The Bridge Between Continents

Thursday, August 25, 2016
Grindavik, Southern Peninsula, Iceland
Despite having first attempted to visit Iceland back in 2008, it had taken me eight years and 60 countries later to finally make it there. And wasn't it worth it!

After many failed attempts, I eventually made the way to the north with my friend John, and after heavy planning we had decided to base ourselves in Reykjavik for four nights, hiring a car to drive around to see the beautiful country.

After avoiding the horrific traffic up to the airport to make our early flight, we took the three hour flight to Keflavik Airport in Iceland. Upon arrival and after a bit of confusion we finally got transferred to our hire car company's office and eventually got given our car.

With a bit of anticipation in the lead up to the trip, I was pleasantly surprised to find that driving on the opposite side of the road was relatively easy and straight forward - just a little confusing when you need to change gears after a while, with the stick on the opposite side!

With the time now being around 11am, with check in not until 4pm, we headed towards out first sight, the Miðlina continent bridge. The bridge is symbolic of Iceland's place as the bridge between Europe and North America, and on one of the rifts between the plate boundaries, a bridge has been built where you can cross between the continents themselves with signs welcoming you on each side. After a quick visit we then moved on to the day's main attraction - the Blue Lagoon.

The Blue Lagoon was originally an outlet of waste water from the local power plant but has been transformed into a relaxing spa retreat with water around 38˚C. After prebooking our tickets we turned up to spend a few hours relaxing in the silica and sulphuric water amongst a backdrop of the black rocky Icelandic landscape.
 
On our way to the hotel to check in, we also stopped by Perlan, six former water storage tanks renovated with a viewing deck on top with views over the city.

We then finally, after a long day, made our way to the hotel to check in, before dropping our things and grabbing some dinner and food for the next few days.

With a long day planned tomorrow, it was finally time for some rest!
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