When Go Ahead‘s Scott Cote arrived at the airport to catch his flight for Iceland: Reykjavik to the Glaciers, he had a clear picture in his head of what to expect: “Rocks, volcanoes and lava … I was surprised when I arrived to find a very green country. It felt a bit like Ireland.” Like Ireland, Iceland is a speck of emerald green in the frigid North Atlantic, a place blessed by its proximity to the warm waters of the Gulf Stream and its cousin, the North Atlantic Drift. But that’s where the similarities between the two countries end—and where Scott began to discover that Iceland is quite unlike anyplace else on earth.
Despite its name, Iceland's countryside turns a lush green during the summer months.
The differences became apparent as soon as Scott’s plane touched down in Reykjavik, Iceland’s ancient capital. “It’s not a typical European capital,” Scott recalled. “It’s definitely a walking city, and very easy to explore on your own. Everyone speaks English very well, because hardly anyone outside of Iceland speaks Icelandic.” Legend has it that the Vikings who founded Reykjavik decided on where to build their city by way of a highly unscientific method. According to custom, the Viking chieftain Ingolfur Amarson took two ceremonial wooden poles and cast them into the sea as his long ship approached the Icelandic coast; the wooden poles bobbed in the water, and where they came to rest, there the Vikings built.
Providence brought the Vikings to Iceland, but it was the fruits of the land and sea that made them stay. Reykjavik translates, loosely, to “Bay of Smokes,” and what the city’s first settlers thought was smoke we now know is steam from geothermal vents. Iceland sits on a hot spot in the Earth’s crust, where the extreme temperatures near the Earth’s core bubble up toward the surface in the form of volcanoes, hot springs and geysers. These geothermal energy sources allow Iceland to create electricity, heat and hot water in efficient, environmentally responsible ways. Geothermal energy makes Iceland’s capital a model for tomorrow’s cities—but the Vikings didn’t know how to harness geothermal power. Rather, they were drawn to the langoustines (sometimes called Norway lobsters) and teeming schools of fish just off the coast. Fishing still accounts for up to 40% of Iceland’s export earnings, and the country takes its fishing so seriously that it nearly went to war over fishing rights with Great Britain after World War II. Beyond the seafood, Scott said there was one culinary delight that stood out in his mind: reindeer. “I had a reindeer burger, and it was absolutely delicious. It tasted a little like venison, very different from hamburger beef, but you could definitely tell it was grass-fed.”
Iceland's Seljalandfoss waterfall, a highlight of Go Ahead's optional excursion to the island's South Coast.
The highlight of Scott’s tour, though, wasn’t the food or the people or the quaint homes of Reykjavik. Instead, Scott singled out his group’s excursion to Iceland’s South Coast as his favorite part of the tour. “Everyone on our tour went on the South Coast excursion, and everyone agreed that it was the highlight of the trip. We saw waterfalls, a black sand beach and a glacier in the course of a single day-trip out of Reykjavik.” When the time came for Scott to leave Iceland, he’d found a new favorite travel destination along with further proof that no matter how much you’ve traveled, there’s always a new way to be pleasantly surprised.
