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| Reykjavik is bright and colourful. It has sea and mountains and it has retaurants and pubs. People are happy and they are really wonderful. This picture was taken from the Hallgrímskirkja church |
Arriving in Reykjavik - the bay of smoke
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| The bay of smoke |
A tiny spec on the world map touching the Arctic Circle had been a source of fascination for me for around a year. Before that I was oblivious to it's existence and knew nothing about it. This tiny island
with a population of just 3.3 lakhs has been judged to be the country of the
happiest people in the world even though the country almost went bankrupt during the global meltdown of 2008.It's said that heat generated by the separation of Eurasian and North American tectonic plates caused this magma to be built which is now known as Iceland. As we traveled through this tiny nation in June 2016, the conclusion after the trip was fairly simple :
This was the most picturesque country that we had ever visited !
Iceland (Or Island as they call themselves) is a part of Europe and thankfully part of Schengen bloc so a separate visa was not required.
Driving License from India is recognised here so an International DL is not required. I had never met anyone who had visited Iceland so it did come as a surprise to my cousin and travelling mate Kunaal when I suggested this destination.He read a bit about it and appeared enthusiastic. So we started planning this trip with the help of some websites like TripAdvisor and reading a few travel blogs. Then suddenly
Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol shot the song
'Gerua' from film
'Dilwale' in Iceland arousing the interest of tourists from India. I do understand that people did visit that country after watching the film.However my disclaimer is that till the day I boarded my flight to Iceland, I had not seen this movie or the song so it had no influence at all on my decision to visit this Nordic country. Finally, we all watched the song midway through our journey at Hofn. Yes, Iceland did look scenic in it but it just touched the tip of Iceberg. One thing I could not understand though was - what was the need to put special effects in something which was originally so beautiful ?
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| A DC 3 Plane had crashed on black sand near Vik a few years ago. One has to walk for 1 hour to reach there. Our Shah Rukh Khan dances on top of this plane. |
Though there is no direct flight from India to
Keflavik Airport at Reykjavik (The Capital of Iceland), Iceland Air flies to many European countries including Germany, Finland and England. My family went through Helsinki, spending a couple of days there and Kunaal's family flew in via Heathrow reaching on the same day. Taxi and other transport is pretty expensive in Iceland. The bus from Airport to city centre is ISK 2700 ( Euro 20 each person) so we pre-booked a mini van for around 90 Euros for four of us. It is a 45 minute drive to city centre and as you cross the lava fields, mountains, sea and some beautiful green meadows you realise that something special is in store over next 8-9 days. Far away as the sea seems to touch the mountains, the mist rises from the sea covering the mountains partly. Our apartment ( Rey Apartments) was very nice and spacious accommodation right in the city centre and next to the
main street of Reykjavik called the Laugavegur. By the time we checked into the apartment and freshened up, most shops had shut though pubs and bars were coming alive. People of Reykjavik have a reputation of partying hard but that only starts from Friday evenings.
Soccer Magic
As all shops shut by 7 PM, there was not much activity other than a big screen telecasting
Euro 2016. Icelanders were enthusiastic on that day their country had a good chance of qualifying for the knock outs. With their team doing progressively well in each match, frenzy captured the entire nation for the next few days and we were there to witness this rise and rise of public mood.
As I walked the narrow streets of city centre I liked the feel of the place.
Reykjavik means Bay of smoke. The name came about as mist rises from the sea and covers the mountains very often. We witnessed this phenomena each day. However when we reached the sun was out and temperature was a cool 15 deg C. Actually being the month of June the sun is out for almost 24 hours (unless it is cloudy) and during the 12 days in Nordics I did not see what is known as 'night sky' as it did not get dark at all. Midnight sun was very common. I did carry my eye masks so that I get a feel of night and would sleep peacefully rather than feeling that it was day all 24 hour long.
Some images of Reykjavik
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| The locals were shocked to hear that in Delhi temperature goes upto 47 deg C and 40 deg C + is pretty common. |
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| No need to comment about this. |
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| An early morning view of Laugavegur street. It is a long street having shopping, cafes, pubs and memento shops. In short, it is the life of Reykjavik. |
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| Graffiti walls are common in Reykjavik. It shows their love for art. |
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| Window dressing was impeccable in most stores. |
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| From city centre to the harbour, it is a short stroll. The area is well maintained and neat. |
Laugavegur is a street of cafes, pubs, restaurants and bars
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Each cafe/pub has a unique theme. It's a pleasure having breakfast, lunch or dinner in any of the places. Beer is popular and so is wine.
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Hot Dog Special
Many articles have been written about this hot dog place and it has often been described as serving the best hot dogs in the world. Located near the pier the place is famous as Hot dogs have been praised by Bill Clinton and members of Metallica. Its said that 80% of all Icelanders have eaten hot dogs from here. Normally there is a long queue but the guys serving were more than efficient. We did eat the hot dogs here and found them to be normal hot dogs !
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Hallgrímskirkja church
This church is a landmark of Reykjavik and can be seen from anywhere in town. It is a nice place and though there are no charges to enter the church, you have to pay Euro 6 to go up. It was worth paying this amount as the views from the top gives you spectacular view of the whole city.
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| The church was just a short stroll from where we stayed. I could see it from the window of our apartment. |
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| It was very lovely and peaceful inside the church. |
Time for Breakfast and departure
There were butterflies in stomach the next morning. The butterflies continued even after breakfast.
A nice cafe called the Brennslan serving great club sandwiches had been found on Laugavegur street and we all loved the atmosphere and the sandwiches. The anxiety was about collecting the car and then drive all over the country
on the right side of the road ! We in India are used to driving on left side of the road. I had tried driving this way on right side in Mykonos a few years ago and had been very uncomfortable. For this trip I had been mentally preparing myself for many months. Kunaal was equally nervous. We would shortly know how much we could adapt to these new driving conditions. The journey to the entire Golden Circle and then taking the ring road for drive to the south had all been planned for the day.
The success of our trip depended upon our driving skills in this country !
To be continued........
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