aurora borealis - Iceland

We ventured back to some of our favorite places in and around Reykjavik, but first things first, we saw the northern lights / aurora borealis / polar lichter and they were absolutely mesmerizing!

It was pure luck that there was a huge solar storm headed towards Earth, which gave us an unforgettable evening with the sound of waves crashing, the occasional chirping bird, and those green lights up above.

We were completely alone and it was pure solitude.

It's always nice to go back to a place after previously visiting, because there's a sense of familiarity.

When we went to Iceland last June, the Harpa was newly completed, but we didn't have time to tour it. This visit it was high at the top of my list and certainly didn't disappoint.

I'm a little nervous about how all of those glass panels would handle a decent earthquake, since there is a rather large tectonic plate nearby, but for the peace of mind I'll just say hopefully the professionals figured that out.

(My tip: if you go, visit at dusk, the colored panels start to really glisten and glow - it's magic!)

We admired random things at the grocery...

...ate lots of skyr

saw some pretty milk cartons

Kolaportið flea market's bright pink salmon

Reykjavik street art

serrano + nam... both inexpensive, yet good food options.  

I also love that they aren't afraid of spicy food. 

We spent a lot of time with nature and appreciated how easy it is to feel completely isolated. Here are some of the places we visited along the way:

selandjafoss... unfortunately the little dog we met last time wasn't nearby. 

kirkjufjara... black sand beaches are really something special. 

eyjafjallajökull... the volcano that erupted in 2010 and gave air travelers some serious panic.

For the record, Stefan's "horse voice" is absolutely hilarious. We gave them some comical commentary as we visited.

The funny thing about visiting Iceland in the late Winter / early Spring is the weather. We went from gale force winds and torrential rain to moments of heavy ground covering snow and other days it was relatively sunny and warm... kind of like Ohio. 

Iceland travel spots

In just a couple weeks we are going to be heading back to Iceland in hopes of catching the aurora borealis.

2012 + 2013 are supposed to be the best years in recent times to see them, so I hope we have a little bit of luck on our side.


Aurora Time-lapse / Iceland 2012 from O Z Z O Photography on Vimeo.

These sites: aurora predictor, aurora hunter, aurora forecast are a fun way to get a forecast and it says September and March are statistically the best times of year, too.

Even if that doesn't prove to be a success it's going to be great to be back in one of our favorite places on the planet. I'm already excited to eat as much skyr as humanly possible. Stefan can't wait to visit Icelandic Fish + Chips which has 'skyronnaise'.

We'll also be there for Beer Day, so we can sample some of their microbrews and the Food and Fun festival will be going on, too.

We are hardly running out of things to do in Iceland.

With my love for organization, I created a google map with locations I've read about or someone has recommended to visit (red spots are locations and links to places we've visited, blue markers are locations that we want to visit... looks like we need to stay longer):


View Iceland in a larger map

A few more helpful sites and videos if you are planning a trip, too. If you need any encouragement, just watch these videos and the nature will reel you in.

Grapevine best of Reykjavik 2011... the local English news and info source
Iceland Travel blog... a cohesive site with lots of Iceland info
aurum jewelry... I saw a bracelet that I loved here during our last visit, hopefully they still have it!

(As a side note, Jeni's ice cream shop is introducing an Icelandic cake flavor in March, it's called Icelandic Happy Marriage Cake and will have skyr, sweet oat biscuits, and rhubarb compote - yum! Maybe next she'll try one like the rye bread ice cream at Reykjavik's Café Loki.)


Scenes From Niceland from SCIENTIFANTASTIC on Vimeo.


ICELAND from Gunnar Konradsson on Vimeo.

Reykjavík

A few photos from Iceland's capitol...

a foal + mom

the majestic Icelandic horses

the Pearl

Sólfarið - The Sun Voyager viking ship

66˚N monster truck

cathedral + Leifur Eiríksson

parliament - where women are paid equally to men

colorful homes

dripping sparkles + street art

kria birds + the lighthouse

sea glass

If you're heading to Reykjavík this is a useful map of the city center... and just for fun, 25 Facts about Iceland.

Búðardalur

On our drive to Búðardalur...

an Earthcheck marker

sweet tiny lambs

Hvammsfjörður's glowing water

a waterfall from the melting glacier

a corrugated metal building... the staple in Icelandic architecture

Snæfellsjökull

Snæfellsjökull is one of the big sites on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula.

It's a volcano with a glacier on top and can be seen from miles away.

Greta told us the snow has receded substantially since she was a young girl.

The wind at the top was ferocious and we even had trouble walking, because it was so strong.

The view was spectacular and looked very out of this world.

West Iceland

West Iceland is covered with dormant volcanoes, craggy cliffs, and incredible landscapes.

We drove around the entire peninsula and these are some of the things we saw...

Kirjufellsfoss

Eyrbyggja Lake

Grundarfjörður Cliff

Roaming sheep

Saxhóll crater

...and a windy hike into the crater

Öndverðarnes National Park Lava Fields

Lava Stones on the beach

Skarðsvík

Öndverðarnes Lighthouse

Stacking rocks in Hellnar on the way to Arnastapi

Snæfellsnes Man + Wife Rocks... and a cave

beautiful rainbows in Búðir

...a lot of rainbows

Icelandic Horses

Glanni Waterfalls