ICELAND - day 4

18.08.13
On yesterday’s tour the landscape was at times Svalbardian (flat-top mountains) and at times Patagonian, although on a much smaller scale. Today we travelled East towards Gullfoss and Geysir, and the landscape was more Lanzarotian, only here the lava fields are covered in lichens and heather – quite amazing!
   Gullafoss

Overall, both days I found lots of similarities with the Faroe Islands also.

ICELAND - day 3

17.08.13
Toured the Western peninsula, with our host who took us around in her car. We saw plenty of great scenery, including an underground lava cave where we had a guided tour.

The day was overall quite tiring, but we did see a lot of things that we surely wouldn’t have had the chance to see otherwise. The last bit was a really narrow creek, by which time my knees started to give in…

NOTE — we past a causeway that I named “the bridge of the foul herring” – the story goes like this: after they built the causeway there was very rough sea and lots of herrings were litterally thrown over the bay closed off by the causeway. Now, as the builders hadn’t left any underwater passage wide enough for the fish to swim out, they found themselves with the bay full of dead herrings, rotting away…

ICELAND - day 2

16.08.13
Took a long walk to the seaside, then strolled around town.




We went to the Iceland Museum and the Cathedral (closed) and then took the bus back and got home after a spot of shopping – altogether some 15 km (10 m).




I’m pretty shattered. I don’t think I’ll have any problems sleeping tonight.

ICELAND - day 1

15.08.13
After just some spot-sleeping here and there, we dropped our luggage and proceeded through the gate – the flight to Reykjavik was fine and we met Anna waiting for us.
 
She lives in a block of flats on the eastern outskirts of the capital, ½ hr bus journey to the centre. She took us for a quick tour of the harbour, then we went to the bank to exchange our Euros for Icelandic Kronas (they don’t deal with them in Italy) and to the information centre to stock-up on leaflets. After a spot of shopping for our dinner, we dedicated ourselves to planning our next few days and we came up with a few ideas. In spite of having taken a nap late this morning, I’m going to bed pretty tired – I think I’m gonna enjoy my first night in Iceland!


REYKJAVIK first impressions — quite a few blocks of flats, quite a few buildings in phase of construction and some run-down buildings. The town centre looks nice, but we only took a quick glimpse without really stopping to get the feeling of it.

WEATHER — drizzly, 10°C, tipically Scandinavian, people don’t seem to be bothered in the least by this kind of rain, wearing anything from rain jackets to t-shirts.

ICELAND - flying out

14.08.13
Left Italy, at last… it’s been a long year. We’re finally in London, albeit only for a few hours. Our flight to Reykjavik is very early tomorrow morning. Ros is sleeping on the Starbucks’ sofa at Luton Airport, and I’ll do some reading – I’m not sleepy yet, I already dozed off somewhat on the plane in. Plus, I don’t like to leave the luggage unattended. Meanwhile, I’m sipping my latte. 

ICELAND - holiday 2013

Although a bit “late”, here’s a brief chronicle of what my wife and I saw this past summer, during our holiday in Iceland

San Fruttuoso - GE

July 20, 2013 

This morning we moved up along the coast to Santa Margherita Ligure. We pointed to Portofino to check if we could park there, only to find confirmation that the population there are just posh shits (and the only local car park have outrageously high prices, like €5.50/hr), so we turned back to SML, parked on top of hill for free, and took the boat to San Fruttuoso where we spent the day swimming.

San Fruttuoso

By mid afternoon we went back to the car and headed up north to visit the in-laws... and gained a proper bed in the process ...

Now we ordered a couple of softer mattresses for the Quber, so it'll probably be better to sleep in next time. At the moment the mattresses we use are pretty dense and they give us (especially me) some trouble with our chests, making it feel really heavy. Now with the new foams that should arrive next week, we should be ok, otherwise it becomes really difficult sleeping in the Quber for more than a couple of days...