An Island of Ice and Fire as Seen in a Weekend

— -- intro: It was midnight and we just returned to our hotel room in Iceland's capital of Reykjavik from a freezing venture to the outskirts of town. I started chewing on a soft piece of fried Icelandic bread as I attempted to make an international adaptor fit into a recessed wall socket. The lights suddenly went out in the room.

My eyes hadn't yet adjusted to the darkness when I felt a tooth missing in my mouth – a dental crown. Confused and searching for light, I peeled away the room's window curtains to reveal none other than the Northern Lights, painted in broad strokes across the sky in a bold and celebratory green hue recalling that of the Wildfire that destroyed fleets in “Game of Thrones.”

They had uncharacteristically followed us back into the city, dancing outside our very own hotel window. I spit out my tooth's crown. Anywhere else, it would have simply fallen out. But in Iceland, it was rather ceremoniously dethroned.

Iceland is no stranger to drama; it's known for its sagas (49 tales in all), and it has been a hot spot for filming the shows said to be inspired by them, including “Game of Thrones,” as well as box-office hits like “Interstellar,” “The Life of Walter Mitty” and “Oblivion,” just to name a few. For a country about 15 percent the size of Texas, that's no small feat.

But it's also not surprising for a place where, in even the coldest winters, you can take a warm dip in an outdoor geothermal pool, or where snow-capped volcanoes can erupt with hot lava at any moment. Here's how we spent 49 hours in the island of ice and fire:

quicklist: 1 title: Saturday 12 p.m., Breaking Bread, Groundtext: On the heels of a redeye via IcelandAir, we took a Reykjavik Excursions bus to the city (a far less expensive option than taking a taxi) and settled into CenterHotel Arnarhvoll, a hotel we picked for its walking-distance proximity to pretty much everything in Reykjavik. After a quick nap, we stopped by Kaffitar, a bustling and quirky Portlandia-esque coffee shop where servers yell out orders in a sing-song way. We picked up some coffee and Icelandic dark rye bread for the road. You know that "it's so hot out you can fry an egg on the sidewalk" joke? Well, Iceland is powered entirely by geothermal energy, making it the world's largest green-energy producer; its ground gets so hot, farmers bake their bread in it – yes, even in the winter. And it's delicious. media: 29697933

quicklist: 2title: Saturday 1 p.m., Slippery Paths Along a Volcanic Underbellytext: We set out for a couple of stops along the famed Golden Circle, a 186-mile loop from Reykjavík into central Iceland and back. Among the highlights was Pingvellir National Park, which lies in a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic ridge. You can actually spot the continental drift between the North American and Eurasian plates in the cracks and canyons traversing the park. We walked the icy path to the gorge, tracing the very steps the characters Arya and The Hound took while filming “Game of Thrones,” a frozen lake covered in snow and surrounding by tall black lava rock walls. Within just an about an hour drive further east from Pingvellir, water dramatically sprouts up from the ground to over 100 feet, at Geysir, and plummets down from over 100 feet, at waterfalls like Gulfoss. Traveling through the island started to feel like taking a ride on a beast with an unpredictable volcanic underbelly.media: 29697884

quicklist: 3title: Saturday, 5:30 p.m., Dances with Horsestext: Speaking of beasts (kind of), on our way back into the city, we stopped by Fakasel, an Icelandic horse park. Icelandic horses are of human height with the temperament of puppies; they're excited to meet new people and shower them with licks. If you can imagine a real-life version of “My Little Ponies,” they would be it, down to the predator-free vacuum they live in; to keep their breed pure and the threat of outside diseases afoot, Icelandic law forbids horses from either entering or leaving the island (if they leave, they can't return). media: 29698454

quicklist: 4 title: Saturday, 7 p.m., Hot Dogs, err, Ewestext: Time for some supper back in Reykjavik. Iceland is famous for its hot dogs, made with lamb and typically served on top of crunchy tiny onion rings. Even upscale restaurants in town serve them. We opted for the hot togs at Islenki Barinn, where they serve local beer at the bar by candlelight.

quicklist: 5title: Saturday, 8 p.m., Roaring Aurorastext: Before the Northern Lights surprised us outside our hotel window, we ventured about an hour outside the city to see them. Like a lot of naturally occurring things that are beautiful, they can be unpredictable and evasive. Also known as Aurora Borealis, Northern Lights are mini storms in space, or collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the Earth's atmosphere; in extreme cases of high activity, they can cause electricity in a region to shut down and can even trigger fires. Their activity can vary by night, and being able to spot them depends not only on a high level of this activity, but also on a very dark and clear winter sky. We braved the sub-zero temps in our venture away from city lights and were rewarded with quite the display, arching from one end of the sky over us and across, like twilight rainbows, but far more dynamic, fading and resurfacing from one moment to the next in different directions and shapes – a cold sky roaring with fire.media: 29698683

quicklist: 6title: Sunday, 8.30 a.m., Trolling the South Shoretext: It felt like we were still dreaming when we started heading down to Iceland's South Shore during a snowstorm. Mountains and volcanoes were sandwiched between low-hanging clouds and wind-swept snow. On our way to the southernmost town of Iceland, Vik, we stopped by Eyjafjallajökull, the snow-capped volcano that erupted in 2010, as well as a couple of icicle-bitten waterfalls, including Skogafoss, one of the largest in the country, with a width of 82 feet and a drop of 200 feet.

Arriving at Vik, we walked on Reynisfjara, a beautiful black sand beach under Reynisfjall Mountain outlined with basalt rock columns. The winds pelted at us from every direction, white snow settling on black sand, as we walked gingerly, keeping our distance from the infamous volatile beach waves that have swallowed people up. We took momentary shelter in Hálsanefeshelli, a large vaulted sea cave mid-beach, before walking back to the shore, where we spotted the iconic Reynisdrangar, a set of mid-ocean basalt sea stacks. Icelandic legend says these rock formations were actually Huldufolk, trolls who tried to drag a ship to land unsuccessfully and then turned to rock when daylight broke.media: 29697595

quicklist: 7title: Sunday, 7 p.m., A Sunset Voyage in the Citytext: Back in Reykjavik, we walked along the city’s harbor at sunset, where we learned that, to Icelanders, Huldufolk are not merely the fodder of folklore, but are seeped so deep in the culture that they’ve influenced the design of even recent cultural landmarks like the Opera house. Icelanders believe in their existence so much that they follow elf-zoning codes, steering clear of construction that can damage the rocks where they are believed to live in. Along the harbor, we also stopped to see Solfar, the Sun Voyager, a stainless steel sculpture of a dreamboat that is said to represent unchartered territory. We finished off the evening with an excellent dinner at Fish Market, where they serve everything from smoked puffin to grilled whale. On our walk back to the hotel, we spotted jovial Icelanders spilling in and out of bars.media: 29698550

quicklist: 8 title: Monday, 11 a.m., Cool Heads, Hot Watertext: We were ready to let our whirlwind adventure sink in our minds as our sleep-deprived bodies soak in the milky waters of the Blue Lagoon. Stepping into the lagoon is like stepping into a warm bath, the waters calmly and immediately shielding the skin from the freezing outdoor air. We slathered our faces in the lagoon’s natural white geothermal silica mud. A thick fog of steam rose from the 100-degree light-blue waters, causing other silica-draped faces to fade in and out of view. This dynamic, combined with the simultaneous feeling of having our heads in arctic clouds and our feet on warm lava grounds, created a dream-like effect. Bobbing around in a boiling hot bath ensconced in snow-capped lava rocks, we felt the island bid us a fitting farewell, with a dance of ice and fire. media: 29698067