I have been wondering if we had initially over-reacted to Iceland. Wondering if we were so astonished by it all because we had that wide eyed wonder of the jetlagged and the newly left home. But looking through photos again a week later I think our overblown enthusiasm was justified- it truly is a wondrous other-worldly place.
In consultation with Tim some of our random highlights in no particular order…
Getting off the main ring road to quieter places
Iceland is no secret with American, European and Chinese tourists and even in the shoulder season it was BUSY! So the fjordurs that stick out of the east, north and west of the island and just slightly off the very well worn tourist track were some of our highlights.
Siglufjordur in particular.
Location for the fabulous series Trapped (might still be available on SBS on demand) and once a major centre of the herring fishing industry which seems to have been single-handedly responsible for bringing some prosperity and modernization to Iceland.
We cycled around looking for locations from Trapped (being filmed in the middle of winter it did look a little different). We visited the justifiably award winning Herring Era museum.
We drove a little to an uninhabited fjordur where we walked and picked wild blueberries. None we found later matched the sweetness of these first hillside of berries.
The ubiquitous geothermal pools
There were freebies on the side of the road and there were municipal pools in even the smallest of villages that have lap pools but also hot tubs in a range of temperatures. And the famous Blue Lagoon and Myvatn Nature Baths, both of which charge a vast amount of money to soak in the sulphur rich outflows of nearby geothermal energy plants.
On our last day we made a final visit to a local pool and in the hot tub we almost cooked when we got into an extended conversation with a jovial old chap who confirmed for us that these tubs are important meeting places and had we stayed a little longer we would have met all his mates who gather regularly to solve all the world’s problems. We thought it wise to leave when our conversation about Muslim refugees got nearly as heated as we were in the 40deg water.
What was surprising…
So many tourists
So many freaking tourists and we were not there at peak time. The airport was bursting at the seams and major sights on the Golden Circle were HEAVING with people.
The barely believable stats are that tourism in Iceland has grown at 30 to 40% per year recently. In 2017 Iceland anticipates more than 2 million tourists – in a population of 344,000!
There is so much more to say about tourism in Iceland but we actually found it quite easy to escape the real mayhem away from the south and Reykjavik.
So expensive
The IKR 2900 (=AUD 35 ) for what Tim called a bowl of MSG and was supposed to be a fish soup in a very touristy part of Southern Iceland was a particular low point. Everything was expensive.
But it was worth it….
For the astounding diversity of landscape in the shortest of distances. We were continually astounded amazed and in awe.
