will definitely give it another go at some point - maybe then being more lucky with my horse.

Due to the unwillingness of my horse to tölt, I could feel my muscles the next day big time! What could thus be better than a soak in the hot and mineral-rich waters of the 'Blue lagoon'?! The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa, and probably the most touristic place in Iceland. According to National Geographic it is also among the wonders of the world. Indeed, the steaming turquoise pools surrounded by dark volcanic rock are a wonderful and relaxing sight! Totally unnaturally though, the pools are filled by the hot water output of a nearby geothermal power plant, and the turquoise color comes from the high amount of silica that is resolved in the water. A silica mask is offered in the spa and said to have rejuvenating power - and I can only confirm this. Buying the usual alcohol allowance in the duty free upon our return to Oslo, I got promptly asked for my ID to prove that I am over 18 years old haha!

For a 'goodbye', and maybe 'see you soon again', we went to the stormy tip of the Reykjavik peninsula where the Grotta lighthouse is situated. I romantically imagined us sitting there with a beer and keeping watch for Northern Lights. But it was so incredibly cold and windy, that we rushed down our beer in the wind shadow of the lighthouse and then went back to the warm hotel as fast as we could ;)

PS: A big thanks to our hosts Arnar, Einar, and Katrin who showed us all those impressive sights!!