We are back from Iceland and this time we got lucky. Last time we missed our flights to London because of volcano eruption, this time we "tricked" the volcano (not the same though) by flying out from Iceland just 1 hour before the eruption occurred.
Or trip was initially inspired by Katia's and Bruno's trip's pictures from Iceland couple of years ago. Since then I was waiting for a chance to see this country.
It was probably the first time I went for holidays somewhere that north and that cold. It was cold, terribly windy, freezing and snowy sometimes. But we got several days of nice sunny weather as well, which also meant we still had to wear warm cloths, including hats, gloves and warm socks, and I even then it was cloudless and sunny temperature never reached more than +5. We knew how it was gonna be, so we did shopping for cloths for Icelandic weather before the trip.
Apart from being freezingly cold sometimes Iceland was amazing. We did a round trip around the island which sometimes meant to be several hours of driving without stop, however views around were so breathtaking that we simply couldn't just be driving through it, we would stop the car, come out and enjoy wonderful Icelandic nature (if weather conditions would allow).
One fascinating thing about driving in Iceland (note that there is only 1 main road around the island) is that sometimes you could drive for hours without meeting any cars on the way. This felt completely weird and spooky after busy English road traffic.
Another great thing about Iceland is that everyone there speaks English, so well that it felt like English is their second official language after Icelandic, so we felt absolutely comfortable in terms of language wherever we would go.
There were several new things I tried in Iceland I didn't try before - eating a wale, a puffin, beer ice cream and some kinds of fishes I haven't heard of or tried before. Whale's meat which I ate several times during the trip first made me almost throw up, which looked to me sort of uncooked and bloody and tasted very bad. Later on I was more comfortable with it after finding out that Icelanders actually cook whale's meat properly, it just for some reason looks bloody and in reality is not. So with some good sauce I could eat it. Puffins are very cute birds which kind is extincting in UK therefore it's forbidden to hunt them. In Iceland on the other hand population of puffins is increasing every year, and we were told it becomes a problem for some regions and this bird in on the menu of many restaurants, so we didn't feel bad about eating it. And since puffins' menu consists of fish, puffins themselves taste like fish as well. Beer ice cream on the other hand didn't taste like beer at all, it would rather taste like a usual good tasting ice cream.
5 comments:
Wow! I did't know you were planning to go to Iceland! Indeed, it is probably very cold there now... we were in the warmest time (July, if i am not mistaken) there, and it was very cold anyway!
Did you do camping? How many days did your trip last?
Were the nights "white"?
I'd like to see your photos!!!
And I will definitely go to Iceland once again sometime!!!
yes, Iceland in May is definetely not like in July or August, you actually could get nice temperature of +11 +13 sometimes i guess? :) We stayed in hostels, not camping, in May it would probably be a bit risky, your tent would be blown off be the wind or covered with snow. Hostels there are very expensive though :( Nights were quite white, something like until 12 a.m. it was still light, and that was lovely, as we could extend our travel time :) I have so many photos, that is just gonna be a nightmare to organize all of them, but I will try!
And I almost forgot! It's your birthday! :) Happy Birthday dear Katia! Have a nice celebration!!!!!
Yes, when we were there the temperature was above 10 during the days (I was without wearing a jacket once!), but still it was very windy... the sun never set and that was amazing! (we were traveling until 1:00 and waking up around 6:00 or 7:00.. that was quite intense). We were camping (I bought the warmest sleeping bag possible, and it was actually too warm... and we had a Quechua 2 seconds camping tent), Iceland is definitely one of the best places to camp - camping places are very good, with everything you might need!
I didn't try whales and other unusual food that you described )) We had a very budget travel )))
And we missed a very cool cave at MyVatn...
So, I am already planning to go there in some 5-7 years ))) Let's go together?
Thanks for the Birthday wishes!! :-*
And remember to come to Vienna soon!
Where (and how) did you find hostels, btw? =D I remember there were barely any settlements there )))
thank you, we have to come to Vienna one day. Heard it's a very cool place, so I must make sure :) ANd in 5-7 year would be perfect time to go to Iceland, I would go, why not, if there is no another volcano. hehe :)
I read Bruno's posts about your travel and I read it very carefully even by marking the points you have been to on the map, just to make sure we won't miss them. However we took it more slowly than you did, by waking up at 10 and not driving more than 5 hours a day, so we coudn't see as much as you did, but we saw many things as well.
So those hostels we stayed in were mostly coming from a brochure about all the 36 hostels in Iceland. Only one time we didn't make it to one of them cause it was too far, so were forces to stay somewhere else, but otherwise we just drove there and they always had some free beds, no need to book in advance, i guess it's because it wasn't a high tourist season
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