Iceland - The land of Ice and Fire by Tarun

 Iceland is a gorgeous country. If you want to visit a place in the world, it should be Iceland. Reykjavik is the capital of Iceland. In summer the weather is not too hot nor too cold, it is about 10 - 14 degrees celsius during day and 2 - 5 degrees during night.

Iceland has a variety of species of birds. The Puffin is the National Bird of Iceland. Iceland is also famous for its whales. There are so many animals like the Icelandic horses and dogs. Iceland is also famous for its fish & chips. They have a particularly good taste.

I visited Iceland in 2017. Out of so many places I have visited, Iceland was the best. We took a flight from Oman to Dubai and from there to Frankfurt. We stayed there for two days in Frankfurt and then we went to Berlin and from there to Reykjavik. We stayed in a guesthouse which was pretty good. It was called 'Central Guesthouse Reykjavik'. It had a well equipped kitchen were we could sit and have breakfast, lunch and dinner. It had some food but otherwise we had to bring our own.

Actually, one of our main suitcases containing our waterproofs, raincoats and our thermals didn't arrive at the airport along with the plane. This was the sad thing. But this turned out to be a boon in disguise, giving us the opportunity to explore other parts of the city. Searching for a store, that wouldn't burn a hole in our pockets, up and down we walked the streets of Reykjavik. Eventually stumbling into a flee market. We only got my jacket as we were running short of time, so we decided to hit the road anyway. The best memories are made unplanned and made by accident.

So the next day we started day 1 of our 7 day road trip around Iceland.

Day 1

We packed our clothes and suitcases the next morning and set on to the road. The first attraction on the list were two waterfalls. They were called Skogar and Skogarfoss. There was a path for walking on the back of the waterfall. There were many people walking around the waterfall. I also drank some water as it fell. My parents told it would be clean as it came straight away from the melting glaciers.

Before we were headed for the waterfall, we went to a village called Vik. There was another small waterfall and a beautiful viewpoint there.

In the end, I was so tired that I fell asleep in the car as we drove towards the hotel. This time the hotel was not a single building, but many single storey houses that were divided into different rooms. The name of the hotel was called Hotel Burfell. We had tasty cup noodles that we brought from Oman for dinner.

Day 2

The next day we were going for a glacier walk on the Vatnajokull glacier which is the largest glacier in Europe. We were also going for a boat ride in a glacier lagoon called jokulsarlon.

The temperature was just perfect the next day. One fleece ( a type of jacket ) was enough. We woke up, had breakfast and the next thing we knew, we were on the road. We first went to the glacier walk. We had to wear all protective equipments like ropes and crampons. We also had to carry and ice-axe with us.

After we were done with the glacier walk, we drove to our next hotel for a pit-stop. It was a wonderful time at the glacier walk. We were all tired, so we took a 1 hour nap and we were back on the road driving towards glacier lagoon

Here, we were going to be taken on a boat ride between the moving icebergs! How fun! We could literally see the ice wall from which the icebergs broke. The problem was we could not get close to that wall. This was because in case a huge chunk of ice broke, the wave could be strong enough to overturn the boat!

The boat ride was about 20 - 30 minutes. After it was over we took a round of photos and we were driving back to our hotel. This hotel was called 'HAL' . We had dinner and slept.

Day 3

Today we were only going to be driving through the beautiful fjords of Iceland with a little stop at Hofn villlage. we were going to have a pit-stop there for some food and continue driving towards Egillsstoar village were we are going to stop for the night.

We woke up sleepily and had breakfast. There was a small space exhibit in the breakfast hall in which we saw many cool models on space. After seeing those, we were back on the road. Now, we were heading into the Fjords of Iceland.

On the way, we met a traveller from Germany who missed his bus towards the same village to which we were going. So we picked him up! We also stopped by a light house.

After three long hours of driving, we finally reached the sleepy little village of Egillsstoar. There we first dropped our guest in the village campsite and we proceeded to our hotel. This hotel was called Útnyrðingsstaðir.

Day 4

Today also was going to be mainly driving and scenery stops as we were going through the valley of Moorudalur. This was going to be the only uninhabited places in this mountain area. Then we would join the gravel roads of the highlands along with many other attractions.

Our hotel this time was more of a farmhouse, with a lot of horses especially. They were so cute. We were also allowed to touch them ( if the horses came near us ). We had breakfast and were again on our long journey between the valley.

We seemed to exit the valley pretty quickly. We stopped by to visit Detifoss, Europe's strongest waterfall. It is the only waterfall where people are allowed to go so close to it. It was a once-in a-lifetime opportunity.

Actually, there was one more waterfall behind this on if you notice the above picture carefully. But we couldn't afford to waste any time, so we hit the road after staying there for some time.

After sometime of driving we came to a Namaskaro, which is famous for its ground colours which is produced by the sulphur in the ground. It is also a geothermal area. There were so many black mud like stuff on the ground which were constantly bubbling.

After we were done with this place, we were going to go to the Myvatn naturebath. The water was about 36-40 degrees. Here, we could bath in the warm water and relax. After staying in the water for quite some time, we changed our clothes and headed towards our hotel at Hagi on the outskirts of Husavik. The guesthouse here was very comfortable with a lake and trees surrounding it. Its name was Guesthouse Hagi. We had dinner and slept after a long day.

Day 5

Today, we were going to go whale watching in Husavik! We woke up, had breakfast and left the guesthouse. It was an about a half-hour drive to Husavik. There we boarded our boat along with many other people.

We saw many whales. We also saw one which was did a front flip. While heading back to the dockyard, they served all of us cinnamon buns and hot chocolate in the boat. This was the best cinnamon bread and hot chocolate I have ever had in years.

After we left the ship, we were all hungry, so we had fish & chips at a shop nearby.

We left husavik after having lunch and we were driving to the capital of the north in no time. On the way, we stopped by to see another waterfall. It was called Godafoss. This one had three separate waterfalls. For some reason there were so many small white colour insects. It was extremely irritating.

The capital of the north was also known as Aruyeki. Before we reached aruyeki, we had a pit stop for ice cream. This town also had a small airport. Here we were going to pick back our lost suitcase at the airport. I was so happy to get our suitcase back. Then we had to go through another valley in which was our accommodation. This area was so remote.

This time, our hotel was a slightly bigger house between the valley. It was called Geitaskaro. There was also a horse farm outside the hotel which was surrounded by an electric fence.

Day 6

Today, we would be passing the highland road of Kjolur. It was a remote place with only gravel roads. The ride would be extremely bumpy. We would be driving between the glaciers of Hofsjokull and Langjokull.

When we exactly between the glaciers, we would stop for a restroom break at a hut and go for snowmobiling in the Langjokull glacier.

The ice there was melting really fast. After we went inside the glacier we, stopped in the glacier and played for sometime. My brother and me played snowball fight with the soft snow. After we came back, we were cold and wet, but luckily, the outer clothes which we were wearing at that time was provided by the snowmobiling company. So we were dry after removing their jackets.

Just as we were about to leave the highlands, we came across Gulfoss, a waterfall. We stayed there for sometime and we headed for our hotel just a little away from the edge of the highlands.

The hotel was a nice one, with a T.V and a fully equipped kitchen. It was called Guesthouse Alftroo.

Day 7

Today would be the last day of our wonderful time in Iceland. But the fun was not yet over! We would be visiting a Geysir Hot Spring and a crater. There was one Geyser which we had to careful of as its eruptions were very irregular, but there was its brother - Strokkur which erupts every 5-10 min.

Then we went to the crack caused by the tectonic plates. This was in Pingvellir National Park. We could literally see the slabs under the water. This water is considered one of the clearest in the world.

There were divers diving with the help of diving suits which float. Then we went to the Kerid Crater. There was a beautiful lake inside the crater. We could also got to the edge of the water if we climbed down some steep stairs.

That was the last attraction on our list. Tomorrow we would be flying back home. We had lunch at one of the best Fish & Chips restaurant in Iceland. It was called Icelandic Fish & Chips. They had 3-5 different varieties of different fish. After having lunch we headed towards the Airport Hotel where we would be staying the last night in Iceland.

After we reached the hotel, we were all tired and took a nap. After waking up, I was reading a book while my parents went out to return our rented car.

The next day, we went to the airport using the bus from the hotel to the airport. Then we flew to Berlin and from there to Frankfurt. Our flight got delayed by 2 hours at Berlin, so we had to run to the check in. At the same time, one of our baggage also still didn't come which made us stand in a long queue. But finally we reached the gate on time! We then flew to Dubai and from there to Oman again.

If you readers would like to know from what company from which we organised this self-drive road trip, it was Hey Iceland. It offers your itinerary, rental cars for the road trip, different routes, accommodation etc.

I had a wonderful time at Iceland and I will never forget it.

If you guys liked this blog, smash that like button and also comment down below if you want to visit this beautiful country.