The Luck of the Northern Lights in Iceland

Written on Thursday, December 20, 2018 by Emma Whiting Travel

 

With nothing but mountain cliffs and waterfalls behind us and ocean front ahead, our converted farm stay at Vogur Country Lodge was another reminder of the remoteness of this incredible country we were lucky enough to be circling.  As with many places in Iceland, accommodations offer a northern lights wakeup call service for their guests. Having never witnessed this natural phenomenon but knowing there was always a small chance of seeing them I asked the owner of our farm stay if he thought there was a chance of aurora activity that evening.  He said there was always a chance, and that he would of course let us know if he saw anything.  We were just settling down for the night, our bellies full of local Arctic Char, when we were startled by the owner outside our window below calling us to look outside.  We quickly grabbed our coats, beanies and cameras and rushed downstairs.

There in the darkness of this remote area, the three of us craned our necks skyward and observed one of nature’s most dazzling natural displays. Vivid plumes of green tumbled and shimmered across the sky, every corner of the cosmos it seemed was being set alight in a wild dance of lights.  They really moved and danced across the sky, fading in one direction and then illuminating in another.  I just couldn’t believe that I was finally seeing this phenomenon!   We stayed outside for hours until the cool temperature eventually urged us to retreat indoors.  Back in our room we could still see the lights from our window, so with a quick swap of the pillows to the other end of the bed, we fell into a deep slumber bathed in the luminescence of the Northern Lights from our very own bedroom window!

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