Taking a Bath

 When in Rome as they say…we could not leave Iceland without going to the Vok Baths or ice free holes.  Not going to lie, Dom & I were a bit apprehensive about what to expect.  We were told to bring bathing suits (a relief) and that a towel would be provided.  We arrive and are told showers before entering the baths are mandatory (again, a relief).  I ask for 2 towels but am told I will only need one when I come out of the geothermal bath.  Really?  I use it judiciously 🤭.

Blue wrist bands were distributed.  These bands, it turns out, lock and open your lockers &  charge your drinks at the bar inside the bath which you then use Apple Pay to pay as you check out.  Iceland, by the way, is a cashless country, even for the public toilets which are available on the city streets, like in Paris, which you know I would never use.

So Dom & I separate to enter the showers.  Shoes must be taken off at the entrance and stored on a communal shelf.  You choose a locker and undress.  Thankfully, the towel fits around me.  I grab my bathing suit and go to the shower which is private like we are used to at our spas at home.  Dom tells me later that he took a communal shower 😱.  I guess it’s a ‘guy thing’.  

I stow my damp towel on a shelf in an individual basket so I can find it when I am done.  I pass a basket of arm floaties and hope I won’t be needing them and am relieved to see Dom waving to me through the hot steam of the bath.  The water is only chest high…whew…and so deliciously warm that you can see why this is a relaxing way to spend time with your friends on a freezing cold day in Iceland.  

There is a bar you walk up to and order drinks, alcoholic and nonalcoholic.  I order a smoothie 🤓.

We realize this bath is not all there is.  Dom decides to explore and shivers his way down to the lake where there are 2 additional Vok baths adjacent to the lake.  He goes into one of the baths and uses a ladder to lower himself into the freezing lake.  He gets chest deep and hurries back to the hot bath.  He reports back to me and says I have to try it.  I take one look and return to the warmth.  Not happening.

While Dom is exploring I start up a conversation with a woman who is by herself.  Turns out she is an Art teacher from Switzerland who is traveling the Ring of Iceland solo in a camper.  She admits to having some trepidation but put on her big girl panties and is doing it.  Of course she speaks German, Italian, English and I’m sure a couple more languages while we can barely speak English.

So after about an hour relaxing in the bath we go out to the steam room for a bit and then to the cold tunnel with an inside mist shower.  This is the way the Icelandic’s do it: hot bath, steam room, cold tunnel to “ease tension and energize your spirit”.  The bath does relax you.  Actually we did take tiny naps this afternoon.

While we are in the steam room this single guy starts talking to us.  He is from Germany and admits his English is not very good.  He tells us his marriage is “broken “ and he is traveling the Ring of Iceland by himself.  Hmm….I tell him I just met a single woman doing the same thing and he says “show her to me”.  Darn it, she had gone.  I like to think they’d meet up at some campsite along the way.  He was a Mayor in his community for a few years.

We set sail at 3pm as our next destination is pretty far away…in northern Iceland.  We actually cross over the Arctic Circle about 9pm tonight.  I wonder if we will get the famed certificate ?