Julia’s Journal, Back in Iceland

Yesterday was a perfect Icelandic summer day – in spite of the inflight forecast as we touched down telling us that the weather was cloudy and a chilly 7 degrees.  The weather in Iceland changes all the time and so, an hour later, as we arrived in Reykjavik we sat and had coffee on the sunny terrace overlooking the camping ground at the City Hostel.

Returning to Hafnarfjordur, Iceland’s town in the lava, the coastline and ocean glittered under a blue sky. Our mission to seek out the town’s elves took us on a delightful walk which culminated in a visit to the elf garden where the hidden folk dwell, grow flowers and vegetables and live happily in tune with the nature, as long as they are left undisturbed.

Taking the shoreline towards Reykjavik, we drove through the nesting grounds of a vast number of arctic tern, oystercatchers, duck, geese and a great variety of wading birds. Silent and tranquil until we got out of the car! The terns flew over and mobbed us, furious at our invasion.  With many photographs attempted and one or two that we hoped would be worth keeping we continued our journey at Álftanes and to Bessastaðir where the president has his residence.

Returning to Reykjavík, we met for dinner with some friends and walked to the restaurant in Austerstraeti through the bright sunny evening streets quietly bustling with tourists. We ate tender lamb fillet with a thyme glaze and flavoursome local cod served with rutabga, barley and a lightly flavoured Icelandic liquorice sauce.

Still bright, and nearly midnight we drove away from the city with a backdropthat reminds me why I love Iceland so much. So beautiful that we retraced our steps to Alftarnes to watch the silhouette of Snæfellsjökull glacier slide into the pink night sky.