Vayama Travel Blog

Discover Turkish Delights this Summer in Istanbul’s Bazaars and palaces.

By Max Milano

Europeans go mad for the Med in the summer. But nothing beats the eastern Mediterranean for its beauty, history and affordability (as long as you are outside of the Eurozone). So when in Europe, do as the Europeans do, and enjoy the charms of the Aegean in Turkish Liras, not Euros.

Vayama and Turkish Airways are teaming up to offer 2 free tickets to Istanbul. Visit Vayama’s Facebook page and sign up for this sweepstakes, you might just be heading to Istanbul this summer for free!

Istanbul: Getting There

Istanbul is Turkey’s largest city and its main gateway. The capital was moved to Ankara when modern Turkey was created but Istanbul is still the country’s main commercial and cultural capital, as it has been for over 2000 years. Istanbul is hot this summer, and it’s not just the weather. The city is trendy and getting trendier. Boutiques, nightclubs, lounges and fashionably dressed locals are now a staple, sharing the city with ancient Roman and Ottoman palaces and Mosques. The fact that Turkey is outside of the Eurozone has been noted by appreciative European tourist who formerly would vacation in Greece. Tourists now flock to Istanbul and the beaches of Aegean turkey to enjoy the eastern Mediterranean way of life for less. Visit Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar for that traditional Turkish shopping experience, followed by an even more traditional visit to a historical hamam (Turkish bath). Start your night in a traditional meyhane restaurant for a plate of mezze and kebabs. Istanbul’s casual eateries are part of city’s fabric of life. Join the locals sitting in the many outdoor cafés sipping small grasses of raki as they watch the world go by.

Istanbul: Half in Europe and Half in Asia

The Bosphorus straits divides Istanbul into European and Asian parts. Grand Ottoman palaces line the waterfront and the skyline of Mosque spires now competes with the glass towers of the new financial district. Don’t miss the Hagia Sophia Church/Mosque. Originally a Byzantine church, it was later turned into a Mosque with the advent of the Ottoman Empire. Hagia Sophia is now a museum showcasing the clashing empires that have shaped Istanbul thought its history.

Aegean Turkey

After enjoying Istanbul’s charms, head south along the coast to Izmir. Izmir is the epicenter of Aegean Turkey. You will be forgiven to believe that the rolling hills and coves around Izmir belong to a Greek shoreline (and it used to). This part of Turkey was fully Hellenized until the advent of the Ottoman Empire and the food and beaches have a lot in common with the Greek islands just off shore. Visit the nearby Roman ruins of Ephesus, once the capital of the Roman province of Asia Minor and now the best preserved Roman ruins in Turkey.  Take a day trip to Pamukkale, these petrified waterfalls have been used as a spa for centuries, where you can swim with next to Roman ruins in a large natural swimming pool.  For the full Aegean experience, you can rent a traditional wooden Gulet boat and sail the coves and islands of the Aegean coast.  A typical Gulet day cruise will include meals and some offer accommodations below deck.

Gulet boat in Aegean Turkey

Enjoy Istanbul and the Aegean side of Turkey this summer. You will be happy you did.

* Max Milano is the Author of  “The Mechanicals of Recoleta”Available at Amazon

Win 2 Free Tickets to Paris this Summer with XL Airways France

By Max Milano *

“We will always have Paris” Humphrey Bogart (Rick) famously said in the classic film Casablanca. He didn’t say “We Will Always have Paris in the Summer”, perhaps because Paris is beautiful all year around. But there is something magical about the heat of a summer night in Paris. You can sit at an outdoor Café in Montmartre late in the evening sipping cold bubbly and chilled raw oysters. The summer is also when Parisians retreat to the Riviera or their ancestral farms and country cottages, leaving the city to the tourists. So use Paris as your base, but don’t forget that the French Riviera is just a short TGV train ride away.

Summer is also a time of great events in France. This year is particularly grand due to the London Olympics being celebrates just across the English Channel. You can use Paris as your European entry point and then hop on the Eurostar train to London to join the Olympic cheer.

Other big summer bashes in France this summer include Bastille Day, the Tour de France and the Monaco Grand Prix.

Bogie: We will Always Have Paris!

XL Fun in Paris

XL Airways France is now offering nonstop flights to Paris in the summer from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York. I like them because they are bringing to the USA a travel tradition popular in France for decades. That is the tradition of the nonstop flight to popular tourist destinations. These nonstop flights often bypass busy international hubs and take travelers directly to the beach resort or city of their choice. With these new nonstop flights to Paris from the East and West Coasts, XL Airways France and Vayama now offer American travelers the lowest summer airfare deals to their favorite European city.

And what could possibly be better than a nonstop discounted flight to Paris on Xl Airways France? The answer is; 2 Free tickets to Paris on XL Airways France! Vayama is offering a chance to win 2 free tickets to Paris this summer on XL Airways France on their Facebook page.  Facebook fans are asked to post their best reasons for flying to Paris this summer to enter the contest. So get your thinking caps on and post your best reasons to fly to Paris for free this summer, you might just be a winner! See you in Paris.

Hot Summer Events in Paris and France for 2012

Monaco Grand Prix – From Thursday 24th to Sunday 27^th of May, 2012

Parisians escape to La Cote Azure in the summer. The best way to reach the shores of the Mediterranean from Paris is to jump on the TGV train heading south. The Monaco grand Prix attracts a Who’s Who of international Jet Setters, but as of this writing, it’s still free to walk around Monaco during Le Grand Prix weekend to join in on the general festivities. Extra points if you manage to get invited to a party on a super-yacht docked on the marina, the best way to see the race.

The Tour De France – From Jun 30^th to July 22, 2012

The Tour the France offers a way to see the best of France: From fields of lavender to Alpine peaks. Rent a car for less on Vayama and follow le peloton as it struggles up steep Alpine passes and speeds trough medieval villages. The grand finale at les Avenue des Champs-Elysées in Paris rivals Bastille Day.

Bastille Day – Saturday, July 14, 2012

“Let them eat cake” was the cry that fired up the French revolution. Erroneously attributed to poor Marie Antoinette, who paid with her head for the revolutionary exuberance. The storming of the Bastille prison is celebrated every 14th of July as La Fête Nationale, better known in the English speaking world as Bastille Day. Parades, fireworks and firemen’s balls galore mark the occasion. A perfect time to be in Paris.

Bastille Day: Let then have their Cake and Eat it Too!

London Olympics – From July 27^th to August 12^th, 2012

Enjoy Paris for a few days before hopping on the Eurostar train to London for the Olympics. The Eurostar can be booked on Vayama for city center to city center travel in comfort and speed (in under 45 minutes total travel time). It could very well take longer than 45 minutes just to get to the airport, making the Eurostar a more convenient option to get to London.

* Max Milano is the Author of “The Mechanicals of Recoleta”Available at Amazon

Fall in love with these romantic movie destinations

By Max Milano *

Hollywood knows a thing or two about romance, but are the locations of your favorite movies as romantic in real life? We find the lowest airfare deals to the most romantic movie destinations in the world for less.

Rome (Roman Holiday, Eat, Pray, Love)

The R in Rome stands for romance. Hollywood declared Rome the most romantic destination in the world when Gregory Peck scooted around the Coliseum in a Vespa with Audrey Hepburn clinging to his back in the movie Roman Holiday. More recently, Julia Roberts got her groove back and ate her way through Rome’s best trattorias in Eat, Pray, Love. You can get your love groove back too by flying your loved one to Rome for an al fresco dinner at the Campo di Fiori, followed by an evening stroll along the ruins of ancient Rome. End up at La Bocca della Verita (the mouth of truth) to re-enact the romantically funny scene from Roman Holyday where Gregory Peck puts his hand into the open Mouth of Truth to test the myth (don’t worry; the stone mouth won’t bite as long as your love is true). Rome is the real thing.

Romance level: Goes to 11.

Roman Holiday: Rome is for Romance

Fly to Rome from $699 roundtrip total with this hot spring deal.

Paris (Midnight in Paris, Amelie)

Romantic movies shot in Paris are too numerous to count. The city of lights offers the perfect backdrop for love. In the film Amelie, the Paris neighborhood of Montmartre is transformed into a magical land of quirky characters whose lives are changed for the better by the quirky Amelie and her traveling gnome. In Midnight in Paris, a frustrated writer goes for a night stroll in Paris circa 2011 and is magically transported to 1920’s Paris and gets to meet Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein. He falls in love with a girl from the 1920’s who is infatuated with the La Belle Epoch era Paris of the Moulin Rouge and Toulouse Lautrec. You can revisit Amelie with your loved one by booking a quaint hotel up in Montmatre (the best views of Paris are not from the top of the Eiffel tower, but from the steps of Montmatre’s Sacre Cour’s church). Walk down to Pigalle for a night at the Moulin Rouge and then hit the riverbank for a cruise along the seine and a kiss under a Paris bridge as the Eiffel Tower sparkles with lights.

Romance level: Trough le roof.

Le Midnight

Fly to Romantic Paris for less with this $699 deal.

Tokyo (Lost in Translation, Norwegian Wood)

Sofia Copola’s classic Lost in Translation proved that Tokyo’s cold neon towers could be the perfect haven for romance (and the film Norwegian Wood proved that the Japanese can be as dramatically romantic as the French). Tokyo’s endless nightlife, karaoke bars and love motels with Hello Kitty themed rooms are the perfect setting for the more adventurous couples with a taste for anime and animated nightclubs. For those looking for a more sedate romantic experience, head down to Kyoto on the bullet train for a true traditional Ryokan experience and his and hers mud baths.

Romance level: 8 ½.

Lost in Translation: We (heart) karaoke

Fly to Tokyo from $844 with this hot airfare deal.

Casablanca (Casablanca, Morocco)

Morocco has been a Hollywood romantic favorite for decades. Marlene Dietrich falls in love with a young Gary Cooper and follows him over the sand dunes of the Sahara in the 1930 classic Morocco, and Humphrey Bogart rocked a white tux jacket while muttering the most romantic lines in film history: “Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine” and “we will always have Paris”. Casablanca today boasts a real Rick’s Café Américain in honor of the classic movie, where you can wear your own white linen suit and repeat classic lines from Casablanca with your sweetheart over gin and tonics. Head down to Marrakesh by train for an even more romantic experience and live the ‘real’ Morocco of bustling Medinas, snake charmers and traditional luxury hotels fit for Brad and Angelina.

Romance Level: A perfect 10.

Casablanca: He's looking at you kid

Fly to Casablanca from $1049 with this hot deal.

Next Week (the sequel): Shanghai (Shanghai Express, Shanghai Surprise), Saigon (The Lover, The Quiet American), Venice (Summertime), Florence (Light in the Piazza), Barcelona (Barcelona, Vicky Cristina Barcelona), London (Waterloo Bridge, Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral).

What is your favorite romantic movie destination?

Tell us on our Facebook wall.

* Max Milano is the Author of “The Mechanicals of Recoleta”Available at Amazon

Love is in the Airfare for Valentine’s Day:

Discover the romantic side of Europe and how to get there for less.

By Florin R. Ferrs *

It’s that time of the year again, romance is in the air and wherever you’re hopelessly in love, or hoping to get out of the doghouse, you can’t go wrong with a trip to Europe’s most romantic travel destinations: from Romeo and Juliet’s balcony in Verona, to the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, you won’t find more romantic destinations in Europe this year.

Reykjavik, Iceland

Iceland might sound like the antithesis of a romantic tropical island, and it is! But that doesn’t mean that Iceland isn’t a sexy and romantic destination to sweep your loved one of their feet. Iceland’s Blue Lagoon Spa dials romance up to 11 with private suites, cocktails, sushi and matching bathrobes. The Blue Lagoon’s swim up bar and countless grottos and caves offer plenty of discreet corners for a kiss and a cuddle before you hit the town to partake in one of Europe’s wildest nightlife.

I love your silica face

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Venice, Italy

You don’t have to be rich to enjoy romance in Venice, a kiss on the Vaporetto boat along the Grand Canal is just as romantic as a kiss on a gondola (at a fraction of the cost) and a stroll along Venice’s bridges and narrow alleys is free and very, very romantic.

Romantic Venice

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Rome, Italy

Rome is an open air museum to Romance. Take an evening stroll based on the movie “Roman Holiday” and stick your hand inside the ‘Bocca della Verità (The mouth of truth), romantically located in the grounds of the Roman church that houses the bones of St. Valentine (can’t get more romantic than that). Then rent a Vespa and drive around the coliseum just like Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn did in the movie. Finish with an al fresco candlelit dinner in Rome’s Campo di Fiori piazza. Now that’s Amore.

Romantic skull: St Valentine's bones, Rome.

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London, England

London might make most of its money in finance, but it’s romance that keeps the West End’s lights flashing. Take your loved to a musical, followed by cocktails at the Ritz, and then head to Soho Square for bar hopping and dancing until dawn and that romantic stroll along the Thames River. Have breakfast at Bar Italia and be the first online at the London eye for a romantic kiss with a view.

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Paris, France

Paris is romance squared, although there is nothing square about the city of lights. A kiss is not just a kiss when it’s given atop the Eiffel tower or in the heights of Montmartre with the whole city of Paris spread at your feet. Take your loved one on a night cruise along the Seine River, followed by a visit to the Moulin Rouge or the Crazy Horse for cocktails and hijinks. Ou la la!

Romantic Paris

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Verona, Italy

Eternal romantics will fall for Verona’s charms. The Bard set his eternal story of love in fair Verona, among Capulets and Roman ruins. Don’t miss Juliet’s house, balcony included. Wherefore art thou Romeo?

Juliet's Balcony, Verona

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* Max Milano is the Author of “The Mechanicals of Recoleta”Available at Amazon

By Linda Rodriguez Guglielmoni *

Winter in Spain in Mainly plane (cool)

I’m in Madrid during the winter for the first time and it’s a much livelier place than I remember. There are so many new cool little restaurants and bars and everyone is very friendly. Madrid’s famous department store El Corte Ingles has an entire wall with lights that flash and play tunes. I really think that Spain is more fun to visit in winter than in summer. I’d only been here during the summer and always found it to be way too hot!

My first stop was at the Prado Museum, it’s neo-classical building has a new wing and modern snack bar that reminds me of the coffee shop at the MOMA in New York. It was truly amazing to see so many Picassos and Goyas up close. My absolute favorite is the Maja Desnuda. Then I visited the old post office building at the Plaza de las Cibeles. It has been converted into a museum with a lookout tower.

Mad for Madrid's Majas

Next I went to the Palacio Real de Madrid (the King’s ceremonial palace). It was like visiting the Sixteen Chapel.  I took a guided tour and since it was a weekday there were only five people on our tour,  so the guide was able to take us into sections of the palace that big groups don’t get to see; like the King’s private painting collection (he has a Caravaggio and a Goya). The King’s collection also includes a complete Stradivarius set of string instruments (perfect for quintets).

The King's Stradivarius

I then went to the Textile Museum an entire museum dedicated to clothes! The Textile Museum has a beautiful store where I bought the most beautiful purple and black silk scarf by Spanish designer  Kanjimania (inspired by Japanese ideograms). The lady at the museum store recommended the Museo Romantico; dedicated to art from the Romantic era.

Later I went to a store specializing in Flamenco clothes located on a wonderfully named street: Calle de la Tahona de las Delcalzas, where I found a hot red shawl to wear over the black dress I picked for New Year’s Eve. Locals celebrate the new year under the Tio Pepe sign at Madrid’s Puerta del Sol. I plan to bring my own bottle of Spanish Cava and twelve grapes (just like the locals do). When the clock strikes twelve we will all pop corks at the same time and eat the twelve grapes washed down with Spanish bubbly. Yes, Madrid is way more exciting than I remembered!

I had dinner tonight at Restaurante Sobrino de Botin, the oldest restaurant in the world and a Hemingway favorite. Their specialty is cochinillo (suckling pig) cooked whole in a brick wood oven. I sat next to the door that leads to their wine cellar while enjoying a fine bottle or Rioja wine. The servers were very attentive and the cochinillo was perfectly cooked and had absolutely no fat since they are all slow cooked for two hours. The waiter told me they had cooked 45 piglets that night and that on Saturday nights they usually cook 50! They’ve been doing this since 1725! And the dessert was amazing too; Torta Botin, a sort of tres leches with egg whites cooked to fluffy perfection. No wonder Hemingway loved this locale just off Madrid’s Plaza Mayor.

El Botin: 50 piglet a day keeps the doctor away!

I’m really enjoying the winter atmosphere in Madrid, people are so social here. Everyone was out in the streets tonight with funny hats and wigs! And El Corte Ingles had people out in the street dressed as Mini Mouse and Mickey Mouse giving out toys to children. Madrid is so cool this winter that it’s making me feel like a kid in Disneyland. Only that there is nothing plastic about Spain, Ole!

Fly to Madrid for less this winter with Vayama’s Europe Winter Deals.

Linda Rodriguez Guglielmoni is a poet and world traveler. Read more about Linda.

All Tomorrow’s Parties

Celebrate New Year’s Eve around the World

By Max Milano *

New Year’s Eve has many names around the world: from Hogmanay to Kaapse Klopse, but whatever name the locals give to it, we can recognize a great party when we see one. Here are the most happening New Year’s Eve bashes around the world to welcome 2012 the party harty way.

Edinburgh

Get ready for tree days of wild celebrations Scottish style. Edinburgh’s Hogmanay hails back the ancient Celtic festival of winter solstice.  Join the kilted revelers carrying torches during the Torchlight Procession that opens the festivities. A wild street party with several pop and rock music acts follow, topped by the traditional Loony Dook swim in the River Forth. There can only be one Hogmanay!

Aye! Aye! Hogmanay!

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Madrid

Spain and party are practically synonyms and Madrid has to be where Spain parties hardest. Be at Plaza del Sol for New Year’s Eve, most of Madrid congregates there by 11.30 pm, right under the famous Tio Pepe sign. Do as the locals do and bring your own bottle of chilled Spanish cava and twelve grapes. Eat the grapes when the clock chimes twelve, washed down with the Spanish bubbly. Follow the revelers into the nearby Plaza de Santa Ana for bar hopping galore. Finish at dawn with a traditional cup of hot Chocolate and churros. Feliz Año Nuevo!

Celebrate NYE under Madrid's Tio Pepe sign

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Hong Kong

Hong Kong prides itself to be the best place in China to be on New Year’s Eve. They even have a Times Square shopping mall, modeled after New York, complete with a ball dropping at midnight. Head to the waterfront for Hong Kong’s spectacular New Year’s fireworks display and party the night away in the Lan Kwai Fong district.

NYE at Times Square Mall Hong Kong

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Reykjavik

Iceland’s capital has more bars per capita than any other city in Europe and the Icelanders sure make good use of them during New Year’s Eve. Star the evening with the local custom of ‘hottubing’ (where you pack into a hottub with all your buddies and a six pack of beer- for a more up market head to the Blue Lagoon, Iceland’s world famous open air spa). As the clock strikes midnight, hundreds of bonfires will light the Nordic sky. Keep warm by cozying up to the fire and sharing shots of Brennivín (Iceland’s national spirit) with the friendly locals.

NYE in Iceland

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Rio de Janeiro

New Year’s Eve on Copacabana beach is perhaps one of the most spectacular times to be in Rio. Everyone wears white as they drop small offers into the surf while amazing fireworks explode overhead. If partying with millions of people on Copacabana Beach is not your cup of tea, get a room at the Copacabana Palace or other beachfront hotels to get the VIP treatment.

At Copa...Copacabana for NYE

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Cape Town

Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and New Year ’s Eve is right in the middle of the southern summer. Be in Long Street or the Victoria and Albert Waterfront at midnight for bar hopping and fireworks get ready for the biggest bash of the year on Jan 2^nd, when the whole town spills out into the streets to celebrate the Kaapse Klopse Carnival.

Happy Kaapse Klopse from Cape Town

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* Max Milano is the Author of “The Mechanicals of Recoleta”Available at Amazon

A hip traveler heads south this French winter

By Sofie van Donselaar (Hip traveler)

Before the advent of the “Jet Age”, overseas flights to exotic destinations weren’t really an option and the only choice to escape the cold northern European winter was a very long train ride or boat trip. In those days the south of France was a very popular winter destination and not just because there was no boat involved. The weather was milder than in most parts of Europe at that time of the year and the scenery was (and still is) gobsmackingly beautiful. This made the French Riviera the perfect place for royalty and the plain wealthy to- as we say nowadays- hang out. Rumor has it that it was F. Scott Fitzgerald in “Tender is the Night” who decided that the south of France should be a summer destination instead of the traditional winter destination it had been up to that point. Just remember that in the 1930’s when Fitzgerald wrote his famous book there were no reality shows (no Paris Hilton) but the French Riviera did have a lot of ex-Czarist royalty, British socialites  and American expats that could show our Paris (the socialite, not the city) a thing or two.

It's still nice in Nice in the winter

Speaking of Paris (the city, not the socialite), this is the city everybody thinks of when you talk about visiting France in the winter. It’s the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe that come to mind, all lit and romantic in the snow.  But- even though the City of Light is beautiful, there’s much more to France in the winter than just Paris.  The Illuminated city may have blinded you with its lights, but if you want to take a peek at the ‘real’ France, head south my intrepid traveler.

I personally didn’t feel like I’d really seen the real France until I discovered the southern part of the country (most French people can back me up on this one).  Yes, I know that you can’t avoid the image of celebrities and royalty in Cannes or Nice and the fancy Yachts in the harbor at St Tropez during peak summer. We know that in summer the heels will always be high, the dresses short and the champagne will flow. But when the temperatures drops, the Riviera returns to being quaint part of provincial France with (as I can imagine) a big sigh of relief. And after that last bit of summer glitter has been brushed off you’ll see a whole new side to the south of France that you’ll simply love.

One of the best kept secrets of southern France (that I will never keep) is the town of Aix-en-Provence or ‘Aix’   for short.  Aix is one of those places I love, mostly for its elegant architecture that just feels so natural there. They don’t even have to try.

Aix-en-Provence promenade

No wonder that the famous post-impressionist painter Cezanne (who was born in Aix) was so inspired by his native town that he made many of his iconic paintings in and around Aix. When he left to study in Paris the only place that wanted to exhibit his work was the Salon the Refuses. This was the salon where they would show all of the works rejected by the jury for the official salon because they didn’t add up to what was then considered tasteful or real art. We can conclude one thing based on this information: Paris was wrong. If you compare Cezanne’s work inspired by Aix, you’ll see watercolors and serenity; his works from his time in Paris, on the other hand, is considered dark, sharp and moody. So I consider Cezanne to be on my side when it comes to Paris vs. the Riviera, and you will too.

Cezanne in Provence

When you wander through Aix you will understand why Cezanne and so many other painters spend a lot of time there. Walk through the Cours Maribeau with its rows of trees and classic buildings on each side of the road. Take your time to admire the fountains or have a coffee on the Place de l’Hotel de Ville. Visit the Aix Cathedral  (Cathédrale Saint Sauveur), the 17th century mansions and of course one of the fine Museums in town.

Make a quick stop at La Cure Gourmande store, a candy shop in the traditional French style; with piles and piles of chocolates and cookies, the cutest gift wrappings and (most importantly), it all tastes so GOOD.

I hope you consider allowing the south of France to enchant you this winter. Because you know, in the south, they have plenty of amour and lots of lights too, but most importantly, they have that unique provincial air that gave the region its name back when the Romans first trampled along its lavender filled meadows. Go to Province and the south of France this winter, you will be glad you did.

Of Fjords and Firewater

by Max Milano *

Our last 24 hours in Iceland were a whirlwind of Viking sagas, raging fjords a very blue lagoon and healthy dozes of Brennivin. All of these images flashed past my sore head as I stood under a man made waterfall in Iceland’s famous Blue Lagoon spa. To call this the best spa experience in the world is not really doing it justice. The place is set up like the villain’s lair in a James Bond movie; all high tech and polished steel coming out of the bare lava. You’re given an electronic bracelet that remembers your locker number and open and closes it by simply waving it over a sensor. It was blowing a gale outside but it was cozy and warm inside the confines of the spa building.  The blue lagoon bubbled as horizontal rain formed whitecaps on the electric blue water: Fire and Ice. It was a perfect symbol of Iceland itself, warm people, hot nightlife and a practically interminable supply of geo thermal energy bubbling at our feet and heating the very building we stood in (and every building on the island).

Blue Lagoon Spa: Very James Bond

I swam in the blue water as sleet pelted my face like a facial treatment from the heavens. I found the bucket of silica mud and smeared it all over my face. The wind chill factor was way below freezing but I was toasty under the warm blue water like a paella shrimp. The Blue Lagoon’s proximity to Keflavik international airport makes it the perfect stopover spa break or, as in our case, the last stop of a wonderful trip before heading back to the airport.

I soaked in the warm blue waters of the Blue Lagoon and reflected on the stark beauty of the island’s interior: A Viking council set up on the dramatic rocks formed by a massive geological fault, gushing geysers that explode high up in the sky, bubbling mud holes, driving snow and echoes of the Viking sagas swirling around the stark landscape.

We had spent our last night in Iceland at the Glymur Boutique Hotel, a 20 loft room hotel overlooking a Fjord with no paved roads or a town for miles. The staff left us after dinner and we had the run of the place. We hot tubbed until 2 am with the wind howling around us as we drank red wine and took shots of Brennivin for warmth. At 3.30 in the morning someone decided that it was a good idea to walk to the “lake” below (I was sure it was the Brennivin talking,  but it was our last night in Iceland after all).

Hotel Glymur: A Fjord runs trough it

In the end it was only two of us who set out with flashlights and raincoats down the gravel path towards the silvery body of water below the hotel. It looked close enough but it was now clear that we had to cross over a mile of open country in the dark. We waded through streams, knee deep in bog and jumped over several barbed wire fences until we found ourselves on the rocky shore of this raging fjord (it was clearly not a lake by this point).  The tide was out and the rocks glistened in the moonlight. A ghostly pale white rainbow framed the fjord, illuminated by a yellow full moon. I had never seen a white rainbow at night, but there it was, pale as a ghost, contrasting brightly against the heavy black clouds.  Sleet pelted us sideways and I feared for our lives next to the raging waters of the fjord but my traveling companion was in her element. I half expected her to start quoting Robbie Burns aloud in the rain.  I could see a Lutheran church in the distance, the only lit building for miles. I suggested heading that way to find a road. We scrambled over more bogs and hillocks until we were trampling over a Viking cemetery in the darkened yard outside the church. “We’re cursed” I said, remembering the Viking Sagas but she said something about the cemetery being from the 1950’s, as if that explained anything. We jumped the church fence and marched uphill in the dark. We were muddied and exhausted when we got back to the hotel, but so happy to have Iceland deep under our skin. And as I stood in the Blue Lagoon, savoring the last moments of our trip, I knew I would definitively come back to this gorgeous island of fire and ice.

At the airport as I waited to board Icelandair back to the west coast, I ran into two young American ladies I’d met in a club in Reykjavik, they had come over for the weekend and were heading back to New York and their hipster jobs in Brooklyn. They both loved their time in Iceland and declared it the perfect place for a long weekend getaway. As I waived goodbye  to my new friends I suddenly realized that Iceland had firmly arrived in the hip tourist’s map.

Fly from New York to Reykjavik from $444  on Vayama’s Icelandair deals.

* Max Milano is the Author of “The Mechanicals of Recoleta”. Available at Amazon.