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Back from Iceland!
Feb. 27th, 2025 05:39 pm
The people I know who went to Iceland all said, 'It's amazing!' They are right, of course - it is amazing. There will be photos. Far too many photos. But first I'll need to go through them all and organise them and that will take... a while. So first, some general thoughts and observations.
The hotels:
Many of the hotels in Iceland use geothermal spring water for their hot water. They're very proud of how eco-friendly it is, and rightly so. But it does mean that your showers smell faintly of sulphur.
When you get a double bed in your room in Iceland, you don't get a double duvet, you get two single ones. They also come neatly folded lengthwise into strips, so you have to make up your bed before you get in it, and then try and overlap the duvets in a way that doesn't mean you wake up in the night with a cold gap between them where you've been wriggling. I thought it was really weird the first night in the first hotel, but then all the others were the same. Apparently that's just what they do in Iceland. (I'm curious if people do the same thing in their own houses. Does the concept of a double duvet just not exist there or is it a hotel special?)
Food and drink:
1. Brennivin - basically Icelandic moonshine. Iceland had a period of prohibition when they weren't allowed to import any alcohol, so they did what everyone does in those circumstances and figured out a way to make their own from whatever was at hand. As a shot, it's quite potent in your throat (this from someone very partial to a single malt Scotch). Mixed with ginger ale and lime, it was delicious :-) I bought a bottle at the duty free on the way home.
2. Pickled cabbage. It comes with pretty much everything. Order a burger at the fast food place, it has pickled cabbage on it. Order a slow-braised beef cheek (or fish, it doesn't matter) at a far more upmarket place, and it comes with pickled cabbage. Personally I prefer my red cabbage raw and crispy as a salad, but I appreciate that in Iceland that would limit its availability to a few months of the year. It's fine, and not overly vinegary.
3. Skyr. A sort of Icelandic equivalent of Greek yoghurt. Also comes with everything. It's there on your plate with your main course. It's part of many cakes and desserts instead of cream. I'm not overly fond of the sour taste of yoghurt myself, never have been, but mixed with other flavours, the skyr isn't actively offensive.
The scenery:
Iceland really like white buildings with a red roof. All over the southern part of Iceland, the scenery was scattered farms and villages on the flat parts at the foot of the hills/mountains, often with waterfalls pouring down the cliffs behind, and all of them looking very much like this:
Which is in no way a bad thing :-)
There were often also Iceland ponies roaming in the fields. Apparently there's a pony in Iceland for every four people.
The weather we had on our trip was a typical mix, although the first week was unseasonably warm, being above freezing all day. We had some days or hours of glorious-if-chilly sunshine, some periods of rain and pretty strong wind (though fortunately only one afternoon when the two combined, and we decided it was too miserable to be out and went back to our hotel early), and then the last three days were colder with some snow, although only enough to really settle in the last 24 hours. With the landscape of black rock/sand and white ice/snow, I have many photos from overcast days that look like I shot them in black and white. But those will have to wait for later!
The hotels:
Many of the hotels in Iceland use geothermal spring water for their hot water. They're very proud of how eco-friendly it is, and rightly so. But it does mean that your showers smell faintly of sulphur.
When you get a double bed in your room in Iceland, you don't get a double duvet, you get two single ones. They also come neatly folded lengthwise into strips, so you have to make up your bed before you get in it, and then try and overlap the duvets in a way that doesn't mean you wake up in the night with a cold gap between them where you've been wriggling. I thought it was really weird the first night in the first hotel, but then all the others were the same. Apparently that's just what they do in Iceland. (I'm curious if people do the same thing in their own houses. Does the concept of a double duvet just not exist there or is it a hotel special?)
Food and drink:
1. Brennivin - basically Icelandic moonshine. Iceland had a period of prohibition when they weren't allowed to import any alcohol, so they did what everyone does in those circumstances and figured out a way to make their own from whatever was at hand. As a shot, it's quite potent in your throat (this from someone very partial to a single malt Scotch). Mixed with ginger ale and lime, it was delicious :-) I bought a bottle at the duty free on the way home.
2. Pickled cabbage. It comes with pretty much everything. Order a burger at the fast food place, it has pickled cabbage on it. Order a slow-braised beef cheek (or fish, it doesn't matter) at a far more upmarket place, and it comes with pickled cabbage. Personally I prefer my red cabbage raw and crispy as a salad, but I appreciate that in Iceland that would limit its availability to a few months of the year. It's fine, and not overly vinegary.
3. Skyr. A sort of Icelandic equivalent of Greek yoghurt. Also comes with everything. It's there on your plate with your main course. It's part of many cakes and desserts instead of cream. I'm not overly fond of the sour taste of yoghurt myself, never have been, but mixed with other flavours, the skyr isn't actively offensive.
The scenery:
Iceland really like white buildings with a red roof. All over the southern part of Iceland, the scenery was scattered farms and villages on the flat parts at the foot of the hills/mountains, often with waterfalls pouring down the cliffs behind, and all of them looking very much like this:
Which is in no way a bad thing :-)
There were often also Iceland ponies roaming in the fields. Apparently there's a pony in Iceland for every four people.
The weather we had on our trip was a typical mix, although the first week was unseasonably warm, being above freezing all day. We had some days or hours of glorious-if-chilly sunshine, some periods of rain and pretty strong wind (though fortunately only one afternoon when the two combined, and we decided it was too miserable to be out and went back to our hotel early), and then the last three days were colder with some snow, although only enough to really settle in the last 24 hours. With the landscape of black rock/sand and white ice/snow, I have many photos from overcast days that look like I shot them in black and white. But those will have to wait for later!
