I went on a trip to Iceland and Norway in September, but am getting around to blogging about it now. AM and I were looking to go someplace exotic like Turkey or Egypt since we had not taken a trip in a long time. However, due to Ramdan in Turkey and unrest in Egypt, we settled on Iceland and threw in Norway as well. Among all other Scandinavian countries, Norway seemed the most interesting, and Iceland is just a 5 hours flight from NY. A friend also highly recommended Iceland saying there is no place like it in the world – she was right.
Here is my itinerary:
- Day 1: Arrive in Reykjavik, visit Blue Lagoon
- Day 2: Golden circle
- Day 3: Reykjavik
- Day 4: Leave for Jokulsarlon
- Day 5: Jokulsarlon + Skaftafell, return to Keflavik
- Day 6: Fly to Oslo
- Day 7: Oslo
- Day 8: Train ride to Bergen
- Day 9: Sognefjord in a nutshell
- Day 10, 11: Bergen
- Day 12: Leave for NY
We took a late night flight from NY to Reykjavik and landed there at 6am. We had booked a car rental with Budget and decided to have breakfast at the airport. We headed directly to the Blue Lagoon since it was closer to the airport. We had to wait for an hour till it opened for visitors, we were among the first ones to arrive. I loved loved the hot springs, it was amazing being in the sulfurous hot water, we moved around to pick the hottest spots. The funny thing was my nose kept running and I kept wondering why, till I realized that the water had cleared ALL my sinuses!!! It was amazing, so amazing, to be so sinus-free for once! We spent two hours in the water and headed out right around the time hordes of people thronged the water at 11am. We were glad to have escaped the crowds, while there was enough space for everyone, the springs are not that large hence less privacy. My hair turned to straw despite my applying conditioner before getting into the water and after a shower, and it stayed that way for the next 2 days.
We drove to Hotel Laxnes on the outskirts of Reykjavik and had a wonderful large room and view of the mountains, the towel warmer was icing on cake. We had lunch and slept till evening and headed out to find some dinner after. Everything was closed by the time we got to the city, and after driving around in circles we found a 24 hours Subway and called it a night.
The next day we did the Golden circle – Pingvellir national park, geysir, and and Gullfoss waterfall. It was great walking around Pingvellir, it was interesting to see the huge ridge, at the geysirs we saw Strokkur erupt several times and in between it had three consequent eruptions, quite amazing, I loved loved watching the geysirs. Then we went to Gullfoss which was quite amazing as well. As we were driving towards Golden circle, we got closer and closer to a glacier, the view was breathtaking, I have never seen a glacier before, this one was mighty.
It was a Friday night, so we did some bar hopping and danced to tunes from the 80’s to the latest pop music. There were all kinds of bars with all kinds of music and crowds. Icelanders are party people, it was such a contrast seeing the city on Friday vs. the day before when the whole city seemed dead and we could not even find a place to eat! Before partying, we sought out an Indian restaurant, Indian Mango. One look at the menu and we realized that Indian ingredients were hard to find in Iceland, so most of the dishes were of limited ingredients that overlapped with Scandinavia. We waited for an hour for our meal to arrive, the place was completely crowded, but food was delicious and well worth the wait.
The next day we decided to go at a relaxed pace and visited National museum of Iceland. The museum was very interesting and informative, went into Icelandic history, and it was interesting to see Nordic influence. I so badly wanted to visit the Saga museum but wasn’t able to make it in time, so unfortunate. AM had one of the delicious hot dogs highly recommended and he loved it with tons if jalapeños. I really liked Reykjavik, Iceland is such a small country with a population of only 300K, 40% of this is in Reykjavik. Compared to NY’s 10 MM population, Iceland feels so tiny… There was a nice restaurant and bakery near Hotel Laxnes that had very good croissants and coffee. I like European coffee a lot, American coffee is very bitter but European coffee tastes different, like it has a nice distinct flavor. I had a lot of delicious coffee. The croissants tasted different too, very soft, not at all crumbly.
The next day we left for Jokulsarlon. The drive was long (7+ hours) but beautiful, absolutely breath-taking! The first stop for photos was through an area with a lot of hot springs, we saw small smoking patches on the hills indicating hot springs all over the place, it was amazing. Overall the country was cold and I dressed in leggings and boots, with a warm trench coat, but these pockets of heat made it interesting, its a hotbed of lava boiling underneath waiting to burst! Our next stop was an area of waterfalls and we walked behind the falls and took a ton of photos. Then we entered barren land with vast rocks of lava from volcanoes that had hardened into rocks. It was so barren, and the rocks were shaped in an interesting manner. Our next stop was Vik, we walked to the black sandy beach and took photos, the water was freezing. We continued to drive, it was such a land of surprises, we didn’t know what was next or how far was the next town. On one side was the vast Atlantic ocean with seagulls and nothing more, on the other large looming mountains touching the sky, we could not see beyond the mountain since it loomed to our left and met the ocean, so we didn’t know whether a town waited behind.
We saw lots and lots of sheep that climbed very high to eat grass at the top of hills. When I saw some, I rolled down the window and bleated and bleated to see their reaction, but they stopped and stared at me like I was crazy or something, so I left. Its like when I see cats I have to meow, when I see dogs I have to bark, just to see their reaction, and they either run away or stare at me like the sheep. Along the way I read about Iceland in my Lonely Planet guidebook, the history was so interesting. I also started reading a book on Viking Age Iceland and it touched upon their culture, very very interesting. We saw houses that were buried in the mountains of lava rock, with some portions peering out from under the mountains. The country is so ravaged by volcano, and I am amazed that people still stay there in the dark nights when there is no sun and its deathly cold.
We drove alongside a mighty glacier, we stopped to take photos, I walked on a pathway thinking as I walk I could take a closer look at the glacier but it did not get closer. It was a mighty mighty glacier, with a big pit between the mountain and the pathway from the road, the pit was far away. Once we reached closer, a beautiful sight greeted us – the same pit was actually Jokulsarlon, the iceberg beach. The ice from the glacier broke off and fell in the water as iceberg, the icebergs then melted to form Jokulsarlon. We stopped to take pictures, we saw a few seals as well. Jokulsarlon is beautiful, and was AM’s highlight of the trip – not for me, I found the journey more interesting. We stayed at Gerdi Guesthouse nearby and made the trip to Hofn for dinner. On our way back, we were the only ones on the road and it was scary driving on the narrow road, we were glad to get back to Gerdi. Sunrise was around 5:30am and sunset at 9pm, it got completely dark after 9pm since the country had just come out of the midnight sun.
The next morning we woke up at 5am and drove to Jokulsarlon, 15 mins away, to see the sunrise. It was beautiful, the ocean on one hand, Jokulsarlon on the other, the first rays of the sun kissed the mountain peaks till they reached the icebergs that glistened bright yellow, it was beautiful and we were the only ones there till a photographer joined us to take some photos.
We left for Skaftafell National Park. Skaftafell was a very good walk, we walked for a few hours since we had to head back to Keflavik, I would have loved to have done some glacier walking but we didn’t have the time.
We headed back, the drive back was boring and long. We stayed at Keflavik for our early morning flight. Keflavik is a bland boring area, with nothing to see, and the drive along is so barren. We stayed at Hotel Berg, close to the airport, it had decent rooms and amenities. We ate at a Thai restaurant nearby, it wasn’t too bad.
We took a flight into Oslo the next morning. What can I say about Oslo, it was a bit boring as a city. We stayed at Thon Hotel Spectrum, close to public transportation. The city had a large Middle Eastern population which surprised me, I guess due to the short distance. We walked along Karl Johans Gate, the main street in Oslo, it had interesting shops. Fashion-wise a lot of the women wore leggings and booties, looks like booties were in. We found an Indian restaurant, Jaipur, the food was quite good but felt a tad heavy. A lot of the Indian restaurants we visited in Norway had tacky decoration, as if a Indian king gagged and out came all this tacky stereotypical decoration with lots and lots of pinks, puppets, and statues. It seemed as if Norwegians found the decoration to be in line with what India is like or something – who knows! We visited the museum and a few other places, and unfortunately didn’t get time for the Opera House. My favorite place was Vigeland park – it was breathtaking, kind of like Central Park in NY but with fewer people, greener areas, and mighty beautiful sculptures. It was great walking around, I would have loved loved to bike around the park, but it started raining and we didn’t have much time.
We had an early morning train ride to Bergen, the hotel was nice to pack us our breakfast for the way. We were debating whether to do the Norway in a Nutshell, but decided to just go to Bergen. We took the Bergen Railway, a beautiful ride. The initial part was okay, but it got prettier after Flam. The next day we took the Norway in a Nutshell tour to Sognefjord – the tour was very beautiful, with a lovely ferry ride to Sognefjord with small towns along the way. Unfortunately a good portion of our previous train ride was repeated so we would have saved a day by doing the NIN instead of Bergen railway. We spent two days in Bergen and visited Hanseatic museum (nothing to write home about) and rode the Funicular. Bergen was a charming city but two days was too much, in hindsight we should have done NIN from Oslo to Bergen, 1 day in Bergen, and done another fjord trip. It rained for 3 days in Bergen and one day was spent with nothing to do. Overall we were so mesmerized by the beauty of Iceland that Norway paled in comparison.
Transportation in Bergen was super easy, the city is well connected by buses and tram, a lot of the places are walking distance. It had nice cobbled streets, and weather was like NY – cold and rainy.
We found a couple of Indian restaurants here as well. I forget the name of one, it was close to the railway station, again the decor was very tacky but food delicious. Another one was close to our hotel, Thon Bergen Brygge, Maharaja restaurant, the food was absolutely delicious and rich in spices. The waiter told us that Norwegians like a “kick” in the food, the more the spices the more they like it. I guess it has to do something with the weather.
Overall we had a wonderful trip, in hindsight I would have skipped Oslo and probably done Stockholm and/or Copenhagen, and done one more fjord. Or we could have visited Landmannalaugar in Iceland by booking a trip on a 4-wheel drive. I really really liked Iceland, it was just so beautiful, and I cannot wait to go back. Norway truly paled in comparison…
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