Our first day in Iceland and we awoke at 9.00 a.m. to a light dusting of snow and no sunlight! We arrived early this morning (2.00 am) having taken the 20.35 flight on Icelandair from Heathrow, so we didn’t get much sleep. We didn’t want to waste anytime however during this short break. We had no idea when the sun was going to put in an appearance and we had heard that Iceland can have as few as 4 hours of daylight per day in the Winter. Over a hearty breakfast we guessed what time the sun would show its face, while outside the snow started to fall harder and harder.
We caught a coach to The Blue Lagoon at 10.30 which thankfully coincided with the arrival of a lazy looking sun! The Blue Lagoon is a naturally heated geothermal spa that sits in the middle of a rugged, barren and black volcanic landscape just to the east of Reykjavik. We planned to spend the day relaxing in the hot therapeutic waters of the lagoon. It was a good decision. Surely there is nowhere else on earth quite like The Blue Lagoon? The temperature today was -3 degrees and yet out we went in our bathing costumes and (thankfully) bathrobes to swim in the waters. Once in the pale blue milky waters we were beautifully warm. The water originates from 6500 ft below the ground where the temperature is 240 degrees centigrade but thankfully the salty seawater is only about 37 degrees by the time it arrives in the Lagoon.
Around the large natural lagoon there are steam rooms, saunas and a waterfall that provides invigorating massages to those that are brave enough to stand underneath it. Naturally we tried them all out. Also around the lagoon there are tubs of white silica mud that we freely applied to our faces and skin throughout our stay. I was worried that we would find it hard to spend 6 hours here but the time flew by and once in the water we didn’t want to get out.
At 16.00, as the exhausted Icelandic sun was ready to turn in for the night after a hard 6 hours shift, we commenced a one hour massage in the outdoor spa. We floated on a blue bed in the salty warm waters with a blanket over us to keep us warm while a male masseur pummelled, prodded and stretched my tense and painful muscles. But I knew that there would be no gain without a little pain and I certainly felt wonderful afterwards. It presented such a mixture of different sensations, the warmth of the waters, the chill of the wind, the icy tingling of the snow falling on our faces and the pain and ecstasy of the massage itself.
This evening we caught the Hotel shuttle bus into Reykjavik city centre and had a very nice super in a cafe/restaurant called Solon. There are Christmas lights everywhere in town and at night it looks particularly beautiful. The architecture here in Iceland is very simple, boxy and modern. They use a lot of concrete, wood and corrugated iron it seems. In the town centre tonight it was nice to see some older wooden buildings that had much more character and gave the area a real “quaint” feel. A great first day.
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