Iceland Magic

Kendra Van Horn
Aug 31, 2018 · 18 min read

I’ll admit, I knew very little about Iceland up until a few years ago. I knew, “Iceland is green and Greenland is ice,” Björk, of course, and a volcano with a very long name (Eyjafjallajökull) that ruined some friends’ European travel plans in 2010. And then seemingly out of the blue, so many friends and coworkers started going there. What was it about this tiny Nordic island in the North Atlantic that was attracting everyone? I spoke with a few friends to hear their Iceland stories (Climbing on glaciers! Sheep Herding! Hot Springs!), see how they like to travel, and learn more about a country I’ve only spent a total of three days visiting.

(Photo by Joel Van Horn)

Honeymoon. Babymoon. Vacation. Girl’s trip. Mancation.

My husband, Joel, first went to Iceland on what I’ll call a “mancation” with three other guys back in 2011. When a grown man (who is pretty well traveled) comes home and tells you Iceland is the most magical place he’s ever been — it’s hard not to be intrigued. Iceland provided an opportunity for real adventure and exploration, and Joel was so eager to show me around that we went together on our honeymoon in 2016.

Looking back on his visit, he feels “weirdly nostalgic” about a place he’s only been to twice. “Just talking about it makes me want to go back and check out the stuff I haven’t seen.” The idea of those places (he mentions scenes from the 2013 movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) gives him a greater sense of adventure than other places he’s visited. Other friends had similar feelings about Iceland.

(Photos by Joel Van Horn (2) and Christine Georg)

My friend, Christine Georg, and her husband, Adam, went in 2014, and went right back in 2015. “I went there twice, but I would definitely go back again.” “It was awesome. The people were friendly, and I’ve never seen a country like that. I’ve never been anywhere where it felt like it was untouched.”

(Photos by Meredith Cabelka and Sarah Moran)

My friends, Sarah and Jim Moran (Sarah is my former roommate from DC days!), visited for the first time back in 2014. Jim recalled, “We had no reason or desire to go there before one of my coworkers recommended it to me. Other than that, that’s where Game of Thrones is filmed. Honestly, that’s what we knew about Iceland…..that was enough for us.” Sarah explained, “We loved it so much in 2014 that we felt like there was so much we did not get to see.” They considered going other places, but their thoughts kept going back to Iceland. They went again in 2018.

If Iceland can host a “mancation,” it can certainly be the place for a girl’s trip. My good friend Meredith Cabelka joined a group of female friends who were planning a trip to Iceland for a very specific purpose: to partake in the annual sheep herding ritual, Réttir. (You read that right!) When invited by her friend, Meredith, who is always up for a random adventure, thought, “This sounds like fun. I’ll herd some sheep….in Iceland.” They went in September 2017.

A Natural Dream

Iceland’s big draw is its natural wonders: geothermal baths, interesting wildlife (puffins and wild mini horses!), glaciers, and the Northern Lights. The landscape feels otherworldly; spongy moss in all shades of green under your feet, the sound of waterfalls nearby, rocks covered in volcanic ash that resembles a scene from Mars, and sheep dotting the view in the distance. Iceland is situated on top of a fault line, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and gets the name “The Land of Fire and Ice” from the volcanoes and glaciers that both occur on the island.

(Photos (clockwise from top left) by Joel Van Horn (3) Christine Georg (2))

From ice that has been frozen for generations to liquid boiling from geothermal heat, and everything in between, water (in all of its forms) serves as one of the drivers of tourism in Iceland. We visited the Gullfoss waterfall in July 2016. The landscape surrounding the falls looked like the set of The Lord of the Rings: bright green grass and moss, blue sky and a stunning, sprawling waterfall. It was the perfect, chilly antidote to New York City summer.

(Photos by (left to right from top): Joel Van Horn (3), Christine Georg (2), Kendra Van Horn (4), Jim Moran)

Another water-based attraction are the geysers. Southern Iceland has more than thirty small geysers and in true Icelandic fashion, there is usually nothing more than a piece of twine keeping the crowd away from the boiling (and erupting) hot spring. We visited Strokkur. I find watching geysers hypnotizing and had a hard time leaving, because, you know, what if the next one is a really big one? Fun fact: Iceland leads the world in geothermal energy: 25% of Iceland’s electricity comes from geothermal sources and 87% of buildings have heat and hot water from geothermal sources. As Jim suggested, “They place a premium on the actual earth itself” and wisely use their ample natural resources.

(Photos by (clockwise from top left): Christine Georg (2), Kendra Van Horn, Joel Van Horn (2))

Ice is a big attraction and many organized tours are structured around exploring glaciers and icebergs. For Jim, the best moment of their trip was standing on the black sand beach (also known as Diamond Beach) at the glacier lagoon, Jökulsárlón, seeing “these giant crystal-clear chunks of glacier sort of sprinkled on the beach. And it was freezing but I literally remember having this giant shit-eating grin on my face for the whole time I was there. I was running around like an 8-year-old would. Jumping on stuff…Sarah almost got wiped out by a wave jumping off a glacier.” Christine and Adam went to the same lagoon by boat, and got to see seals in the wild for the first time, and recalled being able to pick up tiny pieces of floating icebergs. “I just remember thinking ‘this is nuts.’”

(Photo by Sarah Moran)

Joel and Meredith both spent time on glaciers during their trips; Meredith hiked and ice climbed and Joel took a snowmobiling trip. Looking back on his time on the glacier, Joel commented, “I would really want to see the glaciers more up close, and explore that a bit more. You could see how it was melting. You could see it’s shape, that was fascinating. I wanted to see more of that, get closer to it. And I feel sad that it’s shrinking. They talked about that a lot when we were there, too — how everywhere we were driving used to be a glacier, and now it’s just a gravel road. That was really mind blowing to me.”

(Photos by (from left to right from top): Christine Georg, Jim Moran, Christine Georg, Joel Van Horn, Meredith Cabelka, Jim Moran, Meredith Cabelka)

Christine is the only friend (to date) to see the Northern Lights. Her and Adam’s trip was planned specifically in the Fall so they could see them. They stayed in a pod out in the country and woke up late at night and went outside and there they were. She described that experience as “surprising and inspiring.” They are still on everyone else’s bucket lists. Joel talks about wanting to see the Northern Lights, almost annually, usually in November. “We should maybe go for your birthday some year…just sayin.”

Reykjavik

The capital of Iceland, Reykjavik, is the northernmost capital city in the world, and a clean and colorful entry point to the rest of the country. The city has just over 122,000 residents, and a charming, walkable downtown filled with restaurants, pubs, and knick knack stores for tourists. I was a big fan of the traditional icelandic sweaters (Lopapeysas) but was on a three country- and three climate-trip and had no space for thick wool.

(Photos (clockwise from top left) by: Christine Georg, Kendra Van Horn (5))

Reykjavik is a nice, quiet city for wandering, exploring the waterfront, learning about the viking culture, checking out the vibrantly colored houses and buildings, listening to live music, and taking advantage of the sun in the public square at happy hour. There are also some local tourist activities offered, including the puffin cruise we did in the surrounding harbor on on our honeymoon. Joel didn’t see puffins on his first trip, but made up for it the second time around. “At the time I was eating a lot of Puffins cereal, so I really wanted to see a puffin. And that became one of our funny, underlying agendas.”

Reykjavik is situated in the Southwest corner of the island, and conveniently located on the “ring road” (Route 1) that draws an 800-mile circular path around the country, making it an ideal jumping off point for day trips to nearby natural attractions or for really hitting the road.

(Photos by (from left to right from top): Kendra Van Horn (5), Meredith Cabelka, Kendra Van Horn, Christine George, Kendra Van Horn)

Ultimate Roadtrip

The defining moment of Joel’s “mancation” was driving on the ring road. “Every several miles the terrain changed” from green grass to arid desert. “We’d keep driving and it looked like the moon with all of the gravel and gray and black volcanic ash. That blew my mind that the terrain would change so often and in spectacular ways.” Remembering the excitement of being on the open road made Joel smile, “on the drive to the interior, we had to physically drive our truck through, I think, about 10 rivers.”

Joel loves an adventure and likes to explore places without restriction, meaning no people or signage to tell you what not to do, and the freedom to just roam. “We started wandering, and found these places, and wanted to see where we could go, and see where it led us.” They found a large hill of loose rocks, something I was glad to learn about after the fact. “We climbed as high as we could go, just because we could. It was nice actually, to feel like you could go on your own adventure without thinking about other people watching you or wondering what you’re doing.”

(Photos by (left to right from top): Joel Van Horn (2), Christine George, Joel Van Horn (2), Meredith Cabelka, Christine Georg)

Sarah and Jim and Christine and Adam rented cars so they would have the freedom to drive wherever they wanted, stopping randomly whenever they came across “cool stuff” and staying in a different town every night. According to Jim, “The hardest part of driving around is that it’s so crazy (the landscape) that every half mile you want to get out, and take pictures” so you end up getting in and out of the car all day. “On our first trip we literally knew nothing about anything.”

Christine and Adam split the ring road, covering the Southern and Eastern coasts in October 2014 and the Northern and Western costs the following year. Christine thought back fondly on the vast and empty countryside, it was “like you were in this land that you discovered yourself.”

Meredith echoed that “you felt like you were in the middle of nowhere.”

(Photos by (left to right from top): Joel Van Horn, Jim Moran (2), Sarah Moran, Jim Moran)

Since we were only in Iceland for two days, we didn’t have time to cover a lot of ground. Instead, we booked a full day minibus Golden Circle Tour that picked us up from our hotel in the morning (it was actually just a few hours after we landed in Iceland), drove us around to some sites all day and brought us back to our hotel by early evening. It was a great way to see a few sites (a geyser, waterfalls, and the mid-Atlantic Ridge) and sneak in a much needed, post-red eye cat nap along the way. While it was a great way to spend a day, it was a real missed opportunity for an epic road trip.

Spa Culture

(Photo by Jim Moran)

One unique aspect of Icelandic life is their spa culture. Geothermal energy heat hot springs and where that is not available, Icelanders have built an elaborate system of community pools and hot tubs, harnessing all of the hot goodness available. For Sarah, visiting the hot springs and community pools was the best part of her trip. “I love the pool infrastructure — I would love to have that in Virginia. I just found it a great way to wind down from the day.” Adding, “I love that aspect of the culture” and given more time in Iceland she would try to squeeze in more pool time and check out an infinity pool they didn’t get to visit. Her favorite spot was the Myvatn Nature Baths.

One regret I had after our trip was that we didn’t make a reservation for the Blue Lagoon, but after talking to friends — they were all emphatic in that it’s not the best one (apparently, it’s man made and touristy!). Christine suggested, “If you have time, I always recommend renting a car and finding the real hot springs.” Meredith’s favorite was the Secret Lagoon, which felt like a place more locals than tourists visit. On the girl’s trip, they relaxed in the hot spring and drank a bottle of champagne. Not bad!

(Photo by Christine Georg)

Sheep

Apart from relaxing in a hot spring, the rest of Meredith’s time in Iceland sounded like the least likely itinerary ever for a girl’s trip. They flew to the Northeastern corner of Iceland for the annual sheep round up (also know as Réttir) that has happened in September for the last 300 years. Fun fact: the population of Iceland is about 340,000; the population of sheep in Iceland is about 800,000.

(Photos (clockwise from top left) by: Meredith Cabelka, Joel Van Horn (2), Meredith Cabelka (2))

Sheep in Iceland have ear markings, or tags, and farmers let them roam free all over the country — through mountains, eating moss, herbs, grass, leading a luxurious, free range lifestyle, that inherently respects the land. They are herded back to shelter and then sorted by farm before cold weather comes every September. The girl’s trip was centered around participating in this tradition and they made a plan to stay on a family farm and assist the family in the herding. It was the first time the family had allowed outsiders to partake, as they were exploring their options for ecotourism.

On the day of the herding, the farm owners drove the four girls up a mountain, dropped them off and pointed in the direction of the farm, and said, “Walk that way and eventually you’ll get to our farm.” According to Meredith, “It was amazing, but at the same time, we were out hiking for eight hours out in these hills with nobody. It was just us and maybe we’d see one Icelandic guy that didn’t speak any English on a pony going by.” After six hours, they stumbled upon eight sheep. “In the end, it felt like we were getting herded.”

(Photo by Meredith Cabelka)

Where to Stay

(Photo by Christine Georg)

For our short stay in Reykjavik we stayed at the Kex Hostel, which Joel recommended from his first trip. Kex was very nicely designed and decorated, had a good vibe with live music and nice communal seating areas for travelers, and a really tasty breakfast with homemade breads, preserves, and interesting pickled things. We had a private room with a nice view of the water, but a downside of hostel living was the shared bathroom.

Besides hotels, there are a variety of charming AirBNBs all around the country, as well as farm stays, bed & breakfasts, and small guests houses. Christine really loved this guesthouse about an hour outside of Reykjavik.

While Sarah and Jim were out on their road trip, they stayed at a small hotel on the Northwestern coast — and they were the only guests. “The front desk person/hotel operator knew we were arriving that day, so he waited around for us to get there and checked us in, and then was like, ‘Ok, I’m leaving!’ We were like, ‘What? We are here by ourselves?’ laughed Jim. “He left us a six pack of beer.”

“That we paid $80 for,” added Sarah.

“We waited for the guy to come in in the morning to make us breakfast”

Food and Drink

In terms of cuisine, Icelanders are certainly resourceful. Their expansive coast lends itself to fresh seafood, they make bread that is cooked by geothermal energy underground, and their grassy, rolling hills and ancestral sheep herding practices have created an environment that, intentionally or not, produced free range, grass-fed lamb nationwide.

Their traditional Viking cuisine includes whale, smoked puffin, and fermented shark, which Anthony Bourdain called both ““unspeakably nasty” and “the single most disgusting thing” he’s ever put in his mouth during the first season of No Reservations in 2005. I’m wondering if that title held for the 13 years that followed. We were not willing to try any of those delicacies, and neither were our friends.

(Photos by Christine Georg)

And while most visitors don’t go to Iceland for the food, I think they do a few things exceptionally well: skyr (traditional Icelandic yogurt) and hot dogs (they are lamb based and served with a slew of sauces and crispy onions). Joel had just become a vegetarian prior to his trip in 2011 and didn’t try the hot dogs as the rest of the guys raved about them. “When I went back [in 2016], I finally had one (at a standout hot dog spot Baejarins Beztu Pylsur) and it was amazing. Arguably, that’s why we’re not vegetarian anymore,” he said with a laugh.

One of Meredith’s best moments in Iceland was lunch in an innovative restaurant that serves tomato-based products and drinks right inside the greenhouse where they are grown. They serve unlimited tomato soup and homemade bread, garnished with basil leaves snipped right off the plant. “It was my favorite lunch I’ve ever had in my whole life.”

(Photos by Meredith Cabelka, Kendra Van Horn, Meredith Cabelka)

Food in Iceland is expensive and all of my friends went out of their way to find cheaper eats, such as gas station snacks and burgers. “A lot of the towns are small. The gas station is almost like an Icelandic Wawa,” joked Jim, actual Wawa enthusiast. “They’ll make burgers, and there is a grill, and if I recall, they were about $17 a piece.”

Iceland’s craft beer scene has exploded in recent years, and beer is now a big part of their culture. From 1935 to 1989 Iceland had completely banned beer with more than 2.55% ABV. 1989! My friends made it a point to try a different icelandic beer at every meal. Sarah also told me about beer hot tubs in Northern Iceland, billed as great for your health and particularly good for your skin, thanks to the hops.

Travel Tips

(Photo by Christine Georg)

Seasonality is quite dramatic in Iceland, and as you’re planning a trip, it’s really important to know when the activities you want to do are available. The Northern Lights are only visible in the Fall and Winter. Sheep herding happens in September. There is a Puffin season, but Christine missed it by a few weeks. When we went to Iceland there was more than 20 hours of daylight (it was weird and wonderful!). Sarah and Jim had a bit of a vacation fail: the guide book from their first trip had a picture of a gorgeous, crystal blue lake on the cover. So, on their second trip they went out of their way to check it out. “We were going to go see it. And we hiked up to it and it was covered in snow.”

There are now several discount airlines that fly to Reyjavik for cheap; some flights from NYC or DC are less than $300 roundtrip. (As I am typing this Joel suggests we scrap our Labor Day camping plans due to the possibility of rain, and just go to Iceland.) Icelandair also offers stopovers for up to seven nights on the way to/from Europe to promote tourism on the island. In July 2016, we decided to fly Icelandair to France with a two night stopover in Reykjavik on the way. It makes for a great change of scenery and I can see us doing another stopover on the way to somewhere else in the future.

Iceland Magic

(Photo by Christine Georg)

Iceland’s magic came in different forms for each of the friends that shared their stories with me: the freedom to explore uninhibited, spa culture, beer culture, and breathtaking icebergs, glaciers, and the unpoiled and uncommercialized beauty of the countryside. For me, it was seeing a place that brought so much joy and such a sense of adventure to my husband. Coming from NYC, Christine suggested that the small population and open space made it a simpler place to live. “Life is easier there.”

Telling me about their trip and sharing their personal photos, brought back a lot of good memories for Sarah and Jim. “On the flight home, I was like, ‘I don’t want another year to go by in my life without coming back to this country. And I just wanted to visit it over and over again.’”

(Photos by (left to right from top): Christine Georg, Sarah Moran, Meredith Cabelka)

Thank you to Joel, Meredith, Christine, Sarah and Jim for helping me tell your Iceland story and for sharing your unbelievable photos.

To see more panoramic photos from Joel — click here.

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