Belief in elves and dwarves isn’t tea time fodder spouted by a bunch of crazy old people after a bad game of bridge – it’s Iceland’s national identity. 

At the very least, Icelanders entertain the possibility of the existence of these people – and as I once mentioned in my previous post documenting some things you need to know before visiting Iceland, it’s not hard to see why.

Iceland is a topographical marvel. From steep-sided fjords to glacier-carved valleys to moonlight lava fields, bubbling mudpots, geysirs and the ethereal Northern Lights that dance in the skies certain months of the year, Iceland is a deep, bottomless pit of geographic wonders – so flash back to more than a thousand years ago when all that didn’t exist in theory, and you can understand how people assumed it was magic. 

To date, the Geysir remains one of my most spectacular memories from Iceland. 

Somewhere mid-trip, I thought it might be fun to really tourist out and do one of those ‘cultural/historical Iceland’ – type tour, partly because history in this part of the world still remains so magically foreign to me that most times, the whole narrative just feels… mythical – and I mean this in the most flattering way possible. Ethereal. Turf houses and harpsichords and really really old books that I can’t even begin to wrap my head around – I mean, many are replicas but some of the books I know for a fact dates back to the Early Settlement Days, which is like, what, the 800s?

Yes, a cyclical year in three digits – now when was the last time any of us saw that?

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If you go to Iceland and you don’t go to the Blue Lagoon, did you really go to Iceland at all?

I don’t want to be patronizing so the answer is, “Yes. Even if you missed the Blue Lagoon, Iceland still counts as Iceland.” Ha. 

But you definitely missed out though. Those piercing milky-blue waters are so incredibly beautiful it’s otherworldly.

And yes, all those rumours you heard are true: there are no doors in the bathrooms at the Blue Lagoon and basically everyone sees everyone shower naked (males and females are separated, of course).

The only consolation I can offer is that literally no one cares, and no one will even give you a second look regardless of how insecure you are of your body. 

Funnily, showering didn’t turn out as stressful as I thought – there was just something quite therapeutic about everyone going on about their own business in that aloof, dignified European manner that, indeed, only the Europeans are capable of – so don’t worry if you’ve got a complex. 

To put it simply, the Earth is splitting apart right down the middle from Iceland.

More specifically, the European tectonic plate is creeping eastward and the North American tectonic plate is creeping westward… all at the rate of about 1 inch per year. Which means Iceland is getting torn apart at a rate of 1 inch per year.

Incidentally, you may want to check out Silfra Fissure at Thingvellir National Park, one of the few rare places on Earth where you can snorkel or even dive between two continents at once. 

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In case you’re wondering about the weird fluctuation in landscape/weather across my pictures, it was 2°C when I reached, and 14°C less than 7 days later. I actually managed to squeeze in a day at the zoo towards the end. The weather was perfectly autumnal: cool, crisp, and so so beautifully un-humid. 

The impressive Hallgrímskirkja Church in Reykjavík, which took 40 years to build and stands a whopping 15m tall. 

One of the things I really loved about Iceland was the Black Beach. 

The Black Beach is truly one of the most magnificent places I’ve ever been. Truly, truly magnificent. There’s more than one in Iceland and I highly recommend any if you’re headed there, but do layer up and stay away from the waters. The Black Beaches are notorious for their violent waves and unforgiving winds – go do a quick Google search – many tourists have died at these beaches, whether they were playing around or even caught by a sneaker wave, so please. Stay safe. 

In case you’re wondering why the sand is black, it’s actually old volcanic lava that’s been ground up to fine sand over hundreds and thousands of years (Iceland is pretty prone to volcanic eruptions). The bigger, nicely rounded pebbles, stones and rocks, are actually varying sizes of solidified lava, so, yeah. When you’re on a black sand beach, technically, you’re treading volcanic lava.  

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Till today, my Northern Lights story still stands as somewhat of a personal poignant reminder to myself never to pick the easier option – even when it’s easy. Especially when it’s easy. 

The Northern Lights night trip was one of my bookings which I had to reschedule because of a flight delay; and as such, instead of setting out on my second day in Iceland, I ended up attempting it only on my second last day in the country (live through the full narrative of this travel nightmare here).

Naturally, every company will warn you about the odds of not seeing the Lights some nights because it is after all part of nature and you can’t control nature (which is why they offer a complimentary second trip); and perfectly enough, my first attempt proved a fruitless one – which basically left me with no other option but the very last night itself to redeem my second shot. This threw me into a serious dilemma because, even though it was my last night, I was technically set to fly the very next morning, meaning to go would be to subject myself to just 2 hours of sleep before a flight.

I know it shouldn’t even be a difficult decision but to be honest, I was really mentally exhausted by then (as life always does to one) – and it was actually very easy to convince myself to just give the whole thing a miss at that point. I mean, what if I went through all the hassle of going again, and it turned out to be in vain yet again? It’s not exactly the nearest place to get to and every second on the commute is extra sleep I would miss. 

Two good friends, separately, coaxed me to just grit my teeth and go with it. That regardless of whether it would be a wasted trip, what would be worse is forever having to wonder afterwards if it would, indeed, have had been a wasted trip.

I believe one of them even said that sleep I could “do any time”,… but the Northern Lights. 

Such a view for days.