Sunday, August 26, 2007
Keflavik Airport, 6:30am

Thankfully, I made it to Iceland in one piece and on time, and now that I am sitting in the Keflavik airport again (the international airport in Iceland that is conveniently located about 45 minutes from the city…) I have survived my time in Iceland with only one major injury, a huge whole in my wallet. Iceland, while it has a unique volcanic terrain, a relaxed pace and a deep history, it also has high prices. High prices on everything. For the most part the only real money I spent was my stay at the Reykjavik City Hostel, a 10-hour bus tour of the Icelandic countryside and sites, and transportation to and from the airport, all of which were very expensive but my inability to rent a car left me no choice.

My first day in Iceland, I spent in Reykjavik, the capital city. Being too cheap to take a bus to the city center, I walked the three kilometers from the hostel and spent the rest of my day on my feet, logging at least 15 miles. I walked up and down Laugavegur street which had most of the shopping, ducking in and out of stores along my way. I eventually reached the Information center where I had a snack (thank God I brought food with me) before planning out my zig-zagging route for the rest of the afternoon. My walking tour of Reykjavik turned out to be quite fun, although exhausting and a little lonely. Reykjavik, while it seemed relaxed and safe, also seemed very empty during the day.



I visited Hallgrims Church and took the elevator up its tower (had to pay for that too) where I was lucky to get an amazing view of Reykjavik under the glow of a rainbow (very common over the course of my time in Iceland where I was lucky to have passing showers and partial sun.)

I then walked to the Tjörnin Pond, and hiked up to the Pearl, an impressive building which provides the hot water for the city, and also houses a beautiful, yet expensive (surprise), restaurant. I finished off my tour by visiting the National Museum, another pricey exhibit (although by now, it didn’t matter how much it cost, I didn’t want to pay it) but one with great information on the history and culture of Iceland. If I wasn’t so tired at this point I would undoubtedly have gotten much more out of it. As I strolled back to Laugavegur street, where I spent the rest of my evening browsing for the lowest prices for dinner (I ended up with a soft tortilla with rice and ham for 750 kroner, or $12) and a few small souvenirs, I couldn’t help but wish I could buy some of the gorgeous wool and stone crafts instead.


The next day, I signed up for a day bus tour with a local company, happy to sit my exhausted and now jet-lagged body in a comfortable seat while being shown the greater Iceland terrain. While the day tour was expensive, all told probably costing me around $150, I had no other way to see Iceland outside of Rekyjavik, and these tours also had guides which gave some interesting facts about Iceland and pointed out sites along the way.

We visited the Blue Lagoon first,and while I was skeptical of if the experience would be worth the cost, I actually found the naturally heated pool amazing. It was definitely a tourist hot spot, no pun intended. I really enjoyed it and even tried the natural silica face mask! (See picture of me with white stuff on my face. Picture taken by a kind British bloke.) We then headed out into the countryside visiting various sites including the location of the first Parliament: a beautiful spot with old houses, visible fault lines, and a gorgeous lake. Following a ‘summer road’, aka scarily narrow passage weaving through the extremely rocky hillside, we roamed the tree-less volcanic terrain traveling to Gullfoss, a large waterfall from which we could see the Long Glacier.

We also visited the Geysir, which went off every 8 minutes, shooting very warm water around 20ft into the air. While we visited many other minor spots, I was just as exhausted after this twelve-hour tour on a bus as I was on my walking tour the day before. I crashed at the hostel again, only to wake up at 3:30 am and catch a cab to the bus station (another 20 bucks down the drain just because I was taking the early shuttle that does not offer pick up at the hotels) where after arriving at the airport I am now waiting to meet some of my fellow students at the airport on our way to Denmark!