Nearly On Top of the World

(August/September 2025)

[Thanks to M, our Guest Reviewer, who boldly travels to places nowhere near a four star hotel…Instead, she goes to windswept, bleakly romantic locations of the kind memorialized by Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns.]

Of course, if you want Gothic and neo-Gothic architecture, Edinburgh is well worth a look, plus you can dine at The Witchery. You should either book for that, or try begging for a table.

Shetland Islands

Faroe Islands

Grass roofs, hairpin bends, killer views – Faroe Is. are not for the faint-hearted.

Iceland

A vast volcanic laboratory, Iceland features dramatic beaches, geysers, beautiful fjord lands, whales, seal pups and, of course, waterfalls!

We took a boat ride on the glacier lagoon and got very close to the icebergs.

We visited what is seriously the biggest waterfall I have ever seen and the water flowing over the waterfall is actually hot, hence the steam.

The second waterfall you could walk behind which was actually pretty cool!

Along with the Vok hot spring baths, we went to the Strokkur Geyser – very hard to capture… but here one can say, “Going, going, gone”:

We went to an ice cave. We drove across a lava desert in a super 4×4 and the hiked across the lava rock. We put on crampons and hiked up to the ice cave. We walked a short distance into the cave.

The glacier is black and white/blue so whilst the black surface looks nice and easy and safe it is in fact ice beneath!

After that we drove to the glacier, there continuing to wear my MOST fashionable Icelandic attire we hiked up to and onto a glacier, where we got to carry ice axes (super cool, very Lord of the Rings). I drank water from the glacier Icelandic style … you need the ice axe! We hiked about 2 miles on the glacier.

[The bizarre landscapes are reminiscent of the art of Caspar David Friedrich – compare and contrast with his painting, ‘Sea of Ice‘ 1823/4, above – Ed.]

We took a boat ride on the glacier lagoon and got very close to the icebergs. What you can see in the photos is only 10% of the actual size of the icebergs … the boat trip was only brief … we all know that boat trips and icebergs are a recipe for disaster.

When the icebergs wash out to sea, the powerful waves actually push them back to the beach. Then you have the spectacle of white and or blue ice on the black volcanic sand .. hence the name “Diamond Beach”…. It was late in the day by this time and the mist had rolled in, presenting  an eerie and magical site.

This young chap seems a very clubbable sort (Ed.):

And here’s more wild life:

Copenhagen

A very balmy and humid city about September, we enjoyed Copenhagen’s lolly/candy houses, historic ports [and ‘Woke’ Scandis – Ed.]

We witnessed the Changing of the Guard at Amalienborg Palace:

And Kronborg Castle:

Wended along the canal and saw the Little Mermaid, based on a Hans Christian Andersen story, and attacked over the years by various lunatics, all of whom she has outsmarted and outlasted:

Nyhavn is a line of perfectly picture-perfect pastel houses, along the canal, dug in 1673.

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The Varnished Culture is convinced – we’re going! At least to the more civilized places…Thank you, M!