When asked what my favourite part of the trip was this was my response soon after I returned ...."Mine...the spontaneous stop off to chill by the glacial pool in falling light - to capture the sunset en route to the hostel ...we saw the Northern lights - so chuffed - Vik, Whow! - homemade tomato soup on the spot where they were grown - all the food. Oh and I missed the pictures of Gulfoss in the books, so imagine my face when I walked to the edge of the path!! Snow, muted crashing rollers on a lava beach, ice, sun -such feast for the senses...then lastly the feel of the lava between the toes in the blue lagoon. Still pinching myself.
A whistle stop tour through the extremes of Iceland's landscape and weather! The itinerary is essentially waterfalls on day one, glaciers on day two and the 'golden circle' on day three. We had atrocious weather (lashing rain and 100mph winds) on day one so perhaps visiting three waterfalls wasn't the best idea. They were very crowded and the weather made it impossible to really appreciate them. The glacier walk on the second day had to be abandoned due to high winds but not until after about an hour in the weather putting all the kit on and probably another hour attempting to get up the path. The northern lights are elusive and I found them disappointing - you can't really see them with the naked eye, only through a camera lens set to the right exposure. We saw them on a separate bus tour on our last night in Reykjavik, not on the tour itself. Thankfully we had sunshine and calm for the last day. The landscape is beautiful and the food was delicious, if not all that varied. The long drives were broken up well with rest stops and road side sights.
I had researched about Iceland and the places to be visited but had not anticipated the scale of the island and the grandeur of the scenery. The weather was not as rainy as was forecast but it was windier than I expected, the weather suited the landscape and the experiences on the trip. Our guide was excellent - full of information and stories - never a dull moment.