Iceland Day 6 (20 June 2018)

This morning’s alarm came bright and early. After just 3 hours of sleep, I was up and getting ready to head out!  

We started with the Blue Lagoon!  Tami purchased tickets online for the earliest time, so we were out the door by 6:15 a.m. We drove down to the Blue Lagoon. Iceland is amazingly diverse in its scenery, which makes you appreciate the beauty all around you!

We were checked in at our time of 7 a.m. and headed in to the fancy lockers.  We were given blue wristbands with smart technology, which allowed you to purchase any add-ons as well as access your locker.  There’s a screen on the wall that shows you which lockers are available, right when you walk in. 

The first thing you must do, before you’re allowed to get in the Lagoon, is take a shower. There were several single stalls showers, as well as a communial shower. Since we were one of the first people to check in, there were plenty of individual stalls. The stall is fairly narrow, so you have to perch your towel on the door and hope it doesn’t get wet.  They also have conditioner that they recommend you leave in your hair so it doesn’t dry out in the Lagoon. (I definitely left conditioner in my hair). 

We then rounded up our phones from our lockers to

go take a few photos of the Lagoon before we got in the relaxing mineral enriched water. 

With the ticket, it included a towel, a drink, and a mud face mask. What a pleasant and relaxing way to spend the morning!  We waded all around the area. None of us went under the water, but it was a perfect way to unwind from a few crazy months! 

There are women whose jobs are to endure the floor is as dry as possible. They don’t love you walking back and forth to your locker when you’re not completely dry, but they work with you on it. After we decided we were going to get out, we then showered there and got ready for the day. They have blow dryers, q-tips, etc.  

We then headed toward Reykjavík!  We knew we needed to stop at a grocery store to pick up some snacks so we wouldn’t need to eat in the Golden Circle as Iceland can be a fairly expensive country.  

The grocery store was an interesting experience!  Mostly, you just had to guess at what specific kinds of food you were buying. I knewI wanted meat and cheese, but couldn’t read the labels to know what kinds I was buying. 

 After the grocery store, we decided to go see the Hallgrimskirkja Church in town.  We had to drive around the block, but then we found a parking spot on the street in front of the church!  

We took a few pictures, and then walked in to hear a choir singing. Evidently we were pretty lucky to be allowed inside, as they closed it five minutes later to prep for the concert that was about to start.  It has a unique architectural structure on the outside, but the inside is white and gorgeous!

We then headed out to the Golden Circle!  I was pretty surprised that the landscape looked so different from what we saw last night. However, everywhere you looked, it was picture perfect. Especially because it was so sunny!  The sun made everything appear glittery and welcoming.   

Our first stop was to the largest lake in Iceland!  It’s also a national park, and I still can’t figure out how to pronounce it (Þingvellir National Park).  It was so sunny that the lake looked like it was filled with blue glitter where the sun bounced off it. 

We then decided to head over towards Geysir (we borrowed the word from them). The drive was through gorgeous country. Some parts seemed like you were on Mars, but if it was covered in green moss. Since you’re not allowed to stop on the road while driving, I wasn’t able to take pictures of it all.

There were sheep and horses a plenty!  When we got to the Geysir, we walked up to the roped off area where no one was standing. It was quite a surprise when we got a little wet after the Geysir erupted!  It wasn’t hot water, but it was startling. The Geysir erupts approximately every five minutes. So we were able to watch it again a few times, and not get wet. 

After the Geysir, we drove over to Gullfoss, which is an incredibly impressive waterfall!  We were able to see a full rainbow too. I’m telling you, the waterfall was like an exclamation point to our Icelandic experience!  We were fortunate to have a beautiful sunny day while we experienced it. GORGEOUS. 

As we drove back towards the hotel, we had one final stop. The color of the water when the sun hits it almost makes you want to swim, despite the temperatures. 

Iceland surprised me. I knew I would like it, but didn’t realize how much I would fall under its spell. I understand why it’s called the land of fire and ice. To see both the geothermal areas and glaciers was pretty impressive!  I would love to come back someday to explore more of this gorgeous country! 💕