The land of Iceland, Norwegian Coastal Cruise and a touch of Germany!

[JohnM]

Late aboard but the occupant of 1A is allowed that .

 

[ADLhighflyer]

REYKJAVIK

After arriving, it was time to explore! Despite feeling jetlagged, I headed off into the city and found some lunch – desperate for something other than plane food! So what do I find – Chuck Norris Grill! Had a nice burger, fries and beer for approx $30 – my first understanding of just how expensive Iceland is (this was the lunch special too!)

So it was onwards to explore the town – in cold wet conditions!

 

[ADLhighflyer]

I had a prebooked tour to go northern light spotting the first night, so after a 2hour sleep in the afternoon I was on a bus tour to go and see what I could find. Alas, it was cold and very windy with nothing to be seen . Oh well - a good sleep to adjust to the new time zone!
Little did I know the show would begin the following night.

The next two days were spent was spent out and about seeing the sights of Reykjavik, which included the Hop On Hop Off Sightseeing bus, Perlan and their observation deck at sunset (at 4pm!), Whale Museum and the famous Baejarins Beztu Pylsur (the famous hotdog stand).

 

[ADLhighflyer]

The last day in Reykjavik had some pretty ordinary weather, but still made the most of it by having a good wander around the town, which included the Whale Museum.

Following on from the first nights Northern Lights Spotting Tour which was unsuccessful, I was able to try it out again the following night for free. Having managed to work out how to use the manual settings on my new camera, I was ready to go in the event anything was seen - below is what I did see that night in reasonably clear conditions.

The fact that I had seen the lights in only my second day on my trip - I was over the moon! However, the best light spotting was still to come....

 

[Jacques Vert]

Late aboard but the occupant of 1A is allowed that .

I noticed your seat was empty as I passed, heading to row 17.

 

[ADLhighflyer]

ICELAND TOUR

After a few days in Reykjavik, it was time for my tour! The tour I picked was a 4 day tour, which took me along the south coast right along to the eastern side of Iceland. The scenery was simply amazing, and will let the pictures do the talking!

Day 1 resulted in departing Reykjavik approx. 9am with a tour of the city before visiting the Northern Lights Centre to learn all about them. Then it was onwards outside the city, with the first stop being Thingvellir National Park where the worlds oldest parliament used to meet for centuries. This was also right along the ‘border’ between the Eurasian and North American techtonic plates. Thankfully, no earthquakes today!

 

[ADLhighflyer]

Afterwards, it was onto Laugarvatn Fontana to taste some geothermal bread and then onto the geothermal fields of Geysir to see the bubbling hot springs and bubbling mud pools. Last stop of the day was at the massive Gullfoss Waterfall, which looked stunning in the early afternoon sunset (about 3-4pm!). Hotel for the night was in Fludir, where we were woken up by the hotel at approx. 1am for some views of the Northern Lights. After a long day, it was good to get some rest.

 

[ADLhighflyer]

Day 2 took us all from Fludir right along the southern coast of Iceland before finishing up at Kirkjubaejarklauster for the night. Along the way, we passed through some great farm regions of Iceland before making our first stop at the Lava Centre. Here we learned all about the local volcano’s and the damage that they can cause. From the Lava centre, we then stopped at a few local waterfalls before a ‘special stop’ at the front of Eyjafjallajokull (don’t ask me to pronounce it – I still can’t!). For those with good memories, this was the volcano that caused massive disruption to Europe back in 2010.

Eyjafjallajokull in the background

 

[ADLhighflyer]

From here, the tour moved along to Reynisfjara Beach where we walked along the black sands. It was amazing to see the contrast between the snow and black sand and came up great in my pictures! Lastly, we stopped for supplies in the small town of Vik where I could get a few more pics.

 

[ADLhighflyer]

Later that night, the tour group was having dinner when word came through that there were lights outside. After quickly rushing to grab the camera and tripod, a group of us rushed down the road to the closest clearing which was dark to see what we could observe. The following pics were the best pics I got during my time away, and as you’d expect and very thrilled with the result. In all, we were outside for approx. 2 hours enjoying the spectacle before us.

 

[ADLhighflyer]

After the spectacle of the previous night, Day 3 took us all to Vatnajokull National Park, which is named after Europe’s largest glacier. Here we visited a glacial lagoon with icebergs with the scenery simply stunning. Later in the day we all visited a local glacier for a different perspective of the local landscape.

 

[jastel]

Nice shots...looks way different covered in snow to what I saw.

 

[subichow]

Truly amazing scenery. Good capture of the lights as well!

 

[mmchow]

Never too late to join in for a ride. The pictures were gorgeous. My partner and I were booked for a similar trip of yours in Dec but a sudden pneumothorax in Sep see us cancelled this trip. Your trip report will do it for now until we start planning the same trip sometime again. Thanks for sharing.

 

[ADLhighflyer]

Never too late to join in for a ride. The pictures were gorgeous. My partner and I were booked for a similar trip of yours in Dec but a sudden pneumothorax in Sep see us cancelled this trip. Your trip report will do it for now until we start planning the same trip sometime again. Thanks for sharing.

Still much more to come! Glad you have enjoyed the pictures so far.

 

[ADLhighflyer]

The last day had unfortunately arrived, and so it was the long drive back to Reykjavik via the Blue Lagoon. First stop was back in the small town of Vik, where I noticed that they had a very unique (and costly) souvenir to take home.


Fresh Icelandic Mountain Air! Approx $10 when converted

Along the way, we passed another secluded waterfall before arriving at the Blue Lagoon to relax for 3 hours.





After the Blue Lagoon, it was an hour drive back into Reykjavik for my last night in Iceland. A few of us went out to dinner together and ended up at the following restaurant. Thankfully I had no issues!



Sadly my time in Iceland came to an end. But in the morning - I was off to Norway to start the next chapter in my European adventure!

 

[ellen10]

Wow fantastic photos, beautiful countryside and great weather. All making a great trip.
Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the next chapter.

 

[jastel]

My photo of the can of air is nearly the same!!
I reckon more people take pictures of it than buy it.
Though I first saw it at Geysir I think.
Like you I laughed at it...then a couple of months ago in China when I couldn't see across the street due to the smog, I thought "I could really use a nice can of Iceland Air about now!"

 

[ADLhighflyer]

OSLO

21/11 FI318 KEF OSL 0750 - 1130

After an amazing time in Iceland, it was time to head to my next port of call: Norway! The itinerary for this leg of my European journey took me on the Norway in a Nutshell self guided tour from Oslo to Bergen via Voss on the train, which was then followed by a 12 day Hurtigruten cruise on the MS Polarlys from Bergen to Kirkenes and return.

As would be expected, getting up early for a 0730 flight is always hard – until I realised the very special aircraft that would await me - Icelandair’s unique Hekla Aurora.



Picture taken upon arrival in Oslo

After navigating my way out of the airport, it was time to explore Oslo for the one night that I had here where I had a good wander around the city including the Christmas Night Markets.



In the morning, I was able to spend a few hours having a wander around the streets of Oslo before boarding my train to Voss at lunchtime.

 

[ADLhighflyer]

VOSS AND BERGEN

After arriving in Voss at about 6pm, it was time to enjoy my included meal in Fleishers Hotel (the hotel included in the Norway in a Nutshell package). It was a busy night, with the amount of people in the dining room being able to count on one hand (winter is apparently fairly quiet here!). Despite the few people here, the meal was absolutely amazing and went down well with a nice Norwegian beer (which name escapes me at time of writing). Sorry – no pics of the meal, but I did see the price of the 3-course meal which roughly would’ve have cost $90. Very happy it was included in the tour as you'd expect. I was able to get a good night’s sleep, ready for my adventures the following day.

The first stage of the Norway in a Nutshell Tour was a Fjord Cruise from Gudvangen to Flåm after an approx. 30min bus ride to get there. Weather on this day was overcast with steady rain, but even still I was able to get some amazing pictures on the 2hr cruise toward Flåm. I’ll just let the pictures do the talking.