I fell in love with Iceland

It was only supposed to be a short stop-over on my way to Greece - just a quick, no-strings-attached fling - but after five amazing days I had to admit it; I fell for Iceland. It's a beautiful, mysterious island, cool and icy on the surface, but burning with hidden geothermal energy.

OK, that's enough of that, but it's true; my favorite country on the trip so far was not one of the original destinations, and the only reason I ended up going was because I could stop there free on my way back from the wedding in Denver (Congratulations Julia and Kevin!!). However, by my second day there, I was already planning a future two-week return trip to explore the whole island. It's an incredible place, and the more I saw, the more intrigued I got. It's very hard to describe, and my photos won't do it justice, but there's something about Iceland that just feels ancient and mysterious, and I loved it.

I arrived on an overnight flight and spent most of my first day exploring Reykjavik, which has a small city feel, but a lot of great restaurants and shops. I found the food in Iceland delicious, with a heavy amount of seafood and lamb, what's not to like? I had some amazing bowls of fish soup and lamb stew, as well as birch tea and skyr, a very thick and delicious style of yogurt made only in Iceland. However, Icelanders have a well-deserved reputation for being highly omnivorous, so there are a lot of opportunities to push your culinary envelope, if you're feeling adventurous. I wasn't quite adventurous enough to try them, but I saw whale, puffin, and guillemot listed on several menus, and I did risk trying the fermented shark (harkarl), a traditional Icelandic dish that was originally buried in the ground to remove toxins in the shark's body. For me, it had the texture of undercooked chicken and smelled strongly of ammonia, so it's not something I'd recommend...or ever order again. I eat these things so you don't have to.

The church in Reykjavik, with statue of Leif Ericson

I stayed in Kex Hostel in Reykjavik, which could compete with most of the better hotels I've been to. It's very clean, the staff are very friendly, they have a great bar and restaurant, and they even had a good band come and perform one night. At about $40 a night for the dorm rooms, it's definitely a good deal, and they have private rooms too. After catching up on my sleep (or maybe taking care of my sleep deprivation would be a better way to put it), I hopped a tour bus and went to see the "Golden Circle" sights: the Geysir (geyser), Gullfoss waterfall, and Thingvellir National Park, which is what every tourist does, but that doesn't mean they aren't impressive.

The Geysir

Gullfoss Waterfall

Gullfoss Waterfall

Thingvellir National Park

Exploring Reykjavik only takes a day or two, and there are only so many meals I can eat in a day, so I took the advice of one of the staff in my hostel and hopped a bus heading north to Stykkisholmer, a small harbor town about 3 hours from Rekjavik. The bus system in Iceland is convenient, easy to navigate, and covers most of the coast around the island. I decided to go because I was told it was a picturesque village with coastal boat trips, good wildlife, and great hiking - all of which turned out to be true. It was also a little on the chilly and damp side. Since I packed light, I ended up wearing nearly every shirt I'm carrying at the same time, so I'm hoping that everywhere else I go for the next year is warmer.

Stykkisholmer

The modern church in Stykkisholmer

Stykkisholmer Harbor

One of the reasons that going to Stykkisholmer sounded so interesting was the ferry they have that goes to Flately Island, a tiny little island in the middle of a large fjord that is really scenic and has great bird life. My first day in Stykkisholmer, I took the ferry to Flately for a few hours and had a great time taking photos and watching the arctic terns, who nest there, swoop around, make a huge racket, and generally be obnoxious.

Leaving Stykkisholmer for Flately Island

The Baldur Ferry - pay attention, that name will be repeated

Flately Island has some great bird and sea life, plus quaint little summer homes

Air-drying fish fillets

An arctic tern

Downtown Flately Island

Some of the Flately farmhouses

A common redshank

The following day, I took a tour around the Snaefellnes Peninsula, where Stykkisholmer is located. By the way, understanding Icelandic isn't as daunting as it looks. Yes, they have umlauts, wacky letters, and very long words, but it's actually a pretty consistent pronunciation, so after a few days it's not too hard to make yourself understood when naming a place. Anyway, the day of the tour was the coldest and rainiest while I was there, and the tour guide let us know that it was actually a pretty miserable day for August (40, windy, and raining at the start), but we still managed to get out to a couple of sites, including a tour of a cave where a troll named Baldur Snaefellsas lives, and trolls from all over Iceland are supposed to meet once a century to determine humanities fate for the next hundred years. They were out when we were there.

The Snaefellnes Peninsula

A statue of Baldur Snaefellsas the troll (or half-troll, half-man depending on the story)

My summer home after I win the lottery

A narrow canyon that was reputedly created by Baldur Snaefellsas

The canyon from the inside

And looking down the misty, rainy valley from the canyon

After all of these references to Baldur, I asked the tour guide who he was supposed to be, and if the Snaefellnes Peninsula was named after him or vice versa? He told me that he is a kind of local protector spirit, even though he's a troll, and he protects the peninsula since it's his home home. When one of the other people on the tour asked if he was doing a good job protecting them, the guide replied "Well...we haven't had an earthquake for a while." I really feel like this says something about the Icelandic character, I just haven't narrowed down exactly what it says yet.

I couldn't finish an Iceland post without at least one photo of Icelandic ponies, even if I didn't ride any

Maybe two photos, since there are two ponies

I could go on and on, telling you about why the hot water in the showers smells like rotten eggs or why beer was illegal until 1989 even though hard liquor wasn't, but instead I'll just recommend visiting as soon as possible (although probably during the summer, unless you are OK with a lot of darkness and cold) because Iceland is awesome, and I can't wait to go back. In the meantime though, I've been having a very warm and sunny awesome time in Greece for the last couple of weeks. I realize I'm starting to get a country behind in this blog, so I'll try to catch up soon and share some stories of monasteries on mountaintops, octopus hanging from clotheslines, and crystal-clear Mediterranean waters.