Travel Diaries: Iceland

Everybody who knows me knows that my top #1 destination in this planet was Iceland. I've been dreaming to go there for at least 5 years because of it's cultural scene, landscape and cold -yes, I tend to like cold, dress in cozy clothes, put on a hat and drink a cup of coffee-.

My dream came true when I organized my journey through Scandinavia with my sister Florencia.

Day 01
From Bergen Airport, Norway to Keflavík Airport, Iceland.


From Keflavík it's about 1/2 an hour by car to Reykjavik and we booked with Grey Line Iceland Excursions (around 2.400 ISK for the round ticket) and they left us at Hlemmur Square hostel where we stayed for four nights and it's really well located in the center of the city.
At this time of the year it got dark almost at 11-12 by night and you have like 2 hours of true darkness so be prepared to have long days but -advice- watch the clock because you may not feel like is time to go to bed because of the lack of darkness.

SOLFAR SCULPTURE

HARPA BUILDING

WOOL ICELANDIC THINGS THAT I LOVE

Day 02
We started with the Solfar (Sun Voyager) sculpture and then took pictures at the Harpa building and then we walked through the center of the city drinking coffee and just looking at people and stores around. I felt in love with a wool blanket that I purchased the day before we left to Denmark -our next destination-. 
In the afternoon we wanted to have a true islandic thermal pool experience and we walked to the Laugardalur Swimming pool where we had to strip and shower naked in front of two old ladies who looked after the hygiene of the ones entering the pool -a little shocking but in Iceland if you don't shower before entering the pool is rude and nobody does it-. We stayed at the pool for 2 hours just immersing ourselves in the islandic society, parents, kids, teenagers altogether enjoyed a good time in the pool.
Exhausted we went to bed preparing for what was coming next.

GULFOSS WATERFALL

GEYSIR

THE FAMOUS STOKKUR -30MTS APROX-

Þingvellir 

NATIONAL PARK

Þingvellir 

NATIONAL PARK

Day 03
We booked the Golden Circle Tour with BusTravel -the most affordable alternative-. Omar, our tour guide was very passionate and explained many things that I was eager to know. He drove us from Reykjavik to the farming district in the south, Faxi waterfall, Geysir, the waterfall Gullfoss, the national Park Thingvellir, including the rift valley and the Rock of Law which was the site of the first Viking parliament. 
I recommend this if you're not planning on renting a car.

BLUE LAGOON

Day 04
We visited the Blue Lagoon. This pool has a source of geothermal seawater, it's a great way of spending the afternoon relaxing from a day of tourism. I think it's better not to dive because the water has so many minerals that stick into your hair and it's very difficult to clean afterwards. If you're short on time it's a great way to have a geothermal swim. If you have two or three weeks and rent a car you can go to the other famous geothermal pool located in Myvatn.
Back to the city we  visited the Hallgrimskirkja with a design column design based on the Svartifoss waterfall. The big pipe organ is another highlight inside the church. 
We walked to the flea market and had coffee and a sandwich at Sandholt bakery. I also bought my blanket at Alafoss and the had to go back to the hostel to pack our bags.

LAUGAVEGUR STREET

SANDHOLT BAKERY, LAUGAVEGUR STREET

LAUGAVEGUR STREET 

<3 MY ALAFOSS BLANKET <3

My conclusion abut this trip is that you have two ways of doing it. Either you come for 5 days and pay tours to get you around the island or you come for three weeks, rent a car and get around the island by yourself. Public transport is really bad. 

If you have questions feel free to ask or comment.

XX
Carolina.