Guest author Jeremy at Skógafoss, a waterfall along the Ring Road
The following is a guest post from Jeremy Simon, an Austin, TX-based reporter for CreditCards.com, where he writes about personal finance topics for consumers. He hopes his next trip will be free from fermented shark meat.
Iceland has occupied my imagination for approximately half my life. My interest in the country began when I checked out a well-worn VHS travel video from my local public library back in high school. It remained at my list of top global destinations. So this year, when a friend who was working abroad in Paris suggested we meet somewhere for a trip, Iceland was my first suggestion.
Here a little of what I learned during week-long August adventure.
People in Reykjavik party hard. On Friday and Saturday nights, many locals don’t hit the bars till after midnight. Once they do, they get to drinking and dancing pretty quickly – and continue well into the following day. I heard the Baywatch theme song twice in one night at the same bar, suggesting the frequently blonde Icelanders cannot help but identify with the trials and tribulations of Scandinavian-looking lifeguards.
Enjoy the hot dogs. As an island with lots of grazing land but surrounded by ocean, it’s not surprising that Iceland has delicious lamb and fish. But it also had great hot dogs. Bæjarins Beztu offers harbor side hot dogs loaded with ketchup, mustard, onions and remoulade — delicious. No less a fast food authority than Bill Clinton has eaten there.
Photo of Iceland by guest author Jeremy Simon
Beware the cheese shark. On the less appetizing end of the culinary spectrum, cheese shark – or hakarl — is a Icelandic dish created by fermenting the meat from a Greenland shark. The tiny white cube of hakarl I sampled came on the end of a toothpick at the Reykjavik flea market. While it initially tasted bland as I chewed, as soon as took a breath, the foul smell of ammonia hit the back of my nostrils and throat. I was soon spitting the questionable delicacy into the nearest napkin.
Learn some new letters. Although the signs you see around the country can mostly be sounded out by English speakers, the Icelandic language has a few symbols that are unfamiliar. As a result, I pronounced the location of our guesthouse wrong for the bulk of the time in Reykjavik. After confusing several locals with my attempts, I eventually learned Þverholt was actually pronounced Thverholt.
Take a bus tour. While Reykjavik is a tidy and trendy little city, the most amazing things to be seen in Iceland are found once you leave the capital. There are bus tours departing frequently from Reykjavik to key locations, including the Blue Lagoon. A combined “Golden Circle” bus trip offers a chance to take in the impressive Gullfoss waterfall, UNESCO heritage site Thingvellir and the somewhat disappointing Geysir, which doesn’t seem to spout much these days. Since approximately 60 percent of the country’s population lives in and around Reykjavik, the traffic is light in the city, non-existent once you leave. (During our “Golden Circle” bus tour, the driver remarked that we were experiencing rush hour traffic. This slowdown lasted about 5 minutes.)
Photo of Reykjavik by guest author Jeremy Simon
Rent a car. We rented a car for a three-day excursion along the southern coast of Iceland. Following the Ring Road — also known simply as “Highway 1” – took us east and provided some of the most amazing views of the trip. From the highway, you can see snow-covered mountains rising up from behind green hills closer to the shore, black sand beaches (Vik), and eventually Skatafell National Park and the otherworldly Jokulsarlon lake full of floating pieces of broken off glacier. To make our time there even more surreal, a Bollywood film crew was playing music as they set up cameras for a location scout next to the glacial lake. Then, on the other side of the road, blocks of ice from the lake wash up on beach.
While a week was enough time for the important lessons listed above, I didn’t get a chance to see the northern part of the country. And the fact that we visited in the waning Icelandic summer meant that the Northern Lights were still at least a season away. In other words, there is plenty left to see on my next Icelandic excursion.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Based on my visit this summer Jeremy is spot on! Especially on renting a car. Some of the most beautiful and isolated spots in the world are just an hour or two out of Reykjavik. It’s amazing.
Great post Jeremy. Super informative. Who knew hot dogs were popular in Iceland? Your decription of the fermented shark was so vivid I found myself sticking my tongue out in distate. haha. Good stuff!
Thanks very much for the positive feedback!
@ Stephanie — I’m guessing driving the Ring Road isn’t possible in the winter months. Maybe you know about this?
@ Nancy — Glad you appreciated my comments on the local food!
Iceland was one of the most interesting and relaxing holidays we have taken! Renting a car is a must-do. We had some scary moments of “oops we didn’t fill up with petrol when we had the chance” but other than that, it was incredible to venture out into the wilderness!
Splendid post Jeremy, Skógafoss waterfall along the Ring Road is outstanding.I really loved the image . Your post is really informative , you have also mentioned about new letters you have learned its good to know all those . Especially the Hotdogs loaded with ketchup, mustard, onions and remoulade are really lip smacking yar !
The post is amazing, seems really an epic. I enjoyed reading your experience on the whole. The Iceland dishes were attractive to me, and of course your information over the hot dogs was a little surprising to me. The images are also very attractive. I liked them all.
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