Andrew Mauro

My sister-in-law recently received a certification that makes her a legitimate translator.  If you need anything translated from English to German or German to English, visit KM German Translations.

So, where to begin?  Hopefully you have heard about the flight cancellations due to the volcanic eruptions in Iceland: they have disrupted close to 100,000 flights and affected 6.1 million travelers last I heard, which may be dated information.

Anyway, we first heard about the flight complications and cancellations while we were in Lisbon on Thursday.  We were unaffected being in the south (flying from Lisbon to Spain on Friday 4/16) and figured we’d be fine since we didn’t fly to Germany until Monday (4/19).

The Lisbon airport on Friday was quite interesting: the ticket counters and lobby were slammed.  There was one particular line for something (for what we never found out) that went back and forth across the airport several times.  As soon as we got to security, we were two of 10 people in sight.

Getting to Madrid was no problem.  As our weekend in Madrid went on, we saw more and more flights cancelled and kept reading about there being no end in sight.  Finally, Sunday night before our flight, we received an e-mail saying our flight had been cancelled and to not bother going to the airport.

In a mad scramble, we weighed our options: buses, trains and other modes of transportation to make it north were already fully booked for a week out as others who had been stranded before us filled up that availability.  A rental car driving from Madrid to Germany was going to cost 2,000 Euros.  So, my brother and I basically looked at each other and we knew we were thinking the same thing: rather than sit and mope about something out of our control, we would make it an adventure.  We started looking at cruises, flying to Romania or Turkey or renting a car and driving to France or Southern Spain for a while.  After weighing all options and investigating the logistics, we decided to rent a car and drive to Southern Spain.  My brother has a connection to get great rates at Marriotts, so we are at a Marriott timeshare resort in the small town of Estepona along the coast.  As I write this, I am sipping a beer by the infinity pool that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea.  Not too shabby.

As we went to the Madrid airport to pick up our car for the week, people were everywhere.  It was difficult to walk through certain parts because people were just standing around with nowhere to go.  As we got to the rental car line, where we had a car reserved, people came up and asked what direction we were driving, hoping to hitch a ride.  We were open to helping people out, but everyone needing a ride was headed north when we were headed the opposite direction.

We will be here until Sunday (currently Tuesday) as that is the earliest our airline would let us re-book our flights to Germany – hopefully the airspace is open.  It will be a week of relaxing by the pool, taking day trips to towns within a few hundred kilometers and most importantly, taking a day trip 14 kilometers across to Morocco.  We have heard mixed reviews on Tangier (the port town we will go to), so we aren’t sure if we will do a guided or unguided trip yet; we still have to talk to the concierge about details.

On a random side note: the glacier I climbed in Iceland over New Year’s Eve was an old section of the glacier over the volcano that erupted: it separated several hundred years ago and then qualified as its own glacier.  At the top of the glacier I climbed, I had a view and even took pictures of what now has been a major global inconvenience at the least.

Tower of Belem

After a long, rather uneventful layover in Madrid, we arrived in Lisbon on Tuesday afternoon (4/13).

The weather we had for the week was less than ideal: predominantly overcast with a healthy blend of rain and wind.  We were lucky enough to get a few hours of sunshine one of the days, and it made a huge difference on the feel of the city.

Wandering the streets in the rain

Lisbon has a very “Old World” feel to it – many narrow, winding, cobblestone streets; all buildings are light colors with red tile roofs; plazas and monuments spread throughout.  A clean and relatively safe city, we walked several hours each day, taking public transportation only when the rain really started coming down or our next destination was several miles from where we currently were.  The public transportation was really cheap; 3.70Euros for a 24-hour pass that covered the subway, buses and streetcars.

The thing that stuck out most for me was the random artwork built into the city’s basic infrastructure.  For example, many side walks were tiled in intricate designs and sides of buildings like schools, museums and hospitals were covered with beautiful mosaics.  Attention to this sort of detail really gave the city a lot of character.

Common artwork found on buildings

What struck us as odd, however, was how spread out the city was.  You had your main road that took you down the main center of town: lots of shopping, historical plazas and the likes.  The museum and several staples of Lisbon’s monuments are several miles away from this area along the coast.  This was complicated by the fact the the maps in Lisbon were terribly inaccurate.  It had streets going in the wrong direction, nothing was to scale and even omitted major plazas and landmarks.  Never had I been so consistently lost and confused as I was in Lisbon.

Our general sentiment was that Lisbon was OK; it has it’s own character but as a whole, we weren’t all that impressed.  Then on the last day, when we finally got some sunshine, we went exploring in a way that changed our view of the city.  We took a street car up into the hills to visit Castelo Sao Jorge, a castle in the hills that over-look the city and waterway.

View from Castilo de Sao Jorge

Typical to Lisbon, the map was rather uninformative, so we jumped off the trolley at the top of the hill, which ended up being the stop before the castle.  We wandered the winding, narrow streets with nothing more that a sense of the general direction of the castle.  But it was in doing this, that we saw another side to Lisbon, a less traveled area of town.  Tons of character and buildings painted in different pastel colors.

The castle gave us fantastic views of the city and we spent a good amount of time there taking our time, strolling around the grounds and taking a lot of pictures.

My brother and I stayed true to our style and tried to eat local food in non-touristy places.  Our first night there, we ate at a street vendor area outside of the soccer game before a big match.  The offerings consisted of “meat sandwiches”, pig fat sandwiches and hot dogs covered with small french fries.  We tried one of each.  Other meals we tried, Portuguese Shrimp, Portuguese Sausage and Portuguese Steak.  The food was good.  Not outstanding, but good.  The port on the, on the other hand, was absolutely fantastic.  We got a bottle of what was easily the best port I had for 15 Euros.

Miscellaneous meats at the street vendor

Both of my brothers are currently living in Germany; one in Berlin and they other in Hamburg.  I promised my older brother I would come visit he and his wife sometime before they moved back to the US.  As such, I delayed the trip until he told me they would be departing sometime in early May.  We decided that late-April would be ideal as my sister-in-law is participating in the Hamburg marathon on April 25th, and that would be a fun weekend filled with festivities.

I decided I would use the opportunity to see some other cities I had yet to see and visit some friends I have living in Spain.  So by the time I left, the rough itinerary was: Lisbon for 3 days, Madrid for 3 days, Berlin for 4 days, Hamburg for 4 days.

My younger brother decided to join me and take the opportunity to also visit Madrid and Lisbon.  Little did we know some geological activity off a small island in the Northern Atlantic would completely lay waste to our plans.

The way we start every trip

Iceland was a great trip – I am definitely glad I went.  However, if I had to do it again, I would do it differently.  I would go in the summer with 3-4 people total.

A sparsely populated country, the draw for me was its natural beauty, of which there is an abundance of.  But in order to explore it, you need daylight (more than 4.5 hours a day) and a rental car to be able to get off the beaten path and away from the shackles of a structured tourism outfit.  With a small group and adventurous spirit, Iceland can keep you busy with exploring and physical activity easily for a week, but not in the winter.  A few friends and a car would be an amazing trip.

Random thoughts/ramblings:

- After more thought, I would stay in my hotel again – it was relatively inexpensive and though I didn’t like it at first, it grew on me for some reason.  It was in a prime location and offered a decent breakfast included in the room rate

- Had Iceland not been in dire economic straights and the exchange rate where it was, I don’t know if I would do Iceland.  Beautiful, but expensive.  And I did it close to half the price it would normally be.  For me, if the exchange rate was were it was 18 months ago, I would not recommend going – not worth that kind of money.

- I picked a poor time to get a new SLR camera.  The country was a mix of being cast in shadows or blinding sun on the horizon which caused some lighting challenges for taking photos.  Not exactly ideal for learning to handle a new camera.

- Next time you are talking to someone that tells you Americans are extremely rude and disrespectful when they travel, slap them across the face.  Of all the people on this trip I met, the French, Dutch and Germans were absolutely the most obnoxious and self-absorbed.  Especially the several encounters I had with some different French groups.  It was mind-boggling how rude and indifferent they were towards anyone else around them.  I’m talking about cutting in front of them in lines, blatantly walking in front of people taking pictures – it was as if they were alone on the planet.  And the English weren’t a whole lot better.

- When are US airlines going to get their act together?  I have flown more than a handful of foreign operators, and the US operated airlines are hands-down the worst in terms of comfort, cleanliness and service.  The service  I chalk up to employees being unionized, which breeds incompetence and apathy.  But why must we continue to be behind the curve on comfort and amenities like entertainment?

- I honestly think the people in charge of the FAA and TSA are the most incompetent officials of any government or private entity, and Obama needs to completely revamp those departments from top to bottom with logical people and most importantly – people who travel frequently.  Based on rules and regulations but forth by both, my guess is that the ones creating policy don’t really have any experience in airports to understand the ecosystem.

On my final day, I was up around 5am for no reason at all.  I went to bed around midnight, but just woke up at 5am wired, so I decided to pack and get ready long before my 8:30 pick up for the Blue Lagoon and airport.

The bus was prompt, per usual, as I was picked up from the hotel right at 8:30 and departed BSI bus station right at 9am.  It was about a 30 minute ride to the Blue Lagoon, which is on the Reykjanes Peninsula (southwest from Reykjavik) near the airport.

Arriving at Blue Lagoon

This place was unreal.  Extremely relaxing.  I will spare you the boredom of explaining the attraction, but those who are interested can read about it here. It is definitely worthy of the hype as one of Iceland’s most visited attractions.  I feel like my words cannot do it justice, so I won’t even attempt.

I had 4 hours here before a bus took me directly to the airport.  It was here that I met my first and only “travel friend” on the trip; basically the first person I met that I carried more than a 20 minute conversation with.  He was a flight attendant in his mid-30s who had done basically the same trip (but only 3 days instead of a week) for similar reasons.  The main difference is he flew for free.  I talked with him about 3 of the 4 hours I was there.  Real interesting guy and I had a good time talking to him.

My last "traditional Icelandic" meal, Blue Lagoon in background

Pond next to the Blue Lagoon

Anyway, after an amazing 4 hours of relaxation and a quick lunch, it was off to the small airport.

The airport had crazy security: a little more strict that US airports.  I made it through the original security-check and x-ray thinking I was in the clear.  Not quite.  As I got closer to my gate, I had to go through a passport control station for exiting the country, then another security checkpoint.  Only this time, they patted me down and took every single item out of every pocket of my carry-on bags.  If it had an “On” switch, it was turned on.  It’s not like I was singled out though, most people were forced into this secondary check.

After that, it was a mellow 5 hours to Boston.  I had a window seat and a personal entertainment system, so I was fine.  From there, things went down hill.

I landed at Logan International (Boston) and made check-in for my next flight by about 10 minutes (why I had to check-in again, I am not sure).  Unfortunately, the flight from Logan to LAX was on American, which I think from an operational and comfort standpoint might be the worst airline.  The flight was 100% full, they ran out of overhead compartment space so people were holding bags, etc.  It definitely felt like being in the back seat of a clown car.  But only for 5.5 hours, so my back and knees only suffered temporary injury, nothing long term.

I landed at LAX at 10:30pm.  It took 40 minutes for the first bag to show up at baggage claim (I had to bring all my winter gear so that wasn’t going to fit in carry-on).  At 11:30 they announced if you didn’t have your bag, it wasn’t coming and to file a claim in the back office.  That line was long – lot’s of lost luggage.  It took about an hour to get through the line and deal file the claim.  What a pain.  Special thanks to my folks who had been waiting outside in a car to pick me up for about 90 of the 120 minutes it took from landing to be ready to leave.  Then it was off to home where I slept for 14 hours.

I took another tour from the same company that took me to the Golden Circle.  After a 2 hour drive along Iceland’s southern coast, we arrived at the Sólheimajökull glacier.  It was extremely windy and freezing due to the winds whipping down off the glacier.  We parked about a 5 minute walk from the from the glacier, so we had to make that short trek before strapping on our crampons.

Looking up at Sólheimajökull glacier

We spent probably 2.5 hours hiking up and around the glacier.  It was freaking awesome.  First, crampons are interesting to walk in.  You need to lift your legs a little higher than normal to avoid tripping on the extensions, walk heavy to make sure they penetrate the ice and make sure your entire foot hits at the same time.  It took a few minutes of walking on the ice to get comfortable and trust the crampons as you are walking uphill and sheer ice, but once passed that learning curve, I could stop focusing on walking and pay more attention to the beauty of the glacier.

Inside the glacier

View from the top of Sólheimajökull

The entire time we are walking on the glacier, we were weaving in and out of and jumping across crevasses.  Some of the formations were amazing.  The guide we had was a young guy and super knowledgeable, dropping all sorts of nuggets about glaciers and global warming, etc – Al Gore wouldn’t have liked him because much of what he said refutes Gore’s theory that man, and man alone, is responsible for glaciers melting and global warming.

Walking along and jumping crevasses

Where the glacier is crumbling from geothermal activity

When we were done, we were off to see two waterfalls: Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss.  Both are big waterfalls on the drive back to Reykjavik, but we had limited time at each due to the setting sun.

Skógafoss

Seljalandsfoss

All in all, the trip was awesome. My main beef was that everything was hurried. The 2.5 hours spent on the glacier were all moving. They budgeted for one 5-minute stop at the top for pictures. A girl in my group and I kept having to ask the guide to stop so we could take pictures. I thought I was getting about 10% of the pictures I wanted and the guide actually compared me to an Asian – saying the only other tourists he has had to stop this frequently for were Asian. I thought it was funny, but that what would he have said if I actually took the time to take all the pictures I wanted?

At the waterfalls we were fighting for daylight.  We were given 20 minutes at each, and I was the only one on my tour who took that time – at the second one I was the only person who even got out of the bus for pictures.  Lame.

Restaurants are expensive – but the food is outstanding.  Below are 3 highlights:

Saegreifinn (Sea Baron):

Sea Baron

This awesome seafood restaurant is located right at the entrance to the harbor.  It is tiny – could probably only hold about 20 people inside, and then there is a patio that was not utilized being that it is winter.  A limited fresh menu.  In a small display on the left, you choose a skewer of available fish.  I had the options of potato, scallop, minke whale or monk fish.  I opted for the whale and then a bowl of the famous lobster soup.

Lobster Soup - I want some right now

The soup did not disappoint.  The minke whale did.  The only way I can describe the taste is that it tasted like I assumed whale to taste.  It was really tough and chewy, kind of bland with a taste similar to that of a fish.  I finished the whole thing, but would order something different if I returned.

Baejarins Beztu Pylsur:

I'll take 10 please

Iceland’s unofficial food is the pylsur (hot dog).  Lot’s of hot dog stands, always with lines.  They are cheap and fast and it is kind of a community thing to go down, have a hot dog and talk with people.

This particular shack is the most favored by locals and was even written up by an English newspaper as the “best hot dogs in Europe”.  I may have to agree.  Please note that we are talking hot dogs – like Oscar Meyer wieners, not on the same level as wursts or sausages.

I ordered mine with everything minus mustard.  It includes ketchup, grilled onions, raw onions and some marmalade mixture that was awesome.  I think they also sprinkle a little crack in there because they are addicting as all get up.   After my first bite, I thought it was OK.  By the time I was half way done I was already back in line to order another one.

I am glad: a) I didn’t try this place until my trip was half way over because I would have lived outside that shack; and b) there isn’t one in the US as I would go through probably 30-40 a week.

Tapas Barinn:

My last night I tried to go to 2 different authentic Icelandic restaurants.  Both closed.  Thanks holiday closures for sticking it to me one last time.

So I found a tapas place with a few different set meals that allowed me to try a lot of the local delicacies.  I highly recommend this place as everything was good and they had an extensive menu.  Below was what I ate:

- Smoked puffin with blueberry “brennivín” sauce: Really salty, but really good

Puffin -You are a weird but delicious bird

- Lobster tails baked in garlic

-Pan-fried monkfish with lobster sauce

Monk fish - strange-looking but tasty

- Arctic shark with peppers-salsa

- Grilled Icelandic lamb

- Minke Whale with cranberry-sauce

Minke whale - better the second time around

- Chocolate cake with berry compoté and whipped cream

I did pretty much nothing.  I was a little frustrated as a lot of the things I wanted to see and do were closed due to the holiday.  I wanted to hit up a handful of unique shops and the flea market: all were closed.  I spent the better part of the day walking 2 miles to the closest mall and cruising around there looking for souvenirs.

I was supposed to take a night tour to see the Northern Lights as well, but that didn’t happen.  I spoke with some people in my hotel that went the night before.  They said they barely saw anything.  They told me  there is a 1-10 scale that rates the activity of Aurora Borealis and it was a 1.  I took that at face value and then did my own research, confirming what they were saying on NOAA’s website.  There was supposed to be minimal, if any, activity.  Then around sundown, thick clouds started rolling in over the harbor, so I opted not to blow the $50.

I was glad, I spoke with 2 people the following day who did go that night.  They said it was lame and really uneventful.  I am glad I didn’t go as I would rather wait to have a good experience for it.

Iceland is pretty interesting when it comes to alcohol.

To start, you can only buy it in licensed restaurants and bars (no different than many countries there) or government run stores called Vin Bud.  Any major town will have one, but they are usually only open for a few hours a day and closed on Sunday.

Vin Bud attached to a gas station in a tiny town

There are 5 in Reykjavik, with hours of operation usually 11am – 6pm.

They put an unbelievable tax on alcohols: a local beer at an average pub or restaurant can run 800 ISK ($7)+, but usually over 1000 ISK ($9).  Buying them in a Vin Bud saves a little, but not a lot.  A 500ml bottle of Icelandic liquor is over 3000 ISK ($30) and buying a 10 pack of local beer was in the 2000’s ISK ($20).  For imports, the cost went even higher: a small bottle of Jack Daniels was over $50.  Though cost prohibitive, it doesn’t stop Icelanders from partying.

Beer was illegal in Iceland until 1989, and since then 3 breweries have emerged: Egils, Thule and Viking – each with several different brews.  I probably enjoyed Viking the most.

For liquors, Icelanders make and drink 2 varieties.  Brennivin is a potato and caraway seed schnapps.  This is popular to drink on Sun Day (I made that term up) – the first day many Icelanders see the sun as spring rolls around.  For several months in the winter, the sun stays low to the horizon, creating shorter days and shadows everywhere.  Many of the mountains and fjords are so high that they block the sun for many towns for several months on end – even though there is daylight, they will not actually see the sun.  Since it is the cheapest alcohol, it is also known as the choice of the few homeless and alcoholics.  It technically means “burnt wine” and tastes . . interesting.  Not bad, but it took a little to get used to.

Opal is the most popular liquor and an interesting one.  I didn’t have any, but I purchased a small bottle to bring home with me and drink on my birthday.  However, I did try the Opal candy.  Opal, in a stroke of genius, started making candy that shares the same flavor as the alcohol.  Kids start to eat the candy at a young age and become accustomed to the taste so when they are 20 (legal drinking age), they have no problem throwing down shots of Opal the booze.  The taste . . . . Vick’s cough drops.  So much so that I am sure it will cure a cough and now think whoever Vick is probably came from Iceland.