Ég anda

I'm back home, but honestly, I have to tell you all, I'm just so happy, because managed to make the most from my last 2 days!
I didn't give up on my dream about going to Grimsey island and crossing the Artic Circle!
It was really a special feeling and the perfect proof to believe I can make my dreams come true and if things don't turn up the way they should, I can easily go for them again... and finally, if you are patient and storng, you get where you want to and get whatever you'd love.

It wasn't a question that it worth it! Although the way there on the ferry I thought I die of being sea sick, but as you may found out, I survived!;)
It was a hard 3 hours there, 3 hours back... but the 4 hours I spent there were truly amazing.
The bird life is something incredible and the shades of green, the calmness... and simply knowing that you are at the northernmost point of Iceland.

And did that in the coolest way, without my jacket!! Managed to leave it on the ferry bus...
But I was lucky enough, on the way there a very kind Swedish women offered me her extra jacket and on the island my nice new American friends helped me out!:)
I got to know them on the ferry. That's why I find it amazing to travel alone. You are so much more opened to meet and talk to strangers. And finally these people are the ones that make the whole journey fun and memorable!

When we were back to Akureyri, we went together for a nice dinner and had my last drink before starting my way back home next day...

...but that's an other story. Continue soon...:)

Myvatn area and relaxing natural hot bath

Oh, yeeeah, I managed to do today's plan: the lake Myvatn excursion.
And we only got stuck once when the car didn't want to get going! xD
Except the Glacier Lagoon, I think this one was definitely the coolest landscape I've seen here so far.
It was exectly like being on the Moon (ok, I have never been to the Moon..;P ).

 

We stopped by also the famous waterfall Godafoss and had a wee hike on an amazing lava field.
We visited the hot spring area of Myvatn and also the Natural Thermal Bath.
Yeah, that's life! Sitting in the hot water and enjoying those landscapes in the background... Unbelievable. That's what I'd need every day after work! ;)

The tour guide was a very pretty middle age women. Not that usual sporty type tour guide. How can I say... she was more like me! haha
And I was very surprised when she came to me and asked if I saw Eurovision song contest this year. I asked why, and she told me that the Hungarian one was the best and she really liked our singer. :) How cool is it that you are in Iceland and you hear such a nice compliment.:)

I feel like writing more, but I'm getting extremly tired and sleepy..

There is a huge mess around tomorrow's Grimsey ferry and buses... I'll do my best, but I'm quite worried as I still don't have ticket and seems like no bus connctions. At least not both ways...
That's why I longerned my stay in Akureyri so I go crazy if finally I won't be able to do it.
Everything on my Icelandic must do list is done and to be completly happy before going home, I just really need to reach that island!!
I know I can be maniac... :P

No Arctic Circle today :(

So, basically, just very breefly I had a disappointing day!
I walked 45 minutes to Akureyri Airport to wait there 2 hours, to get the news that they still have no clue what time the plane can leave, because of bad weather conditions....
Just before 3PM I gave it up, because the one and only ferry leaves back from the island at 4PM. So not that there was no chance to take at least a wee walk in Grimsey, because I might still have done the trip if they at least guarantee that I catch the ferry. But no.
They refunded my money, but I still had the ferry ticket which was actually exactly the same price as the flight.
So, I had an other 45 minutes walk back to the centre and managed to get my money back at the information office. Actually they were really so nice that didn't even ask for any certification, they just simply gave me the cash! That's cool at least!

But still, I was very sad... So what else can make you happier than a huge sugary cake and a latte at my favorite cafe.

There was the pont I found out I won't give up! I longern my stay in Akureyri and go to Grimsey on Wednesday. But simply by ferry both there and back. Don't risk the flight anymore.
I had to book an extra night, but for the last day in Iceland I really need my privacy so booked it next door at the gueshouse and I'll have my own room!!
But check out and check in will be lovely as I leave very early and come back very late...

And of course with that change I risk my way back home as I'll go back to Reykjavik on the same day when my flight is. Previously I organised the way it was, to make sure, in any case I get back to the city.
Fingers crossed! I don't want to stuck here, although would be great to spend more time in Iceland... but not without money, accomodation and plans.. :P

Let's hope tomorrow's Lake Myvatn excursion won't be cancelled, otherwise I really go crazy!!!

And actually I can't understand what's going on. At first I almost couldn't take my flight from Budapest to Reykjavik. It was really just about minutes and loots of worrying.
Then they cancelled my Southern shore trip which was including a flight and managed to do the trip both ways only by bus.
But I still felt happy that I have this Grimsey flight booked and then booom. Extreme deley.
I try not to worry about my flights back home!! Hopefully that was all and from now I'll be lucky again. ;)

Bike, sun, relax, grass, Kjarnaskógur

Today we had amazingly lovely weather, at least compared that it's Iceland! :)) It was around 18°C, but I'm sure it felt even warmer on the sun.

I found out that I rent a bike, but at my hostel they told me there is no bike rental in town.
I didn't give up, so went to ask the main information centre where they told me the same. Then when I was already on the street, the girl from the office was running after me and told, they found one.
So lucky me!
I picked it up at 12 and rented for the whole day.
I went to visit the Kjarnaskógur area which is a nice, green, foresty place where you can hike, have picnic, there is a lovey play ground and camping.

I met with this friendly mini horse.:)

 

 

I found some very cool walking routes. The interesting thing that all of them was a bit different. Some of them were bright green, some of them dark and scary.

 

 

 

Then I found a huge picnic area where there was only me and after having my packed lunch I fell asleep. Soooo relaxing.

 

 

After coming back to the centre I had a latte at my favorite wee cafe. It's really a cute one, although the coffee is not really anything special.:/

Now I've just met with my lovely new roommate (one of 8 :O) and he or she, I don't know, couldn't really decide.... wasn't able to say a simple hello. Really!! Are these people just climbed down from the trees?? How is it possible that somebody just simpy unable to say hi?
So, there is really nice atmosphere in the room. Oh, and nice smell too. They don't know what it's like to go and have a shower.

The opposite of that are those girls who even took their hair straightener!!!! And as soon as they arrived they went to make their hair!!
I like to look good too, but still... it's too much!

But, if I survive tonight, I fly to Grimsey tomorrow! Can't wait!

South Shore, Glacier Lagoon, Akureyri

I have a lots of things to tell about, but so far so little time to sit down and write.
But now it changed, because I arrived up North to Akureyri and it seems like it's not the most interesting town ever. ok, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be happier if it would be bigger or busier, but somehow I have the feeling that it's too big to enjoy the nature, but too small to do anything interesting.

But at first let me tell you about yesterday when I went for that South Shore and Glacier Lagoon tour.
It was sooo so amazing. Maybe that's why I'm a bit disappointed today, because after so much beauty, you can't truly appreciate what is simply just nice.
It was so much more wonderful than I expected.
We stopped by amazing waterfalls on the way there and back, captured lovely landscapes, but the true wonder was the Jökusárlón Glacier Lagoon.
I have never seen anything like that in my whole life. I have been to many places, but this one was something totally different experienced.
When I first saw that landscape, the sea with those huge pieces of ice.... It was like a bit of heaven. We went even for a boat trip.
Maybe I'm made of stone, but tears never came to my eyes before because of happiness. I'm not that type. If I'm happy I smile, if I'm sad I cry. I never undertood those who just so easily melt of beauty and happy moments.
But it happened to me know and it was a wonderful feeling. I was so happy deeply inside. I knew that I just have to enjoy this moment and I'll remember it for the rest of my life.

I promise pics will come soon too, but my phone is on charger now and THE photos of my big Canon camera will just come later when I'll have the time to carefully pick them, cut them and resize them if needed.
But I have to tell that I have some really good ones.
I'm planning to order some huge prints of them that I can hang on my wall at home, and even a wee exhibition would be cool.

So, let's talk about today.
I've never tried carpooling before, but just for the heck of it, I put on a request on that site.
And yeah, I received 2 offers to ride me up to Akureyri.
I was a bit afraid and skeptic, athough I'm not too often thinking about danger and possibilities about bad happenings. But honestly I almost couln't sleep. I had different kind of versions in my head, like what if he will drive me to the middle of nowhere and kill me... :D
But he did not. Luckily! ;))
He is such a sweethearted old artist, born in the USA and grew up in Iceland.
But he lived also in Norway, Sweden and a lot more places. He has children in Skandinavia and one of them married to an Indian women.
Right now he came up to visit his brother who is a painter and his wife too!
He had an amazingly interesting life, he feels the same I feel about Iceland. He has such a special little World, he has a fantastic imagination and definitely a friendly personality.
Finally he invited me for dinner to meet with his brother. So hopefully tomorrow or the day after I go and meet them.
You know, this is the kind of day when I say it's absolutely true that life starts after stepping out of your comfort zone!! Keep that in mind!;)
If I listen to my scared side who told me that it would be so much safer by bus, then I never meet with that guy who will be definitely a friend forever.
We had two other girls in the car too, who actually came to the same hostel as me and they are at the same room as me... What a shame! :P
19 years old girlies who came for one night to go party and get drunk...
This is the moment when I feel I'm old and grumpy and boring! :P
But really... If you want to get drunk, find a better place than up north in the middle of nowhere. I'm here to relax and enjoy the nature and not to listen them chit-chatting all night long. Blaaaaaah.
If I ever want to go to a hostel, please remind me that I hate hostels and I hate stupid teenagers and I hate to sleep with other people in one room and I hate the atmosphere of hostels.....!! Should I continue!? :)
Couchsurfing is so much better!!!

Hopefully I'll manage to sleep at least a little. Shame I didn't bring earplugs. Not that they are healthy, especially that I have a bit of earache.

I try to find some nice walking routes tomorrow as I don't have anything booked for that day. I wanted to spend it with relaxing and enjoying the nature, but so far as I see, mountains are a bit too far to get there by walk. Will see.

Golden Circle

I'm back from my Golden Circle tour which was asolutely great!
I don't tell I haven't seen anything more beautiful while I was at the Western part, but seeing a geysir, a 6500 years old crater, Gullfoss waterfall and the Thingvellir national park... is definitely a must when you're visiting Iceland. Most of the tourists who come to Reykjavik do that trip, so they can get a taste of the country. I didn't want to miss that out of course.

Actually at first we started to pass by places I visited before when we were driving to Arnarstarpi, so I was a bit disappointed first, but later on I totally fell in love with the Geysir, so I'm glad I had that lovely sunny afternoon.

We were 6 at the group, luckily that's good, I  don't like those huge buses full of people. They were quite nice, at first it was hard to make them talk, but later on they were friendlier. Except one annoying women who thought that she is the most clever person on Earth and I went crazy about her questions to the tour guide. Every single minute she had something to tell or ask and of course she did that in a very intellectual way. :P
But the old Canadian couple was very very lovely.

The tour guide was a pretty young short haires blondie. Oh, I loved her hair! So, don't be surprised if I come home short haired! ;)

Later on, most likely from home, I'll upload looots of photos with decription. Now I don't have the time and energy to do that. I just want to give a bit of taste of my journeys.

It took us 7 hours to do the whole tour, I loved they didn't mind stopping frequently.

And here are a few interesting and/or funny things I heard today:

- If you get lost in a forest in Iceland... Just stand up! :P
- There are 90.000 horses in the country and they are those special mini types.
- When we were in Laugarvatn, the tour guide told us it's quite a busy town.
Then she told, there are 200 people living there... So you can imagine how busy it is! ;P
- For a few thousands of people they have 200 churches!! Every farm has an own church.
- Playing golf is getting popular in Iceland, it costs 10000 - 20000 ISK (~18000 - 37000 HUF) a day.
- 5 people have died in car accident this year
- There are so few crimes only, that the court has time for cases like at a divorce who gets the dog. :D
- Almost everyone in Iceland have a story about elves and trolls.
The tourist guide herself believes she experienced meeting with them when she was a teen.
- In Iceland they have 13 Santa Clauses. They are the kids of trolls.
So children here get 13 presents before Christmas, or if they were bad, they get potatoes instead.

That was all for today, time to rest as they managed to book me a trip for tomorrow instead of the one that was cancelled. So time to go SOUTH!:)

Whale watching, lobster soup, Sóley

I'm always in the move and love to feel I'm using my time in an active way.
So, yesterday afternoon sponatenously I went on a whale watching boat trip.

Although I saw a whale for a few seconds, I wasn't able to capture it, but instead I took lots of lovely photos about dolphins. One of them was super cute and was jumping out of the water, doing different tricks in the air.
I
t was really cold, I can't remember the last time I was freezing that much!! Of course there was a special jacket you could use.... but as always I felt I'm much stronger than everybdy else and I don't need any extra protection. :D
After a tea, a hot soup and an aspririn, I was feeling better! ;)

At the evening my host took me a bit around and we went to see the lighthouse nearby.
Oh, and had an amazing lobster soup at a famous little seafood restaurant.

Later on I went to see Sóley, who was absolutely amazing!! Last year I was on her concert in Budapest and I can't believe that this time I saw her in Iceland in her home country.
I could truly enjoy the moment, my heart was so full of happiness!

But after all these perfect moments... I've got a messages from the tour office where I booked my day trips and they told me the Southern shore and Glacier laggoon one will be cancelled, as I was the only one who booked it and they need at least 2 people.....
I'm so dissapoinet!!!!! I hate when something like that just ruins my plan.
I don't want to go home without visiting that area.........
Hopefully today they will find out something. I'm going to this Golden circle afternoon in an hour, and they promised they will come and talk to me during the day and do their best to find an othe tour. Fingers crossed!!
;)

End of part one

Yesterday my trip at the western part of Iceland had come to an end. It was truly hard to say bye to all those amazing places, the calmness, sound of birds, the cool little wooden house and my fantastic host, Birgir! I'm such a lucky one! Experiencing all these is something very special. Good to feel that when i start something truly from my heart, than the whole universe is here to help and bring the right people, right places and the best moments into my life! I like to feel that being brave is worth it! It definitely does! People in Iceland are so nice and helpful! Yesterday on my way back to Reykjavik I had to change bus in Borgarness and the driver was so nice that he took my big suitcase from one bus to the other. Then when I arrived I didn't have a clue how to get to the centre, it took me only a few seconds to find somebody to help. On the bus I only had big money and they were not allowed to give back change, so instead he just told me, no problem, just go without ticket! How cool is that? And the host I'm staying here just allowed me to spend all my Reykjavik days at his place! So, I can say, so far it's perfect! Now I'm in a cafe house I noticed today, they have their own coffee roaster and right now I' having a columbia cappuccino. Love to discover this kind of places!:)

Day 4 in Iceland

Still at the Western part. Actually I should be back to Reykjavik tomorrow, but I’m thinking of longern my journey with one more day. I just wanted to make sure I’ll be back to the capital for my daytrips organised from there, but on other hand I feel it’s a waste if I just spend one more whole day there instead of this amazing calm, natural area. We’ll see. I try to go with the flow. Although flow won’t take me to Reykjavik if I miss the bus what they have only once a day! :P

Today it’s extremly rainy, grey and windy. My host told me, it’s unusual and they didn’t have that bad weather in the past few weeks… So yeah, I’m lucky to experiece this! ;P

But we still decided to go on a wee road trip to Ólasvík where we couldn’t get yesterday because of the blocked mountain road. Wasn’t so much easier today, we couldn’t see anything from the fog and mist, at a certain point it was very scary to be on the top of the mountain in that strong wind and don’t see anything around us.
On the way  back we found some lovely walking paths, but both of us felt like staying in the car and maybe coming back later on if weather becomes a bit better.

Yesterday I forgot to tell about our day trip to Stykkishólmur. It was a great little town with all those wooden houses. Actully it’s a point where you can get the ferry to the island of Flatey. Previously when I was planning my trip I was hoping I might be able to visit Flatey, but I think it worth it if you can spend there at least a half day, so left it for my next visit in Iceland.

On the way there we stopped by lots of nice little villages and towns like Hellissandur, Rif, Grundarfjördur, etc. We were lucky enough to just pop in to Grundarfjördur at the right time when they had some kind of celebration and people were dressed up as vikings. Was quite cool.

Now I’m in the house and waiting for the rain to stop and still have a little hope to expeience a bit of sunshine at the evening.

Being on charger.. ;)

It’s Sunday evening. Oh, no, actually almost night, but I can’t really feel the difference.

It’s like a 24 hours day without night. Love that.
Yesterday it was still bright, warm and sunny ouside at 10 PM. We went out for a bit of walking to the harbour and a bit more further.
Amazing bird life, you can hear them so loud and that sound is so calming and relaxing.
I have been to nice places before, and saw lots of beautiful pieces of the World, but this one seems like have all of these pieces together. Sometimes I don’t even have to look around and I still see snowy hills, rocks, cliffs, sea and lake. Yesterday I experienced to see all these together. Aren’t these all you need?
I decieded I need a summer house here! Definitely! Now I only have to win ont he lottery or become a famous artist! ;)

Today was even more wonderful!
Woke up quite late which is a shame, but don’t think I missed anything, because later on we did a lot!
Started with hiking to Hellnar where we had a coffee in the cafe house I wanted to see in real so badly! It had an amazing view. You can not wish any better location to a cafe! Simply perfect! Although they have to develop the coffees a bit.. I could help them!:) Might apply for a job next year! ;))

Later on we wanted to go to a town nearby on a way thru the hill, but actually it was blokked because of the snow. But we had a walk up there and went into a cave, called ”Singing cave”. Well, I chose not to sing, I didn’t want to frighten the elves! :P

 

 

We drived back home, I grilled some lamb and prepared fried potatoes.
After being totally full of dinner and being tired of hiking, we enjoyed the jacuzzi outside. Oh yeah, I know… I try not to seem like I’m showing off, but honestly, haveing a day like that, is something perfect!

Finally we finished the day with an Icelandic movie. Quite artisty one and not a lot of actions, but definitely an interesting one. It was about old people escaping from a nursing home , go back to nature and die there. Sad, but beautiful.
So far so good. I don’t know how are my upcoming days going to turn up, definitely will be different than these nice calm days here in the middle of nowhere, but I’m optimistic and hope for the best.


The only thing I know that if you never try, you never know. If you are being afraid of everything in your whole life, things won’t start happen to you.
I don’t want to sound like a weirdo who is always talking about being positive and bla bla bla, but honestly, I just write what I think and what I experience. I’m really full of energy and positive thoughts now.
Although we were walking all day long and I almost can’t feel my feet, I still feel like finally my battery is on charger.. :)

(Just realized I started my blog with yesterday evening, but actually I didn't mention yesterday's daytrip to Stykkisólmur. Will tell about it later on.)

First morning in Arnarstrapi

01.06.2013
11 AM

My second morning in Iceland and the first one in Arnarstrapi, western part of the country.

I can’t really find the right words to discribe what I see and what I feel.

Honestly before my journey I had a bit of fear, what if I wait too much from this trip, what if my big dream won’t be as dreamy and what if I won’t feel that it really woth it.
But it’s not a question anymore, not at all!

No photos and videos can show how is it in real. You have to be here, you have to breathe in the fresh air, hear the seabirds, see the snowy, misty hills behind, the rocky beach with the little waterfalls and rivers on them… You have to experience the midnight sun, the rainy wind blowing into your face… And all these together makes it so perfect!

Even that my feet is totally wet now after 5 mins of morning walk… I don’t think my shoes are made to use them here…
I left my proper hiking shoes I used in Scotland at home.
But never mind, these tiny little deatils seems so uninportant.

Same feelings about the things at home. In these 2 weeks I don’t want to keep thinking about what’s at home, is it going to be good to get back, or I’ll feel emptiness after such an amazing trip…
Or I might feel homesick after a few days here … Who knows, who cares! Just enjoy the moment!