Today we had a bit of a lie-in as we weren't getting picked up until 10:30 for our trip to the Blue Lagoon which is Iceland's most popular visitor attraction. The Blue Lagoon is like a giant bath that holds six million litres of geothermal seawater from 2000 metres beneath the earth's surface. By the time it reaches the lagoon, the mineral-rich milky, aqua blue waters simmers at temperatures between 37 and 39°C - oh lovely!
It was a 40 min drive from Reykjavik and, once we turned off the main road we drove through lava fields to get to the Blue Lagoon. From a distance we could see steam bellowing out of the geothermal power plant next door which feeds the water in to the lagoon so we knew we were nearly there.
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| The Blue Lagoon amongst the lava rocks |
I had read that you had to shower naked before you got in because there is no chlorine in the water to keep it clean so you need to be as clean as possible going in - I was relieved to find that there were both individual and communal showers in the changing rooms so I didn't have to bare my bits in front of everyone! Once we had got changed we had to dash in the freezing cold from the changing rooms to the pool but it was so worth it when we got in - it was like a hot bath and the water had a silky feel to it because of the minerals. And believe it or not, there was a bar in the pool so we were supping sparkling wine whilst bathing. We were very lucky again with the weather and we were under blue skies again whilst relaxing in the pool. We spent about an hour in the pool and then had some lunch before coming back to Reykjavik.
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| Hot like a bath! |
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| Peter doesn't want to get out! |
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| Panoramic view of the Blue Lagoon |
Peter and I just had our normal clothes on as we were not expecting to be outside much but the coach company told us that they were dropping us back at their offices and we would need to walk back! It is only about a 10 min walk but it felt pretty cold without our thermal layers, plus no scarf (me) and no gloves (Peter)!
We then had a walk up to the main church in Reykjavik called Hallgrimskirkja. It is quite unique looking and, at 73 meters tall, the largest church in Iceland. We went up to the top of the tower to admire the views, but it was so windy and cold - it took your breath away, so we took some photos and then made our way back down!
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| The main church in Reykjavik |
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| View down to the Harbour |
This evening we went to a rather swish restaurant called The Grill Market ( or Grillmarkadurinn in Icelandic). Although we like to eat what the locals eat we didn't fancy Horse, Puffin or Whale so I went for ribeye steak and Peter had the Meat Gourmet which was beef, duck and lamb - the food was delish and we really enjoyed our dinner, but we already had our eye on dessert as the couple next to us had it and we were literally saying to the waiter we will have what they had - it was a share plate of all their desserts and man alive it was soooo good!
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| Ribeye steak - with mushroom glaze and curly fries - delish! |
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| Peter's meat gourmet |
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| Yum - what a feast of desserts! |
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| I promise he only had one beer! |
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