GO ICELAND: NORTH, SOUTH, EAST AND WEST

GO ICELAND: NORTH, SOUTH, EAST AND WEST

This is the land of glaciers and geysers, fairies and trolls. Ancient sagas tell the story of the people who came from Norway to settle the land of ice and snow. Today the country is among the most green in the world, harnessing energy from geothermal pools below the ground.

In the summertime, they are blessed (or cursed?) with “white nights” when the sun only sets for a couple of hours each night. For tourists, this can be tricky for sleeping. Of course they pay the piper during the dark winter, when sunlight is equally scarce and most activities are held under artificial lights. But when the moon is low, the skies occasionally open with a kaleidoscope of color – the brilliant Northern Lights.

For years, Icelanders have visited their coastal sister-cities by boat, particularly in winter, where the frozen interior is impassable. Today there are many local flights that can take you from the “big city” to fjord-front towns, all around the country.

REYKJAVIK IN THE SOUTHWEST

Reykjavik is the gateway to Iceland. It is also the capital and largest transportation hub. Here you find a charming and well preserved, colorful city center with lively murals, restaurants, and café life. A hot tourist destination of late, new hotels have popped up around it. The new Harpa conference center overlooks the busiest part of the city’s harbor front. Along with the space age, deco style Hallsgrimskirke cathedral, it has become another architectural icon.

Museum goers can have a glimpse at Iceland’s Viking history in town at the National Museum or go back in time to the harsh agricultural life of past centuries at the Arbaejarsafn Outdoor Museum, just outside of town. For the “scientific” minds, the Phallological Museum which, after years tucked away in the northern whaling town of Husavik, relocated here to meet the growing demands of curiosity-seekers who came to see this full range of mammalian specimens. Really!

The Blue Lagoon remains the country’s most popular attraction. I scoffed at it for years, calling it “too commercial.” Then I went there.  A sensual dream, this steaming, turquoise, super-sized warm bath set in a sprawling lava field is truly otherworldly. The white silica is the softest sand your toes will ever touch. Bathers pack it onto their skin for it’s health benefits. All the water comes from the underground geothermic springs and is brought in with pipes. You can even buy drinks, or have dinner in the lodge. It’s about a 25-minute ride from downtown.

The Golden Circle is a popular highlight.  First stop takes you out to see the Stokker Geyser, which, discovered in 1294, is still shooting 30 feet into the air about every 10 minutes. Next stop is the Pingveller or the “Ting” which sits at the meeting of the tectonic plates of Europe and North America. In their shifting, they created a natural amphitheatre with perfect acoustics in which was held the world’s first parliamentary meeting in the year 930.

Finally, stop at the Gullfoss, or Golden Falls, a horseshoe shaped cascade whose force sends can be heard from the parking lot.

AKUREYRI IN THE NORTH

The town of Akureyri ( it rhymes with Tipparary) is a charming and artistic town, considering itself the “cultural capital” of the country with galleries, festivals, and folkloric performance groups keeping the country’s traditions. It is 241 miles north of Reykjavik. It was first settled in 890 by a Norwegian know as Helgi the “Magri” or Skinny Helgi.

Here you can play golf in the world’s northernmost course (18 holes!) or visit the world’s northernmost botanical garden. There is both a major university and hospital here, and many businesses involve the brokerage of fish.

Along the fjord, you’ll pass dairy farms that produce about 80 different cheeses. You’ll come to the other great cascade, known as the Godafoss. With the dawning of Christianity in the Viking world, one local ruler threw all pagan icons into the falls so as to be done with them once and for all.

I love the Lake Myvatn Nature Baths (pronounced Mee va ten), which operate like the Blue Lagoon. The Myvatn-Krafla geothermal area in general is a volcanic smorgasbord of surreal lava fields, boiling, bubbling, and burping mud pools, sulphur scented steam vents, and explosive craters. The lake is also a unique eco-system and the largest migratory bird sanctuary in Europe.

Nearby in Husavik, you can go for a whale watch in the summer feeding grounds of the humpbacks. It was here I actually saw a rare blue whale breeching in the distance.

SEYDISFJORDUR IN THE EAST

A small town at the head of a fjord dwarfed by two 1,000 foot high mountains, this tiny town of about 760 has about 25 sparkling waterfalls. The town was developed by Danish herring fishermen who came in the mid 19^th century. They are still fishing today, making fishmeal, an open for tourism.

Like many Icelandic towns, this one was completely fabricated in Norway, with buildings shipped over in pieces and assembled on site. A neat little town, it looks almost like a toy village.

The area has become known as a “hiker’s paradise”. It’s a great place to come looking for the comical puffins, who burrow their nests into cliffs nearby. About 10,000 pairs of the birds live here.

The Alfaborg Mound is said to be the home of the “Queen of the Elves.”

GRUNDAFJORDUR IN THE WEST

On the Snaefellsness Peninsula. Solitary Mt. Kirjufell looks down over the town. Only 112 miles north of Reykjavik, on a clear day the city folk there say they can actually seeSnaefellsjokull, a 700,000 year old active strato-volcano with a glacier covering it’s summit. The 4745 ft. high glacier is undisputedly the main attraction. It was once the movie set for Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth”.

West Iceland is nicknamed “Sagaland”, as most of the Icelandic Sagas were written in here in the 1200s.

At Helgafell, the 240 foot mountain once housed a temple dedicated to Thor, the Norse god of thunder and battle. In the ancient Icelandic love story, the Laxdoella Saga, the heroine died here.

At the shark farm in Bjarnhoefn, try the hakari, a 400 year old traditional delicacy, which translates as “putrid shark meat”. It’s made by allowing SHARK MEAT to rot or putrefy. Wash it down with a glass of brennvin or “burnt wine”. Kind of an aquavite or schnapps, it’s nicknamed, “the Black Death.”

-Deborah Fraioli

A traveler since childhood, Juliana Fraioli Wilson has always had a love for exploring. She is a published writer and an accomplished business owner with a background in music and art. Join Juliana, her husband Ryan, and their two kids in Wanderland! Follow along as they share tips, tricks, recipes and reviews from some of the most beautiful travel destinations in the world.