Iceland – Arrival & the Reykjanes Peninsula

Iceland is known as the land of Fire and Ice! A better name may be land of Fire, Ice and Wind!  During our two week visit to Iceland we had only 2 days where the winds were below 10 kph. The rest of the time there were howling upwards of 40 kph!

If you are not familiar with how uncomfortable high winds can be, understanding the nature of wind force can be helpful. The force the wind exerts on an object increases by the square of the wind speed. In other words a 40 kph wind does not exert twice the force as a 20 kph wind, it exerts 4 times the force! You move from a light breeze to a very strong wind.

We were regularly experiencing steady 40-45 kph winds that were gusting to 65 and beyond. The strongest we experienced was near Myvatn, up on a mountain ridge, where I recorded a maximum gusts at 97.7 KPH!

The problem with winds like that is it is really hard to enjoy being outdoors trying to experience the beautiful sights, especially when temperatures were at times only around 6°.

Windy but beautiful Iceland!

We would find ourselves driving from spot to spot grabbing a few pictures and rushing back to the car. Certainly we dressed for the wind and we did some walks and hikes, but the wind made everything from walking, staying warm, taking pictures, more difficult. Try holding the camera still when you’re being buffeted by 60 kph winds, and even a weighted tripod won’t help. It also meant very few drone shots, as the winds were blowing beyond the capabilities of my small drone.

However, enough whining. Iceland is a spectacular place. It is a mix of flat volcanic plains with steaming mountains, wild fjords and glacier capped peaks. The entire island was formed by volcanic action and lies on the juncture of the European and North American continental plates, so there is a lot of volcanic activity in the form of thermal pools, steam vents and geysers. While we were there (unfortunately!), there were no actual volcanic action involving lava.

While Iceland is now largely Christian, the ancients pagan gods of the Viking ancestors go back a long way and we believe they still exert a strong influence on visitors to Iceland today. Especially those with impure thoughts. What kind of impure thoughts you ask? Here are some examples; “this view of grey sky and fog is not as great as I was hoping”, or “this wind sucks!”, and “holy shit it’s cold!” and “F*ck!!, I paid a 100.00 for this Blue Lagoon experience and while my ass is toasty warm, the wind chill from the 30 knot wind and 5° temperature and the rain, which is horizontal, is giving me a god damn ice cream headache and I’m not sure how the hell I’m going to get out of here without becoming a corpsicle!!” Thoughts like these displease the gods and they will punish you by sending more bad weather your way. They may also sabotage your flights home. (More on that in later posts!)
Don’t let that discourage you though. It’s really not all bad. There are opportunities to crouch down behind some rocks, or descend into a canyon and get the hell out of that bastard wind for a few precious minutes or seconds. But I digress and I also promised to stop whining.

Arriving at Keflavik

We arrived in Iceland under heavily overcast skies. It was windy and rain showers were threatening. The Keflavik International Airport (KEF) is located at the tip of the Reykjanes Peninsula. We breezed through customs and picked up our rental car quickly and were on our way. Leaving the terminal is very easy, there’s a large sign saying, “Exit to Icleand”!

Exit to Iceland sign in the Keflavik airport terminal

Our first priority was to find some coffee and snacks. We did have some breakfast on the airplane, but we landed at 6 a.m.,  so were in dire need of a good stimulant. We had met a young women in our layover in Chicago who was moving to Iceland from Newfoundland to be with her boyfriend. She contacted him for us and got a recommendation for a good food spot near the airport, which turned out to be ‘Sigurjons Bakari’. We stopped and got ourselves a couple of coffees and picked a couple of different bakery items to try…none of which we recognized, so it was just a guessing game. They were all pretty tasty, but all were fairly heavily flavoured with cardamom which became a bit overwhelming by the time we finished. Still, who’s complaining!

Sigurjons Bakery, Keflavik

Since we couldn’t check into our hotel in Reykavik until 4 pm, we had booked a session at the Blue Lagoon, a thermal hot spring, located not far from the airport for 12 noon. The Blue Lagoon is amazingly spectacular, but it is not a natural hot spring, but an artificial lava rock pool that draws its water from a nearby geothermal power plant. Along with the pool, there is a wellness complex fitted with modern facilities like saunas, in-water treatments, a relaxation cave and luxurious spa experiences. There is also a luxury hotel located here.

After getting our caffeine and sugar levels up to abnormally high levels we began our drive to the Blue Lagoon across the Reykjanes Peninsula. The Reykjanes Peninsula lies where the North-Atlantic Ocean ridge comes ashore. Reykjanes means the ‘steam peninsula’ and features a unique volcanic landscape and is recognized by UNESCO with 55 defined geosites, including the Fagradalsfjall volcano that erupted in 2021 and again for a short period in 2022 and most recently in July of 2023 just a couple of months after we left.

Lava fields on the Reykjanes Peninsula

Driving from Keflavík airport the surrounding landscape is desolate, open and treeless and covered with moss covered black basalt lava fields. As you drive towards the Blue Lagoon you can see the steam rising from the hot springs and geothermal power plant that harness the power of volcanism in the area.

Moss covered lava rock and steam rising from the geothermal plant at the Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon

We arrived at the Blue Lagoon a bit early, but that was ok as we wanted to wander around and have a look at the pools surrounding the area which are quite beautiful, even on a gnarly day like this. There are a network of walking trails following pools and streams filled with the blue geothermal water. We even saw a couple of Eider ducks taking advantage of the warm waters. We didn’t spend a great deal of time though, as the wind was picking up and blowing a light rain sideways at us. Combined with the 6°C temperatures it was darn cold and tough getting pictures without getting raindrops on the lens!

Entrance to the Blue Lagoon on a dark, gloomy and very windy day!

Pathways and pools surrounding the Blue Lagoon

Eider duck in the pools around the Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon is a very busy place, which is why you need to make reservations. Fortunately, we were able to check in early. A lot of people come here, but it is big, so there is plenty of room in the pools.

You are required to have a shower before going in the pools, so it was definitely chilling going out the door, soaking wet, into the blowing rain, wind and cold! At least you can get into the water pretty quickly as there are narrow channels which lead you out to the main pools. The water is quite warm, but not hot and you go through patches of warmer and cooler water. It is very beautiful with the ice blue water contrasting with the black rocky shoreline, with a heavy mist rising from the surface of the water and ominously dark clouds all around. The only downside was our face and heads were being frozen by the rain and wind!

The Blue Lagoon

Heavy mist rising from the pools at the Blue Lagoon

We wandered around exploring the pools and enjoying the warmth, but both of us were finding the experience less than idyllic. There were so many people around and the wind and rain were making it a bit uncomfortable.

You can get drinks from a walk-up bar, anything from fruit drinks, of which you get one for free with your entry fee, to alcoholic beverages which you pay extra for. Neither of us were actually in the mood for drinking anything and neither of us are very good at lying around doing nothing for long periods, so it wasn’t long before we had our fill and called it quits. You also have to keep in mind that we were both exhausted from 16 hours of travel.

The swim-by drink bar at the Blue Lagoon

Blue Lagoon to Reykjavik

Since we still had time before check in at the hotel we got changed and drove to Grandavik on the south coast of the peninsula. From there we turned east and then back north, up route 42 past the Seltún Geothermal Area.  This resembles a lunar landscape with red gravel and steaming vents. The whole site is full of bubbling pools of mud, fumaroles and hot springs. There are wooden walkways around the site but sadly, it was closed for some construction work. We carried on, passing by Kliefarvartn Lake making a couple of stops for photos but because of the howling wind and rain showers these were pretty short.

Seltún Geothermal Area

Desolate lava fields along Route 43 to Grandavik

Kliefarvartn Lake along Route 42

Reykjavik

We eventually arrived at the Reykjavik Lights by Keahotels a couple of hours early, but figured we could always kill some time in the lounge and have a drink and just relax. As it turned out they had a room ready and had no problem with us checking in early…awesome!! We relaxed for a bit, checked messages and posted a couple of photos before heading down to take advantage of happy hour in the lounge.

Not much choice of beer here. I asked what they had, but the barkeep wasn’t very helpful at all not being familiar with the beers. They basically had two lagers that were almost identical, lager is not my favourite but in a pinch they were ok. We had a bit of sticker shock too. A sleeve of beer is $15.00! Fortunately happy hour is $10.00.  The wine selection was a bit limited as well, but Linda faired ok. We sat back in some comfy chairs and enjoyed!

Happy Hour in the lounge at the Reykjavik Lights Hotel

Our plans for dinner that night were simple. Find something close by that we didn’t have to drive to, eat and come back to the room and just take it easy for the rest of the evening and try to adjust to the time zone which was 8 hours ahead of our Victoria time.

We ended up a block away at Plan B Burger. It’s most redeeming feature was they were close by and the food was quick.  They made a decent burger with fries, which is what we both had and it filled our bellies.  They also had cans of beer, that definitely helped!