by Annie Vischer
When it came to holiday booking this year, I ended up being a little spontaneous. Me and a girl friend were longing for a few days away, and after a couple of fruitless evenings scanning hotel deals for slightly out-of-season locations, we decided to change everything up completely, ditch our visions of bikinis and sun loungers, and head to Iceland. We couldn’t have chosen better.
With three full days away we crammed in as much as we could. We used our first evening in the country for a night time Blue Lagoon visit. It was sublime. And we ticked the bikini box! Though attempting a sun lounger session in them would have resulted in doing ourselves some serious harm, they don’t call it Iceland for nothing.
Mist swirled around us as we made our way through the hot waters. We oo’d and aah’d as we caught more heated waves, smoothed the nourishing Blue Lagoon Mud over our faces, stood under shoulder massaging waterfalls, and peppered our visit with time in the saunas too. A more indulgent initiation into Icelandic life you could not imagine.
A Golden Circle tour followed the next day, with Reykjavik Excursions. A comfortable, un-crowded coach, free Wi-Fi and a loveable tour guide, what more could you want? We visited a tomato farm powered by the geothermal waters, where we were served piping hot tomato soup made from a crop picked that very morning, Bloody Marys were optional. Next we were taken to see the geysers, one named Strokkur being the most entertaining, clearly playing up to an audience and erupting every 7 minutes or so. Visits to an awe-inspiring set of waterfalls and Pingvellir (the site of the first Icelandic parliament and the separating of the tectonic plates) followed. We were impressed, cultured and exhausted by the end of it, more than ready to take to the spa at the IcelandAir Hotel Natura where we were staying (it comes highly recommended).
Reykjavik itself is a surprising city. It’s almost as though everything appears in miniature. It’s central square is the size of a garden, their cathedral the size of a small country Church, and you can walk close enough to their Prime Minister’s house to peak through the windows. Our top tip – take a walk down to the marina and sample their local fish restaurants. We headed to Reykjavik Fish + Chips, this place is a must!
Of course a Northern Lights tour is practically mandatory. We technically saw them although due to a volcanic erruption, they were fairly blurred. Weather conditions come into play all the time, and these change in a matter of minutes in Iceland. But if you visit the country and don’t even try? Well, we’ll judge you.