We were at the airport hours ahead of schedule because Allan thought our flight was 4:30 instead of 9:30. But we still almost missed the plane as he was furiously trying to upload the last images for an assignment. He barely had enough batteries in his phone when we found we had to call someone to let us in the guesthouse at 12:30 am. But we were there at last…Iceland!
I had been to Iceland in 2003 to visit Sigga, a Dalhousie classmate of mine. I hadn’t seen her since then so it was wonderful when she said she was able to meet us and spend some time taking us on a tour.
The one thing I remembered from my first visit was the vast, untouched nature of the landscape. It just gave you a feeling of wonder. Though Iceland is small, it still has 5 geographic climates. We drove through miles and miles of lava fields. In fact they just had a recent volcanic eruption in March. It was so different to see black sands and black beaches.
There are sights that you see in Iceland that I have never seen anywhere else, like racks and racks of drying fish in the middle of nowhere. The seagulls were loud!
Next came the hot springs. Iceland has a lot of volcanic activity so geothermic energy is naturally a hot commodity (sorry for the pun). It was strange to see bubbling pots of mud in the middle of the land. You could see the steam rising as the liquid gurgled away underneath.
With such a volatile geography it should probably not be a surprise that there is a spot in Iceland that is located right between the two tectonic plates of Eurasia and North America. We could see where the North American plate was slowly drifting away. Cool.
But the sweetest things we saw were the Icelandic horses. I had loved them ever since I first saw them in 2003. They were beautiful. Their long, thick manes and smaller bodies were gorgeous. That was it. I was happy.
Iceland was the perfect way to end our trip of a lifetime. Our entire European whirlwind tour was just a preview. It has whetted my appetite for our next adventure. Like Allan always tells me, “be open to it.” Stay tuned…