Last night was the first night that I was way too exhausted to post. But, again, it was a wonderful day. I finally did the free walking tour of Reykjavik. It is a tour put on by a company called Goecco Outdoor Adventures. A student does the tour for tips only. I definitely should have done this tour days ago because I learned a lot about the city and the country. And it was the same company I’d signed up to do the White Night hike with later on in the day.
The White Night hike is supposed to be to a ‘secret’ location so I can’t even say where it was that we ended up. But we passed lava fields covered with the softest, cushiest green moss you’ve ever seen. It was only a 30-minute drive and then we set off for the hike. We hiked about 3 km through fields filled with geothermal steam. It was a beautiful sight – deep green mountains and cliffs with steam rising from them. And little pockets of geothermal activity where the mud was so hot that it was boiling. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was gorgeous and creepy at the same time. And with the sun setting it was even more surreal. To make things a little more interesting, it started to pour down rain. And of course I was unprepared for the weather. But fortunately, the rain wasn’t cold and we were going to bath in a geothermal river shortly so getting wet wasn’t a big deal.
We made it to the river where we were to bathe and the rain really started to come down. At this point all of my clothes were soaked anyway so everyone stripped and made a mad dash for the river. The water was so clear and pure and wonderfully hot! It felt like paradise sitting there in a natural hot tub with the rain pouring down surrounded by the most amazing natural sights. To make it even better, our guides, Taylor and Tatur, provided us with wine 🙂 I didn’t think it could get better but, there you go, I was wrong. So we sat in this river drinking wine and telling stories.
The group consisted of 3 couples and me (story of my life, right?). But they were all such nice people and we got along famously. My favorite of the group were Kay and Metam. She is from Vienna and speaks like the queen of England. Apparently her grandmother taught the elocution lessons growing up so she’d have proper speech. It was lovely to listen to. And her best friend, Metam, is from India originally. They met working for the UN in Kabul. He still works there and she now works in Tripoli. Yes as in Libya. They both do this extremely dangerous job on a daily basis and had come to Iceland for R&R. They were absolutely fascinating as you can probably imagine. Their stories were extreme and dangerous and sad and exciting and inspiring. Again, I feel lucky to have met and spent some time with them.
After more wine and shots of Brennivín which is a brand of Schnapps that is Iceland’s signature liquor, we were given homemade soup and sandwiches. It was perfect because at this point we were starving. Then I finally got to try shark. I was nervous about it because the smell is extreme – and not in a good way. But it was actually very tasty. Rich and dense and not too fishy.
It was getting dark and time to get started on the 3k trek back. Luckily, because my clothes were soaked, Teitur gave me his nice, warm, dry coats to wear back. And gloves! Thank goodness for amazing guides. And then we were off. About 30 minutes into the trek back, it was completely dark. Taylor and one of our fellow hikers lit torches and we all had headlamps. Again, with the steam and the fog rolling in it was so surreal. And beautiful and very, very peaceful. No sounds of traffic or people. Its times like those where you realize how small you are. And you appreciate all of your surroundings! And the people you get to share the experience with.
It was around 11 when we got back to the van and we were all physically exhausted. It was a great feeling to just sit back and watch the world go by on our way back to the city. And now you can all understand why writing last night was impossible.
Today I’m off to ride the unique Icelandic horses. It should be quite an experience as Kay and Metam rode them 2 days ago and said it was quite a highlight. Either way, you’ll all hear about it soon!
Check out the pictures below. Such fun!
