A white, snow covered island near the Arctic Circle. That’s how most of us perceive it. And what it actually is…. a land with as much fire in its belly as its hide covered in ice, where the melted snow forms glaciers and geysers spout boiling sulphur water from the earth.

This youngest country in the world, and a land of stark contrasts is still evolving before our eyes, the landscape is still being carved out, with the regular volcanic eruptions and the flow of the glaciers. We embarked on a trip to this enchanting land in the first week of October, 2006. A European country, modern, developed, but of course, so far away from mainland Europe. I had researched enough on the country to know about the northern lights, geysers, glaciers and volcanic craters that existed there. But nothing had quite prepared me for the real thing.

Our arrival there was on a very clear day. From above, admiring the deep blue Atlantic, dotted with white, I started to look for the cavorting whales, which attract a large number of tourists to the country. Tough feat, from that height! Once at Keflavik International airport, we were guided to the Flybus, which offers regular services to Reykjavik city, 50 kms away. Passengers are dropped off at their hotels around the city. Our hotel, Fosshotel Baron, was next to the seashore, and just a few metres away from the main shopping area, Laugarvegur. Soon after checking in, I booked the night trip to see the Northern lights. And just as well, as the subsequent nights turned out to be cloudy & the trips were cancelled. Since there were still about 5 hours before taking off to see the Northern lights, the temptation of stepping out and exploring the town on foot was hard to resist.

Personally, I like to explore the main town centre of any city I visit, as that tells a lot about the culture and lifestyle of the place. The late afternoon air was cool and crisp, ideal for some leisurely exploration. The streets were full of patisseries, gourmet restaurants and Couture shops, good enough to compete with Paris or Milan. And no, the couture shops were certainly not selling Eskimo clothing. An Icelandic dinner of fresh monkfish, lobsters and cod at one of the restaurants, Enricos was a gastronomic delight.

An Icelandic meal consists of varieties of fish, eaten cooked, uncooked and even rotten. Preparation of traditional Icelandic food goes back to their Viking roots. Shark or Skate meat, odiferous and putrid as it is allowed to cure for months, eaten along with Brennivin (Caraway schnapps) also known as ‘Black Death’ are some examples of Viking gourmet delights, which the locals devour. But for others, ‘gone appetit’, forever. Though for all fish eaters, I would highly recommend Harofiskur, dried haddock, cod or catfish. If you can take it past your nose, you will love it. Steering away from the fishy topic, let’s move onto the bus, which was supposed to take us about 40 kms away from the city, into the wilderness for our rendezvous with Aurora Borealis.

We reached at about 11.00 pm, and stepped out of the bus to gaze at the sky and wait for lights to appear. A gust of Arctic wind greeted us. Winds blowing at the speed of 60-80 kmph are common on islands near the Arctic Circle. Around 11.30 we were all served hot chocolate milk and donuts. A boon for our freezing souls! And then, at about 11.45pm, the first signs of the northern lights appeared in the horizon. Within a few minutes, patterns in shades of green were across the sky. We forgot all about the cold as we witnessed this mesmerizing phenomenon. The dancing lights on the night sky, moving along the earth’s diameter. Seeing was believing. We watched this for about half an hour and then headed back. Our subsequent days there included visiting lake Myvatn, which is formed inside an extinct volcanic crater, Kerio crater, Gullfoss waterfall, also known as the Golden waterfall. It’s a huge moving mass of snow (that’s how it most definitely looks and feels), which tumbles down a deep gorge.

The cold wind we experienced there was something at least I had not witnessed before. It was impossible to stand still, or take any pictures with frozen fingers. After this freezing trip was a walk around the boiling Geyser area. It may be of interest for the readers to note that word ‘Geyser’ is of Icelandic origin. It’s a geothermal field, with plenty of pools of hot mud, and geysers spouting boiling water. The spurts of water go up as high as 35 feet. A visit to the Hverageroi greenhouse village was an eye opener. The Icelanders are a very self-sufficient lot; they grow almost all the fruits and vegetables, including the tropical variety in greenhouses. They hardly import any from other countries. They have made it possible in a country where there is hardly any vegetation. Next stopover was the Thingvellir National Park. It is the site of the oldest Parliament in the world. The Vikings used to take all-important decisions regarding governance at that very location.

And now there is another natural wonder that is very visible there…..the Great Atlantic rift.

It is a rift along the earth’s tectonic plates, which is pulling Iceland apart. An earthquake prone country, it endures mild tremors everyday. Only about 1.5% of the island is covered with trees. The rest of it is barren land and mountains, glaciers and lava beds. Most common forms vegetation found on the island are the sub arctics low growing shrubs, grasses and sedges. And those form a riot of colours. At that time of the year, they were the beautiful colours of autumn. A visit to the Blue Lagoon is a must (not the place where the movie was shot). It’s a spa with pools of geothermal seawater, sourced from wells about 6000 feet deep. The water is warm throughout the year and contains natural active ingredients, which revitalize your body as you soak yourself in the water. Immerse yourself, take in the scenic beauty offered by nature and reflect……..of the numerous awe inspiring wonders you can only witness in Iceland. Glaciers alongside the spouting geysers and active volcanoes; the Northern lights; the Great Atlantic rift, which might someday divide the country into two; lava landscapes, peculiar only to Iceland, for which the US astronauts chose to come here to rehearse walking on the moon.

The natives still speak the language of the Vikings, read the same script and follow those very traditions, yet their passion for modernization and development has ranked their country as one of the best places to live in the world. This is where you will find people swimming in warm, open pools, even in a blizzard! For golf lovers, there is a chance to tee off at midnight, in the light of the midsummer sun, in Akureyri, north Iceland. The traffic you encounter on weekend mornings are generally people returning home from the previous night parties. Their revelry lasts the whole nightlong. The icing on the above cake is the friendly and welcoming attitude of the Icelanders. Their warmth and the uniqueness of the country make every bit of your trip to this island in one corner of the world immensely fascinating.