Day 10 - 1 July, Mon Reykjavík - Keflavík - Amsterdam - Budapest

Prices

Iceland is one of the most expensive countries in the World. The high prices are the result of the fact that all materials and food have to be transported by sea or air. The prices are about four times higher than in Hungary. In June 1999 1 USD was equal with 75 IKR

short (2-3 minutes) phonecall to the continent 300 IKR
Mc Donald's menu cc.650 IKR
can of soft drink from a vending machine 100 IKR
1 kg of slice bread 200 IKR
2 liters soft drink in plastic bottle 200 IKR
vegetables, fruits generally very expensive
simple cotton T-shirt 1000 IKR
tiny souvenirs (thimble or small Viking figure) 350-500 IKR
woolen scarf, gloves or hat cc. 1000 IKR
woolen pullover from 6000 IKR
book with pictures about Iceland 1400 - 10.000 IKR
postcard 50 IKR, stamp 50 IKR
full tank of petrol 95 (40 liters) cc. 3000 IKR, 1 liter is cc. 75-80 IKR
tourist menu: lunch 1100 IKR, dinner 1800 IKR
whalewatching from 2500 IKR (3-4 hours)
accommodation for two persons inc. breakfast in a guesthouse or hotel from 6000 IKR
There is no payment for the toilet and plastic bags in the shops. No tipping.

Driving and cars

Driving in Iceland is relaxing and demanding at the same time. There is no heavy traffic like on the continent. It happens that 5-6 cars are coming on the other side of the road during 100 kms of driving. There are no highways only a few kilometers around the capital. The main road is route No.1 which goes around the country. It is a good quality road but in some places the surface is loose gravel. The speed limit is 90 km/h which can be easily forgotten on a monotonous road. There are some dangerous hills with limited visibility where it is better to reduce the speed because of cars going to the other direction. This type of traffic needs concentration, it is easy to fall asleep. There are some natural obstacles such as sheep and horses. Speed must be reduced as their moves are unpredictable and drivers are responsible for knocking them. Sheep can be seen at any place even in the middle of a lava field. They are taking the duty of lawnmowers all around the country :-) Sometimes the larger cars are overcoming the small ones which results some dozens of little rocks knocking on the windscreen. Jeeps are sometimes speeding with 80 km/h instead of 50 in narrow roads.
The main vehicle of transport in Iceland is the car, there is no train in the country. Riding a bike or a motor cycle is rather a passion. Most of the cars are new ones and were made in Japan. The strong jeeps and range rovers can fully function here and there is plenty of space for them. Most of them has four wheel driving which is very useful in heavy weather conditions. Using headlights is obligatory at all time. The filling stations have a free facility: self-service car washing. Driving under the influence of alcohol is strictly prohibited.

Food

There is no major difference in Icelandic and continental food. Fish is one of the main dishes, local specialty is sheep and lamb meat. Fruits and vegetables are all grown in green houses, they are a bit less tasty like the naturally grown ones. Breads are delicious, white and brown can be bought in all the shops together with nice biscuits. The average breakfast consists the following:
Drinks: tea, coffee, orange and apple juice, milk, cod-liver oil
Food: yoghourt, muesli, cornflakes, wheat, different breads and cakes, butter, margarine, jams, salami, pâté, cheese, tomato, fish in sweet and salty sauce, biscuits, orange, kiwi, apples and banana.

Weather

It is not easy to talk about the weather in general as we must had a very special period and in our 10 days it was fine. The sun never set and the temperature was constantly around 10-20 C degrees. The coolest place was a tunnel with 6.5 C while the most warm 24 C in the daytime on the North close to Laugarbakki. In most of the buildings the heating is on all year which is useful and necessary. There are no big windows only small ones to get some fresh air.

Accommodation

I organized our accommodation with the use of the Internet. We received plenty of brochures and leaflets from several tourist offices and agencies. I chose Hotel Edda and their Open Voucher system. This seemed to be a good solution as we could easily plan our route. We had a set of vouchers and every morning we paid with two of them. A double room inc. breakfast was 6800 IKR for one night. On departure we also had a free phonecall to book our next night. After scanning the other choices EDDA seemed to be a good solution concerning price and quality. Cheaper than this means sleeping bag or farm accommodation. There are camping as well but I guess they are open for only a shorter period of time in the summer.

Sources, links