Reykjavik 1
Saturday March 30, 2024
The flight from Akureyri was straightforward, and I managed to get a taxi from Reykjavik domestic airport to my new hostel. A drive of 10 mins (which could have been walked in 30 mins) cost me $30CAD. I spent the afternoon doing laundry and wandering around the downtown area, admiring all the cats of Reykjavik as well as the big church on the hill, Hallgrimskirkja, with its distinctive silhouette. I had some very average fish and chips before heading to the bus terminal for an aurora hunt. Though the weather was perfect, the northern lights evaded us that night, so we got to rebook the following night for free.
My first day tour covered the Golden Circle - a loop of south Iceland's most famous attractions. The first stop was Thingvellir National Park, where we had actually been the night before for the aurora tour. This beautiful area has the fissure where the European and the North American tectonic plates meet, evident in the large valley forming between two rock formations. There were a lot of people around, but I opted to walk off the main path where I could get a nice view of the area. We then stopped by Efstidalur, a dairy farm selling ice cream, where I got a scoop of blueberry skyr and a scoop of orange ice cream. There was an area where you could watch the calves feeding, which was super cute.
From there, we continued to Strokkur, a geyser reaching 20 metres tall that erupts every 10 or so minutes. It's so bizzare to see this giant bulge of water forming, then suddenly shooting an incredible jet into the sky. It's not like the small ones that we see in Rotorua, but the sulfurous smell was definitely evident in the area. The furthest landmark on our tour was Gullfoss Waterfall, fed by the waters from Langjokull Glacier, Iceland's second largest and home of the man-made ice cave that I would be visiting the next day. This was my favourite, though definitely not the most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen. The cascading, multi-level falls coupled with the rich blue colour of the water made for incredibly picturesque photographs, though the wind made it difficult to stay outside for too long.
On our way home, we dropped by Friðheimar, a tomato farm that uses greenhouses to grow all its produce. The greenhouses in Iceland are powered by both geothermal energy for heat and electricity for full-spectrum light, and they grow a variety of vegetables and fruits, such as tomatoes, potatoes, salad greens, cucumbers and mushrooms. This particular greenhouse also kept its own bees to pollinate the tomatoes and flowers inside. The smell of pomodoro sauce filled the interior of the greenhouse, which housed a restaurant and bar as well, and despite the huge variety of strange tomato products - tomato beer, tomato cocktails, soups, breads, tomato espresso tonic - I only got to try their tomato ice cream, which tasted very fruity, almost like passionfruit. Our final stop was the Kerid volcanic crater, formed over 6000 years ago. The crater lake at the bottom had frozen over, giving an interesting aesthetic to the rocky, iceless basin.
Our aurora tour that night was much more successful. Even before the bus had arrived in the designated viewing area, the glowing white band of "cloud" was visible. Though it was cold, it wasn't windy so the conditions were perfect for view. There were two distinct bands of light stretching across the sky that shimmered and rolled to the awe of the hundreds of people that had gathered to watch. It was so bright and clear, and I got some amazing pictures of my phone, though I think I left the exposure on for too long. It was certainly a night to remember. The thing that surprised me the most was that the Kp index was at 1.00 that night, which really goes to show how unpredictable the aurora are.
Posted by Jeremy at 3:20pm on Saturday March 30, 2024 :: 0 comments :: 
Akureyri
Tuesday March 26, 2024
It was a little bit of a logistical inconvenience to get here. Reykjavik domestic airport is an hour’s drive away from the international airport in Keflavik, and I basically arrived right on 30 minutes before departure to drop my luggage off for my connecting flight. On arriving in Akureyri in the north, the arrivals hall was empty of staff so I had to go outside, lugging my giant suitcase in the snow and wind, to go to the departure hall to find someone to call a taxi for me. I made it to the hostel though, and luckily check in was smooth.
On Saturday, I had a free day to do grocery shopping because I knew food here is super expensive and I wanted to pack my own lunch for the day trips I had booked. I also wandered around town, but it’s a very small city so that didn’t take long at all. I ended up chilling in the mall for a while because they had free wifi and it was warm and there were heaps of people around. My driver for the aurora tour that I had booked said the weather was not good at all, and postponed the excursion for Sunday.
On Sunday, I covered most of the major sights in North Iceland. Our tour group was me, two Brits and four Australians, who said my Kiwi accent had been a bit diluted from being in Canada. We started off by going through Hvalfjarðargöng Tunnel, which connects Akureyri with the eastern side of the eponymous mountain range, and the interior of the tunnel reaches temperatures of 16C because of the hot springs that the tunnel passes through. We stopped at Goðafoss, the waterfall of the gods, and Skútustaðagígar, false craters created by exploding lava and steam bubbles. That area overlooks Lake Mývatn, frozen over on the southern side, where they filmed Fast and the Furious 8. We continued to Lavator Dimmuborgir, columns of rock formed from lava, which the locals have many myths about, since the formations resemble trolls. It turns out Icelanders really love mentally scarring their kids. After visiting the geothermal activity at Hverir, we spent the next couple of hours at the Nature Baths. One of the Australians on the trip had prebooked a ticket for the spa but had injured his foot, so he let me have it for free, and in return I have to stop saying mean things about Australia. For a bit. The spa was really nice though, but not worth the $70 for an hour.
There had been an epic double sunspot solar flare - they call this a sympathetic solar flare - that had produced a strong CME that hit the earth around 2pm Icelandic time, which meant, ironically, that New Zealand was in prime position to view some magnificent auroral displays. It was so overcast in Akureyri that night, that we saw nothing on the drive, so I got booked in for the next night as well.
On Monday, our tour group was me, two Danish and two Germans, and though we covered most of the sights I did on Sunday, we also covered the main reason I had come to Akureyri - Dettifoss. The road to Dettifoss is closed during winter and the government doesn’t plough it because they want to discourage tourists from visiting during this time. Sure enough, the road was a metre deep in snow, and it is only thanks to the skill or outright insanity of our driver that our chunky jeep made it through, sliding and slipping along the way. The entire one hour journey felt like constant turbulence in an airplane. We still had to walk 20 minutes in knee deep snow to see the waterfall, but after all that work, it seemed like a rewarding experience. That ice and snow aesthetic is magnificent.
As we were driving back to Akureyri, gaps of blue in the cloud began to break through, giving me hope for a solid auroral display that night. Our group this time was a French marine biologist from Lyon called Alex, and two Singaporeans, one of whom was also called Jeremy. We started off in the south just after 9pm, and we managed to see a thin band of green activity hovering over the mountains. As twilight gave way to darkness and the moon started to rise over the clouds, we relocated to the north, near the tunnel. All of a sudden, I started to see some ghostly clouds, waving about in the sky, moving suspiciously quickly over the stars and fading in and out. We stopped by a lookout point and took out our cameras for some beautiful pictures showing that brilliant green so clearly visible on the long exposure pictures, yet so dull to the naked eye. Though I only had my iPhone 12, I managed to snap some fantastic shots that I’ll treasure forever. Finally, after all the bad luck I’d been having, it was nice to have this moment of beauty to appreciate on my last night in Akureyri.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:35am on Tuesday March 26, 2024 :: 0 comments ::
The Road Home
Friday March 22, 2024
It’s finally time to leave Barcelona. Despite all the ups and downs of the last few months, I have enjoyed my day to day here, the city remains one of my favourite in the world to visit. It is getting more expensive and the drought is pretty bad, but there’s charm and character and very good food. This time I’ve had an opportunity to try other cuisines as well, like Korean, Japanese, Indian, Lebanese and Italian.
Several people visited. Loïc came in from France, which was really lovely because he visited specifically to see me. Sarah Jane and Hannah came in from Toronto with two others for a whirlwind tour of the city, which contained about of shopping and Instagramming and TikToking (this is making me sound old, but I am, so there). Within the two groups, I did a lot of walking - Montserrat, Tibidabo and of course, from shop to shop in the Gothic Quarter. Also went on a bike ride from Barceloneta to Port Forum and then back through Diagonal and Arc de Triomf. The weather has been fantastic, save for a single day of rain.
I got to see Castellers as well, which I found super exciting. These are the towers constructed by people standing on top of each other, reaching several storeys high. They even have kids - I’m talking four or five years old - climbing to the top to add that extra height to the tower. What results is an impressive display of strength and balance, and I’m so happy to have witnessed this first hand.
My next destination is Iceland. I’m spending a few days in Akureyri and then the rest of the week in Reykjavik. Hopefully the volcanic activity won’t disrupt anything, and additionally I hope there will be some fantastic aurora sightings. This excursion has already had a huge problem - a few days ago, Booking.com messaged me to say my Reykjavik hotel had cancelled my reservation and I had to panic book an alternative at $200 extra. I later found out that the hotel owner had been arrested by police on suspicion of money laundering and human trafficking…and I can’t help but think I might have dodged a huge bullet.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:10am on Friday March 22, 2024 :: 0 comments ::
Amsterdam
Monday March 4, 2024
The last time I was in Amsterdam, I got food poisoning from a smoked salmon wrap at the Van Gogh Museum. I wanted to come back in January 2022 but the Netherlands went into lockdown because of the pandemic, so I cancelled that leg of the trip. Finally, I’m back here to visit some places I missed and try some foods I didn’t the last time.
There’s a few things I’m not a fan of in the city. The absurd number of drunk and/or stoned Brits would probably be my number one. The lack of good savoury Dutch food also comes to mind. Yes the fries are good and the cheese is very famous, but those by itself do not make a meal. There’s an abundance of baked goods, waffles, pancakes, apple pie and poffertjes, and I know I love desserts, but this was too much, even for me. It’s not that I had bad food while I was here, it’s that Dutch cuisine is just not exciting or interesting. I had an amazing steak and some very good brunches but I wouldn’t classify those as authentically Dutch.
There were a lot of cats. My hostel had a resident cat called Rocker that was very affectionate. I went to De Poezenboot, a cat adoption agency based on a boat in one of Amsterdam’s many canals. I also went to the KattenKabinet, a cat museum, and I played To Zanarkand on the piano for the furry residents.
I was lucky with the weather, with only the first two days being wet. It was a bit cold and I still had to walk around with my winter jacket, but was pleasant once the sun came out. The buildings in the city center have interesting designs, and some of the churches are quite elaborate, but in general, everything looks quite brown and boring. It doesn’t have the charm of those colourful, bright houses you find dotted around the Mediterranean. What it does have is canals and bridges, and many decorated bicycles adorning those passageways. Amsterdam has character, but it’s a particular brand that is trying to distance itself from the party going, drunken, rowdy atmosphere. There were some really nice moments walking around the city in the stillness and quietness of the mornings.
It feels like a long time before I’m back in Canada but with people visiting and places to go, March is going to breeze by.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:40am on Monday March 4, 2024 :: 0 comments ::