Page 42 - Sharp Winter 2023

The hotel’s spa offers a range of locally inspired treatments, such as Uruz, a hot and cold stone massage followed by exfoliations, thermal soaks, and steams inside a seductive hammam. Icelandic cuisine, meanwhile, is on display in the hotel’s Tides restaurant — dishes include flatbread with crème fraiche and lumpfish roe, smoked potato skins and lamb backstrap with radicchio and mustard greens — as well as its secluded Tölt bar, which serves late night cocktails using Icelandic spirits.
Private drivers, many of whom are schooled in the country’s curious weather patterns, make getting around a breeze. We like VIP Taxi (viptaxi.is), an experienced fleet out of Reykjavik that offers tours of nearby attractions. Just over an hour outside the city, you’ll begin the famous Golden Circle route with a stop at Geysir, a cluster of hot springs nestled within the geothermal, iron-rich Haukadalur valley, one of which shoots boiling water 40 metres into the sky every five to ten minutes. Nearby is Gullfoss waterfalls, which is composed of two separate water gushes cascading down a milky blue river.
In Thingvellir National Park, one valley separates the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates; walk alongside them both, which move approximately 2.5 centimetres apart each year. Their
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original separation is evident within the park, where lava fields and cloudy blue ravines are the result of magma welling up from the earth’s core. Incredibly, earthquakes continue daily in Thingvellir, although most are too minor to feel.
Veering off the Golden Circle and back onto the Ring Road, you’ll visit Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss, two majestic waterfalls that flow softly over carved cliffs. Rainbows are frequent at Skógafoss, dancing from cliff to pebbled pools seemingly every few minutes. At Seljalandsfoss, you can view its majestic flow from behind, and with the new vista comes new perspective on life. We can’t overstate its transformative effects. Nearby, Reynisfjara, an otherworldly black sand beach, is abutted by enormous — yet climbable — basalt rock stacks that are truly breathtaking.
No trip to Iceland would be complete without a trip to the leg- endary Blue Lagoon, a spa known for its brilliant, opaque blue waters that are supplied by a nearby geothermal power station. The aqua hue is due to the water’s high silica, algae, and mineral content, which have incidental wellness benefits. Soaking in the bath-like lagoon with a drink in your hand and a lava mineral mask on your face is one of the highlights of an exquisite trip.
IMAGES COURTESY OF THE REYKJAVIK EDITION
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