ICELAND – the volcano island

This island is full of myths and legends. The origin of land can be experienced very closely and nature shows its most beautiful and impressive side as it‘s finest. Steep cliffs, mighty waterfalls, mythical lakes, lush meadows and fascinating inhabitants.

Our expectations are huge on July 2nd, when we finally land on this beautiful island. The arrival was preceded by an incident in Kangerlussuaq…. due the fact that Ilulissat Airport does not have the necessary security technology for international destinations, our flight actually had to stop at the nearby and much larger airport for all necessary security checks. What we didn’t realised: while packing our backpacks we overlooked the camping gas that we should have unpacked. This mistake triggered an alarm and I was friendly invited to meet the staff backstage 🙈. 

Right after our landing in Reykjavik we are in the middle of a beautiful evening scenery (yes, the night actually exists here, if only for a few hours 😂). 

As wonderful as Iceland is for nature lovers – it must be terrible for meteorologists. The weather changes from minute to minute, from kilometre to kilometre, from hill to hill. The first 36 hours we mainly experience all kinds of rain. But it‘s  not stopping us from taking our small camping car and exploring the country on our own.

We visit Þingvellir, the Kerið crater and the mighty waterfalls Seljandsfoss and Skógafoss. In Þingvellir we find ourselves in the middle of masses of tourists and we decide to visit all the other sightsing spots outside of the most common visiting hours. A wise decision as it turned out later. 

We prepare the food in the car’s own „kitchen“. Ravioli, rice and couscous are on the menu. We are happy about every warm meal – even if cooking is not always easy with the flowing water masses.

Day two: while the clouds clear at noon we visit the warm springs in the Secret Lagoon, admire the mighty geysers in the Haukadalur Valley and are fascinated by the falling water masses of the Gullfoss waterfall. In fact, the large tourist masses have already disappeared, which gives us the opportunity to take some nice pictures.

It is Friday – my birthday – and Ina does everything to make it as beautiful as possible. At midnight she is singing and letting me open a present that will always remind me of Iceland. In the morning we enjoy delicious porridge in our sleeping bags before we set off again. We spend the last hours of our Iceland adventure in the capital – and probably the only proper city on this Island – Reykjavik. A very charming and creative little town with a distinctive street art culture and countless cafés that invite you to sit down and enjoy the warm evening sun. We taste local specialties like cinnamon buns or a huge icecream (look at the glow in Ina’s eyes ☺️).

At the end of my birthday Ina invites me to a sensational restaurant: the „KOL“. After getting seated you have to try a cocktail to start with. We decide to try the tasting menu (3 starters, 1 fish course, 1 meat course and a varity of desserts), together with a nice wine and a blueberry-liqueur (offered by the restaurant)…AMAZING. The cook introduces every course in the best rap/poetry manner. What an entertainment! 

The next day we drop off our camping car (we have only made good experiences with it), grab a Flybus and fly back to Switzerland for a laundry stop, before we continue to Ecuador on Sunday. Stay tuned ☺️✌🏻