The Northern Lights Dream
Reykjavik, Iceland
Although I traveled a lot, my trip to Iceland will always be the most memorable of all...The northern lights has been something I've wanted to see since as long as I can remember...It was the first place I thought of visiting once I got my first job and money to fund my trip...I spent quiet a lot of time planning on how to make it there without spending too much and collected a lot of info...So for those who are not very interested in details..the first part of the blog would be very informative :)..For those who are more interested in knowing what the experience was like..the place and the people please do read on...
The boring details:
The Visa: Costs around 70£ .. if you are not a citizen of the UK, US or EU. It can be applied for from http://iceland.visahq.co.uk/
Flight Details: We booked a return ticket with Iceland Air. However now there are tickets available from ryan air as well which might be cheaper. Worth taking a look there first!
fyi : my tickets cost -230£ in total
Hostel Details: There are two youth hostel hostels..it helps if you are member of the hi hostels organization or the youth hostel international..will get you discounts..The hostel was great. We stayed in the City hostel which is a pleasant 15 min walk to the city area. If you prefer not to walk I would recommend the Downtown hostel. The walk is really nice though with the Atlantic Ocean on one side.
The hostel details:
Reykjavík City, Iceland
Sundlaugavegur 34
105 Reykjavík Phone: (+354) 553-8110
: (+354) 588-9201Fax
E-mail: reykjavikcity@hostel.is
They guys there are very helpful and I highly recommend the hostel. O they do provide linen but if you are on a budget you could get your own. :)
Costs: approximately 60£ for 4 nights
Facilities: Showers, comfortable rooms, nice ppl, tv room, games, books, microwave, stove, fridge, Dinning table and a beautiful backyard :D
Airpot Transfers:
Transport from airport to hostel and vice versa - Fly bus (around 20£ return) I don't recommend buying the tickets online.There are other bus services as well and you can get your tickets when you get there. Its a good idea to ask everyone their rates as you might find a cheaper one. We found a cheaper service in the airport however I don't really remember the name! They drop you at your hostel/hotel so do let them know the address when you buy your tickets. It would be a good idea to take a return and much cheaper too :) .
Transport:
Rent a car - That would be the most fun way to go around Iceland but since I've never driven in the snow..I didn't opt for it..If you do though you can go to more cities and it would be cheaper! The information center in the town center have some very nice people who would tell you all the information you need for it.
Public Transport(Cab, bus) - Cabs are good if you are a group. You could of course also walk :D.
Tours- Most tours pick you up from the hostel/hotel and drop you back so do confirm that whenever you buy your tour tickets. Its more convenient and since they don't really charge anything extra its more economical that way.
Places to Visit:
Now comes the fun part, the following are the tours with their respective websites. You are of course welcome to search for more but at the time I was searching I found these to be the cheapest. Please do add comments if you find any cheaper so that people might find it useful! These are the must do tours in Reykjavik.
Tour: Evening Northern Lights Tour
Tour operators: http://www.local-iceland-tours.com/
Departure: 20.00 pm from hostel
Tour: Golden Circle
Tour Operators: http://www.local-iceland-tours.com/
Departure: 8.00 am
Pick up from hostel
Tour: Blue Lagoon
Tour Operators: Blue Lagoon Tour
Departure: There are a number of choices and you can pick one at your convenience
Tour: Whale Watching
Tour Operators: Whale Watching Tours
Departure: 13.00 (season dependent)
Alternative Tour Operator: Not sure if they have but worth checking
Tour: City Walk
Tour Operators: You
Departure: As soon as you wake up! lol try and make it early
Things that you must see: The famous church Hallgrimskirkja, The art galleries-there is a really funky building I wish I had gotten some time to see, The Saga museum, Perlan as well as the famous view point along the ocean walk.
If you stick around the town center for lunch there is a traditional Icelandic cafe with a lovely view of the church that you MUST visit and I highly recommend their mashed fish on rye bread and Rye bread with ice cream. I went back on my last day for dinner just to have it again! Here are some links giving a description of their Icelandic plate deals..if you scroll down you can see some of my own pictures :).
Tour: Lava Tour (Horse Riding with Icelandic Horses)
Tour Operators: Icelandic Horse Riding
Departure: 08.45 am
(not a must do if you do not like horses but if you don't mind them..they are absolutely adorable)
Day 1 :D
Obviously ecstatic and hyper :) :) .. got a kindle too as a surprise present! (i'm still more of a real book reader but yaaaay! ).
Was terribly nervous as we had a nothern lights tour to look forward to...its been a dream ever since I saw this video! ----->
Iceland is magical and its one of those trips that's always going to stand out in your memories..something that lasts forever..I hoped for nothing less when I got in the plane (with a baileys bottle from the duty free, I may add ;) )
We travelled in iceland air which was a nice flight. We passed a lot of icy glacier types stuff on the way. Not sure if it was actually a glacier..beautiful nevertheless :).
We reached the airport and took out some cash (apparently it is advisable to take out cash in the airport..o and not at heathrow coz you get a better rate at Reykjavik airport instead. We just chose the cheapest transport to take us to the hostel. There are loads of options there and you don't really need to book from home..in fact if you are on a strict budget it would be wiser to book it when you get there because the cheaper ones are not always easy to find online :).
The hostel was a really nice and welcoming sight! I highly recommend staying here if you are on a budget. The rooms, kitchen were all clean and the common rooms were warm and cosy.
I had a really nice picture of the backyard but I can't seem to find it right now. Will add that later.
After properly exploring the hostel and dumping our luggage in the rooms (as you can see :) ) we waited for the bus to come pick us up for the first round of northern lights spotting. As you must be aware, this is something that depends on luck and only on luck. If you are lucky with the weather you get to see it or else the travel company offers to take you the next night for free (which is really decent of them :) ). I've probably never prayed for anything so much... (well maybe for passing a new exams every now and then..). They took us to a national park which was a little further away from the city. When we got off we could already see the starting of what was going to be one of the most amazing nights of my life! I probably almost froze to death as I did not expect the temperature to fall to a - 22 degrees Celsius. But you tend to not care about minor details like that when you can see the following (pics by my friend Eakan, his photographs can be found on http://www.flickr.com/photos/eakangk/ ):
Of-course, we had to keep running in the bus every now and then to get a little warm. After a lot (really A LOT) of staring and ooooh'ing we finally went back to the bus (I wanted to stay the whole night..). As soon as the bus started, it seemed that the lights were not done with us and started waving us goodbye. Well they started rippling though the sky, the kind of movement you think only happens in a time lapse video! It was surreal. I am really at a loss for words and can't really describe this. I really think you should go see this atleast once in your life. (I am going back to see it again!)
Well, Day 1 started off amazing as I was really wondering how many nights we would have to go out to get lucky enough to see the lights!
My love for Iceland increased exponentially on day 1 itself!
<--- Another pretty picture of the hostel.
Day 2 was a day to relax and enjoy the city...and erm wade in the snow :). Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, is a fascinating city with breathtaking views, active geysers beautiful landscapes, northern lights, and some really interesting architecture! We started our day by walking towards the city along the coastline which was looking prettier than usual with the snow.
The snow covered guy is Eakan (responsible for most of the pictures in this trip! Thanks a lot :) )
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| The Sun Voyager |
While walking along the waterfront you can get really beautiful views of Mt Esja & of-course the beautiful sculpture by Jon Gunnar Arnason, The Sun Voyager which is a beautifully crafted steel structure of a viking ship. Sunrise and sunsets look fabulous here!
The people in Iceland are generally friendly and if you walk down to the city center, you can find the really friendly and helpful people in the tourist information centre. The little shops in Reykjavik are a lot of fun to explore. The christmas shops in particular are very beautiful with dainty and beautifully handcrafted unique ornaments. Its almost like you are in a fairytale when you visit some of those stores. I almost expected the lady in the shop to tell me that the fairies dress were handcrafted with spider silk by elfin tailors and pixie dust! We carried on to one of the most famous churches in Iceland, the Church of Hallgrímur. It is named after the poet Hallgrimur Petursson. The church architect, Guðjón Samúelsson's design is said to be based on the basalt lava flows of Iceland's landscape. Its worth going to the top as you can get a beautiful view of the whole city. For lunch, we found a lovely
cafe, that served traditional Icelandic food (it was so good we went there twice!). The food was divine and I would probably always go to cafe Loki whenever I visit Iceland.
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| the view from the cafe |
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| hello! |
It is strategically placed in front of the church to give you a very beautiful view while you are enjoying some really amazing baked fish and rye bread. nomnomnomnom. I highly recommend this place especially the dessert which is ice cream on rye bread. We spent most of the day exploring the streets, the different shops, paid a visit to Perlan another iconic landmark in the city and had a lovely laid back fun day. Some of the sights in the city:
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| does it count if I can't see it? |
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| yep only in Reykjavik! |
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| nomnom |
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The day ended with us deciding to go out around 11 in the night to check out the night life. umm..there wasn't a soul in sight. That's when we realized that we were simply too early! Apparently people in Reykjavik only come to party after midnight and are all happily getting drunk at home or at a friends! The crowd started picking up by 12.30 but we had a early morning for day 3 , our epic golden circle tour so headed back. I know that Reykjavik nights can get pretty crazy and I would recommend keeping your saturday morning unplanned if you are in a mood to party!
Day 3 was the golden circle day! We were all up bright and early and sleepy (i'm sure we were dreaming about being excited.. :/ ). The bus came to pick us up at our hostel (do remember to arrange a pick up. They pick you up at all hotels and most hostels in the city..its pretty handy!)
I don't think I remember much of what they said in the bus as I was fast asleep most of the time till breakfast :D.
I love my holiday healthy breakfasts! I think I have enough for a independent "what to have for breakfast on your holiday blog". In a nutshell the highlights of day 3 was the magnificent waterfall, Gullfoss, the great geysir and the Þingvellir national park. These are all located in the southwest of Iceland and form the golden circle. There are also a few other stops on the way which I shall put some pictures of if I can find them. :S
Gullfoss: The waterfall was massive and so beautiful. The fact that it was half frozen with icicles
hanging in between just added to its beauty. I am sure it is just as beautiful in summer but seeing it like this half frozen, half roaring was surreal. I do look forward to seeing it in summer though. The food in the cafe there was really amazing as well. I remember having some stew as well as some mushroom soup...nonomnomnomnom. After the waterfall we went to see the geyser. If you have never see a active geyser this experience will be a delight. You will probably stay and watch it go off every 15 min or so. Everyone oohed everytime even if it was the 10th time they were watching it. Sometimes it would go off twice successively which is pretty cool. I could put some pictures but we also made a video which I think is cooler. (ignore the squeals of delight :P ).
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| boom! |
Here is a picture of the geyser as well. Wikipedia has some amazing pictures as well. Next on the itinerary was the beautiful national park. The snow makes everything very pristine, bright and makes you feel like you are in one of those white rooms you see in some movies which go on forever . (no i'm not high) Take a look at some of the sights...including no man's land! It is a possibility that in a few years all of this will be below sea level! (frightening). Imagine getting lost here! brrrrr. That was it for our beautiful day 3 and was time to look forward to a nice dinner of instant noodles, Doritos, some absinthe and a fun game of saboteur. Day 4 was galloping our way soon!
Day 4 was a sort of unplanned day that turned out to be a beautiful horse riding day! Yep horse riding in the snow because that's how I roll. Actually it was the nice people at the information centre who got it arranged for us. The ponies are adorable and I am getting when if I ever become a millionaire. They are cutest little horses you have ever seen. Our day in a nutshell was fabulous and fun. I never thought I would be horse riding! The alternatives of course were to go whale watching (but we were not in the right season) or glacier walking (out of budget) but I had a lot of fun! Some pictures:
I think the name of the tour was some lava horse riding tours or something like that. Definitely lava and horses in the name.
We did the blue lagoon tour in the evening that followed. If I were to rate everything we did I would put blue lagoon after the northern lights. The blue lagoon is a magical place. Imagine being in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by snowy mountains based in the moonlight with some light snow falling and you relaxing in steaming hot water sipping your favorite cocktail in your hand. That's blue lagoon for you! It was the perfect end to our trip. They have some saunas and massage rooms as well as some spa treatments. The blue lagoon itself has some mud stuff (not sure what its called) which you can apply on your face. All you have to do is go there, relax and let Mother Nature take care of you in her very own geothermal spa. I couldn't really take any pictures as we left our camera in and I was too busy relaxing ;). There is an after picture and one I stole from the net but the words do speak for themselves. Its Reykjavik's very own heaven. |
| blue lagoon take from: http://goscandinavia.about.com/b/2009/11/18/photo-of-the-week-bathed-in-snow.htm |
