Solo Travelling in Iceland

The Northern Lights/ Aurora Boreallis were on my bucket list for a while and I decided this was my year to tick them off, especially since IcelanderIcelandair are offering very good rates to fly from Dublin to Reykjavik.

 The photos are uploaded in no particular order, it was cold so layers of clothes and waterproof walking boots were in order! I had booked my flights back in May, booked my B&B through Booking.com, prices in Iceland are more expensive than at home or most places I would think!
 I had also booked an evening tour to see the Northern Lights on the Sat night, pick up at 9 pm from the BSI bus Station which as luck would have it was only about 7 mins walk from my B&B also very handy getting from and to the airport.

 Reykjavik is a colorful city, brightly painted homes, most of which are of this corrugated exterior presumably for insulation? Heating, all of their hot water and electricity are supplied from Geothermal springs, which are harnessed for the benefit of the people of Iceland not sold off to some faceless conglomerate. Iceland suffered an economic crash in 2008 at the same time as Ireland and other European countries BUT they left the banks crash, jailed the bankers,suffered crippling inflation but are coming out the other side with their heads held high and seeing their country prosper all without the interference or so called help from the EU

The underground springs come overground in spectacular fashion here, geysers bubble and steam with the daddy of them all Strokker erupting approx every ten minutes

Another typical Icelandic house, there are very few really old houses in Iceland most only dating since the 2nd WW and the amount of new apartment blocks under construction amid towering cranes is changing the face of Rekjavik. Iceland has an almost non existent crime rate?!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Myself, with an extinct volcano in the background, the volcanic lake in the Kerid crater is estimated to be over 3,000 years old

As I said, the photos loaded up in no particular order, we ended our day long tour in the amazing Blue Lagoon, coming up warm from deep underground, a deep opaque blue with a slight whiff of sulphur! I had booked the tour but then entry to the Blue Lagoon has to be booked separately. Its approx 60 euros, all you need to bring is a bathing suit. Everything else is supplied, shower gel,shampoo,conditioner, lockers,hairdryers, one drink, mud mask and towels! There are restaurants, bar and snack bar onsite. crowds pass through all day so its very organised and you will only be allowed in the time you have booked for. You dont actually swim in the pool just float around, float over to the poolside bar to collect your drink or over to the mud mask table and just relax, it was dusk when we were there and very cold so the ensuing steam made everything look surreal

The Hallgrimskirkja which dominates the Reykjavick skyline by day and night, the main religion of Iceland is Lutheran, you can, if so inclined climb to the top of the tower

Iceland is divided by the Mid Atlantic Ridge, which separates the Eurasian and North American plates and it is one of the few places it can be viewed on land as most of it is deep under the ocean. The tall cliff on the left of the photo is the American plate which towers overhead, the eurasian plate is much less spectacular and is about 7 klms away, they move apart approx 2 cms a year so the part we are walking on is known as the middle of nowhere as, it belongs to neither plate! it will be recognisable to Game of Thrones fans as a lot of the series was filmed here.

there is a big fleamarket , selling everything from books to food to antiques and clothes market held every weekend down by the docks
The northern Lights,did I get to see them? yes an amazing display! I had booked my tour for the sat night but on fri I thought it looked a nice clear day and the forecast was good so I thought I  will would contact the tour company to see if I could change from Sat to fri night. The particular company will give you another tour free if you dont see the lights the first time and will honour that promise for up to 3 years!
The lights are a natural phenomenon  and while October to March is the best time to see them there is no guarantee they will appear! They can appear around 11 or even midnight but that night they began at 10pm, they come across the sky moving continuously growing greener then fading and you wait maybe 10 to 15 minutes for them to start again, the show went on for about an hour then stopped by which time we were frozen! I took some photos but quickly realised as did everyone else that no mobile phone could capture or do justice to the celestial display so we put them away to just enjoy what  we were looking at. Some had actually taken cameras, lenses, tripods etc but I felt I could look at photos anytime but maybe never see the actual Aurora Boreallis ever again.
As it happened the weather changed for the worst and the Sat and Sun night tours were cancelled!
I loved my 4 days in Iceland but stayed mainly in Reykjavik and the south of the island, tourism is big business in Iceland from surfing to sledding, hiking to swimming there is something for everybody, I  could actually write 3 or 4 posts about my visit to this amazing country