Visit The Land Of Endless Snow And Ice: Iceland

After spending an afternoon and morning exploring Reykjavik, we leave on Saturday afternoon for our hotel in the Golden Circle. It’s snowing when we leave and once we are outside the city, its hard to distinguish between the sky, the road and the snowy fields beyond.

As a result, everything seems to blend together in one picture of grey and white. The drive is slow going and it takes us several hours to get to hotel Grimsborgir, in the middle of the circle.

We have a great dinner in the hotel and afterward we plan to go to the hot tub. We are hopeful that it will clear up as we are eager to see the Northern lights. No luck tonight though, there are heavy clouds and it continues to snow.

An Endless White World Of Waterfalls, Snow And Ice

We have a good laugh at the Gulfoss falls. Where we are bundled up in our snow gear and boots, there are always certain types of tourists that dress up – or not – for any occasion…

On our way back to the hotel, we stop in Selfoss for dinner at the restaurant Tryggvaskali. We are hungry and enjoy the wonderful food, my favorite is the lobster soup.

This is our third day of sampling Iceland’s lobster soup and I can’t get enough of it. After returning to the hotel, we take a glass of wine with us to the hot tub.

We soak, sip and stare at the sky, hoping tonight we are lucky enough to see the Northern Lights. Unfortunately, nature is again not on our side and the sky stays covered in clouds.

Hiking A Glacier

The next morning we have an early start again as we have booked a guided hike on the Sólheimajökull Glacier with Icelandic Mountain Guides.

I am super excited as this is something I always wanted to do. We follow directions to the parking and arrive in an empty lot. It is still snowing and the visibility is poor. We fear that they have canceled the tour, but after we wait for about ten minutes two more cars show up.

Finally our guide also shows up. He hands us our harnesses, crampons and icepicks and explains what to expect.

He points out that it is safest to walk on the areas that are icy blue and not covered in snow, as you never know what is underneath the snow and you can easily fall into a ravine. And off we go, the six of us following our guide in single file.

Ice Caves And Tunnels

Once we start walking, the skies start clearing up and the visibility is better. We stop at the first big ice sculptures.

They are truly beautiful and I can’t believe we are actually walking on a real glacier that is an outlet from the big main ice cap Mýrdalsjökull. Next, we go through several ice tunnels, it is exciting and a bit scary. We climb higher up for better photo ops.

I feel like I am in Disneyland for adventurers. It’s cold, but that adds to the magic. After three hours, we return to our car, an amazing experience richer. On our way back we make a short stop at the spectacular Skógarfoss waterfall.

The next morning we check out of our hotel. On our way back to Reykjavik, we stop one more time at Thingvellir National Park.

On our first day, we completely missed that this is also the place where the North American and European tectonic plates meet. It’s the first, and probably the only time that I am standing with one foot on one content and the other on the second.

We learn that you can snorkel and dive between the plates. But not today, we will have to come back on a warmer day.

Blue Lagoon and Northern Lights

We had back to Reykjavik and before checking into our airport hotel, we make a stop at the famous Blue Lagoon.

Although very touristy it is a fun experience and our faces feel nice and soft after, which after all the cold and wind is a nice treat. Our hotel offers tours to see the Northern Lights. As it is our last night, we feel we should give it one more try.

Totally unprepared, we stand in the freezing cold for several hours and almost give up hope. And then, finally, we see a glimpse of the Northern Lights.

And although not as spectacular as we have seen in pictures, for us this still feels like the grand finale of a great trip.