Iceland July 2015

Iceland is a small dot in the Atlantic between Scandinavia and America; Sue and I like so many other tourists came to “the land of fire and ice” to see wilderness parks and dramatic landscapes as well as to take advantage of the discount fairs on a stop over to our Scotland adventure.

The fire of course, comes from Iceland’s volcanoes, which burst periodically into life, with forces just below the surface heating the water in taps and swimming pools. Thermal springs in fact surface everywhere, and we happily gave way to early morning outings to soak and revitalize  .. happily staying clear of the iconic Blue Lagoon, a popular tourist destination in open-air swimming.

Ice is Iceland’s other big draw or more specifically, the dramatic glaciers. So we jumped on Bus #3 and kicked off a glacier and a volcano on a single trip and got down to visiting some bars and meeting the locals or rather unearthing the quirky nature of the Icelandic people. Eccentric, creative or not the Icelanders are simply a lot of fun to be around, and certainly in Reykjavik, the island’s miniature capital city - with area population of around 200,000, it is the home to two-thirds of Iceland's population. The city centre, however, is a very small area characterised by eclectic and colourful houses, with good shopping, dining and drinking.

The Icelandic Phallological Museum houses the world's largest display of penises and penile parts and in my mind the number one tourist attraction.  The collection of 280 specimens from 93 species including Huldufólk (Icelandic elves) and trolls. The museum obtained its first human penis just recently from one of four promised by would-be donors. Its detachment from the donor's body did not go according to plan and it was reduced to a greyish-brown shrivelled mass pickled in a jar of formalin. The museum however continues to search for "a younger and a bigger and better one." Allegedly 60 percent of the women in Iceland have volunteered for this vital project.

After the Museum we headed straight to the Hallgrimskirkja Luthearan Church (Church of Iceland) that was designed to resemble the basalt lava flows of Iceland's landscape.The church is also used as an observation tower to view Reykjavík and the surrounding mountains.

In summary we loved all Iceland had to offer - in fact to ensure our happiness all government facilities installed Satisfaction Indicators allowing all who wished to record their satisfaction rating be it happy face, frown or somewhere in between. 

The locals advise us that this week has been the best weather in the past two years hovering between 13c and 17c. Though the Northern Lights are only available in the winter it provides us with very reasonable rational to schedule a return visit.