Iceland

It’s just about a year after my trip to Iceland and recently I have been revisiting photos and memories. I thought I would share a few of them here; it feels nice to reflect on things-passed once in a while.

As I was waiting in line at the post office last March to mail my application to join a group of volunteers working on a conservation project in the west fjords of Iceland, Eyjafjallajokull jostled itself from its smoky sleep. Project plans were put on hold and many of us opted not to participate in the project. But, I held on to my plane ticket–just in case.

As my June Boston-to-Reykjavik flight date drew nearer, skies over Iceland were clear, and the volcano appeared to be resting again… but for how long? My choice: take a loss on the non-refundable airline ticket, or take the chance and travel my own, with the possibility of being stranded there for a while if Eyja started herself awake again.

After thorough research, corresponding with a few locals, and researching ferry transportation from Iceland>Scotland>United States if airlines were to go awry, my gut was absolutely decided. Even my worrisome mother (well, worried when it’s reasonable to be worried) thought there wasn’t a risk (and at the time of my flight, there absolutely wasn’t), and she encouraged me to go. So I threw myself into a two week personal adventure of wandering, photographing, absorbing, writing, being. I was thankful to meet a few amazing people with whom I shared the experience.

Below are a few of the photos from a few of my favorite moments/places. You can find more photos here (northern Iceland) and here (southern Iceland).

This is an inlet in Akureyri, Iceland’s “arts capital of the north”.

Spiral staircases, everywhere. I have always had a quirky sort of love for them.

Wandering the outskirts of town with Tim from Taiwan who I met at the hostel when I first arrived.

We went on a hike to a lake in Engimyri.

And found a glacier to roll down.

The wildflowers here are the heartiest I’ve seen.

Strongly rooted, yet stretching up…

We explored Lake Mývatn.

The skies were incredible and unlike anything I’d seen.

Before heading to the south of Iceland, I decided to go as far north as I could go. I took a bus to a ferry to the island of Grímsey, where I met Tommy from Canada.

Sailing north, away from Iceland.

We saw a whale. Then, we saw the island. It’s bisected by the Arctic Circle.

Looking north.

The seabirds had no fear of attacking you. Locals hold a long rod above themselves to trick the birds into attacking the rod instead of their heads.

These puffins, looking south across the ocean (see Iceland in the distance), sounded like chuckling clowns. Not at all what I had expected–but it was awesome to hear their little voices up close.

I took a bus across the center of the island through miles and miles of farmlands and uninhabited moss-covered lava fields. To prevent landslides:

Even garbage and recycling trucks are beautified. I noticed Icelandic advertising often has no text.

Reykjavík.

View from my hostel at around 11pm, light all night long.

I stumbled across the women’s national soccer team having a rigorous practice session.

Abstracted Viking ship at the waterfront.

I found a Viking Festival in Hafnarfjördur, part of the Summer Solstice celebration!

Downtown concert.

At the pier.

Espresso, people-watching, attempting and failing to pronounce Icelandic correctly.

I will have to share some of my found-typography photos in another post.

Alley apartment.

So common to see metal roofs, metal siding, (sometimes even metal shutters). And red Xmas lights to match.

Skogafoss, just south of Eyjafjallajokull. I climbed to the top but didn’t think it wise to go any farther.

There was ash thick on the ground like a moonscape and the air smelled of stale smoke.

On the bus to the falls, we whizzed past this little grass-covered house–actually a cave for storing hay to keep it dry for the winter–and walked quite a ways back to find it…

Once the fog lifts, the land spreads so far, in every direction.

So many places had qualities of abandonment and solitude, yet were unabashedly inviting.

So many hues of green.

I met Anne, from Germany, and we shared a lobster soup.

We explored the Golden Circle, and on our way, saw this geothermally-heated greenhouse full of tomatoes:

A geothermal power plant.

Near a hot spring.

It’s soothing to breathe the steam from boiling water bubbling up from the ground, but it certainly makes you watch your toes.

This is the mid-Atlantic rift. Two continents meet here.

A two-hour swim in a geothermal heated pool with more minerals than you can name does the trick for pretty much any ailment–mental or physical.

The water was 95 degrees and the air 40.

Hair still wet, I boarded my plane and fell asleep. I couldn’t believe it when I woke up a few hours later, looked out my window to see icebergs off the tip of Greenland: