On the first day, we drove straight to see the bridge between two continents. On one side of this bridge was America, on the other side Europe. We then had a lovely evening relaxing and pampering ourselves in the Blue Lagoon, before checking into our accommodation.
For breakfast the next day, we sampled wonderful Icelandic Skyr, before heading to some bubbling hot springs. We then went to a geo-thermal powered tomato greenhouse, where we heard about how the tomatoes were grown in an eco-friendly way. We then sampled some delicious tomato soup made from these tomatoes. Next, we headed to a stables to have a go at riding purebred Icelandic horses.
The next day started with an incredible glacier walk, equipped with crampons and ice axes. The views were incredible, and we go the chance to eat some of the ice we hacked from the glacier with our ice axes. We also learned that sadly this glacier is rapidly receding due to global warming. Next, we went to the extraordinary black-sands beach with amazing basalt columns, cliffs and caves. We then visited two huge waterfalls on the way back to our accommodation.
The next day, we headed straight to Gulfoss – the most photographed waterfall in Iceland, which plunges 33m into a mile-long gorge. We then visited some Geysirs, and saw one erupt, spraying out hot water. We then visited the home of Iceland’s first parliament, which looks out over the mid-Atlantic ridge, fighting difficult weather conditions. We headed to Reykjavik and visited FlyOver Iceland, a multisensory virtual experience that whisks you off to locations across Iceland.
The following day, we started by visiting more steaming hot springs and a huge 1km wide waterfall. We then put hard hats and head torches on to enter a huge lava tube cave. We saw stalactites and stalagmites and learned about how they are formed. Finally, we headed to the old volcano crater, which we were going to hike up. The weather was poor and conditions looked unappealing, but we decided to attempt the hike anyway. Fortunately, the weather cleared up on the way up and we were greeted with spectacular views at the top of the volcano – a real highlight. We then headed back to the hotel for an early night before flying home the next day.
