10 things to do when you're in Iceland

I had a wonderful week in Iceland, visiting natural wonders and discovering new experiences like whale watching and swimming in the geothermal blue lagoon. To cut a long story short, here's my list of ten things to do in Iceland, of which I already did eight.

1. Geyser watching

The big geyser Geysir has gone silent, but his nearby brother Strokkur is erupting about every five minutes.




2. Whale watching

Take a three hour whale watching trip and you will see big humpback whales, smaller Minke whales and dolphins.

VIDEO


3. Foss watching

Foss is the Icelandic word for waterfall. And there are quite a few in Iceland. Here's a video of Gulfoss, the Golden Waterfall:



And here's Hraunfossar, where the water is streaming out of a lava field, and the nearby Barnafoss.




4. Visiting Thingvellir

Thingvellir is several things at the same time: a peculiar lava rock formation, the open-air site of the old Islandic parliament, and the place where the North American tectonic plate and the Eurasian tectonic plate are toucing each other, or rather: are drifting apart at a rate of 5 to 7 millimeters per year.






5. Swimming in the Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa, also situated on the border of the two tectonic plates. The hot water is in fact the waste product of the nearby geothermal power plant.






6. Learning about Icelandic history

You can take the Saga Circle daytrip, or you can visit the Saga Museum, the Settlement Museum or the Maritime Museum. Here's an evocation of a Vinland saga at the Saga Museum:


See the Flickr photo page to read part of the saga in the caption.

Vinland is the name the Vikings supposedly gave to North America. The Viking world map as described in Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla is particularily interesting:


See the Flickr photo page and hover with the mouse over the picture there to read some annotation I made.

Another integral part of Iceland's history are the cod wars with the UK in the 1970s:






7. Watching Aurora Borealis

One of the things I didn't do yet. I hope to return to Iceland in a few months, to see the Northern Lights and to experience Iceland in the dark winter. Here's a nice video of Aurora Borealis made by Christian Luijten:




8. Visiting Landmannalaugar

I had hoped to visit Landmannalaugar and see the contrasting colors of this mountain formation. Unfortunately, this place is hard to reach because of snow and mud, and the bus trips are only starting this week.




9. Visiting Perlan in the hills of Reykjavik

Perlan, or The Pearl, contains a gigantic water storage facility, a restaurant, a panoramic observatory and the Saga Museum.




10. Eating lots of fresh fish and lobster




Of course, if you think I forgot something, feel free to add your tips in the comments. And for practical reasons, I've limited myself to places in the southwestern part of Iceland. See all my pictures here.