Iceland photo diary

on 29 July, 2014 at 07:00

Being a Mediterranean-born soul, it’s not often I decide to spend my holidays in a country where the temperatures are way lower than those in London. Thrilled as I was to embrace Iceland -whatever the weather – I could have never imagined what was in store for me over those incredibly intense and beautiful four long days.

DAY ONE: REYKJAVIK

Reykjavik is the Icelandic capital city and home to most of the country’s population; over ninety per cent of nationals live here. It’s also one of the coolest (pun intended) cities on earth and the best base from where to explore the natural wonders of the island.

he Sun Voyager greets tourists to the harbour and is a city landmark by sculptor Jón Gunnar Árnason

This is Reykjavik’s stunning skyline, dominated by the Hallgrimskirkja, as seen from Hringbraut Road

Street Art in Reykjavik

Reykjavik’s City Hall: not many cities in the World can boast having their governors on a former prison.

One lengthy spring day is all it takes to get up close and personal with Reykjavik’s main attractions. Taking advantage of the many hours of sunlight, I walk from one sight to another experiencing all sorts of weather in between and even managing some record shopping!

Hallgrímskirkja church is Reykjavík’s main landmark and its tower can be seen from almost everywhere in the city.

Lover’s sculpture

Auditorium Harpa, by the bay.

Inside HARPA: At night I catch an improvised electronic music show at Harpa

Foodie tip: Grab a locally produced beer (Gull) and eat a restoring and warming soup in a bun!

DAY TWO: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE

The Golden Circle is an easily done, cost-effective and sight-packed tour which unveils three main natural attractions: Geysir hot springs area, Gullfoss waterfall and Thingvellir National Park.

Thingvallavatn Lake

Thingvellir National Park is home to Iceland’s first parliament; the earth fissure separating Eurasian and American tectonic plates and the largest glacier- feed natural lake, Thingvallavatn

Strokkur geyser spits hot water to the surface every few minutes.

The magnificent Gullfoss Waterfall as it ebbs and flows from the glacier mountains onto the canyon.

Gullfoss, or the Golden Waterfall

DAY THREE: SOUTH WEST COAST

I risk not pre-arranging any tour, purely to have the freedom to decide once in Iceland, since prices are quite standardised across operators. The reward is a ‘May Sale’ allowing me to add the South West Coast into my tight budget. All of a sudden I’M driving past lush valleys, walking on lunar-like glaciers, getting wet under a string of waterfalls and even sunbathing on a volcanic beach.

his beautiful volcano behind me is famed for having caused world air travel havoc while spitting ashes into Europe’s skies during its last eruption and also for having a tongue twisting name: Eyjafjallajokull. Go on, try it.

Waterfall Skogafoss can be seen from the road and makes an impressive first stop on the tour.

These geological formations at Skogafoss resemble a set of faces emerging from the cliffs, staring at the waterfall

Black beach

Reynisfjara, the black volcanic sand beach and rock formations of Dyrholaey look like a place somewhere on Middle Earth or at least somewhere inside J.R.R Tolkien’s mind…

Lunch in Vik

My favourite part of the holiday: enjoying a well-deserved lunch break in solitude, listening to a water stream and admiring these views of the mountain/beach stretch between the sea town of Vik and the Sea.

Solheimajokull Glacier tongue

This lunar landscape is the tongue of the Solheimajokull Glacier and those colourful dots just a bunch of strangers looking like some punters that went raving in the nineties and they’re still trying to make it back home 🙂

DAY FOUR: THE BLUE LAGOON

As my Icelandic adventure draws to an end, I drive past lava fields towards the airport, and make a last little cheeky stop to marvel at this iconic queen of spas; the blue lagoon.