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Category: The A-Z of Iceland

The A-Z of Iceland: F for Fontana | iamapolarbear.com

The A-Z of Iceland: F for Fontana

March 21, 2019

In today’s A-Z of Iceland, we’re off to the spa. F is for Fontana. Considering its position on the edge of the Golden Circle and the fact that it’s used by tour companies on their “Northern Lights and…” nights and also the fact that it’s amazing, Laugarvatn Fontana is surprisingly little-known. It’s the smallest of … More The A-Z of Iceland: F for Fontana

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The A-Z of Iceland: E for Eastfjords | iamapolarbear.com

The A-Z of Iceland: E for Eastfjords

March 7, 2019

In today’s edition of The A-Z of Iceland, I’m going to shine a little light on a lesser-known area of Iceland: the Eastfjords. Tourists flock to the south-west of Iceland. A lot of them cover the south coast, between Hveragerði and Jökulsárlón, the glacial lagoon. A reasonable number are drawn to the north, to Akureyri … More The A-Z of Iceland: E for Eastfjords

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The A-Z of Iceland: D for Dettifoss

The A-Z of Iceland: D for Dettifoss

February 21, 2019

Iceland has some spectacular waterfalls; indeed, I’ve heard it said that it has more waterfalls than people. Most people know Gullfoss, from the Golden Circle, and Skaftafell and Skogafoss on the south coast are very well known too. Dettifoss is well known in the north but a relatively small proportion of tourists make it so … More The A-Z of Iceland: D for Dettifoss

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The A-Z of Iceland: Camping | iamapolarbear.com

The A-Z of Iceland: Camping

February 7, 2019

The first time you hear the words “camping” and “Iceland” in the same sentence, it doesn’t sound appealing. When you’ve been there in the summer and seen how solid-roof accommodation both fills up and becomes stupidly expensive, suddenly camping in Iceland looks like a better idea. Here are a few things to know about camping … More The A-Z of Iceland: Camping

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The A-Z of Iceland: B for Bananas | iamapolarbear.com

The A-Z of Iceland: B for Bananas

January 24, 2019

Yes, well done me for choosing a subject for which I have no pictures! But there’s a reason for that. Welcome to the second episode of The A-Z of Iceland: B for Bananas! These are not just any bananas, these are Icelandic bananas! If you go to Iceland you’ll hear almost as much about bananas … More The A-Z of Iceland: B for Bananas

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The A-Z of Iceland: A for Alftavatn | iamapolarbear.com

The A-Z of Iceland: A for Álftavatn

January 10, 2019

Welcome to a new series for 2019, The A-Z of Iceland. These will be out every two weeks and will cover subjects from the truth of the Icelandic banana to abolished letters to sagas. We’re going to start with A for Álftavatn. Álftavatn is the second campsite on the Laugavegur Trail if you do the … More The A-Z of Iceland: A for Álftavatn

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Who am I?
I'm Julie, a travel, adventure and wellness blogger. I love Iceland, I love jumping into hot water and I do love a bit of snow.

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Third part of the Purbeck trilogy - my walk out to Old Harry Rocks on Friday. It was a beautiful day, suspiciously warm and sunny for the end of October and I felt like seeing the rocks from above instead of from the water like I usually see it. I went to Corfe Castle for their Halloween/half term Gruesome Tales for the Morbidly Curious (which was really good!) and while I was there, I did another thing from the Hamburg photo walk which meant trying to look at the castle a bit differently and meant I ended up with a batch of pictures that kind of show Corfe Castle in an unexpected way. "Show fragments of the church but not the whole church". Today’s blog is from 2012, a trip around the Golden Circle in Iceland’s autumn, which was more wet and grey than red and gold. I don’t have a picture of me from the Golden Circle but it’s selfie day, so this is an old favourite, making Skógafoss look freakishly enormous the day before. On the blog today, a quest for the Midnight Sun in Tromsø, which turned out to be a half-decent Ten To Midnight Sun and a couple of Midnight Glows in the Sky. I’m looking back at my 2011 trip to Norway this week and come across these pictures from Tromsø. It was my first trip to the Arctic and although it’s warm enough for sandals, the landscape wants us all to know how far north we are. The two pictures outside the Arctic Cathedral were taken 24 hours apart, from sunshine to heavy rain. There are also a couple of pictures from around Tromsø on the sunny day. On the blog today, a trip that probably hasn't seen the light of day on Instagram before because it's from 2011: the Trondheim part of my first ever visit to Norway. Today’s new blog post is the 8 things I don’t travel without - I don’t think there’s anything very revolutionary but after making shampoo bars in Reading on Saturday, it seemed like a good opportunity to show you my travel solid hair wash kit, the Julie Book of Everything and the Sacred Charging Kit. Since I’m doing snowy wintery pictures, this is actual Tromsø from two trips I did in 2016 and 2017. Looking at the pictures, I definitely had better weather in 2017 but I did have a glorious and beautiful day sailing up from Harstad on the Hurtigruten in 2016.

About Julie

I'm a blogger, adventurer, lover of hot water, amateur paddler and polar bear who wilts in hot weather. Time (by day, I'm a researcher) and funds keep me within Europe and I make regular trips up to the north, especially to Iceland. I like the occasional adventure across Europe by train and I'm starting to make use of my weekends for 48-hour adventures. This isn't my only creative outlet - I've written two travelogues (one on a winter adventure across the Arctic Circle and one on exploring volcanoes during a warm summer road trip around Iceland) plus a little book of Icelandic pools and I have a fourth book in progress right now.

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