It was almost a year ago that we went to Iceland for the summer solstice.  Needless to say, we won’t be going back this year as the trip would take way to long.  I have to say Iceland is really a special place – I highly recommend it to other travelers.  The people are great. The land is like nowhere else I have ever seen. They have some of the most magical natural wonders.  I’ve previously posted about Thingviller and Skógafoss, but I’d like to go back to the Blue Lagoon.

I’m not sure if this was the inspiration for the really bad 80’s movie of the same name. I can’t imagine so, as that was meant to be on a tropical island. That’s something that even I cannot say resembles Iceland. However, it was a great treat for us.  There’s something in Reykjavik that the locals affectionately call ‘the runtur‘, which is essentially an all-night pub crawl.  Most of the bars stay open until 4 AM with a handful staying open until 8 AM or later.  The situation is complicated even more by the summer solstice. During this time, the sun dips below the horizon around midnight. It then starts coming back up around 3 AM.  We finally made it back to our apartment around 7 AM and woke the next afternoon around 3 PM.  We stopped for some sandwiches to calm our stomachs. Then, we went to the Blue Lagoon spa. It is a naturally heated, geothermal pool. There is mud you can put on your skin to naturally exfoliate.  The pool is naturally heated to around 37-39°C / 98-102°F.  Even better, they have a small bar on the edge of the pool. I was able to enjoy sparkling wine while nursing my hangover from the runtur the night before. I soaked in a 102°F public bath.  All in all, an outstanding experience.  The photo below shows the entrance to the spa. The designers did a great job of making the building appear just a part of the natural surroundings.

Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 50mm | f/13.0 | 1/80th | ISO200 – 3 image HDR