The Artisan Travel Blog

My love of Iceland - part 3: A little bit of north, south and west

The final part of the week was a combination of the idyllic south shore and the island's northernmost city of Akureyri. First though, we went to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, on the west of the island, the self-proclaimed 'Iceland in miniature' which has a little bit of everything else you will see across the island - waterfalls, beaches, lagoons and glaciers.

We stayed in Stykkishólmur, which is one of those ridiculously quaint fishing villages which speak of an easy way of traditional laid-back life.

South Shore

On the south shore we drive past glaciers and more waterfalls and the site of the infamous Eyjafjallajökull volcano. Here you can visit the tiny and informative museum which shows you the eruption in 2010 that not only impacted millions of air passengers across the globe but also completely covered the tiny community and farms here in vast quantities of ash.

A real highlight of the trip was our trip to Akureyri - the islands northernmost city.

To get here we took a 45 minute flight from Reykjavik. The city dates back to the 9th century and exudes a wonderful laid-back feeling as well as a long and interesting history. Although we only spent one night here it was a really charming place, which I will remember for its snow-topped buildings and beautiful steep sided harbour.

South Shore 2

After our excursion north we made the journey back to the UK as our adventure drew to a close far too quickly.

So all in all I can say that Iceland lived up to and exceeded all my expectations and brought immense joy to my inner child who sat eagerly in front of the TV all those years ago!

It's hard to really put into words why I love it so much, however I will try to (briefly!) summarise...

The island is almost ridiculously picturesque - the changeable weather, varied daylight hours and striking colours of its lava, beach and glacier landscapes practically give the country its own Instagram filter.

Strokkur

However I think mostly, it's that the landscape has an odd kind of specific beauty - it's not like New Zealand or Norway for example, where the beauty is obvious and idyllic - Iceland's landscape has a sort of bleakness and drama about it, harsh volcanic rocks, towering glaciers, crashing waterfalls.

It's almost as if it's at war with itself as nature's elements battle it out. I will readily admit that it is not a beauty that is appealing to all, but to me it is quite simply stunning.

Read 5034 times Last modified on Tuesday, 20 February 2018

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