Beauty queen Iceland

Dear Iceland, we have established that I am very much in love with you. We have established that your glacier-carved landscapes, waterfalls, volcanic sand beaches and songs of fire and ice are parallel to none (and that is, of course, why parts of Game of Thrones were filmed there).

If there ever were a beauty contest for countries, Iceland would take the crown. I honestly don't know what to say, except that I have no idea how so much beauty can exist in such a small place.

Basalt columns, black sand beach, Vík

One of the things I loved the most about Iceland was the abundance of clean, clear, fresh water everywhere. It was so clean most places that we didn't even bother buying water - we would just fill up from the natural rivers and waterfalls, drinking naturally chilled glacier meltwater!

(It tastes delicious, by the way. Easily some of the best water I've ever tasted!)

Crack a hole in the ice and fill up.

Water water everywhere, in the most beautiful shade of turquoise blue!

People are always friendlier when a place is smaller, I think - and with only 320,000 people, Iceland's pretty small. Icelanders are some of the friendliest people I've ever met, and it seems that their dogs are pretty friendly too.

This little puppy wanted to come home with us and almost jumped into our car! I wish we could have taken her along.

Most people, when looking up Iceland, come across Seljalandsfoss, which is a beautiful waterfall not too far from Vík. It's one of the only waterfalls you can walk behind and not get wet at all (there's a big path that takes you right behind the flow of water and into an inner cave, almost). Here it is, at sunset:

Yes, we actually walked on that death-ice path. In shoes with zero traction.

If you walk a little bit further down though, you'll find that there's actually another four waterfalls down that very same stretch of cliff. They're often missed because they're a little bit farther from the main road, but a little bit of effort and searching can lead to pretty spectacular sights.

Right at the very end of that cliff, there's one in particular that's hidden by a big chunk of rock in front of it. It took a little bit of climbing to get to the top - and by that I mean actual ladders were involved in climbing all the way up - but when you sit down and let your legs dangle over the edge while watching the waterfall, it's the most insanely cool feeling ever.

I'm not sure if I love water because I love the ocean, or I love the ocean because I love water. Either way, the waves at Vík's black sand beach are huge, roaring, and quite a sight to behold.

Even when Josh gets splashed by a big wave of freezing cold North Atlantic Ocean water.

We also discovered track rings in the sand, which looked a little bit like crop circles. They were probably the tracks of some vehicle that managed to drive on to the beach, but I thought it would be funny to think that aliens had descended on Iceland.

And so, after more than a month of posts and some five Photo Fridays later (that must be a travel blogging record) and endless days of me waxing lyrical about how much I love Iceland, I've finally reached the end of my Icelandic travel story.

It's by far the most beautiful place I've been to, and I find it hard to think that anything could ever be quite like it. Iceland is breathtaking, and I'm dying to go back. I love it so much that I would seriously consider moving to Iceland for a few years - the music scene is burgeoning and I think Icelanders write some of the best music in the world, which is also a huge part of why I love it so much.

So although I was only there for all of ten days, this trip to Iceland was probably the best ten days of all my life in travel. It was intense, exciting, magical, and wonderful.

Watch my words - Iceland, I'll be back.