Day Five
Grindavík, The Blue Lagoon
November 27, 2008 - Thanksgiving Day
The Blue Lagoon is without a doubt the most touristy spot in all of Iceland. Bus loads of tourists pile out of excursion shuttles hourly and even on a cold November Thursday the place was busy. Busy, but not crowded. But not going to the Blue Lagoon while in Iceland would be like not going into a casino when in Vegas. It might be touristy, but it is amazingly beautiful, warm, relaxing and very different then any other place I'd been to in life.
The Showers
When we first entered the Blue Lagoon we paid the entrance fee and had to decide if we wanted to rent a robe or not. The Northern Light Inn had towels available for us to take to the Lagoon so we didn't need to rent a towel but we did rent a robe. Which was a smart decision. It is quite a bit more but well worth it. This is Iceland, it is freaking cold and just a towel isn't enough and a gigantic soft robe is very inviting in the freezing cold. So after paying the fees we were handed an electronic bracelet that operates the lockers and can be used at the snack bar to buy food and drinks which meant we didn't have to carry around money in our robes...quite handy, especially since every robe is exactly the same.
Then comes the locker rooms, showers, and changing area. Oh the rumors I'd heard about the showers. Because, unlike the US, the sign saying to take a shower before entering the pool actually means to take a shower before entering the pool. But this wasn't quite as traumatizing as blogs and rumors would lead one to believe. It is true that everyone is required to take this shower nude, no swimsuit. And it is also true that the showers are open but they aren't communal and each shower head is in its own door-less stall. And contrary to popular belief, a woman (a shower Nazi of sorts) does not walk around the stalls checking and verifying that people scrubbed their privates and it wasn't as bad as the horror stories I'd read. It was really no big deal. Each stall comes supplied with both body soap and conditioner. (I should have put the conditioner on my hair before even entering the Blue Lagoon and left it on for the day. But I didn't and consequently had straw hair for a few days). I brought my swimsuit into the shower with me so I could put it on afterward without having to do the nude walk to the towel racks, especially nice if you have a stall at the end, far from the racks. Being the only modest American in the area, I was the only one who seemed worried about getting a swimsuit on quickly... most others preferred to air dry as they casually walked to their clothes and towels.
Freezing Cold. Nice and Warm
After the shower I met up with TL. The men and women's locker rooms both ended in a small lounge and snack area. Off to the side was the enclosed entrance to the Lagoon but it only seemed right for us to go for it the hard way -- off with the robe and a careful run a few feet in the freezing cold before entering the water. And it was freezing outside -- literally freezing. Cold, windy and freezing. Twenty seconds in only a swimsuit outside in the cold was brutal. But oh so worth it once my feet stepped into the hot geothermal waters of about 102°F. Very similar to a hot tub, but a huge hot tub. A 53,850
square foot hot tub. And the water was the most beautiful blue. A sort of
milky, light aqua blue. We couldn’t see more the a few inches below the surface
because it was so milky but it was such a beautiful color. It looked like a
blue sports drink mixed with part milk.
Much to our surprise, the water isn't deep at all. Around the edges of the lava rocks it is very shallow but for the most part is is about four or so feet deep throughout the entire pool. Perfect for me. TL had to bend his knees to walk around on his knees so he didn't expose more then just his face out of the water. and with the cold wind blowing - our hair, eyebrows and eyelashes would freeze if you didn't go under every few minutes or at least splash water on our faces. We could feel your face freezing and I think my sinuses actually froze a time or two.
So imagine doing in an hour long in-water massage on this cold day... annnh, it wasn't so bad. The massage therapist laid a huge towel over us that covered our entire bodies so the only thing not warm was our face and he would dunk our bodies in the water every five minutes to warm up the wet towel and the massage was relaxing and nice. I would however recommend doing an indoor massage if it is freezing outside but since we had made our appointment weeks in advanced we couldn't change it. Oh, and I didn't laugh as she massaged my toes, which is huge for me.
After the massages we spent a few more hours hanging out in the water and saunas. As recommended by everyone at the Blue Lagoon, we put handfuls of silica on our face and lounged in water looking like freaks with white masks all over our faces, but everyone else looked like too. When we finally got out of the water, we were pruned, sleepy and hungry.
The Free Show
Too bad TL couldn't use the girls changing area... he could have seen quite a show. I will explain...
The changing areas in the locker rooms are very accommodating with plenty of hair dryers and mirrors so basically everyone visiting the Lagoon is using the changing area and getting ready before leaving. Which is great, it is too cold to go outside with wet hair. But, what I didn't understand was why, why in the hell did the 10 or so women changing in my area feel the need to blow dry their hair and put on their make-up with only their pants on? Seriously, why couldn't they at least put on their bra before prancing around the changing area getting ready? So annoying. Everywhere you turned you had someone's boobs all up in your face. I'm just saying, put on the bra before fixing the hair. Please!
Thanksgiving Dinner
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Lance and I had a special dinner at the Blue Lagoon restaurant, Lava, and we couldn't have picked a better place to eat and celebrate Thanksgiving as a family. First off, we lucked out with a table right by the water with an amazing view that overlooked the Blue Lagoon. And since I'm obsessed now with Icelandic lobster, we ordered an appetizer of lobsters. They are smaller then that of a Maine lobster and they are oh so good. I think they just might be my absolute favorite of seafood. For dinner I had more Icelandic lobster, beef fillet, portabella mushrooms and potatoes all covered in a pepper sauce. Lance ordered the fillet of lamb with potatoes and both dinners were better then average and the best meal we ate in Iceland.
This was a photo of my dinner from Lava. It might not looks so appealing because I'm not very good at taking food photos but you get an idea of just how small the lobsters are. I could eat those lobsters everyday. Seriously, everyday. But the rest of meal was just good but not outstanding. I think TL and I are slightly spoiled with all the amazing places to eat in DC and Old Town. So although the dinner didn't blow us away, they were really good. Dessert, different story. The dessert that night was typical of all Icelandic dessert we experienced, not so good. Such a bummer to not find really good dessert in Iceland. But their candy bars, especially the Nizza with the candy chocolates in the chocolate, are freaking awesome. If you ever see a Nizza candy bar, buy it.
I am so jealous of your trip.
Hope you add more photos soon.
Posted by: SouthToStilly | June 07, 2009 at 02:37 AM