After a long, stressful first semester exam-period, I spent my brief time off traveling to two completely opposite places I’ve been wanting to visit for a very long time: Rome, Italy and Iceland: one of the coldest winter destinations I could imagine, but a place of stunning natural beauty.

Over the past years, Iceland has gained somewhat of a reputation for its hipster trends and excellent music scene (both true), but its biggest attraction to me personally remains its wild, barren landscapes: sceneries that appeared downright alien at times.

What follows is our brief itinerary through this beautiful country.

Brief history

Iceland, a volcanically active island close to the Arctic Circle, was first inhabited by in the 9^th century by, traditionally claimed, vikings or Norwegian settlers. Most of present-day Icelandic culture finds its roots in its Scandinavian heritage, and even now is mostly famous for its medieval sagas and traditional literature and cuisine, as well as its language closely related to Old Norse.

As the Icelandic plateau is one of the newest in the world, the surroundings closely resemble what our continents must’ve looked like millions of years ago. Agriculturally wise, almost everything is imported from countries as Canada, as the only native growths here are limited to bleak bushes.

Itinerary

Having only a few days off in-between my exams and the start of my next semester, we were very limited in our itinerary. Even more, neither of us had a driver license at this point, so we were forced to book several tours to show us around (a thing I generally dislike, but actually ended up really pleasant). We stayed several nights in Reykjavik as day-trips to iconic views were easiest to reach.

Golden Circle Tour

On our first proper day, we took a tour leading us through the Golden Circle, the most popular tourist route in Iceland. the host driving us around was an elderly man taking great pride in his viking roots and often talked of bygone farmer days and Icelandic folklore.

On our way to our first hallmark, we encountered these beauties:

Geysir

Geysir is the geyser the English word is derived from and erupts about every 10 minutes, hurling boiling water up to 70 meters in the air.

Gulfoss

Gulfoss, the Icelandic term for “Golden Falls”, is an iconic waterfall located in the midst of a large canyon.

National Park Parliament

Thingvellir, a national mark in southwestern Iceland, lies in a valley known for its Althing, the national Parliament. It was established in 930 and is generally considered as the founding point of the Icelandic nation. It held sessions until 1798, and is thus one of the longest-running parliaments in the world.

Northern Lights

In the evening, we took a bus to a more desolate spot outside of the city and waited for polar activity. We were extremely lucky to have a clear sky in this period (heavy snowstorms hit Iceland shortly before our arrival as well as on our last day) and after a few hours of waiting were graced with ghostly green shimmmers dancing in the dark (excuse my attempt at sounding poetic). Alas my camera was not strong enough to record any of this, so you’ll just have to take my word for it’s magic.

Second Tour

The next day, we took another tour driving us around several other landmarks, including the famous volcano Eyjafjallajokull which erupted in 2010. Our host, an extremely pragmatic man, felt no need to recite nostalgic childhood memories and instead informed us on current-day issues such as the economic crisis, the political system and farmers’ daily lives.

Eyjafjallajokull

Vatna Glacier

Fans of Game of Thrones might recognize Vatnajökull, the largest ice cap in Iceland, as a scene in the series’ second season. The barren surroundings contrasted strongly with the bright, blue reflection of the enormous mass of ice in front of us.

Black Sea

Our last stop was the Reynisfjara shore, a black pebble beach near an impressive cliff. A snowstorm hit us around this period and walking around was extremely difficult.

Reykjavik

We spent one day walking around Iceland’s capital, a city with a population of around 130,000. Bearded men walk around wearing lumberjack shirts in the middle of the winter, and blend in well with the picturesque and colourful houses as well as the various boutiques and stores that could only be referred to as being hipster.

We visited spots as the Reykjavik Concert & Conference Center, known for its beautiful glass architecture, and the Church of Hallgrimur, the largest church in Iceland.

We had some great food and shopping around this place, but by the time we were ready to depart to our final destination, another heavy snowstorm made its appearance. Thanks to a kind by-passer we reached our bus-stop in time for a drive to Kevlavik, a small village close by the airport. As our airplane left quite early the next morning, we felt it’d be safest to spend our night nearby.

Kevlavik

Unfortunately, our bus stop was pretty far from our actual destination, and as Kevlavik was formed around and out-of-use military base, nothing really stood out as bed & breakfast kind of place. By this time, the storm reached a peak with winds reading over 80KM per hour, and walking through either 30cCMof snow or slippery ice made this an impossible feat, especially since we were all by ourselves. At one point we were literally clinging to the pole of a traffic light for approximately 10 minutes (felt longer) until a car passing by was kind enough to give us a ride to our B&B. Safe to say, we didn’t go out again for sightseeing that day.

Music

When traveling, I make it a habit of finding new music by listening to local radio stations or asking recommendations to people I meet in hostels or bars - It’s my own personal souvenir and sticks better in my mind than regular touristic souvenirs.

Despite a relatively small population, Iceland (particularly Reykjavik) is well known for having an excellent music scene, with such world-class acts as Bjork, Sigur Ros and Of Monsters and Men. I came across this trip’s band, Kiasmos, while visiting a bookstore and swiftly fell in love with the duo’s experimental, almost drone-like ambient electronic music.

One of the duo’s members, Ólafur Arnalds, has already built a name for himself mixing his classical piano background with electronic influences and is definitely one to remember as well!

Conclusion

It’s a shame we had such a short stay, as Iceland came over as a beautiful country unlike any other, with a rich and fascinating history and splendid alien-like landmarks. Our personal biggest drawbacks were a lack of money and driving licenses; I would definitely return if neither of these formed a problem.

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