Experiencing Fire and Ice

Iceland was magical. I still feel like I cannot fully express what it felt like to be surrounding by stunning beauty for five days, but I keep trying because wow, incredible. 

For context, I've dreamt about Iceland for years. The fact I was even there still feels like a dream to me. 

The country is covered in water with fire brewing right under the surface. The glorious beauty above fights a fierce battle with the energy below and gives a spark of life creating a glowing country.

It could also be the fact water is everywhere in Iceland. We drove a circle around the whole country and felt surrounded by water including waterfalls, the coastline, snow melt, rivers, lakes, gysers and glaciers. It felt so refreshing to be constantly startled by the beauty around us.

The clearest I've been able to describe it is its as if we were inside of a magical fairy land combined with a train model set up. With how little of the land is developed, nature has a strong presence that feels very respected by the Icelanders. It is the sparsest populated European country with less than half of the population of the city San Fransisco.

The countryside, cities, and tourist destinations were all clean and well kept, giving us an overall impression for how much everyone cares about the land and country. 

With ample geothermal power and hydroelectricity, Iceland meets 85 percent of its power needs with indigenous renewable energy. We saw a few plants during our trip!

During our 828 mile road trip along the Ring Road in a manual car, we stopped and explored some extraordinary places. I won't name them all, but I will give you a quick break down on which places I would say you have to go to. We were also able to cover all of this and more in 5 days because of the 20 hours of sunlight Iceland gets in July.

Across the country, the landscape is unique with volcanic rock, jagged costal lines, and towering rock features with endless mesas on top. Plus, everything is in high contrast with the chalky black soil, fluorescent green vegetation, and crystal blue water.

The first touristy place and must see that we went to was the Blue Lagoon. The milky blue water and volcanic basins create a magical experience to go along with your relaxing soak. I have never experienced anything like this before and it was a perfect first activity after the long day of travel. Before fully leaving this area of the country, we hiked half way up the active volcano Fagragalsfjall to see the recently dried lava flow! I don't know about you, but I had never seen lava before and I was shocked at how much land it covered and its lack of density (it was porous and echoed as we stepped on it).

That first day ended with one of my favorite waterfalls of the trip, Gullfoss. Also a popular attraction, it is shaped like a massive triangle lying flat with an astonishing amount of water flowing over the edges. I felt like I was in a movie witnessing it, and not to mention, there was a rainbow as we hiked down to it. I could've watched Gullfoss for hours.

Selijalandsfoss the next day was quite an experience of its own where you could actually walk behind the waterfall! Water rushed over the edge of a huge black cliff while we walked along the edge of the carved out rock wall, getting soaked by the mist in the process. It was an experience where you don't want to close your eyes the whole time. Later that day, we went to one of the most well known falls called Skogafoss where its sheer size just blows your mind. However, my favorite part was hiking up the wall of stairs to get to the top because on top is a trail that follows along the river for miles. We followed it for a little while just soaking in as much of the gorgeous landscape as we could.

Seeing and playing with black sand was definitely cool. I always wanted Moon Sand growing up, so to go from only seeing gold sand, to seeing endless black sand was so enriching. I couldn't stop smiling while I was there because of how crazy of an experience it was. Not to mention, we saw our first puffin there!

Not to one up the black sand, but seeing glaciers blew my mind. I almost couldn't grasp what I was actually seeing. I've been on and by mountains covered in snow before, but to see massive bodies of water frozen completely solid that have probably been around longer than humans was just mind boggling. 

The last place I want to mention is Goafoss, Waterfall of the Gods. Its name rings true. I truly felt like this location would be where Olympus had been. It was breath taking. The name holds even more truth because it is said in the land's past, the lord residing over the town switched his pagan beliefs for Christianity, throwing his Norse gods' statues into the waterfall. Even though there is no way those statues are still there, it felt like their power lingered. It was also the only time we saw a sunset in Iceland. The sky turned into delicate shades of pink, yellow and blue while we sat and watched Goafoss. 

Our last day was spent in the capital which was so full of activity, art and music. The streets are painted with rainbows and sunflowers, and when we walked around you could hear music from every open place. This was a little surprising for us since the majority of the trip was spent in the countryside where everything we experienced was quite and peaceful. I'm so happy we got to see those sides of Iceland. 

Before going on the trip, we did plan it, book our places and budget our money. If you have any questions before going or want any ideas about what to do, feel free to comment or reach out! I hope you loved my post, and I hope this inspires you to consider going to Iceland in the future.