MAGIC ICELAND
Originally, we were supposed to go to magical Naples at the beginning of September to celebrate my better half’s birthday with my friend Cayo and his girlfriend and to explore the area with real locals. However, as we had to cancel this plan at very short notice for understandable reasons, I decided to surprise my wife with a different destination that she hadn’t even considered. It should be mentioned that she is often the one who plans the trip and finds it quite difficult to travel to unknown areas without doing her own research. She was allowed to pack her suitcase in my presence the evening before we left and I gave her recommendations on what she should or shouldn’t take with her. On the day of the flight, I revealed to her that we were not going to the warmth, but to the isolated cool of the north. To the largest volcanic island in the world – the land of fire and ice. At first, the joy was limited – but the doubts quickly disappeared. Since I wanted to see Iceland – but of course also wanted to leave something colorful behind, my first research beforehand was where I could buy cans on the island. The only option to get decent material is actually Reykjavik, where you can buy a small selection of the Montana range in two shops at pretty astronomical prices. But nothing can be done. Through Instagram, I quickly made contact with LOMEK and OSESH – two local writers. Since our plane didn’t land until late in the evening – but we started our road trip directly from Reykjavik – all the shops were already closed when we arrived. LOMEK then offered to organize my paints for me so that I could pick them up directly from his home. What an incredibly nice move! So I was taken care of and reassured for the time being, because I knew that I would certainly find incredibly good spots on this trip and that I would have kicked myself in the ass if I hadn’t had any cans with me at that moment. Our trip lasted about a week along the coast in the south of Iceland, almost all the way around the island. I had read a few travel blogs beforehand and always planned a maximum travel time so that I could see as much as possible and not sit in the car the whole time. From the very beginning, the Dacia Duster took me through incredible landscapes. I could write a detailed travel report here, but that would simply take me too long and I honestly wouldn’t know what to leave out. In summary, so many things have stuck in my mind in this short time: the great geyser, what felt like 50 incredibly beautiful waterfalls, the gigantic glaciers flowing into the sea, Diamond Beach with its black sand and ice crystals that look like oversized diamonds, icebergs floating past you, the cooled lava fields covered in moss that you just want to lie down in, the old Viking village, which later turned out to be a “replica” (it was simply a built film set), hot pods in the middle of the cold, rugged landscape that invite you to linger with their warm, clear water, northern lights that we didn’t even notice at first, a leisurely whale watching tour through the fjords, a silence and solitude at the tongue of a glacier that I have probably never felt in my life, monster truck-like Mercedes Sprinters that you could climb into for glacier tours, the famous old Solheimasandur plane wreck, which of course got a little boogie tattoo, the geothermal energy with its countless steaming mountains, the bubbling mud holes that stink of sulphur, a tour on horseback that really put my masculinity to the test, or of course Reykjavik, the Björk city, which is incredibly charming and design-savvy.
Of course, there are also limits and no-go`s for me, who is always looking for particularly good spots to put my name on, because graffiti unfortunately doesn’t fit everywhere and I don’t want to have more haters than supporters of my legacy. That’s just how it is. At the end of our little tour, there was of course a reunion with LOMEK and his buddy OSESH, who invited me to the local Hall of Fame in Reykjavik to paint a little hand together. All in all, an unforgettable trip that I would repeat at any time.
