iceland .. truely the land of fire & ice !! honestly, i have never seen such extraordinary vast & varying landscapes ever before !! one second you are hiking through some black sand desert & the next second you find yourself in a bright green highland furrowed with waterfalls. i couldn’t stop wondering & being surprised by what iceland had to offer every single day & still we only spent 2 & a half weeks there & thus didn’t see a minimum of what there is to see & experience in this pretty little island far up in the north of europe !! however, travelling in the time of covid-19 is everything but different. not always easy. but possible & if you are careful & cautious even a pretty awesome possibility !! honestly, i have been worried before starting this trip. is it ok to go on vacations ?! is it ok to leave my home country ?! is it ok to take risks ?! yes it is. (if you are flexible organized & mindful, if you are not part of a high risk group & if you can manage getting rebooked on another flight 2 days before your actual scheduled one :)) also: i can only say that after having safely & healthy returned from an amazing journey !! but enough of the covid crisis i would rather tell you a little about iceland & how much i loved it there & why: first of all we arrived in the capital of iceland `Reykjavík´ where we had to stay for 5 days in order to sit out our quarantine. what a pitty lol !! we just loved our little apartment in the western part of the city called `Blue House´ which was located in a cute & quiet neighbourhood right next to the sea & near the `Grótta Island Lighthouse´. we explored the city, strolled through the rainy streets, had a look at a few art galleries & visited the stunning `Harpa Opera´ after having tasted the best `Pylsur´ of iceland at `Baejarins Beztu Pylsur´ .. simply a must try when in `Reykjavík´ !! one day we hiked up a mountain nearby called `Mount Esja´ which was kind of our first real outdoor experience in iceland & ok wow: we started walking through the greenest grass & stone ground i have ever seen, followed a small path all up towards a hugh waterfall, perhaps got a little lost in between but eventually made it to the top of the mountain & were overwhelmed by the view all above a very hilly wideness of steaming geysers & hot spring basins !! that was the moment when i realized i really was in iceland now which amazed me even more lol !! but this was when the adventure even started: we moved on to a small town called `Hveragerði´ where we camped for the first time & went to the `Reykjadalur Hot Springs´ to take a swim in a natural hot (!!) water basin in the middle of the mountains which was just epic shit !! we then made our way into the midland of iceland via hitchhiking where we got kind of stuck at the very last petrol station before the beginning of the highlands. we tried hard to find someone to take us further .. like really .. but if there is literally no single car going that way it’s getting a little hard lol :)) in the end there was one huge firetruck stopping. however, the driver turned out to be a experienced mountain guide who wouldn’t let us go to the highlands because of the shitty weather conditions there. so we had to promise him not to hike the trail we originally wanted to but to change our route instead so he was willing to take us with him !! thanks to the guy .. the weather would have been way too bad to go that trail .. again lucky us :)) that afternoon we still hiked about 1o km if not more until we set up our tent at around 9 pm somewhere in the middle of a black sand desert .. not luxury but way better than that !! the next day was quite foggy & rainy. not stopping us though. however, at one point a car came along the way (pretty much unexpectedly :)) & we just tried our luck & stopped it & they took us all the way to our final destination `Landmannalaugar´ which is an epic base camp ground surrounded by mountains glaciers & streams !! we stayed there for 2 nights .. two very windy & stormy nights .. but there was a hot spring spot right beside the camp ground & thus always a good place to go & warm up at :)) the only question left: how to get out of there again ?! hitchhiking is the answer i guess .. as the other option would have been walking all the way back through the highlands again. so we searched & found: a huge truck & 2 travellers from germany who were willing to give us a lift to the next main street (which only was like 3 to 4 hours away lol) thanks again you saved us !! they even brought us all the way to `Vík´ where we stayed in the `Barn Hostel´ which we had all on our own as we were the only guests during that time .. not too bad :)) `Vík´ has quite a lot to offer: we went to the black beach called `Reynisfjara´ strolled through the streets of the little town had some typical icelandic soup & had the best coffee since forever at the `Skool Beans Coffee Bus´ which is the coolest coffee spot inside of an old yellow school bus (with a book exchange & a cute cat called Jeffrey the first :)) we just loved this place !! if you ever make it to `Vík´ .. go there have a coffee & a chat .. you won’t regret it !! the next hitchhike then took us back to `Reykjavík´ with a quick stop at the famous `Skógfoss´ waterfall which truely is absolutely imposing & powerful !! in `Reykjavík´ we then decided to go north west to have a look at the `Snæfellsjökull´ nationalpark (just love this name though lol) best ever idea !! we stayed in the most beautiful little cabin in `Helgafell´ right next to a lake in the middle of wideness. (just wideness .. this is what you find in iceland pretty often .. but at the same time the highest mountains & glaciers) this is what makes iceland so incredibly interesting: the permanent & extreme change .. of landscapes .. of the weather .. it’s just unpredictable .. it’s just what it is & nothing else .. it doesn’t hide .. it doesn’t seek .. it’s impulsive .. it’s challenging you .. it’s all combined in one .. it’s fire & ice. one of my fav places up there at the `Snæfellsjökull´ nationalpark surely was the `Kirkjufellsfoss´ waterfall with the `Kirkjufell´ mountain right next to it !! the combination of wild waters & huge hights of peaky stone formations was simply stunning !! (especially without much other tourists) we then stayed 2 more nights in a small fishing village nearby called `Ólafsvík´ from where we checked out the neighbourhood & the nationalpark & had much fun chasing rainbows, looking for fish & chips (& not finding any because all the good spots were closed becaue of corona *crying*) & trying not to get completely blown away by the strong storm at the coast !! wind & sun & some snow in between .. oh iceland i miss you already & my travel buddy as well .. pretty much to be honest .. thank you for this unforgettable time together with you .. i loved it & i would totally go on another journey with you right now !!
