View of Reykjavik from Perlan.

Songs from Icelandic musicians such as Bjork and Sigur Ros seem to properly picture this island nation — it is strange and beautiful at the same time.

The rugged Arctic expanses, that sulfurous smell, the black sand, the ice caps, the breathtaking blue hot springs, the infamous fermented shark that even celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay couldn’t swallow.

I went there for five days with no expectations, yet Iceland has instantly become one of the top three most beautiful places I’ve ever visited in Europe.

With my wife, I went in February on board Icelandair, the country’s main airline, to see the Northern Lights — or Aurora Borealis — which scientists said would reach their peak between 2012 and 2013. Generally, the best time to see the lights is from September to March.

We landed at Keflavik International Airport at midnight and hopped onto one of the airport shuttles.

The air smelled fresh though with a hint of sulfur, often associated with rotten eggs. After all, it is a country covered by volcanic and geothermal sites.

A father teaches his son to feed the ducks near Reykjavik city hall.
In 2010, one of the smaller ice caps Eyjafjallajokull erupted and caused air traffic disruption in many parts of Europe.
Now, it is one of the most visited tourist attractions.

Soon we arrived in Reykjavik, the world’s northernmost capital where about a third of Iceland’s 320,000 people live.

We spent our first day walking around Reykjavik city center, amazed at seeing the beautiful ice caps as a background to the city, they looked like painted scenery.

But our main aim was to see the Northern Lights, so we saved our energy. Our lunch for the day was pylsa, or hot dog, the fast food choice of the locals.

Baejarins Beztu is the most popular variety that even former US president Bill Clinton has tasted it. The hot dog comes with condiments of your choice: ketchup, mustard, fresh onion and fried onion.

At 9 p.m. the bus came to pick us up at the hotel, ready to drive us away from the city lights to see the famous Aurora. We had the tour included in our booking.

The bus took us to two different sites to see the lights swirling and dancing in the sky. It was an unforgettable yet also regrettable experience for us.

We did not bring the sort of semi-professional camera needed to capture the greenish white Aurora. So the best we could do was to memorize them in our minds, moving, flowing, like curtains blown by the wind.

Our tour guide said many Icelanders did not really appreciate that they could see the Northern Lights so effortlessy.

“Sometimes we don’t realize what we have if we look at it every day,” she said. “That’s why I’m thankful for people like you, the tourists, visiting Iceland, my country. It makes me realize that it is very beautiful.”

The next day we decided to relax our mind and body in the popular Blue Lagoon hot spring. After an hour’s trip by bus, we soaked ourselves in the hot water and washed our faces with the spring’s natural facial scrub while looking at the black rock and blue water.

There are lots of tours offered, but since our time was limited we booked another tour to the south shore of Iceland to see the Solheimajokull glacier and the black sandy beach of Reynisdrangar.

People soak in Blue Lagoon hot spring.
I braced myself against the wind slapping my face to touch the glacier. Some tourists decided to stay on the bus as the wind was so strong, and one American who went to the glacier had his pants ripped off.

“I grew up in Chicago, the Windy City, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said.

I should have worn winter gear while travelling to the south shore because of the strong winds, but I still managed without, although it was a struggle.

After we had lunch in the vilage of Vik, we visited Skogar folk museum, where is recorded the history of Iceland. We could see the houses where Icelanders lived in the past and we were shown how they knitted their own sweaters and played folk music.

Not far from Skogar is beautiful Skogafoss waterfall with its 60-meter drop. Then we went to another waterfall Seljalandsfoss which we could walk behind -- and probably a place to picnic in summertime -- before we headed back to the hotels.

Besides the scenic nature of Iceland, Reykjavik is magnificent on its own. The cute wooden houses clad in corrugated iron that look like those in fairy tales, the friendly people, the gorgeous buildings, the tempting record stores, the wool products.

The black rock formation of Reynisdrangar.
The capital’s landmark is Hallgrimskirkja church, with a 73-meter-high tower that can be seen from all around the city. It is the largest church in Iceland, 85 percent of whose population are Lutherans.

In front of the church is the statue of Leifur Eiriksson, nicknamed Leif the Lucky, who was the first European to discover America around 1000 A.D. but sadly he forgot to tell the world. So the accolade went to Christopher Columbus instead.

Icelanders have a unique way of giving surnames. The surname is the first name of a child’s father of sometimes mother, ending with “son” for a boy and dottir for a girl. For example, Eiriksson simply means Eirik’s son — or if it’s a girl then the surname will be Eiriksdottir.

The main shopping street in Reykjavik is Laugavegur, but the streets next to it, Skolavordustigur and Hverfisgata, have all kind of shops as well, from music stores to wool shops.

“Be careful with your wallet,” said a midde-aged lady as we opened the door of a store selling wool products.

I quickly reached for my pocket when the tourist added: “They have really good products. They’re expensive, but considering all are handmade ... Make sure you check that side of the wall, they’re on sale.”

Seljalandsfoss waterfall where tourists can walk behind it.
The sweaters were pricey, starting from 15,000 ISK (US$119). But the quality is just incomparable to sweaters made from synthetic fibers in factories.

Not far from the shop is 12 Tonar, a legendary record store that has become a meeting point for musicians including Sigur Ros and Bjork. There are sofas for you to sit down and relax while sipping a cup of coffee, listening to the brilliant local acts.

“There are so many geniuses in a small place like this. It’s like Silicon Valley,” explained the shopkeeper about the growing presence of Icelandic bands in the world.

It felt that two hours were not even enough to hang out in the store. There was so much music to listen to and you would get broke buying all of it.

Another highlight of my Iceland trip was the must-try fermented shark. Buried in sand for a couple of months then hung for a further two months, the shark stinks so much that is usually accompanied with brennivin — Iceland’s vodka-like signature liquor also called “black death” — to mask the ammoniac taste.

I had to force myself not to throw up while eating the chewy shark. But a trip to Iceland would not be complete without it, you just need to try.

Hallgrimskirkja church, Reykjavik’s landmark, with a tower of 73-meter highTravel notes

•Icelandair, the country’s main airline offers affordable tour deals, taking you to Iceland from Europe or North America, though you can always book another airline and hotel separately to save on your budget.

•The carrier does know how to promote the country. Passengers can learn some basic Icelandic words written on the plane headrest covers or listen to local musicians from Sigur Ros and Bjork to other less mainstream names.

•There, I learned my first Icelandic words: “takk fyrir”, which means “thank you”, though usually used in its shorter form “takk”. But most Icelanders speak English well.

•From Keflavik international airport, just hop onto one of the airport shuttles, operated by two or three companies, the best known being Flybus. A return trip from the airport to any hotel costs 4,500 Icelandic krona (US$36).

•Iceland’s only public transportation is by bus but many tourist forums say the bus system is rather complicated and the drivers usually don’t provide change. So we preferred to book all our tours from one of the agencies in Reykjavik.

— Photos by Aditya Suharmoko