Iceland

Iceland

I visited Iceland for the first time this year and I have to say that it wasn't a place that was on my bucket list BUT let me be clear about something - it needed to be. I've lived in BC most of my life and when it comes to mountains and oceans, ours can't be beat. Sooo... when I was told that Iceland has some of the best in terms of both, I was doubtful.

We spent eight days travelling around the Southern region of Iceland seeing some of the most spectacular scenery that I've ever seen. Like I said, going there from Beautiful British Columbia, the bar was set high.

 We left Reykjavik and headed to Landmannalaugar - the gateway to the Icelandic Highlands. Under no circumstances, should you try to attempt to get to this area without a 4x4 that is equipped to take F-roads. Meaning that you will be crossing rivers without bridges and driving on gravel, rocky roads without any signage. The landscape of this area is unlike anything that I've seen before - it is breathtakingly beautiful! The next on the list was seeing the abandoned plane wreck on the black beach of Sólheimasandur. The US navy plane crashed in 1973 and the body is still there. Eerie as ever.

I can't talk about Iceland without talking about my favourite thing of all - waterfalls. The waterfalls of Iceland are SPECTACULAR! BC has some wonderful ones but, in this category, Iceland wins. We saw some amazing ones but the standouts for me were Skógafoss, Seljalandsfoss, and the motherlode of all - Gullfoss.

Something else that I need to mention is the cuisine in Iceland is amazing. I'm not a foodie but every meal that we had was worthy of a reward. The flavour of the ingredients and the presentation of the food was perfect every time.

Will I be returning to Iceland? Probably not. With all the wonderful things that I've talked about, the weather in Iceland was a tad cold, windy and unpredictable for me. I knew that going in and was prepared for it, but I like my vacations to be warm and sunny at about 23 degrees. A village square close by with some quaint shops and cafes is more my thing. If you know what I mean.