Iceland - Day 3

As we got back pretty late in the early AMs from the Northern Lights hunt, we slept in a little on the third day. Anyway, the forecast for that Sunday was snow, which was accurate. So our plans to either drive east to see the Jökulsárlón lagoon, or to drive North to Snaefellsnes peninsular had to be scraped since it would be a long drive and the snowy conditions would make our progress slow and potentially dangerous.

Instead, we decided to wander around the capital of Reykjavik then head to the Blue Lagoon in the afternoon. Reykjavik is small compared to other European capitals. We went to see Tjörn, which is a large lake in the heart of the old part of the city. It was mostly frozen over except for one corner, as a result, all the ducks, geese, swans, and other water fowl congregated in that corner. It was so noisy!

The City Hall stood by the lake, and in it was housed a 3D model of Iceland. It's a huge model that took 4 people 4 years to make. I thought it was nice to catch a glimpse of the landscape that we wouldn't get to see in the rest of Iceland. And what I saw made me want to come back to Iceland again to see the rest of the magnificant landscape. In our short 4 days (actually only 3 days if you count by 24hr periods), we'd cover only a small portion of what Iceland has to offer!

The rest of the town was quaint and cosy. And it felt very safe. We felt no need for heightened alertness to danger, much like when we are in Singapore. We could walk about freely with peace of mind.

After wandering through the Sunday Kolaportio flea market (more on this in the food section), we started to make our way to the Blue Lagoon, a popular geothermally heated pool. The wind was strong and it was blowing snow across the roads, making visibility poor. If we thought the highway was bad, the smaller roads were much worse! It was covered in snow, and at one point we experienced a near-whiteout situation! We couldn't see the road, and we could barely see the road markers! The wind was blowing very strongly and all around was snow. We went slowly and carefully because we didn't want to end up off the road and onto the lava fields - not terrain that you can drive on with a regular car. In that snowy condition, we got stuck in the snow twice! But Jon was the hero and immediately got out of the car to push it out of the snow! :)

What a drive! On hindsight really exciting, but during the drive itself was a situation that required one's full concentration, lots of patience and perseverance! I'm glad we went through that it, but I hope we won't have to go through that again!

In contrast to our adventure on the way to the Blue Lagoon, the Blue Lagoon itself was like a paradise of calm and serenity. Everyone who was already there was totally oblivious to the strong wind and poor road conditions outside. They were just enjoying the dip in the blue waters.

It's an amazing place, sounded by snowy mountains. Steam rises from where the water enters the lagoon. The bottom of the lagoon is covered at some parts with black lava sand, and at others with soft silica mud. Some purer silica mud (probably taken from another pool, not the blue lagoon itself) is set aside for patrons to use as face masks. Apparently the silica mud is really good for the skin, so you'll see men and women alike swimming around the lagoon with silica mud on their face :)

And the water is so wonderfully hot! The air is 0 degrees Celsius, and water temperature ranges from 38-41 degrees Celsius! We took the brave route and ran in the open to get to the warm water :) There is the more tame way of entering the water from the indoor pool, then wading out into the open. It's lovely to be in hot water out in the open. The only problem is that your ears get soooo cold if you don't dip your head in every now and then. I tried not to dip my whole head in cos the water is supposed to really dry out your hair. So every so often when my ears start to freeze, I'd dip my head side ways :) It was so cold that ice crystals even started forming on Jon's eyelashes!

We spent almost three hours just enjoying the water there, and emerged relaxed and having really smooth skin! :)

We were so glad that the road has been plowed so that the drive out was much more manageable. Got back to our warm room safe and sound :) Such an eventful day!