The Laugavegur walk in Iceland...

There is one very famous 4day walk in Iceland called the Laugavegurinn (hope I spelled it right). It starts in the beautiful area of Landmannalaugar and leads to Thorsmork. The nature is breathtaking but the weather can be very cruel. Month before we did the walk, some Israeli guy though warned about the worsening weather, decided to walk alone the first day walk (of some 10km), the weather changed suddenly and he never made it. He died some 100m away from the hutt.

For those who are not careful Iceland can be very cruel, but it is probably the most beautiful country I have seen. The nature differs in all aspects and each day of the walk brought totally new countryside. I travelled through whole Iceland with my friends, doing some short trips or the ring road trip around whole Iceland and would so recommend visiting this place!

Reykjavik

M&М's

Trees... something so typical for Czech republic and something so bizarre for Iceland. If you head to nature then you will hardly find any trees. There are two famous places where you will see trees, one is called Thorsmork and the other one Asbirgi. The rest of the country is either stone desert, glaciers or there are some bushes growing though not higher than up to your knees. You will find quite few trees around Reykjavik and in few farms where the trees have been manualy planted. And of course I cannot finish otherwise but with their famous saying: "Did you get lost? Then stand up!" There is definitely not going to be anything in your view, except for some volcano maybe. :o)

KitKat

First names. Most of us know that in Iceland they predominantly use first names... in companies, TV, administration offices. The phone book is done alphabetically according to the first names. And even credit card you will sign with your first name. The reason is simple, the surname does not hold any real information. It is created from your dad´s first name with the addition of "dóttir" (daughter) or "son" (son).

So there are sort of name chains created within one family. E.g. grandpa is Magnús, dad is Einar, son is Valdimar and daughter is Helga. That would mean that dad is called Einar Magnússon, son is called Valdimar Einarsson and daughter is called Helga Einarsdóttir. The wife never takes the surname of her husband. She will just keep her name after her dad. So that pretty much leaves us with a family of Einar Magnússon, his wife Unnur Baldursson, and their children Valdimar Einarsson and Helga Einarsdóttir.

I found using the first names quite neat but then I encountered another problem... try to pronounce properly names like Þröstur, Ársæll, Þorvarður, Guðmundur, Guðlaug, Guðríður, Þorbjörg. And yes the names sound as weird as they look :o). On the other hand I never really could remember the names so that solved the problem with the pronunciation. ;o)

Vatnajokull

Smarties

Approximately 50km southwards from Reykjavik is a place called Blue Lagoon created from waste water from hot water plant. The process works the following way: sea water heated from the earth comes up as steam that heats up fresh water, then gets into liquid again enriched in high concentrations of silica - which creates the blue color of the lagoon. The lagoon itself is created by several little ponds approx. 1.6m deep.

The water used not to be regulated in the old lagoon place. So people could easily get stuck somewhere in the current of terribly hot water and had to climb up on some little rock island around. Then they would wave to get some "BL rescue guard" (hihihi) to save them. But few people actually even died getting stuck in the hot current.
Now the little ponds are moved to a new place few meters away from the old spot and the plant itself. The water is now regulated so there is no threat of hot currents any longer (or cold ones on that point :o). And of course the place is now totally commercialized. Big complex with restaurant, massage center, sauna, gift shops etc. But the place still keeps its uniqueness.
And being in the water is of course great fun, one can swim, relax by the bank, have a waterfall massage one´s back, put silica cream on face (you find that in wooden boxes in the water), have a regular massage in the water done by specialists, sneak into little private booths to talk:o), or simply order one coctail after an other from the passing by waiter (the richer ones only)... The water itself is actually also good as therapeutic properties against psoriaris (skin disease) and of course it has fantastic relaxing effect.
I heard that the lagoon is especially excellent to visit in the winter, when it is dark all around and snow is falling down on your face.

And if your think that you fancied the old style better, just a lagoon with no cabins to change clothes, to put swimsuit on in the car (naked works too) and run through the cold air to the hot and cozy blue lagoon then you simply have to drive 5 hours up north to a place called Myvatn and there you still find the lagoon like this... though business might soon get there too.

http://www.bluelagoon.is/resources/Files/23_utsynishaed.mov

Tik-tak

Iceland is a country that really does care for its environment. Cheap electricity from hydropower plants, heating with a hot spring water is only addition to their superb care... Here comes one example: they drive to the shop... noone steals here really (not that you can drive the car away from the is(ce)land), so they leave the car unlocked, key in ignition, motor running and off they go to the shop. They will not stop the engine, so that their little spoilt feet are not cold after they come back. And what do Icelanders think about it... we nothing, we fishermen... (Czech saying.. I think they are not musically talented :o). There was actually a research done to compare the energy consumption between Iceland and Sweden... and it seems that they spend 3-5l of fuel more than Sweds. And those weasels they claim the fuel goes on heating the houses... HA, heating the cars maybe! The hot water serves to heat the houses. What nature protectors they are! :o)))

Marshmellow

Most of the houses in Reykjavik are not more than 4-stories high. You will definitely find some exceptions ... but this is the standard supremum* :o). There are block of flats away from the center. In the rest of the area you will come across 2 to 3 stories little houses or new "Beverly Hills" areas built for the rich Icelanders on the outskirts.

You can tell that most of the houses in the center of Rvk are quite old, the coat of the houses is slowly falling down... you actually would not find that many reconstructed houses in this area. But there is definitely something catching about these wooden or stone houses, some of them actually even wear a name, so that you do not get lost... :o). And if by any chance you do... then nearly all the houses have different colours there - red, green, yellow, blue, pink... the streets thus seem much happier.

The houses are either detached... creating somewhat "villa" areas and each house has little garden around, bbq ready to put out in good weather and if lucky then even a hot pot for cold icelandic nights. Some of the houses are connected to each other, these are mainly visible in center along the main streets. Reykjavik is really a cozy little town.

* The supremum is the least upper bound of a set S, defined as a quantity M such that no member of the set exceeds M, but if is any positive quantity, however small, there is a member that exceeds (Jeffreys and Jeffreys 1988).

Icelandic Candy Shop

Sweet memories... I spent nearly one year in Iceland, partly having a traineeship, partly working for AIESEC there. The country might not seem that different from my homeland, we are both in Europe, quite well developed, not that different cultures... but there are still a lot of things that took me by surprise. So instead of writing a looong loooong stories that at the end only my mum read properly from the beginning till the end, I decided to write a little Candy stories that describe something that really impressed me, surprised me or stunned me :o).

The true traveler is he who goes on foot, and even then, he sits down a lot of the time.

Iceland - list of posts

Reykjavik
M&M's
KitKat
Vatnajokull
Smaties
Tik-tak
Marshmellow
Iceland Candy Shop