In January my boyfriend Sam and I went on our first holiday together to Iceland. It was one of the most amazing places I have ever been. At first we were sceptical. It would be freezing cold!!! Yes it was but that’s nothing layers of clothing couldn’t sort out.
Iceland is a three hour plane journey away. For someone who doesn’t like to fly, this was my biggest fear. I was so close to not getting on the plane once we were through check in but I had to do it. I knew I would regret it if I didn’t go.
And shock horror I was fine. My ears didn’t pop once. That’s the thing I most scared of. Just before we landed the clouds parted and we saw our first glimpse of Iceland. Mountains covered in snow. All of the land was pure white. It was magical.
We landed at 11am and the sun still wasn’t up. As we were making our way through the smallest airport ever, we saw the sunrise and it was beautiful. So many of the passengers on our flight just stood and stared at the orange glow over the White Mountains.
Iceland is a three hour plane journey away. For someone who doesn’t like to fly, this was my biggest fear. I was so close to not getting on the plane once we were through check in but I had to do it. I knew I would regret it if I didn’t go.
And shock horror I was fine. My ears didn’t pop once. That’s the thing I most scared of. Just before we landed the clouds parted and we saw our first glimpse of Iceland. Mountains covered in snow. All of the land was pure white. It was magical.
We landed at 11am and the sun still wasn’t up. As we were making our way through the smallest airport ever, we saw the sunrise and it was beautiful. So many of the passengers on our flight just stood and stared at the orange glow over the White Mountains.
We boarded a coach to take us to Reykjavik. It took just over an hour. The views were incredible, so many mountains and we passed a little village right next to the sea which was so picturesque.
We were staying at the Radisson Blu Saga, one of the best in the city. The views from our hotel room where so amazing. We could see the mountains in the distance and see no more than a mile away from us.
We were staying at the Radisson Blu Saga, one of the best in the city. The views from our hotel room where so amazing. We could see the mountains in the distance and see no more than a mile away from us.
Although it was about a 10 minute walk into the city the views were so amazing we didn’t care. We almost fell over on the ice so many times. We must have looked such a sight hanging onto each other for our lives!
The city itself is pretty small. There are lots of tourist shops which you would naturally expect to find and lots of little cute cafes too. There is the main strip of shops which goes up a huge hill, and there is a separate square mainly where all of the restaurants are located.
Naturally when you explore a new place you want to go to all of the tourist attractions. One of the main ones in the city is the Hallgrímskirkja church. It is so breath taking. Situated at the top of the city, the views are breath taking from the ground let alone from the tower at the top of church.
Another tourist attraction is The Sun Voyager. It is a Viking boat right on the edge of the water. Sam and I almost fell into the water because the path around the monument was so icy. The views around it were so pretty as well.
The food in Iceland is pretty much like England to be honest. We went to a chip shop which is famous for their chips. They were amazing, proper thick and chip shop chips, Reykjavik style. We also were told by locals how amazing their hot dogs were. We weren’t disappointed. The traditional way is to have them with crispy onion and ketchup. We went for one ate it and went straight back for another because they were so good!! Our hotel had three restaurants; we ate at the main one twice. It had a buffet and it was the best I’ve ever had! They served a traditional soup which was so amazing, I keep meaning to make it here but I know it wouldn’t be the same! The lamb was so incredible. And their sweet potato was so sweet and creamy. It is making me want to go back so badly talking about it again!! We heard Whale was a delicacy over there but we only found one place that did it, and only on their night time menu, so sadly we didn’t try Whale.
Another excursion that we went on was to see a number of different landmarks all over the island. The first was to where the tectonic plates of North America and Eurasian meet. It was covered in snow but we couldn’t see it properly but it was amazing to see where the two plates met.
We then went Fontana baths. You have probably heard of the Blue Lagoon, well Fontana is the next best place to go. We were so annoyed whilst we were there the Blue Lagoon was closed so we were unable to go. However we were not disappointed by Fontana! Situated at the bottom of a valley it is right on a lake surrounded by mountains, so breathtaking. Although something that wasn’t breathtaking was walking around the different pools in a bikini whilst it was 0 degrees. We first went in the pool which was filled with natural algae. My skin was so soft afterwards. It was so warm and relaxing. We then moved to the 30 degree pool, it was so much warmer compared to the algae pool. We stayed for about three hours and I could have stayed all day. Sam thought it would be funny to jump into the lake. He regretted it straight away and ran into the sauna.
Whilst we were there we went to see the northern lights. Something I have always wanted to see! We booked on a tour with three other coaches full of people. I didn’t know temperatures could be so cold. We were in the middle of Iceland, away from the city and villages so there was no pollution so we could see the lights. We were stood on top of a mountain and above us were so many stars in was so magical. The Milky Way and Orion's Belt were above us. My neck hurt from staring upwards for so long. We only saw the lights very faintly but it was worth it. They were a light grey colour and moving through the sky. Sam was not impressed but I still thought it was amazing to see. It was freezing, at one point we went back to the coach to get warm and as soon as we did the lights came back so we all rushed back to the mountain and watched again! I was unable to take photos of the lights as my phone couldn’t pick up the colour; our guide had special equipment to pick the lights up.
We had such amazing time there; if you ever have the chance to go you really should do it! We have decided we are going back to go t the Blue Lagoon and try and do some other excursions that we were unable to do. I cannot wait for our next adventure together which hopefully will be Paris in August!