Iceland: nature without a filter

ICELAND - 'UNFILTERED' NATURE

This summer we (finally) managed to fulfil a dream: to visit Iceland! The first plan was a 'fly & drive' holiday, but then, looking carefully at the problems of travelling on our own (for 'economic' reasons and dates we couldn't find travel companions), we decided to join an organised group where (among other things) we had a great time, both because of the participants and (more than anything) because of the guide/accompanist who was truly brilliant! The island, in any case, is truly splendid: nature is the real ruler even in summer, that is, when the climate's influence isn't as 'heavy' as I believe it is in the depths of winter! Besides, being on the edge of the Arctic Circle, the light is always present in high summer (it only darkens a little between one and three at night), while it is practically always dark in the depths of winter.

The things that strike you in that land are countless: from the terrain, which over much of the island is of volcanic origin and therefore with very vivid and 'contrasting' colours, to the truly very colourful waters (in both the sea and the rivers you often see contrasts between waters of different temperatures, giving rise precisely to very contrasting colours.... BEAUTIFUL!).

And then the glaciers that cover so much of the island's surface, some of them covering partially active volcanoes, and which sometimes reach the sea directly (like Vatnajokull, the glacier as big as Umbria, the largest in Europe), creating beautiful lagoons thanks to the play of the sea currents that run up them, creating thousands of icebergs!!!! The population, too, is (except in the Reykjavik area) scattered across the territory in such a way that they truly live in contact with nature, without the damage of civilisation! An unmissable stop, then, is the 'Blue Lagoon': it lies a few kilometres from Keflavik airport and was created with the wastewater from the nearby geothermal plant, thus obtaining two 'products' (energy and bathing) from a single primary resource that is infinite in that land: water! Bathing in those naturally warm waters is relaxing and very, very pleasant!

Sandro Salvetti - Florence