The Clips and Trips blog was put together in preparation for our leaving the U.S. on an indefinite world travel adventure which started around August of 2009 and returned us home in December of 2012. If you want to see where it all began, read our mission statement from before we left.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Iceland

There is something magical and almost primeval about Iceland.




Maybe it was arriving in the winter and only seeing four hours of sunlight, the remoteness and quiet of the island, or the fact that they baked bread in the ground? Funny enough, it turns out Icelanders actually believe in trolls, gnomes, and elves. Really. They believe in the supernatural, and after driving around the island, you might find it hard to disagree. 

From Rejkavik, the nation's capitol and largest city, we drove up to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula.



The sun was never directly up in the sky. It just hovered slightly above the horizon. That's our little car in the shadow.





Along the drive, you'll find a lot of friendly Icelandic horses hanging out. They are descendants of the first horses brought to Iceland in the 9th and 10th centuries by Scandinavian settlers. These short, furry pony-sized horses are special and unique to Iceland. The breed is so protected that no foreign horses are ever allowed to come to Iceland and once an Icelandic horse leaves, it is never allowed to return. 






Fjords in the distance


A small town along the Snaefellsnes Peninsula with fjords in the distance


Our next drive was along what is known as the Golden Triangle, a major tourist route with a lot of natural landmarks. 
The Gulfoss Waterfall






At Thingveller national park, we wandered around the fault lines found in the park. 



We were surprised at how technologically advanced and environmentally friendly Iceland is. Geothermal and hydro power provides most of the country's energy, and they expect to be completely energy independent by 2050. There's no pollution. We drank water straight from the tap. I never knew that water could be so tasty. Even at the farm we stayed at, the floors were actually heated.  


 


We spent our last day soaking in the Blue Lagoon, a sort of hot spring area of milky blue water. How could you deny the existence of fairies after this?