NordicVisitor

When my fiancé and I were thinking of a honeymoon destination, we wrote a list of things that were important to us. We wanted romance, of course, something a bit different, to be able to relax and unwind after the wedding, some sightseeing, some adventure and predictably his main concern was good food!

I will admit Iceland didn’t spring immediately to mind, but after crossing out many other places as being too boring, too busy, too touristy, too obvious or simply too expensive, we realized that Iceland sounded pretty good.

I remember my bridesmaids giving me puzzled looks and my family saying don’t you just want to sit on a beach under a palm tree somewhere? In fact, most people thought we would regret not spending our first newlywed weeks getting a suntan somewhere hot and watching the sun set over the sea. Part of us did want to do just that, but being madly in love and reasonably well traveled, we wanted a little bit extra as well.

We didn’t really know what to expect, and that is where the adventure started. We did some research and Nordic Visitor’s website seemed to be the most well informed with the best packages and deals. Our tour coordinator, Maria, calmly took on board our many questions, special requests and made some good suggestions herself.

So, after the wedding we embarked on our first trip as husband and wife and decided to let Iceland and Greenland do with us what they will.

Coming in to land over the most bizarre landscape we had ever seen, we wondered what we had we let ourselves in for! Our driver was waiting for us and whisked us to off to the centre of Reykjavik. On our arrival we had a lovely bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries waiting at our hotel courtesy of Maria. Someone had even tied a little white ribbon to our door. All the staff knew we were on our honeymoon and made us feel special.

We loved exploring Reykjavik over the first few days and they really have some great restaurants and bars(See below). We had just the right balance of sightseeing, eating/ drinking and souvenir shops. One of the highlights was walking back to our hotel at 2am along the seafront and it was still daylight.

We also finally met Maria, who had been putting up with all our emails for the past few months. She was great and had marked all our routes out on a map for us which made navigating easy, even for me. She was polite enough not to laugh at our pronunciation of Icelandic towns and even told us the best shops to visit much to my husband’s regret.

We picked up our car and drove onto Budir, the place locals told us told was spectacular. They weren’t kidding. We stopped just before the hotel and had a 3-hour horse ride along a huge pristine beach. That was my special treat, and the best bit of it all was we saw no one; no cars, no people, no buildings. It was just us, the sea, the horses and a waterfall cascading off a mountain in the distance…

We arrived at Hotel Budir quite late, not realising the time because the sun doesn’t set in the summer. They reopened the kitchen for us and served us the best steak and potatoes we have ever had. Then we sank into the soft fluffy pillows and blankets in our beautiful room. This place is really a gem.

The next day we headed up the Snaefellnaes mountain we had seen in the distance. The directions were to the point “drive until you reach snow. Keep going until you see snowmobiles.” That is exactly what we did, and we took an exhilarating ride on a snowmobile to the top of the glacier. My friends and family still don’t believe that we went horse riding in t-shirts on a beach and snowmobiling up a glacier within 12 hours of each other. But that is Iceland for you.

On our way back, I noticed another dusty car where someone had etched “I love Iceland” into the dirt on the door, I thought to myself so do I.

We also took a 3 day trip to Greenland. Initially, I was worried we would be bored spending 3 days in what I thought was a barren and uninviting country, but those 3 days were some of the best of our honeymoon. After landing with our propeller plane in Kulusuk, we took a helicopter to our village of Ammassalik. I am afraid of flying, but that 10 minute helicopter ride was the flight of our lives. The views were spectacular as we soared over mountains and icebergs. We made friends with the hotel owner where we stayed and he gave us all the good tips on where to go. We took a 5 hour dinner cruise through the icebergs to an abandoned ancient village. Ok it wasn’t gourmet food, but the captain was like a character straight out of a North Pole expedition. You get the impression he’s seen it all.

We reluctantly left Greenland only to be greeted by another fantastic hotel in Iceland. We stayed in the Pingvellir National Park, and had the honeymoon suite in Hotel Valholl. The wine list was excellent and the fresh air and views in the park were even better.

The next day we drove onto the destination that we had been looking forward to for months, The Blue Lagoon. We weren’t disappointed. The vivid colour of the water is actually indescribable, so I won’t try to explain. You just have to go and see it for yourself. We had booked two massages and this petite Icelandic woman could pack a punch in her arms. I actually ached afterwards, but in a good way. We paddled around happily for 4 hours in the lagoon, which for my adrenalin junkie new husband was a record. It must have been good! There is white clay in buckets along the sides of the lagoon that you smear on your face to get rid of pimples and to look younger. I wish I had come here before our wedding…

It was with heavy hearts that we drove to Keflavik airport the following day, our wonderful and eclectic honeymoon had come to an end.

To our dismay, unbeknownst to me until we returned to Chicago, my camera had broken during our holiday and we have almost no photos of our honeymoon! Somehow it seems fitting that we don’t have hundreds of tourist snapshots of our time in Iceland and Greenland. Instead, our very special honeymoon is forever etched in our memories and only we know what we saw, heard, smelt and felt. I recommend you go and make your own memories there watching the sun not set. And for anyone who asks, Iceland does have beaches and even palm trees too…

Our tips:
Reykjavik
Have a coffee/tea/ hot chocolate at: Kaffi Tar
Bankastraeti 8 & Kringlan 101
Tel: +354 511 4540 & 588 0440
www.kaffitar.is

Eat lunch at and order the lobster tails at: Einar Ben
Veltusund 1
IS-101 Reykjavik
Tel. + 354 511-5090

Have dinner at: Silfur
Pósthússtræti 9
101 Reykjavík.
www.silfur.is

Go for a drink: Everywhere!

Go shopping for authentic Icelandic products at:
The Iceland Giftstore: Rammagerdin
Hafnarstræti 19
IS - 121 Reykjavík
Tel.: +354 551 1122
www.icelandgiftstore.is

Try the spa at the Nordica Hotel where you get a free massage

Budir & Snafellnaess
Book a horse riding trek at:
Lýsuhóll – Snæhestar
Jóhanna Ásgeirsdóttir and Agnar Gestsson
Lýsuhóll, 356 Snæfellsbær, Iceland
tel.: (+354) 4356716 - fax: (+354) 4356816
www.lysuholl.is - info@lysuholl.is
-Don’t worry my husband was a beginner and loved it.

Stay at Hotel Budir
http://www.hotelbudir.is/
There isn’t anywhere else to stay in Budir anyway! Go for a walk on the beach and visit the little Church

Go snowmobiling on the Snaefellsnes Glacier. Book it in the town of Arnastapi

Go whale watching in Olafsvik It’s a 15 minute drive from Budir across a mountain

Blue Lagoon
Do book a treatment before you go Smear your face in white mud and take lots of pictures Stand under the waterfall- great back massage effect Book a table for dinner at the Blue Lagoon restaurant it is magical watching the steam rise off the bright blue water as you eat

Greenland
Take an iceberg cruise, but wrap up really well, even in the summer. The sea breeze was COLD! Take a helicopter ride to the glacier Go to the local supermarket and have a picnic trying out Greenland delicacies



Extras in Iceland
Drive to Fjorubordid Restaurant in the village of Stokkseyri on the south coast and have lobster soup, lobster tails and chocolate cake whilst watching the sea. It was fantastic!
www.fjorubordid.is

Go for a walk in the Þingvellir National Park. It is a cross between the Lake District in England and Mars.

P.S. Save some Kronurs for the duty free at Keflavik airport!
Candice and Kyle Olson