ABroad

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Friday 17 February 2017

Blue Lagoon - Iceland

14:35:00 No comments
I was skeptical about this one.... It was bloody expensive, and most blogs/reviews we've read said "you can't got to Iceland and miss the Blue Lagoon", which frustrated me a little because it give me the feeling that people were just saying this because they might have been paid etc. or it might not be a legit review. They all seem a little too positive for my liking. Also our Rekyjvik walking tour host sort of said it wasn't something you truly needed to do, and that for a few bucks you can experience thermal spring water at the local Reykjavik swimming pool...

The Blue Lagoon is basically a man made dam or pond of waste water from the nearby geothermal power station. It was really just that from 1976 until 1981 when locals started bathing in it. It wasn't until 1992 that the Blue Lagoon company was started. The fact of the matter is, the company have been able to turn something which is effectively a waste, a byproduct of a geothermal power station, in a very remote area into one of the most popular tourist attractions in Iceland - and I must admit they've done it bloody well! 
The nearby geothermal power station amongst the lava fields
Because the water is naturally rich in sulfur and silica, its is reputed to help some peoples skin - in our experience it just makes it smell... Really, the only thing that made me feel good, then dizzy, was the two pints of the cold beer we had during a really enjoyable HOT 3 hours in the water! The beer was extra delicious because no doubt we were a little bit dehydrated from the hot water, that when it hit your lips it was truly a beautiful moment - Amy had the same experience with a cider.

I'm writing this 6 weeks after visiting the pool and spending the best part of a month in Iceland, and seeing the top attractions like the northern lights, waterfalls, fjords, snow, black sandy beaches, glacier's etc... and visiting similar thermal spa's in Myvartn. The Blue Lagoon will go down as one of the true highlights and after experiencing it, and paying what we paid I definitely don't regret it, but would recommend doing a couple of things differently.

Complementary face masks.
A good example of the crowd in the background.
Why we enjoyed the experience:
The water is consistently warm. Some parts of the lagoon are warmer then others, which is good, but there isn't any cold or hot pockets of water there to surprise you like we experienced in the Myvartn thermal spa. You can sort of wade through the water until you find an area which is at a temperature you are happy with. One area near an inlet was hot, actually too hot then near the lagoon entry it was comfortable but comparably cold.
The temperature on our day outside was -6 degrees Celsius, which created a lot of steam. This effect made the whole experience feel a lot more personal and secluded. We sometimes could only see a few meters in front of us, so we couldn't really judge if there were many people around, and it gave us a really cozy feeling.
The lagoon was bigger then I thought too, there was plenty of space for you to float around, sit on the edges etc. Some people we have spoke to after asked if it was over populated, but because you have to book tickets to visit, the company only allow a certain amount of reservations per hour, per which manages to keep a steady flow of people throughout the day. 

Not the life guards we're used to in Australia.
What we would do differently:
Get the standard package - we got the premium which included a towel, bath robe, some slippers and a complementary drink in the lagoon. To have these options you basically pay twice the price of a standard package. The change rooms are about 15m from the lagoon so you wear the robe and shoes for all of about 1 minute, and knowing what we know now we could have just taken our own towels.

 Roll visiting the Lagoon into a day with a hire car and visit the surrounding area as well if you can. Just watch the drinking because the blood alcohol limit is 0.05 in iceland. But because of the heat of the water the frothies will knock you around. 

 We got the shuttle bus out to the Lagoon which was comfortable with wifi and easy, but offset the price of the bus into a rental car for some extra sight seeing and you'll be laughing.

 Tossing up whether or not to do the Blue Lagoon? We highly recommend it!
Overlooking the bar on the left and what we could see of the lagoon from the restaurant. We got a cheeky hot chocolate on our way out.
As we left the resort and were waiting around for the shuttle bus back to Reykjavik, we were greeted with a pretty sweet sunset and moon rise. It was calm and cold!

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Wednesday 15 February 2017

Reykjavik - Iceland

13:47:00 No comments
Two part special!! - First and last week of January 2017
The Sun Voyager - a dream boat and ode to the sun.
Ok, Iceland is small, really small, its quite and rugged. Roughly, its area is nearly twice that of Tasmania - Australia, and its population is half that of Tassie. In recent time tourist satisfaction has been quite low and I think it might be because people could be comparing/expecting a larger well established touristy country, something similar to the rest of Europe, but it is certainly not that, well not at the moment. Also people come and expect attractions like the 'northern lights' to be as amazing as they are in all the photos they see on social media but conditions have to be perfect and its not always the case. For us, Iceland has been the highlight of our trip and its going to be hard to get an experience as well rounded and memorable as it was!

 Iceland was on our radar since we left home and we decided that it would be an amazing experience to try and land a Workaway up here to help get a really good cultural experience, as well as maximising our time in a place which is considered to be one of the most expensive countries in the world. After sending out a few unsuccessful Workway requests earlier in the year, we got put onto a Workaway host near the "northern capital" Akureyri by our mates Brett and Brooke, who were in contact with this host but couldn't fit it into their travel itinerary when they were in Europe 6 months earlier. Overall we were spending about 1 month in total in the country and hoping to see the majority of it. Our visit was based around arriving in Reykjavik having a good look around here for a day or so before heading to the Blue Lagoon. Then traveling to the Workaway for three weeks, followed by a road trip from the north Reykjavik via the east and south coast before flying out to Scotland!

What happened.
Finally we had made it!!! A place so many people we've met have wanted to visit, or have visited and always said it was a highlight! For us, a cheeky 3 hour flight from Copenhagen on WOW airlines was very pleasant - seemed to be more leg room then usual...winning.
First impressions blew all our expectations out of the water. As soon as we walked out of the small airport (behind a couple of the Game of Throne actors), we were greeted with amazing volcanic landscape, snowy mountains in the distance and really soft sunlight. It was around 1pm and full daylight, and thankfully not as cold as we expected!!

 Iceland only has one international airport, which happens to be a fair way from its capital Raykjavik (45min). There are a couple of shuttle buses (Flybus and Greyline) directly outside the airport, running frequently to Reykjavik. As we were about to find out, they are reasonably expensive - 30AUDpp, but comfortable with free wifi - we used Flybus and had booked our tickets online a few days prior to our arrival.
We were staying in a self contained AirBnB apartment on the main street, roughly 10minutes walk from downtown Reykjavik. The flybus had us dropped off at their main station just outside of the town centre - about 1.5km from our accommodation which was perfect for walking distance. We didn't know this (didn't need it either), but you can select a Flybus Plus option to get the flybus to drop you off at local hotels if you desire.
Our apartment host was a young local Icelandic girl who was keen for a chat which was great, we had the opportunity to ask some questions and get some information about the area and Iceland in general. She gave us some good tips before leaving us to it.

 After settling in we did the usual walk up the street to go grocery shopping and get our bearings, before heading back to the apartment to get a plan of attack for the next few days in the capital - we would start the following day with a cheeky walking tour.

 At this time of year (winter), the sun was completely up by 11am, and started to set around 4:30pm. It doesn't seem like much daylight but you can still fit quite a lot into a day. The beauty of the short days is it seems to produce the most amazing sunrise and sunset lighting as you'll see from our photos. The temperatures were also a lot warmer then we expected. It sort of hovered around -5 to 0 degrees but was very calm, which made it seem a lot warmer then it suggested.

Quick Icelandic facts:
- 367,000 inhabitants which is basically 97% Icelandic and 3% Polish. In 2009 it was the first year of 400,000 tourists, more then the population of Iceland. 
- Last year there was 1.8million, and next year there are predicted to be 2.4million tourist!!!
- Settled in the 9th century by exiled vikings from Norway/Sweden, the country has managed to really hang onto their Scandinavian heritage.
- Two-thirds of the population live in the south west of Iceland - 100,000 of the 200,000 people live close to/in Reykavik which isn't massive by any stretch. This was great because it defiantly gave the capital city a laid back 'small town' vibe. Considering its the off season, the majority of the people in the streets still seemed like tourists!

 Our walking tour was taken by a local bloke who had studied Icelandic history at the local university, so we were truly well informed throughout the tour. We learnt a bit about the tales of how Iceland was settled by exiled Scandinavian Vikings in the 800's, the parliament and how it is represented with 50% female politicians, and the 'pots and pans' revolution where the citizens overthrew the Icelandic Government in the Icelandic financial crisis in 2008. We saw all the main sites in the small city centre and some tips and tricks about traveling throughout the rest of the country. The tour was great at showing examples of how forward thinking Icelandic and Scandinavian people are in general.
Hallgrimskirkja Church - can not be missed since it sits in a pretty impressive spot near the centre of town, it was complete in 1986 and has a statue of Leifur Eiriksson (c. 970 - 1020) who is considered to be the first European to discover America some 500 years before Columbus!
The sun voyager sculpture has a pretty impressive back drop!
Parliament house, right next to the Cathedral.
Reykjavik cathedral!
Sun coming up on a frozen Lake Tjornin in the centre of town.
Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur - look, I wouldn't have a clue where to start with pronouncing that, but its the name of the most popular restaurant in town, a hotdog stand! A week earlier then our arrival to Iceland the Kardashians had visited the stand, and over the years famous people like Bill Clinton have come down for a cheeky hot dog. Crazy affordable for Icelandic prices at 11AUD for the two dogs with the lot! They tasted pretty good but the hot dog we had in Copenhagen was better!
These two stone monuments are in the centre of Reykjavik are a representation of the two logs shown on the city's coat of arms. 
The unknown bureaucrat - a metaphor for how everyday life weighs us down apparently.
Typically most houses are clad in corrugated iron. Because of the damp weather and lack of tree's - basically no trees here, up until the early 1900's when a steady supply of western building materials started to be imported to Iceland, most people lived in turf house.
Example of a turf house - not our photo.
When researching Reykjavik I came across a couple of ripper blog posts which really reflect our feelings and the things we enjoyed about the north most capital city in the world.

 Why to travel Iceland in Winter
25 cool tings to do in Reykjavik

Reykjavik pt.2
Our return to Reykjavik for a few days before flying out was really just a couple of days to catch up on some sleep, relax at a couple of coffee shops and figure out whether we were going to drop some cash on a Icelandic Wooden Jumper. We decided against the jumper investment hoping that most of the cold weather would be behind us as the days are tending to get longer, and we look to spring (fingers crossed). Also after living in our merino thermals for the last two months, the Icelandic wool felt like wearing a wire brush - and they wanted $370AUD for the suckers and they were so scratchy.. can't beat that fine merino wool!

 The last few days of our stay fell over a weekend, which happened to be the Reykjavik Light Festival. We were lucky enough to see a couple of the notable landmarks lit up, an hour of darkness where all the street lights were turned off to give the locals and tourists a chance to see the stars and possibly northern lights if they were visible. 
A volcano light show on the church.
Harpa conference centre/concert hall lit up like a Christmas tree.
I don't reckon you could fine a sign like this in any other capital city in the world.

 Typical Costs.
We cooked all our meals expect for a couple of subway lunches and two meals, one at a backpacker bar and another at Reykjavik Fish and Chips.

 A Coffee - 7 to 10AUD
Subway footlong small meal - 20AUD
Fuel - 2.40AUD/litre
Restaurant fish and chips - 60AUD for a couple
Burger and chips and a beer - 80AUD for a couple
Pint of beer - 10 to 12AUD

 Concluding.
In our opinion, winter is the best time to visit Iceland, and if you aren't looking to do a workaway or and extended stay like we did with some sort of work etc. you could see the whole island in two weeks. I would recommend hiring a camper (which you can definatly do in winter - just rug up), and you will not regret it! 

 When traveling to Iceland, you are visiting one of the most under populated and remote places in Europe. Its weather is crazy, it will be raining one minute, then in 15minutes time the sun will be out and it will be calm and sunny. The landscape is constantly changing from traveling through lava fields, along beaches with black sand and massive chunks of glacial ice, over snow capped mountain passes and past glaciers. We took over 2200 photos - which don't do it justice, and basically spent a month picking up jaws up off the ground. The scenery was truly epic! 
You were amazing Iceland!
P.S. - If we had our time again, I would defiantly be taking a ferry from Hirtshals in Denmark, stop of at the Fareo Islands for a few days before arriving in Seyoisfjorour in the far east of Iceland, then fly out of Iceland when leaving.
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Saturday 11 February 2017

Antwerp - Belgium

14:51:00 No comments
Out of all the places so far, something with Antwerp clicked with me. It has a bit of a trendy coffee culture, it's very cycle friendly and at this point I was really enjoying the Belgium beer and food. From a city perspective, Antwerp is the most likely big city we've visited which could see myself living in. The capital of the flemish province of Belgium and with a population of 510,600, Antwerp is the most populated city of Belgium. Like Switzerland, German and French are also commonly spoken in Belgium but for Antwerp (and all the flemish provinces), Dutch is the offical language.

 In our short couple of days, we learnt a lot about Antwerp and Belgium in general which was pretty interesting since this part of Europe was very prosperous during the 1500's before much of the west had been discovered by the European Explorers. 

 Antwerp Facts:
 - It is home to the second biggest sea port by total freight shipped in Europe, which is interesting given it is 80km inland from the North Sea.
- Between 80 and 90 percent of the world's rough diamonds, and 50 percent of its cut diamonds are traded in Antwerp each year!
- Antwerp Zoo is one of the world's oldest (founded in 1843), housing more then 6000 animals it's located smack bang in the centre of town next to the central railway station.
- The world's first printed newspaper was published here nearly 400 years ago!
Antwerpen-Centraal - considered to be one of the worlds most beautiful railway stations, we can confirm that it was pretty impressive. One thing you can expect throughout Europe is how grand and significant main railway stations are! the buildings are quality and each still hold such an important position in these large cities. They've been built to last and truly impress!
Our accommodation was roughly 25 minutes walk from the train station and around about 40 minutes walk from the old town/city centre through some of the most multicultural areas we've been in since the Balkans (in terms of different ethnic groups). In one of the best Hostels we've stayed in too, which possibly added to my liking toward this city.

abhostel had the best kitchen and general layout of all the hostels we've stayed in yet. And a great quote on the door.
One thing we really liked about this hostel was that we were sharing it with only a handful of guests and a couple of Workawayers, who were volunteering (an Aussie and a Kiwi) in the hostel making beds, cleaning and running the check-ins. It was great to chat to them about the experience (doing a workaways in a hostel) while staying there because there are so many hostel profiles on the Workaway website, and we've always steered clear of them.

 Our plan for Antwerp was to get amongst a walking tour, taste the local beers, waffles and chips. Check out the Christmas Markets and just wander about really, we were graced with some reasonable weather since we were getting up closer to the ocean, and a pretty quiet tourist free time in general. 
Dinner one night.
The most elaborate ice skating rink we've come across yet - featuring a ring of fire around it i suppose to keep spectators warm....
Antwerp's Cathedral of Our Lady and its 100+ metre spire dating back to 1350's.
Previously a fortified city, barely anything remains other then the Het Steen (The Stone) - pictured above. 
POWERRRRRR!!!!!



In the central market area there were these outdoor patio wood fired heaters for people to gather and have a Christmas Market wine or waffles. 
Such a collection of frothies in the beer shops. All very crafty, full flavoured and STRONG!
This statue of a boy and his dog just in front of the cathedral, a tribute to "A Dog of Flanders" novel written in 1872. Despite been set in Belgium, the novel has been a children's classic in Japan and Korea for decades and is considered one of the must see tourist attractions for East-Asian tourists.
Have to get stuck into the handmade chocolates.

 The Antwerp "A" is everywhere around the city, even on chocolate! 
This is interesting - this door belonged to an apartment of one of the local drunks. He added this little key guide to his door lock to help him find the key hole after spending the day on the turps. I like to think that this ingenuity and logical thinking pretty much sums up the Belgiums.
The city is split in half by the Scheldt River. There is three tunnels, one of which is specific for cyclists and pedestrians and features quite a big bike lift to save the cyclist lugging their bikes down the stairs.
Sunset over the river Scheldt.
The Boerentoren high rise was built in 1932 was considered to be Europes's first skyscrapers.
Museum ann de Stroom (Museum by the River) - a 60m architectural designed brick building gives you free access to the top level for views over the city. It was well worth a little cycle out to have a look. Antwerp has a similar city bike hire system to London (first 30min free), over the couple of days we were here we used the bikes to get around a little bit quicker.
Not our photo!
Views looking back to the city centre from the Museum ann de Stroom.
Little holes for trying to fit your head out, also they can be used for sticking the camera out to allow for glass-free photos. They are so logical in this part of Europe. They wouldn't think of this kind of thing in Germany.

Something about the Belgiums and naughty sculptures.
The city dedicates a week and a street each year for street artists to come show their talents. Throughout Europe there is so much of this and when done professionally I reckon its pretty impressive - also turns into a bit of a tourist attraction.

Truely our visit to Antwerp was a bloody good one. It has so much to offer in terms of culture, attractions and just interesting things to see. This area was such a power during the 1500's when spice trading and exporting to a fro Europe, the UK, Africa etc. really started to  kick off. With such a rich history and stunning architecture curated from these golden years, along with its trendy feel (home to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts), there are so many quirky cafe's and bars to spend time in. Everything about our experience here was positive - kudos Antwerp! 
Cheers!
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