We woke up this morning to a grey sky and snow on the ground which was predicted. From the lounge room we could see the large flakes of snow swirling around before they settled on what were bare rocks yesterday. We can also see the island out near the airport which is a good barometer to gauge whether any planes will land today. The Air Greenland web site allows you to track all the flights and our plane is in the air and running about an hour late.
One more time we pile into Jens’ car and head down to the airport. There was a big smile on everyone’s face as our Dash 7 made a perfect touchdown. We fareweled Jens who has been the most wonderful host. He has gone to a lot of effort to make our stay comfortable and memorable.
There was enough time after unpacking for us to venture out for some supplies for dinner. Whilst trolling the shelves of the alcohol section my eyes lit up like saucers. It was mana from heaven! There on the shelf was a bottle of 2008 Penfolds Bin128 Shiraz at the bargain price of 125DK ($22). It was cheaper than the Jacobs Creek that was standing next to it and far cheaper than the price I paid in Brisbane for the latest vintage. Needless to say I purchased a few bottles to be consumed at a later date and it felt just as good as a poker machine win. A nice taco dinner was prepared in our tiny kitchen which went down well after another day of travel.
Thursday 10th May – There Is No Nook in Nuuk
We were obviously spoiled by our view at Jens’ because our window view now overlooks a pile of dirty snow and a garbage skip. It has been snowing this morning so Alice and I are just hanging around. Ann and Barry were up and out of the apartment quite early.
They returned quite soon after they had left declaring that it was colder than an Arctic Iceberg. The wind chill has apparently dropped the temperature by a few degrees and all of our cold weather garments are now a necessity.
Alice and I ventured out when the sun poked its warming rays through the clouds. The wind was still blowing and as a result it was still bloody cold! We headed down to the waterfront to investigate the exhibits of the Greenland National Museum. Trip Advisor have rated the museum the number one attraction from one attraction in Nuuk.
Seriously, the exhibits of ethnography, archaeology and art were well laid out and definitely worth a visit. The highlights for us were the mummified remains of some Inuit’s, kayaks and the umiaq boats which were made from drift wood and skins.
Santa’s post office is supposed to be located on the pier but all we could find was an old red mailbox with some graffiti. No Christmas presents for us this year! We then wandered along the shoreline to an old church and then ascended a steep hill that afforded us some great views of the surrounding area. At the summit there was a statue of Hans Egede which we hid behind to escape the blustery, freezing wind. After braving the wind and the cold all afternoon it was a pleasure to return to the warmth and sanctuary of the apartment.
Friday 11th May - Winter Wonderland
During the evening there was an improvement in the weather and a bright blue sky showed off its colour. Barry and Ann decided on a walk whilst we curled up in front of the television. Into bed at a reasonable hour as tomorrow we say goodbye to Greenland.
Saturday 12th May - Iceland
Barry was up at the crack of dawn and hiked to the top of hill adjacent to the apartments. We are all ready with time to spare and are standing around waiting for the taxi that I booked for 8:00am. It is Murphy’s Law that whenever you are on time for a taxi, the taxi does not front.Barry managed to flag a brand new BMW taxi down and we were soon on our way to The Nuuk International airport. Check-in was as usual smooth and hassle free. Now all we had to do was kill time before boarding.
There are no “Big Jet Airliners" (Steve Miller Band, I think) departing from Nuuk. We are on the pride of the Air Greenland fleet, the DASH 8 with a crew of three, seventeen passengers and baby.
This would have to be the least number of passengers traveling on an international flight that Alice and I have ever encountered. As we hurtled down the runway and then into the stratosphere I reflected momentarily on the time we have had in Greenland.
The vista from the plane window provided us with a good view of the mountain ranges as well as the fjords but that soon disappeared as we headed for our cruising altitude. Touch down at Keflavik airport, Iceland is about 2 hours and 40 minutes away where we will be greeted by Karl who is the son of one of Ann and Barry's friends.
The trip from the airport to the hostel “Our House” in Reykjavik takes about 40 minutes. Karl is giving us plenty of information as well as the use of his 4x4 for the next four days.
That previous sentence had so many fours I thought I should sing for he’s a jolly good fellow!
We have terrific rooms in the hostel (10000ISD night) with access to a coffee machine, sauna and full kitchen facilities. The only downside is the shared bathroom facilities and pity the poor person that follows me into my house.
Ernesto from Spain who is the caretaker has given us a raft of information of places to visit, where to stay and also a rough guide itinerary.
Our heads were swimming with information when he started to give us some clues on where to eat. It was around 8:15pm and I could her Alice’s stomach grumbling which means we had better eat soon or else!
We settled on the Icelandic Fish and Chips café which is located down on the waterfront. After getting lost and asking directions we finally found the façade that proclaimed we had arrived. I could not get the door open and assumed that they had finished serving meals.Looking at Ann and Alice’s face I thought I was finished. A couple of diners were exiting so I burst through the doors and asked if they were still open. To my surprise and obvious relief they stated that they were. We were soon seated and in no time flat we were eating grilled Haddock and Ling fish.
The girls had a Pinot Gris from Chile, Barry a ginger ale and for me a bottle of Gull beer. The food was excellent and the bill worked out at around $50 per couple. Our walk back was uphill and even though we were finished for the evening there were throngs of Icelandic’s of all ages heading out for a night on the boards in this cosmopolitan capital. You could say it was all downhill from here! Oh and the rain had stopped so it was a great finish to the day.
Sunday 13th May – On Tour With Barry
Iceland (Icelandic: Ísland) is a Nordic European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The country has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km2. The capital and largest city is Reykjavík with the surrounding areas in the south western region of the country being home to two-thirds of the country's population.
Iceland is volcanically and geologically active. The interior mainly consists of a plateau characterised by sand fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate despite high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle.
Our plan for the next four days is to explore the South Coast and the area where all the tourists congregate known as the Golden Circle. We were up pretty early and hit the road at around 8:00am.
I was giving directions and soon had Barry heading out of town in the wrong direction. When reading a map in Iceland you have to remember that they drive on the right hand side of the road. Barry recovered brilliantly by executing an illegal U turn on the main highway, route 1.Our first stop was the Pingvellir National Park. Pingvellir became a national park in 1928 due to its historical importance as the site of Iceland’s first parliament, as well as the special tectonic and volcanic environment. The continental drift between the North American and Eurasian Plates can be clearly seen in the cracks or faults which traverse the region, the biggest one, Almannagjá, being a veritable canyon. This also causes the often-measurable earthquakes in the area. You could say we had one foot in America and one in Europe.
We continued along the Golden Circle route to the Geysir. Barry must have been drowsy after all his driving as he found out the yellow roadside markers in Iceland are flexible.
This area is full of tourists as they jostle up the path for a glance at the Great Geysir erupting. Eruptions at Geysir can hurl boiling water up to 70 metres in the air. However, big eruptions can be infrequent, but we managed to see ours blast a few metres into the air.
Continuing on our exploration of discovery Barry sent us up a road that was not on the itinerary. The result was that we came across an historic church at Skalholt. Barry and Alice went inside and had a minties moment when they interrupted a choir practice.
Along the way we were stopping for Ann to take photographs especially of the beautiful Icelandic horses. We are traveling through beautiful countryside with panoramic mountain ranges as a constant backdrop.
One more stop before trying to find a hotel and that was at Seljalandsfoss which is one of the most famous waterfalls of Iceland. It is very picturesque and therefore its photo can be found in many books and calendars. This waterfall of the river Seljalandsá drops 60 metres over the cliffs of the former coastline. It is possible to walk behind the waterfall however Barry and I did get a little soaked as a result. The sun must have been in the right position as we were treated to a beautiful rainbow.At around 8:00pm we arrived at the picturesque seaside village of Vik. Alice and Ann managed to snare a room at the Lundi Hotel which also had an attached restaurant (19000 ISK).
The dinner menu only had a few items and it was going to be difficult for Ann and Alice as Icelandic Horse was on the menu. We chose entrees that included trout and cured horse. Judging by their smiles the girls despite their initial ambivalence really enjoyed the horse. The mains were local lamb and “char” which was a pink fish. Alice and I eat out a lot and we both agreed that this was the best meal in terms of flavour and presentation that we had eaten in quite a while. Barry and Ann both agreed with our verdict.
Monday 14th May – James Bond Movies and Andre the Seal
A good sleep in after such a long day yesterday was well deserved. We continued our drive along the coastline and Barry made a couple of detours to check out the black volcanic sand and unusual rock formations that form part of the coastline.
Steady driving was the order of the day as the wind was really blowing. There were frequent sections of sand being blown across the road with visibility being cut down to less than a hundred metres. One would have thought we were driving across the Nullarbor Plain.
Our destination was a glacial lake called Jokulsarlon which has been featured in two James Bond movies “A View To Kill” and “Die Another Day” as well as “Tomb Raider” and “Batman Begins” -- in addition to the reality-TV series Amazing Race. It is considered as one of the natural wonders of Iceland.
It was starting to get late but we wanted to stop at the Skaftafell National Park before heading back toward Vik. Our aim was to walk up to the Vatnajökull glacier which is easily accessible from the national park. It is Europe's biggest glacier and the 3rd biggest in the world. We have not seen many trees but there was plenty of Birch and quite a few bird species. Barry is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to birds and is able to point them out for us.
It was getting late but you are easily lulled into a false sense of security due to all the light. We decided to cut our journey short at this tongue twister “Kirkjubaejarklaustur”. The girls have chosen a farm stay called Geirland Hotel (18000 ISK) which is situated in a beautiful valley surrounded by a wall of mountains. It is a working farm where they breed Icelandic horses but they best beware the eaters of horse flesh! I would have slept with the blinds open just to enjoy the vista but alas the sun is still up.
Tuesday 15th May – Slow Drive to Hvolsvollur
Another slow start to the day but I guess that was due to last nights’ lodgings. We would all recommend this farm stay but suspect that you would have to book when the weather warms up.
The wind is still blowing a gale but at least we have great blue skies. Not even out of the valley before we stop to photograph sheep and take a walk through a field for a look at a waterfall that was not even on the map. It is obviously cold here as the whirlpool at the base of the falls was full of ice.
Just up the road we stopped at another beautiful waterfall named Skogarfoss. This waterfall is fed by water coming off the Myrdals- jokull (glacier). We all took the stairs to the top of the fall. The walk up was not only like a stair master workout which we all need but it also gave us a great view of the coastline and farmland that stretched out below us. At the base of the falls you had to be careful from falling ice that was hanging like stalactites from the cliff face. It was so cold in here that the grass and lichens were covered in ice. There is also a museum that has traditional turf houses but decided not to enter as the day was drawing to a close.
The farm stay that we were looking at looked great but we decided not to stay as unfortunately due to a lack of bookings the owner decided to let the chef have a few days off. Back into down we drove and took a chance at the only hotel in town which had two tour buses parked at the front.
Two rooms (18500 IISK) were available and we were soon seconded in our lodgings. I was about to strip off when I noticed that there were pensioners outside my window. Our room overlooked the front entrance and as a result the smoking pensioners congregated here. We chose a local pizza place for dinner as it is dangerous queuing with pensioners when there is a buffet dinner on offer. Our choice was good as the 16 inch pizzas were not only as big as a wheel rim from a 4x4 but delicious as well.
Wednesday 16th May – Blue Lagoon
Last night on a punt I tried to book some accommodation at the Blue lagoon. Much to my surprise and to our bank accounts chagrin they had one room left at 32500 ISK ($258). The cost is not as bad as it looks as it includes admission to the Blue Lagoon, towels and dressing gowns which would normally cost 88 euro. Barry and Ann have generously agreed to drop us off a little after midday so that we can get full value from our purchase. Bedda at Our House has also not charged us for our late cancellation of our room.
After departing Grindavik I thought we would be driving for some time before we reached the Blue Lagoon. Imagine my surprise when the turn off appeared after a few minutes driving. After checking in we took the five minute walk to the geothermal spa for some self-indulgence.
The lagoon is a pool of geothermal seawater from up to 2000 metres deep. When you enter the lagoon you are enveloped by the warm blue water. There is more to it than just dunking yourself in warm water. Alive had a 30 minute water massage and I looked cute in my mud mask of silica. There is also a waterfall for a good free massage as well as a sauna and steam bath. Our 3.5 hours passed quickly and we would have to give the whole experience thumbs up.Back at the hotel we are bathed in sunshine and looking out on our own private moss covered lava field. To cap it off we are sipping on a fine wine prior to hitting the hotels mini geothermal spa which becomes available at 8:00pm. It will be an early night as we have to be up at 4:15am for our flight to Oslo on Iceland Air.
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