Every August, most of Europe goes on holiday, which means that things slow down enough at the office enough for J to take a proper holiday. We had originally planned on going on safari, but with my recent trip to Namibia combined with sky-high prices, we decided on going to Iceland instead!
We landed in Reykjavik in the middle of the day on Friday and boarded the bus to take us to the Blue Lagoon, which are the go-to geothermal pools. I heard that it was quite touristy, but it seemed like something we should at least try once, and the prospect of playing in mud while soaking in hot water sounded pretty appealing. No pics since I didn't want to take my camera in the water, and no one wants to see us in our bathing suits!
Once we arrived, we stored our luggage in the baggage lockers and headed to our respective locker rooms to shower and change into our bathing suits. The Blue Lagoon doesn't use any anti-bacterial chemicals in their water so they require everyone to undergo a good scrub down before entering the water.
The first thing that strikes you is the colour of the water. It's this other-worldy milky blue, and the water is extremely salty. I heard the mineral content does a number on your hair, so I made sure to coat every strand with conditioner before I went in. The second thing is the heat. That water is hot! Once J and I entered the water, we made our way to the swim up bar and ordered some cold drinks. I got a Krap slushie that gave me the giggles due to its name.
I was ready to play in some mud, so J and I found the wooden vats full of silica mud and proceeded to slather ourselves with it. J was a little squirmy, but he eventually gave in to me smearing mud all over his face. Then we soaked and soaked and soaked. Truth be told, there's not much else to do.
We stewed in the water for an hour and a half before we decided to finally head into Reykjavik. Our first impression of Reykjavik wasn't great - it looked a bit run-down and there was ugly graffiti everywhere. However, the city seemed to perk up as we got closer to the centre of town. Even the graffiti got prettier!
And although I had read about it in my guidebook, I wasn't prepared to see how many buildings were covered in corrugated iron. It must have been at least 75%! Apparently, the material withstands the weather quite well, and the Icelanders do paint it to make it look a bit nicer.
We were staying at the City Center Hotel for the first part of our trip, and it was a pretty chill hotel with everything we needed. I had been warned that hotels in Reykjavik weren't that great, so we really weren't expecting much. The best part was its location on Austurstraeti, which is right by the main shopping drag. It's also a short walk to the harbour, and we headed towards the water in search of Icelandic Fish and Chips where we had the best fried fish of our lives. The chips weren't great, but the fish alone is worth going for.
We stopped by an IDA, a Icelandic book shop, for a quick coffee for J and a hot chocolate for me before heading back to the hotel. We were tired and full, and I think the sun was still up when we went to sleep!
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