A Land of Fire and Ice and Northern Lights: Reykjavik nguptatravelscrapbook.blogspot.com

 22/05/2021.   Blog number 31

A land of Fire and ICe and Northern Lights: Reykjavik.

In successful Covid Vaccination programmes in the UK, more than 71% received the first dose, and more than 40% has received both doses of Covid. Vaccinated, tested and with the NHS app installed, Iceland is ready to be visited. It is the ultimate Fire, Ice and magic of the earth.  When I look at the Northern Lights, I see our ancestors dancing around a sacred fire, lighting the way for us, when it's time to cross over from this physical world and join them, by M Larkin.

I can hear the Lights. It is poetry in motion, by Unknown.

Aurora Borealis In Reykjavik

In April 2010, a gigantic volcanic eruption in Reykjavik, Iceland, caused tremendous air travel disruption across western and northern Europe. Ash from the volcanic explosion covered extensive areas of Northern Europe, leading to several countries closing their airspace to commercial jet traffic and affected several million travellers for over two weeks. Ever since the news of volcanic eruption broke out, interrupting worldwide travel, the small Nordic country of Iceland has occupied the bucket lists of keen travellers. It is now spotted on the world's tourist map. 

Tourism has soared like anything, with travellers in pursuit to meet a country where smouldering active volcanoes and spouting geysers lay side by side along with dramatic blue glaciers. The wilderness spreads in windswept cliffs, black lava ashed beaches nestled against rugged coastlines, hot springs concealed in misty valleys, while majestic tumbling waterfalls cascade from every hill. When my husband and I travelled to Reykjavik in the spring of 2017, we had the deepest desire to view the Northern Lights, if possible, weather-wise. We reached rather late, almost past midnight, but the pickup driver pointed to the dancing Aurora Borealis in the vast skies in front of us on the way to the hotel. The lights were in abundance, but strangely we didn't respond to nature's phenomenon as we were exhausted and almost asleep because of a long delay in flight from London. The next day when we took the famous Golden Circle bus tour, we came across the eerie silence of the countryside full of black lava covered harsh grounds and rocks with no single bird or animal or plant life seen. Very much as seen in Game of Thrones series locations! There was nothing around us but an empty black plateau with no signs of apparent civilization. Iceland opened in all directions around us, with volcanoes, craters, black rocks and mountains in the distance and in silence. 

Splash of Aurora Borealis in the background

Do you think Trolls & Elves exist?

Traditionally, Iceland is Elves's &Trolls and Fire (directing to famous lights)& ice (the glaciers). Our guide talked about the famous Scandinavian stories of trolls trying to destroy the fish and water and Elves being their saviour. A teenager in our group asked this question that does these characters really exist? The guide was humble in answering that although the locals can't prove either way, it teaches them to respect nature. Iceland has a harsh and suboptimal environment. These folk- tales teach them to remain in balance with nature. Since the tourist epidemic, one can add Iceland being the land of Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis (AB)

So what are Northern lights or Aurora Borealis?

When and where? There's no exact answer, but …
At a fundamental level, the phenomenon is easy to explain. They are generated from a collision between charged particles from the sun that enter the Earth's atmosphere. When the particles meet the Earth's magnetic shield, they head towards an oval around the magnetic North Pole. They interact with the upper parts of the atmosphere containing the layers of ozone, oxygen, and other gases that protect the Earth. The energy thus released directs as Northern lights.

The lights, also called Aurora Borealis, show up at night when the sky is dark. It's like a celestial ballet of light dancing across the night sky, with a green, blue, pink, and violet colour palette. 

It is said that the northern parts of Norway are the best places to see the Northern lights, as this part of the world's geography lies just below the auroral oval. I believe that is only a partial truth, as ­we can see the lights anywhere along with the band that connects central Alaska, Canada, the southern tip of Greenland, Iceland, and the northern parts of Scandinavia.

Aurora can be a bit of a diva, that she will only start the show when she feels the time is right. Patience is of value when pursuing the Northern lights. The Arctic weather is notoriously unpredictable, and it is not unusual to see the sunshine, clouds, rain, sleet, hail and snow with high winds all on the same day. One has to put in some efforts to see the lights. Since it has to be a dark and clear sky, one needs to drive out of the central city in the middle of the frosty night to avoid light pollution in the skies. We saw the Northern lights outside Reykjavik's city in the late hours. Aurora Borealis has its climax when the weather is cold and dry from Autumn to early spring. It is best to avoid the full moon, as it will make the experience considerably paler. One can install the Northern lights Forecasts App on mobile phones to get a piece of predictable information on the auroral activity levels.

Aurora Borealis clicked from my mobile phone. 

How best to maximise the chances to see the Lights.

The tour operators are the best to go with as they have years of experience chasing up these lights, taking you to the best spots even when there is a low cloud hanging cover. There have been fatal car accidents when the driver swivelled the car, smashing into railings and felling the vehicle into deep river banks alongside while focusing on the sudden appearance of lights in the sky.

We took advantage of a recognised bus excursion in the hope to gaze at Aurelia Borealis with optimal weather projections. With the favourable weather in our luck that night (dark, dry and clear skies), we began getting en route light visuals while still in the bus and en route. They fit the tourist buses with large window panes and glass roofs implied to get uninterrupted views of the lights.

The tourist buses flocked to the recognised spot for stunning visuals of AB, with sightseers and experts fixing their advanced camera and video equipment. The guides explained and advised us about the most optimal camera settings, including the few settings on our mobile phones. We did not carry sophisticated photography equipment with us. The lights were there dancing on the skies unlimited. They came out of nowhere, hung like a curtain, and danced like flames. They appeared, vanished, and reappeared all over the skies. We stared agog into the frosty night and marvelled as shades of rippling emerald or stabbing blood-red flames shimmered overhead. The entire experience was full of unexpected visuals in an atmospheric stand full of friendly crowds seeking much. We all applauded each other, notably on our brush of good luck! I couldn't imagine that this frozen light work display has its origin 90 million miles away. I have posted a few pictures of Aurora Borealis, taken with our mobile phones. 

Dancing lights as they appeared

Some facts leading to the actual watching of Aurora Borealis.

AB appears in a varying spectrum of colours. Our naked eyes can most easily see the green-yellow part of the spectrum where the sun emits most light. Green is the most common colour marked in these lights, but lights can be seen as pale as white-grey. Different atom collisions in the magnetosphere produce various colour spectrums at different altitudes. When you get the aurora borealis explained by advanced physicists to specialise in magnetohydrodynamics, it's hard to see the complex and obscure link explained by them to the lights that dance crazily and spontaneously above your head.

But the phenomenon can also be explained tangibly. Large quantities of particles are thrown out from the sun into the deep space during large solar explosions and flares. It adds to the magic to know that this performance happens approximately 100 kilometres above our heads. The sun's activity controls its appearance and intensity, with location depending on the Earth's magnetic field. When solar activity increases, the northern lights can also be seen as further southwards!

Iceland is a unique destination in Northern Europe. Its striking landscapes and natural wonders perfectly complement Reykjavik's modern capital with its café culture and boozy and lively nightlife. But it's not the most budget-friendly country in the world, rather an expensive place to visit. Reykjavik is strikingly cosmopolitan for its size. It's merely a town by international standards, compared with London or Paris, yet it is crammed with charming street art, modern architecture, rich culinary choices, and casual cafes and bars. The capital has seen a recent surge in restaurant opportunities, many uppermost standards, and many gastronomic conceptions.

Hot Live Geysers

Gullfoss waterfalls

Stunning Gullfoss

Chilling out in a tomato farm

The famous Golden Circle Classic full-day excursion by coach introduced us to Iceland's world-renowned pristine natural beauty from spouting geysers, plummeting waterfalls, and ancient volcanoes surrounding the capital. These included seeing Thingvellir National Park, Geyser hot springs, Gullfoss Falls, and several inactive volcanic craters. We saw the live geothermic activity in an area at Strokkur, with an erupting geyser every few minutes. 

Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa

Blue Lagoon Spa

One of the most popular Destination just outside Reykjavik is the geothermal hot springs at Blue Lagoon. It is a unique experience of submerging in naturally hot water at approx to 38 to 40C temperature. I have posted here a few pictures of this world-famous Health Spa.

Few wells-accepted myths about Aurora Borealis.

As the lights are almost ghostly, ancient myths, legends and grandma's tales correlated with the lights. In Norway, they viewed the lights as a celestial battle between good and evil dragons who breathed fire across the earth. Icelandic ancestors associated the lights with childbirth and maintained that the lights would relieve the labour pains as long as the expectant mother did not look at the Aurora whilst giving birth, fearing that the baby would be born cross-eyed otherwise! Our guide spoke about a more prevalent past tale that a pregnant woman should be kept indoors, hidden away from the lights whenever a good spat of lights appears around. In neighbouring Greenland, the lights were sadly linked to stillbirths. 

During the Viking Age, the northern lights were the Valkyrie warrior virgins' armour, which shed a strange flickering fire of lights, hence The Fire's land. One of the ultimate favourite myths comes from Finland, where a belief persists that a Firefox caused the lights, which ran so quickly across the snow that his tail caused sparks to fly into the night sky, creating the Aurora. In Finnish Lapland, the Sami community held that the lights were created from the spume of water expelled from whales. In Japanese culture, the belief is that a child conceived underneath the Aurora Borealis would be endowed with beautiful looks, intellect and good fortune.

The unexpected impact of the current Tourism epidemic.

Iceland, a modest North Atlantic island of 335,000 inhabitants, has become the latest destination for travellers looking for stunning scenery. By the end of 2019, it had welcomed over two million tourists in a single year since 2015. Ahead of the fishing and aluminium industries, the travel industry has become Iceland's primary income source. The tourism boom poses pressing challenges to the country. The road network cannot cope, hotels are limited, and Airbnb's eruption has heightened the capital's housing prices. Young people who cannot find a place to live often leave the country, widening the generational gap. The authorities are struggling to ensure the establishment of the facilities for tourists' needs. Faced with the steadily increasing influx of tourists, the Icelandic government is currently considering solutions that would allow the country to continue to benefit from tourism's revenue while preserving its natural sites. 

I have put a collage of the few maps and my memoirs of this trip. I intend to describe my next blog on my extensive travel to Japan back in the spring of 2003. I thank you for reading and expressing your views on my travel blogs.

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