Tuesday, June 3

Iceland - The most amazing nature in the world!!

I've been planning on going to Iceland for years but always when I've been in Finland for short visits from China the tickets have been pretty expensive. Now I found some for half the price so I took them immediately. From Stockholm it was a 3 hour flight, I had booked a car with SAD Cars (really what a name?), they were at the airport meeting me and took me to the garage that looked more like an old hangar for airplanes. There was no max milage, the fuel policy was that bring it back full or empty or how you feel and the "small scratches on the car don't really matter". OK! My kinda car rental! The car was an old Toyota Corolla that had been used 299.000 km and I drove it almost 2000 km during the 3 days I had it. Max speed was 130km/h, after that it got really loud and started shaking. Not anything you could or wanted to speed with....I booked my "hotel" first time by www.airbnb.com which is a site that rents out private rooms/whole apartments. I got to the place, was shown my room and given keys, very smooth and only for 20 euros a night. Perfect, this is a site I'm using again! First evening I went to drive around the "Golden Triangle" which includes a Geysir, Waterfall and Viewpoint. The second day I drove 1200 km up to the north, it was the most beautiful 1200 km of my life. The pictures look amazing but in reality it was much more than that. It's really something any nature-lover must experience! On the third day I went up to the north west but there was not as much to see and the rain was pouring down from time to time. It was however cool to stand on the Volcano high up in the mist. It was not really worth the 240 km to come up to the north west, should have gone south instead but could not know, next time! After the drive I just went to lie in the Hot Springs of Blue Lagoon for a few hours before my flight back. Was amazing and relaxing! The water looks so cool when it's light blue, it really lives up to it's name "Blue Lagoon. I had some problems choosing photos to add because ALL of them are great. So, here is a bunch!

Had plenty of legroom on the way to Reykjavik, like business class! There was however no food serving on Iceland Air, only coffee, tea & water for free. Strange...
 Hills of Norway 
 The North Atlantic Ocean
 This was a cool thing to have in the plane
The Geysir area, hot! Touched the water and it was really boiling
Mini Geysir :)
Geysir in action! 20 meter steaming hot shower! 
Lets watch that eruption one more time in SLOW-MOTION! 









Check out the color of the water! 
On the way to Golden Falls I stopped by the road and found a lot of rocks placed on each other
Second stop, Golden Falls. It is said to be more Beautiful than Niagara falls 

Some 180 degree view. Was the only person here during evening! 
Golden Falls empty parking lot...I imagine it's quite crowded with buses during daytime...
Amazing sunset in the clouds by Golden Falls 

Is it snow or clouds? Looks awesome
This was the third stop @ the Golden Circle, too bad it was raining....
 Reykjavik City Center, not a very big place...You can walk through the town in around 20 minutes by foot. There is a really cool church and the party was kinda wild too. Went in for a beer to check out the bars and people were really having a blast here. Beautiful & cute town! 

The harbour 
Irish bar with a spinning wheel to get drinks, and someone won 8 beers! 
Kaching! 
Please recycle, put your can & bottle in the bigger bottle
 Hallgrímskirkja in city center, it looks like a viking ship, so cool
The church had some serious gates! 




I guess this is what Icelandic art looks like. Being "stoned" 
A burgerjoint...?
Whale watching! Didn't feel like going in the rain though


 Day 2, driving up north almost 600 km! Stopped with Chem for 6.30 am breakfast
 Stunning view along the road

 Found a small hidden waterfall called Gilla 

Stopped by at the Seal Center, fantastic place!  
Had to make my own pile of rocks, seems to be a tradition here...

The seals have a nice place to live at
 One of the coolest church in middle of nowhere. Again, this one also looks like some kinda viking ship

 Drink and enjoy the sunshine in 23 degrees

 Can't say anything else than wow...


 Really wonder who lives here...
Sun watch
Speed limit everywhere 90km/h. Not a car as far as the eye can see
Up in the far north
Some traffic on the way, got stuck for a while on a bridge, 2 cars cannot pass here...seriously 



Place to dry the fish

Another stop, a 5 star rating from Chem! :D 
Car got a bit dirty from all the bugs
Another day in paradise
Husevik, a small small fishing village

Long way to drive back, 537 km! 
 Sun setting, half way to home! 
 Day 3 driving to the north west, this is up on one of the glaciers

 Up on the glacier

 Beneath the glacier a small village, smelled like a fish market 
Some pictures from the Blue Lagoon. The volcanic water is suppose to have some health proven effects on the skin. Felt smooth after the bath. Look at the water color! 
 Notice the bar to the right where they sell beer, cider etc drinks! Genius

 Sun came up for a bit