Reykjavik Part Two

Everyone needs a post Christmas blues adventure, so this year we decided to make a dream come true and we went to Reykjavik. Iceland is a country of extremes - extreme cold and extreme expense! With average temperatures of -4 we were expecting it to be cold but that was without the windchill, when -20 is quite the norm.

Brrr!

Zane does quite a good penguin impression

The first thing we did, given the extreme temperature and snow and icy conditions, was to visit an outdoor spa. The Blue Lagoon is literally in the middle of a lava field which is quite bleak, but the water is a beautiful milky blue-green caused by a mixture of silica and algae, which is marvellous for the skin but murder on the hair! We covered ourselves in white silica mud and swam about in the warm water enveloped in clouds of steam. It's strange being outdoors in water which at times was too hot, while your hair freezes to your head!

The lifeguards are more suitably dressed for the Arctic conditions than the bathers!

Oh my hair!!

The next day we visited a geyser (located at Geysir which is the origin of the word geyser) which was very impressive. The surrounding countryside is the bleakest you could ever imagine, with not a tree, bird or living creature in sight - apart from the shivering tourists on our tour!

We also stood on the edge of the Eurasian and American continental plates,
which are continuously moving apart, resulting in an amazing 185 earthquakes a day! Most of them are too small to be felt and we didn't experience one when we were there, but historically they have had devastating effects - one which occurred many years ago caused the most devastating tsunami ever, destroying every single home in Iceland.
The constant shifting and resulting volcanic activity is responsible for Iceland's
lunar landscape, the most unique and strangely beautiful we have ever seen.

The whole population of Iceland is less than 300,000, and 75% of the people live in and around Reykjavik. Only 100 years ago people were still living in turf huts and it was a primitive, rural population. Today it has one of the highest standards of living in the world. Reykjavik is a relatively new city, quite modern yet with colourful red, blue and green houses which are totally charming.

The people are curious (in many ways!) and friendly. Being a small population strangers are
openly stared at - which can be a bit unnerving! - and the Iclanders are not reserved in wanting to talk to new people. We had one strange night out in a local pub where we met a psycho who worked for NATO and was convinced the English wanted to kill everyone, an aspiring artist who didn't want to be famous because artists are only famous after they die, and a Tommy Walsh look a like who did excellent Rab C Nesbitt impression with what sounded like a completely authentic Glaswegian accent to me!

They were all at a bit of a loss as to why we wanted to visit Iceland, although actually their pride in their country is obvious. The beauty and extreme cold of the place leaves you breathless but the expense of it all leaves you gasping! We've been to Helsinki and Stockholm which have a reputation for being expensive, but you have to experience Iceland to know what expensive really means. We knew beer was a fiver a pint, so we stocked up on duty free vodka. Our first foray into the city took us to a bar
which served up soup in hollowed out loaves of bread - four pints
and one bowl of soup set us back nearly £30 - so we ate the bowl just to get
our money's worth! We also sampled the delights of an Icelandic curry. The whole meal was over £100, so we speculated on how you could spend more than £100 on a curry in England...difficult when you are used to Brick Lane in London or Canton in Cardiff!

Other things that impressed us were:

Jewellery shops which keep all their jewellery on display all night without any bars on the windows

the lack of police

the mad driving in icy conditions

going to thermal spring fed greenhouses where farmers pay £20,000 a month on electricity to grow tomoatoes and still make a profit

paying more for two poppadoms (£16) than for two litres of duty free vodka.

All in all an amazing experience - but don't even think about doing it on a budget!

£8.00 a bottle—but at least it’s proper beer!

As if one visit wasn’t enough, we saw the White Stripes added a date to their 2005 tour—in Reykjavik! How could we resist… so back we went in November. It was less bleak with even a bit of greenery to be seen—so we went to an Ice Bar to cool down!

And was it worth going all that way to see the White Stripes? Oh Yes!