Category: Suðvesturland

The name itself! Our association flies to warm countries and sandy beaches, and we are already looking forward to it. However, the origin of this very special spa is something as prosaic as wastewater from the large geothermal power plant Svartsengi (the Black Field). It is located in Reykjanes, not far from Grindavík.

A reservoir for wastewater was formed in 1976, and the natives discovered in 1981 that it was nice to have a bath there. The temperature was just perfect, including a delicate mud made of blue-green algae and silicon deposits. The warm water is rich in minerals, including silica and sulfur – which have a beneficial effect on the skin.

Today, this is one of Iceland’s biggest attractions – but yes! It is a wonderful experience to visit the Blue Lagoon (Bláa Lónið). The facility is large, quite expensive (the locals do not bathe here anymore), but wonderfully constructed. There are beautiful tiles, dark wood and lava stones surrounding the basin, and the nearby industry is almost invisible. The first bathing facility opened in 1987.

There are many kinds of offers at Bláa Lónið if you want to buy something special, such as massage in the water, or treatment for skin diseases (psoriasis in particular). Or you can just take a bath and enjoy. Rub your face with light mud and let yourself float away in the warm water – this is delicious.

A bath in Blue Lagoon is always right! Although we have seen people on Facebook recommending not to go, since you are swimming in wastewater…

Hvalfjörður has a history dating back to the conquest period, and is mentioned in the ‘Book of Conquest‘ (Landnámabók). The name most likely comes from the fact that there were walruses here when the Vikings arrived.

The area experienced a tremendous rising during the Second World War, when the Allies stationed 40,000 soldiers here, and up to 200 ships filled the fjord. Code names for Hvammsvík were ‘Falcon Crest’ and ‘Falcon Beach’

In Hvalfjörður there is smoke everywhere! Hvammsvík was a hidden gem for a long time, a hot spring used only by the locals. A bath in this hot pot could be quite an interesting experience. Firstly, the landowner did not want traffic on his land, and closed off the road, it was private. But it didn’t help much, because the pool was right down on the beach, and the common law accepts walking by the sea. It was therefore ok to park the car by the highway and go down to the beach to bathe. The other exciting part was the hot pot itself. It was built up in the simplest way, and the hot water came unfiltered and unregulated into the tub via a hose. Sometimes in just perfect temperature, sometimes way too hot. Here you just had to be careful! One solution was to take the hose out of the pool during bathing, to avoid scalding.

Now everything is different! We were in Hvammsvík at the end of September -22, only two months after opening. This is great! The building is constructed in typical corrugated iron aesthetics a la WWII, but in black. The foundation is reuse of a barracks foundation built by the Allies during the Second World War. It’s rough, it’s tough and very stylish.

There are a total of 8 warm pools in Hvammsvík, of which one (the furthest one, at the top) is the old, original one. Another pool is situated just above sea and is flooded by waves and tides. It’s not hot there when the high water splashes over, but fun!

A bath or nine at Hvammsvík is just right! We assume you can guess where the ninth bath is?

After some baths, a gufubað (steam sauna) can be just right. And at Hvammsvík we found the most wonderful steam room we have ever seen. It was big. It was dark (like entering a cave). It was fresh in the air (smell of conifers). It had wooden benches. And it was very, very hot. Recommended!

And if you get hungry after the bath, they have some really good dishes to serve as well. Welcome to Hvammsvík!

… by the game of – spurningarleikurinn (quiz)! In any cafè, pub or restaurant near you.

Learning a language can be very tedious. To ease the training – do quiz games! We have successfully played ‘New Amigos’ and ‘Trivial Pursuit’ (TP) in various more or less unknown languages. It is important to do it with a smile. Sometimes you understand the question, and then the problem is only to find the answer. Other times it turns out to be impossible to understand the question – even with a dictionary. In that case, it often helps to check the answer, then you may understand the question afterwards. Sometimes you do not understand neither questions nor answers, not even with a dictionary! That’s when humor is needed. Geography and science issues are normally the easiest to understand. Entertainment can be completely impossible to answer (TV shows from the 80’s in a country where you haven’t lived …). No more to say about that, really.

When it came to Icelandic, we struggled terribly before we realized that TP in Icelandic was unavailable, it is sold out from the publisher (2021). We therefore ended up buying a second hand quiz book for children (!). And yes, that was hard enough for us. But fun! An alternative is of course comic books in Icelandic, Donald Duck for instance. We have bought the whole Valhalla series in Icelandic, and there’s still a lot remaining.

Then to the quiz – why not warm up with these 3 (From ‘Spurningaleikurinn’ ISBN 9979-1-0001-X):

Before asking all these questions, a swimming exercise is a good idea. You can do it in Ásvallalaug, Hafnarfjörður. This is a new and great facility, with an indoor 50 m basin, a phenomenal children’s pool and everything else you could possibly need, including a finnish sauna. In Ásvallalaug most things take place indoors, but they have dug a couple of hot pots into the ground outside. You’re welcome!

To exercise and relax in Ásvallalaug; both are just right. We at least enjoyed it there.

Iceland was strongly affected by the economic crisis 2008-2011. The banks had been privatized in the early 2000s, and the debt burden was very high when the crisis hit. Beyond the 2000s, the situation has improved.  The tourism in particular, has increased a lot, and great efforts are made for the visitors to spend more money in the country. When a tourist is taking pictures by a waterfall, it doesn’t provide much income… Investments are needed!

Sky Lagoon, which opened in 2021, is an ambitious facility. The spa is located at the peninsula Karsnes to the south of Reykjavík. The view is spectacular! From the pool you can spot Reykjavík to the north, Bessastaðir (the presidental residence) to the west and Reykjanes peninsula in the south. The latter might be sending smoke signals to you, if the volcano in Geldingadalur is still having outbreaks. When we visited Sky Lagoon in spring 2021 (only a few weeks after the opening), we enjoyed the view of 8-10 clouds of smoke, from within the hot pool!

The spa is absolutely beautiful, colors chosen from black, grey and brown. On the way to the basin, you descend the stairs surrounded by black lava rocks. It looks – and feels – like leaving a cave. The edges of the basins are also made of black lava rocks, and the massage shower looks like a natural waterfall – with wonderful, warm water. Gorgeous!

The southern part includes hot or cold (!) steam showers and a large sauna where one wall is nothing but panorama windows. Here you can also find a cold pot, to freshen up after the hot sauna.

We would have appreciated the possibility to swim in the cold sea just below the spa, but that was unfortunately unquestionably not an option. Except that: Absolutely fantastic!