Iceland: Mordor with lichen

(Originally Emailed: Sep 3, 2006 10:56 PM)

Gday all,

OK, sorry the last one was so long. Hopefully this one is a bit more manageable.

Bish's Precis:
- I went to Iceland for the long weekend, last weekend in August
- I spent a day in Reykjavik, did a day tour of the Golden Circle, and went to the Blue Lagoon on the way to the airport
- Iceland is bloody expensive!
- Grandma says eat lamb

So here we go.

I went straight from work to Heathrow on Friday arvo, and touched down looking for Hostel Central. I booked it online through hostelworld.com again, and also sent a follow up email to them to confirm it would be OK if I was arriving very late (about 1am I figured - the airport is about an hour from the city). I never received a reply, but thought it would be OK.

Getting on the Flybus I told the driver my destination. He said "yeah, yeah, the only backpackers in town, I know it." I was dropped at a backpackers and it wasn't mine. At this stage I wasn't sure whether my hostel existed at all: whether I had imagined the whole sequence of booking at some make-believe hostel.

But after a couple of phonecalls, I had to walk about 25 mins to mine at about 2am but awoke in Saturday fairly early, and intent on spending my only full day in the capital seeing the sights.

I wanted to go to the Saga Museum, to the big-ass church at that towers over the city, and to walk through the history of Iceland. I also wanted to see what traditional food (lamb and seafood) I could get hold of. I went first to book my tour for the following day and walked to the big-ass church. It took 30 years to construct and is very cool in its starkness. I took a lift to the top of the tower for the obligatory view of the city.

Out the front of the church is a statue of Leifur Eiriksson, original discoverer of North America. Then I had some chow - quite a good seafood dish, but not quite as authentically Icelandic as I hoped. I don't think garlic bread is originally Icelandic for example. But the seafood was of course amazingly fresh.

Next stop was the Culture House which had a really cool exhibition about Icelandic sagas, and their use through history. Some of the info in there was really amazing - many people know that JRR Tolkein used them extensively as a model for his mythology of Middle Earth, but I never knew that Hitler had hijacked them when in power and used them to argue the superiority of the Aryan race. Also some original and very old copies of sagas were on display - some were more than 750 years old.

I wandered the streets for a while looking at some pictures of Iceland through the 20th Century. These were on display in town squares and public places and showed some cool scenes from the city's more recent history, often right where the scenes occurred.

Stopping for a drink I suddenly realised I hadn't seen the Saga Museum at all, but only the exhibition in the Culture House. It was 5pm, and it closed at 6pm. And I was out of the city all day Sunday. And couldn't make it on Monday either as I was going to the Blue Lagoon and then straight to the airport.

Balls.

Anyways, Sunday rolled around and so we headed off on the Golden Circle tour. Briefly, we stopped at Kerith* crater - so briefly that I was last on the bus because I walked around it. Not a bad place - aparently they hold open air concerts there with a floating stage which would be very cool.

Then we visited the Gullfoss - the Golden Waterfall, where I was showered with spray. But I didn't get as close as some punters. It was also as close as we got to the glaciers.

On the way back we stopped at the famous Geysir - the one after which all others are named. Not bad - it happens every five minutes or so which is often enough. I was there for an hour and a half and saw it once then got something to eat.

Then was my highlight of the trip: Althingi*. Its the birthplace of Icelandic democracy, where parliament began in 930AD, and but for one interruption it continues today (but in the capital now). An amazingly picturesque place, and its rich history made it even more incredible for me. Its also right on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates are separating very slowly.

OK, that was really boring and I am a nerd, but go there. Its breathtaking.

I had a quick siesta, then figured I'd cruise for some good Icelandic food. I walked around for a while, and found Grandma . Grandma told me to eat lamb. I walked around for a while looking for a better offer ( Icelandic Tapas came close), but I couldn't argue with her. After dinner I did see the ocean for the first time in 4 months though, and also saw this fantastic sunset at about 10pm.

Monday came and I had plans to get some brekky near the docks really early (6.30am), but lets face it, I'm lazy. I ended up getting the bus to the Blue Lagoon just in time, and from there was heading to the airport. The Blue Lagoon was awesome - the water was fantastic (and the colour was incredible), and the saunas even better. The highlight for me was some tourists that got into the lagoon with their valuables. And their towel. Which they got wet.

It was great though, and would be awesome to go in the winter, with snow falling around you while you're up to your neck in 39 degree water and your hair is frozen solid.

Anyways, Iceland was fantastic, but a little expensive! The reason for the title? Well its a very barren landscape, with lots of lava flows, and it looks a lot like Mordor from the Lord of The Rings movies, with very little vegetation except lichen. Seemed appropriate also given Tolkein drew on the sagas for his writing!

So... where to next? I have no idea!

Take care everyone

Cheers, Rosco

* If you see these written in Icelandic:
- the funny looking d's are a hard "th" sound ("these")
- the funny looking p's are a soft "th" sound ("this")