Tag: Iceland

Review of 2019

Entering the new year we had no plans to go anywhere until a trip to Portugal in early March but you know what they say about plans. A great deal with Iceland Air saw us heading to Iceland for a short four day break at the end of January. What a trip it was, a huge fall of snow the day before we arrived made a true winter wonderland. Cold with clear blue sky by day and the right atmospheric conditions to see the northern lights at night. Iceland is a magical place and re have tentative plans to return in the summer months and drive a circuit of the country.

We had two trips to Portugal in 2019, the first in March saw some pleasantly warm days which we used to good effect to explore parts of the Algarve by train. The result of dipping out toes into the region in spring was that we booked a much longer trip for November, renting an apartment through Airbnb for a very favourable out of season rate. The short November days were sunny and pleasantly warm and this time, with the help of a hire care, were able to really explore the region. At the end of our stay we took the train from Faro to Lisbon for a few days and had a great time exploring the city but the weather was rather changeable.

A return to Berlin in the late spring had been much anticipated and the city did not disappoint. Having done the main touristy the previous autumn this trip allowed us time to explore the neighbourhoods of Friedrichshain and Kreutzberg. We are real fans of walking tours and an excellent tour of the street art of Berlin was one of the highlights of the trip.

The wedding of friends in Provence in early July gave us the opportunity for a slow meander across southern France on our way there. Flying into Toulouse we enjoyed the medieval city of Carcassonne and the wine growing regions of the Languedoc. A visit and tasting at Mas de Daumas Gassac was probably the highlight here. Provence itself was very hot but a very enjoyable weekend of celebrations was had by all. As with the Algarve a trip to the sights of Provence is probably best enjoyed out of season and we plan to return as soon as we can.

Finally a trip to Krakow in early September and what an amazing city it was and so cheap compared to many cities in Europe. There is so much to do in the area but visits to the salt mines at Wieliczka and the former concentration camp at Auschwitz should be at the top of any must do list for visitors.

As we begin 2020 we’re finalising plans for a return trip to Australia so there is lots more to come.

Northern Lights in Iceland

A viewing of the Northern Lights is high on the list of many travellers and our hopes were high on our recent four day trip to Iceland. Sadly just being at high northern latitudes does not guarantee a sighting, much depends on the weather, cloud cover, solar activity and the absence of background light. There are however things that you can do to ensure that you maximise the chance. While you can not control weather, clouds and solar activity you can arrange a trip to an area of darkness away from the influence of city lights. Before you book check on the likelihood of a display. The Icelandic Met Office issues a three day aurora forecast.

The forecast will show the presence of cloud at various heights in the sky. Most tourist go straight to the number shown as the aurora forecast in the top right hand corner. This gives you an indication of the chance of seeing a display and how active the display will be. You don’t necessarily need a high score, indeed in Iceland the score of 3 is the most common and scores above 5 are rare. Remember the number is only a guide. We saw a short display with an aurora forecast of 3. Be prepared to give it time even if all the indicators are good, a display can build slowly and timings can never be guaranteed.

Don’t expect the aurora display you observe to be as vibrant or colourful as it appears in many photographs. Some people can be underwhelmed by what they see and there is a perfectly sound biological reason why. The retina at the back of the eye is made up of two types of cells called rods and cones. Rods are responsible for our vision when light intensity is low however they are not capable of colour vision. This is why it is not very easy to tell the colour of an object if there isn’t much light. Cones on the other hand are capable of colour vision but can only function at higher light intensities. So if you are trying to observe the Northern Lights in an area of darkness only the rods in the eye are functioning therefore you dont see colour very well. To see the colours clearly you need a camera.

You need to set the camera to MANUAL mode. This enables you to control the cameras settings. Set the shutter speed to between 10 and 20 seconds, a little trial and error here to find the optimum. The aperture should be set to around 3.5 and the ISO to 16oo. It is also a good idea to set the timer to a two second delay. To use such long exposures you really need a tripod to hold the camera steady. Having said that I forget mine and had to spend the evening trying to hold my camera as steady as possible in the freezing cold. I managed to take some pictures but they were out of focus due to the camera shake. You live and learn, the next time a tripod will be at the top of the list!

Many smart phone cameras do not let you alter the exposure but there are apps available to help you photograph the Northern Lights. A search in the App Store should show you the possibilities. Having not tried any I can not make any sort of recommendation.

Fridheimar

Fridheimar is a tomato farm, producing fruit all year ground in glasshouses that are heated using geothermal energy. It is perhaps not the first tourist attraction that you think of when planning a trip to Iceland but it is well worth a visit and it can be included on some tours of The Golden Circle.

It is a most remarkable horticultural venture, plants are grown under sodium lights for 17 hours a day in winter and 14 hours in summer. They have in the region of 10,000 plants in production at any one time and they remain productive for 9 months before replacing. They cultivate their own seedlings to be used as replacement plants.

Bees are imported from Holland to pollinate the plants. They have 600 bees and an individual bee can pollinate up to 2000 flowers a day. The bees must be replaced after 8 weeks.

No pesticides are used in the greenhouses. Fortunately there are not many natural diseases of tomato plants in Iceland. When problems arise they use biological control rather than chemicals, they import Mirid bugs to control pests.

There is a restaurant/café and gift shop where you can buy everything tomato. None of the production from Fridheimar is exported so if you want to try the fruits of their labour here is the place to do it. Lunch is served in the restaurant surrounded by tomato plants from 12.00 to 16.00.

They started breeding horses at Fridheimar in 1995 and there is now an equestrian centre on site. Icelandic horses are a hardy breed and you can see why as they a perfectly capable of surviving the Icelandic winter. The importation of horses into Iceland is not permitted so this is the breed that you will see on your travels round the country.