Cambridge, UK

Plymouth, UK

Cornwall, UK

Reykjavik, Iceland

Icelandic culture has been shaped by isolation and the extreme forces of nature, and these conditions have created a resilient population, where family ties are close, the sense of tradition is strong, and the bond with nature is tight.

During the heatwave that the UK was experiencing this summer, I decided that my husband, step-daughter and I were going to cool off by heading to Iceland, a country that has been on my ‘to visit’ list for far too long. Although we knew it would be cooler than it was in the UK, we were unlucky with the weather as they were experiencing a much colder summer than usual, which meant that our whale watching trip, that was going to be the highlight of our tour, along with the puffin watching, was cancelled. However, this may be the excuse I need to return, as I found the island wonderfully fascinating!

From a geological standpoint, Iceland is a very young country, still in the midst of its own creation. Shaped by the forces of nature, the, barren landscapes demonstrate the creativity powers of the four basic elements-earth, air, fire, and water-in a dramatic way. Active volcanoes, bright green valleys, glacier-cut fjords, black sand beaches, and roaring rivers are the most distinctive features of the Icelandic landscape. And although they are very accessible, they still remain virtually untouched by human civilisation. In a fast-paced world of sprawling development, Iceland’s pure nature and empty expanses stand out as a luxury.

Despite the name, “ice” only covers about 10% of the land, but still represents the largest glaciers left in Europe. It represents a source of pure water and symbolises the purity of Icelandic products. Icelanders are proud of their close ties to nature, and dedicated to preserving this natural wealth through responsible conservation. According to the Environmental Performance Index, created by the World Economic Forum in 2012, Iceland is the world’s greenest country. Iceland is at the forefront of renewable energy production, and nearly every home in the country is supplied with heating and energy from renewable energy sources.

We flew into Keflavík International Airport and hired a car for our three day trip, and my advice for readers who also hire a car is send one of your party out of baggage collection to collect it as soon as possible, as the queue to collect the car took almost as long as the flight itself, and that is no joke! However, once we were in our four wheeled friend, we headed off to Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital city.

The country is very flat, and in the summer most of the roads are lined with beautiful purple flowers, and sheep and Icelandic ponies can be seen in fields on a regular basis. The journey took about half an hour and was easy to navigate, although finding the location for the key to our AirBNB proved slightly more tricky! However, once we had found it and had settled in, we went for a stroll around the area in which we were staying.

One of the main, and largest sights in Reykjavik is Hallgrimskirkja Church, which is really unusual architecturally speaking, and the interior is incredibly simple.

It was designed by the late Guðjón Samúelsson in 1937, who was often inspired in his endeavours by the fascinating shapes and forms created when lava cools into basalt rock.

Construction of the church began in 1945 and ended in 1986, with the tower completed long before the rest of the building. The crypt beneath the choir was consecrated in 1948, the steeple and wings completed in 1974 and the nave consecrated in 1986.

The church features, most notably, a gargantuan pipe organ designed and constructed by the German organ builder Johannes Klais of Bonn. Standing tall at an impressive 15m and weighing a remarkable 25 tons, this mechanical action organ is driven by four manuals and a pedal, 102 ranks, 72 stops and 5275 pipes, all designed to reproduce powerful notes capable of filling the huge and holy space with a range of tones - from the dulcet to the dramatic. Its construction was completed in December 1992 and has since been utilised in a variety of recordings, including some by Christopher Herrick.

Standing directly in front of the church, and predating it by 15 years, is a fine statue of Leifur Eiríksson (c. 970 – c. 1020) – the first European to discover America. Records suggest that Leifur landed on the shores of the new world in the year 1,000 A.D., that’s 500 years before Christopher Columbus. The statue, which was designed by Alexander Stirling Calder was a gift from the United States in honour of the 1930 Alþingi Millennial Festival, commemorating the 1,000th anniversary of the establishment of Iceland’s parliament at Þingvellir in 930 AD.

Reykjavik has an enormous selection of restaurants and bars in which to dine, and we chose a restaurant that served raclette – melted cheese, with cold meats, potatoes, pickles and salads, which was delicious. Fish is an obvious choice with fresh fish caught daily locally, and we also opted for a delicious Thai meal on our last night. Food and drink is expensive, with pizzas costing from £20 each on average, and a pint of beer averages around £10, but as long as you know this is going to be an expensive trip and are prepared for that, you will get good quality food in restaurants with great atmosphere.

As we were only there for three days we had planned our trip down to the second, and on day two we had planned to drive The Golden Circle ourselves, which personally I thought was a better option than taking a pre-booked tour, as we could choose how long we stayed at each of the stops.

We headed off early in the morning, which was great as it meant we were always a few miles ahead of the crowds, and our first stop was the Thingvellir National Park, a region of untouched beauty steeped in ancient history. Learn how it’s home to the original, outdoor site of Iceland’s first parliamentary assembly, the Althingi, that began in 930, and see the extraordinary Thingvellir rift, where the tectonic plates of America and Eurasia face each other over a narrow valley.

Our next stop, and one of our favourites, was the Gulfoss waterfall. If you can, turn off at the first turning advertising the waterfalls as this will prevent you from walking down a steep hill, and back up it again! The waterfall was amazing, with its crashing water and heavy spray, and we got completely soaked as we walked to the tip of it, so a change of clothes or a waterproof mac are highly recommended! It is a beautiful sight however, so well worth the stop.

From there we drove to a favourite stop along The Golden Circle, Geysir, a highly active Geysir Hot Spring Area with boiling mud pits, exploding geysers and the lively Strokkur which spouts water 30 metres (100 ft) into the air every few minutes. The newly opened Geysir Centre offers exhibits and informative presentations year round. Geysir Hot Spring Area is one of the most popular tourist stops in Iceland, and we must have watched them erupt at least nine times, sometimes more forcibly than others!

The geothermal field is believed to have a surface area of approximately 3 km2. Most of the springs are aligned along a 100m wide strip of land running in the same direction as the tectonic lines in the area, from south to southwest. The strip is 500m long and culminates near what once was the seat of the lords of Haukadalur.

The area became active more than 1000 years ago and comprises more than a dozen hot water blow holes. Although the geyser is less active these days, it did lend its name to hot springs all over the world. It was the first geyser described in a printed source and the first known to modern Europeans.

The highlight of our trip, and something that was also on my ‘to visit’ list, was The Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa in southwestern Iceland which is one of the 25 Wonders of the World. The spa is located in a lava field near Grindavík on the Reykjanes Peninsula, in a location favourable for geothermal power, and is supplied by water used in the nearby Svartsengi geothermal power station. The Blue Lagoon is approximately 20 km from Keflavík International Airport, and is one of the most visited attractions in Iceland.

Ticket prices vary, depending on the experience you would like to have, but we just bought entrance tickets, which included entry into the lagoon, a face mask whilst in the lagoon, and a drink (including beer and wine). Extra drinks can be bought for an additional cost, as can treatments and extra face masks.

The water is a beautiful temperature, with steam rising as the outdoor air is very much cooler than the water. The masks can be applied in one area of the lagoon, and the bar is in another, and we spent two hours just enjoying the warmth of the water, and a cold beer!

As mentioned earlier, Iceland is one of the best places in the world to go whale or puffin watching, with various companies offering different trips from the harbour, including a rib ride where you can get very much closer to the whales and puffins, which is what we had chosen to do (again this is not a cheap experience),and as it got cancelled due to the inclement weather we will have to return in the hope that we will be able to enjoy this amazing experience another time.