This trip came about due to a promise made over two years ago while I was experiencing a full eclipse of the sun. It was on April 8, 2024 and I was watching a full solar eclipse from my home in Penticton and texting my granddaughter on the other side of Canada while she watched it. It was not my first full eclipse. My first was in the early 60’s. I was around 10 or 11 years old and living in Northern Ontario. Then I watched the eclipse unfold through chunks of glass that we had covered in soot.
As I started to write this, I decided to ask AI (I refuse to call it Super) if viewing the eclipse through sooty glass was a good idea and did I waste my money on those expensive cardboard glasses.I have attached AI’s response to my query below. There were quite number of other reasons that smoky glass was not a good idea but listing them would take up the entire blog. So please find and review the use of sooty glass before you plan to watch any eclipses. Hmmm! Maybe it’s why I have to wear glasses today.
Why Soot-Covered Glass is Unsafe- Invisible Radiation Passes Through: Soot may block visible light (making the sun look dim enough to stare at), but it fails to filter harmful ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) radiation. [1]
Having traveled to Iceland, I was aware that it could be an expensive place but not how much higher the costs would be due to the eclipse tourism factor. There is a large cohort of people out there that search out and travel to sites around the world where full solar eclipses can be seen and I discovered Iceland was on the Must Do List for many of them. A year out and the best accommodations that I could afford to book were near the town of Selfoss about 60 kilometres from Reykjavik. The few hotel rooms left in Reykjavik were in the $600 to $1,000 range per night.
Tourism Iceland was expecting an estimated 75,000 visitors along with an additional 50,000 cruise ship visitors coming to the island for the event. So what did that mean for us. Well, as previously written not many empty rooms at the inn and all the tourists sights we visited were very busy especially the airport. We were booked to depart the day after the eclipse. Seemed so was every eclipse tourist on the island. It was busiest that I have ever seen an airport and I've flown during Christmas break. I have a attached a link to an Iceland Review article on the crowding that occurred.
Day One had us arriving into Keflavik at 0600 hrs. It is a six hour flight from Toronto so not a lot of time other than to grab a long nap. Car rented, we were on the road by 1000 hrs looking for a place to get some breakfast as there was nothing available in the main air terminal. The small town of Keflavik has six restaurants and none of them were open for breakfast so we stopped at the local gas station for some snacks that would get us to our next stop, the Blue Lagoon. The Lagoon is about an hour away and they have a restaurant that would be open according to AI.
We made one stop before the Blue Lagoon. A spot were you could access the remains of the original paved asphalt road to the Lagoon that had been partially buried by the eruption of the Sundnjkur volcano in 2024/25. The lava flow threatened the Lagoon, a power plant and the town of Grindavik only a few kilometres away.
We had run into a similar situation while we were hitchhiking over a lava field from the Napau volcano on the big island of Hawaii in 2006.
What I expected to be a 10 minute stop turned into an hour. Mother Nature had its hooks into us already. The kids had fun exploring lava for the first time. They also discovered how sharp fresh lava can feel when you stumble on it.
The Blue Lagoon is an iconic tourist site in Iceland. If you Google "things to do in Iceland", it is usually found on the first page. I have attached an excerpt from my blog of September 2009, our first visit to Iceland. It says everything you need to know about the Blue Lagoon. Seems no one read my blog as the place was packed.
The next day before boarding the plane and our return to Canada, we spent our last few hours in Iceland at the Blue Lagoon where we spent a few hours lounging in a huge hot pool with the most dazzling colour of blue. It seemed like a nice way to relax before the long trip home. The lagoon is located near the ocean and the heated water along with the salt leaching in from the nearby sea water creates a very pale pastel blue colour in the water. What they failed to mention in the brochure is that the lagoon is really a retaining pond for the hot water effluent that is discharged from the local power plant. Better we did not know as I developed a mild itchy rash lasting for the entire flight.
Looking over the Lagoon's restaurant menu, we experienced the first of our many incidents of sticker shock. I have listed some of the cheapest prices from their menu. Not surprisingly, we decided to skip lunch and continue on to the town of Selfoss where at this time there was no volcanic activity in the area. Hopefully the town was still open for business. When I talked to Icelanders about their volcanoes and eruptions, I found their demeanor around volcanic activity very blase, like it happened every day. I was to discover that it did happen everyday. Iceland experiences up to 26,000 earthquakes a year. The have over 30 active volcanoes and experience an eruption every 4 to 5 years.
Al Carte Menu Prices- Mushroom soup- $44 CAD, Fish of the Day- $84 CAD
On our very first trip to Iceland I remember paying around $70 for both Nonie and I. It included a shuttle bus from Reykjavik to the Blue Lagoon and then on to the airport in time for our flight home. Towel rental and soap were extra. Things have definitely gotten a little more expensive but towel rentals and soap are now included.
Entrance to the Lagoon- $215 CAD/person
For those of us who are unable to carry the financial burden of the entrance fee there is a free walking trail that allows you see the back side of the Lagoon. No bathing allowed here. The water is stagnant over flow from the power plant. It is blue but the temperature of the water is tepid at best. There is branch of the trail that would have allowed us to get a peek into the main public pool but has been closed for several years supposedly for maintenance. I think is was closed so that those of us financially challenged would not impinge on the privacy of those who could afford the faux hot springs.
You can find several different sites around the island that offer less expensive hot springs although none with blue water. There are even a few free ones but be prepared for a hike to reach them and you will find they can be very busy in the summer months.
The town of Grindavik is only a few kilometers away from the Blue Lagoon. During the eruption of 2024/25 the entire town was evacuated due to the gases, earthquakes and molten lava that were making their way to the town. They had just started resettling the inhabitants a few weeks before our arrival.
Photo: APNews.com
Photo: IcelandReview.com
So it was on to the town of Selfoss that was going to be our go to base for shopping. There were no threatening volcanoes nearby so everything was open. Selfoss is the second largest city in Iceland and comes with 3 major grocery stores so lots of choices. Our rental villa was only 10 kilometres away. To keep down costs, the plan was to pack picnic lunches each day and cook most of our evening meals at the villa. We finally found our lunch at a local marketplace that had a number of fast food outlets. Once again sticker shock was in full force in the market restaurants and the grocery store
Rostiburger and bacon and fries (cheapest one on the menu)- $38 CAD
Romano Carbonara (pasta) - $35 CAD
Chicken- $42 CAD / kilo
Loaf of Bread (300-500 grams) - $3.50 – $5.75
Iceland is known/famous for its tasty street dogs. The wieners are made with a distinct blend of lamb, pork and beef. Topped with a local mustard, ketchup and a mayonnaise of some kind. They can be found every where. Average cost according to AI is $9.50 to $11.00 CAD. I got mine at a stand in one of the tourist stops and paid almost $14.00 CAD. I am giving it a 8 of 10 but I was really hungry and that may have skewed my rating somewhat.
Their vision of our villa (their description, not mine) and provided by their web site was not entirely met. It was old, very small and in need of some love. We did not spend a lot of time there so it was livable. The hot tub out on the patio was a definite winner and its location made it a great base for the next three days so I give it a 7out of 10.
Iceland is a volcanic island with all the attributes. The volcanoes ages spans from 11,000 years for the active ones and up to 16,000,000 years for the older ones. . No active volcanoes occurred while we were there. They have monitoring systems all over island keeping an eye on the active ones. While we were there the volcano that caused the evacuation of the Blue Lagoon and Grindavik in 2024 was indicating below the caldera a magma pressure exceeding the pressures that existed when the volcano first erupted in 2024. Taking our direction from the locals we remained pretty blase. I really must look up the definition of blase". The volcano was only 80 kilometres from our villa and near the highway to the airport!
