Wednesday 28 May 2014

A post about Iceland

When I wondered, a week or so ago, where I should go now that Madagascar is off the radar, a friend on Facebook suggested Iceland.

I went there many years ago (before digital cameras, so there are no pictures) - so I thought I'd muse on a recollection or two, as I'm not likely to go back in the near future: so this is a present for her.

I was there in June, during the long days of summer. So I went outside to see the sun almost dip below the horizon in the middle of the night and then rise again. It was dislocating, unnerving, waking to daylight and have no idea what time it might be.

I stayed in the south - for various reasons I couldn't get to the north, and I understand it's different, and full of mosquitoes. Reykjavik is a modern city with some lovely wooden buildings and modern sculptures by the waterfront, but the countryside is much more interesting.

It's geologically very new - which has a huge impact on the environment. Where volcanoes have erupted under the ice, carpets of new lava creep the mountainside. When cool, it looks like huge fields of stones (by huge, I mean something that can take a couple of hours or more to drive across - that huge!). These volcanic stretches are grey and bleak, and on cloudy days they are echoed in the sky to give an air of cold but beautiful abandonment.

But it's not all grey. Where grass grows it is fresh and green and precious. The ice (and there is plenty of ice) is blue, except at the edges of the glaciers where it is a rather dirty white. There are magnificent waterfalls - angry and full of water from the glaciers. There are some you can walk behind and find rainbows when the sun shines. And there are some - fed from warm underground water - that are warm, where you can swim.

Geysers, with the distinctive smell of sulphur, remind us of the earth's fragility. There are corners where the crust is so thin that the underworld bubbles and pops.

What is there to do? This is not a country for beaches. But you can ride an Icelandic pony, which has a strange extra stride somewhere between a trot and a canter. (I confess to giggling at a couple of experienced riders who were discomforted by that.)

And then you can go on a skidoo - which is like a motorbike on skis. You tog up in a giant babygro and gloves and helmets. Stagger across and wonder how you'll ever get on the thing (forget elegant). I used not to understand the attraction of motorbikes, but now I get it. That engine pumping between your knees - and you almost float across the icecap knowing that if you do fall off the landing (a thin layer of snow) won't hurt. Well, I suppose it might if the skidoo fell on top of you, but let's not think of that. It's wonderful - all that white ice, the wind in your face, and just a flick of your wrist to make that engine throb and you're racing.

Maybe I'll go back sooner rather than later.

14 comments:

  1. It sounds wonderful. I'd love to go there....

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    1. It's well worth the hassle it would be for you to get there! Go for it!

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  2. Iceland is one of those countries I've never thought of as a tourist destination, more like the kind of place you go to if you have a conference or something. I know I am being prejudiced and it doesn't help that I have never met anyone from Iceland. Except for Bjork, of course, and I don't know her in the flesh, only her music. But after reading your post my curiosity has been awakened. Who knows? Who knows? :-)

    Greetings from London.

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    1. It's very different - and, as you embrace all sorts of differences, I'm sure you'd be fascinated. (But rather cold, compared with Cuba!)

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  3. Thank you Jo, now I'm more determined than ever to go! I want to stare at glaciers, listen to the tumbling waterfalls and sail across the snowy landscape...I want to be fascinated by the abandoned stretches of volcanic rock, and wander through a country so different to my own!

    Despite you having no photos your words conjured up a variety of stunning images!

    Thank you for a little peak into your adventure! It's top of Hubby's and mine lists, in a few years when life quietens down, if it ever does, lol...

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    1. You can walk on the glaciers, Lisa - and it feels very odd, walking on something that is moving underneath you! So go - it's wonderful!

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  4. Why wouldn't you go? It's an amazing place. Do the Blue Lagoon. It's unreal - and just a short bus ride from Reykjavik.

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    1. Oh yes, the blue lagoon is very special!

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  5. As a non-traveller, I feel I am escaping to furrin parts just be reading your blogs!! Brilliant.

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    1. Thank you, Carol. Iceland is definitely very furrin!

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  6. I like furrin….can I go furrin to Iceland with you, Jo. It sounds brilliant, especially the ponies and the skidoos!

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    1. Oh the skidoos were such fun, Val - you would love them!!!

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  7. Loved reading this, it's a country that's always fascinated me. YOU could always scan some old pictures....!

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  8. It sounds wonderful but far too cold for me I get enough cold winds in Scotland.

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