Remember the smelly puddles I mentioned in Rookie Mistakes?
The smell in question is sulphur. The extent of it varies from one region to another, but sulphur is a smell that will follow you around Iceland like a creepy stalker. Up in the north west where I was staying, you turn on the tap for a nice fresh shower - sulphur will offer to scrub your back. You wash your dishes - sulphur washes them with you. You want to go to the hot tub for a relaxing bath? Sulphur is there to have a chat with you. You hike to that gorgeous hidden spot behind the waterfall where a natural hot spring meets the glacial river - sulphur has been expecting you already. You go inland to a marvelous site where the earth is hissing and spluttering hot steam, boiling beneath you - sulphur smiles at you through the smoke and flashes its yellow teeth.
Many regions all over the world and certainly volcanic areas are rich in sulphur and smell accordingly. It's a fragrant mix between really old egg and lethal flatulence and while you might not ever learn to love it (at least I haven't so far), you can get used to it, kind of. Fortunately, it is only the hot water coming directly out of the ground that brings the sulphurous smell from hell, the cold water comes from a different source and is wonderful drinking water. I recommend you use that to make coffee, unless you like your coffee tasting faintly of fart (there, I've said it).
Like the creepy stalker it is, sulphur never really leaves you. Even if it's not there, you will feel like being watched. If you are a tourist or new to the country, you are likely to continuously sniff yourself to make sure you dont reek of sulphur. Which you don't. If you have been around for a while, you realise you never actually smell the sulphur on anyone or anything, so you don't smell of it either. Fortunately, the H2S that causes the smell is very volatile, so it won't stick to you, once you're out of the water. Poor Frankenspouse wasn't there long enough to figure this out, after a cooking himself under the smelly hot shower for 30 minutes, he then turned on the cold water to wash off the sulphurous smell, totally ruining the nice, relaxing, heart-warming effect of the hot shower.
I might not enjoy the smell itself, but it reminds me that the water is coming directly out of the earth. To me, that's pretty cool. Makes me feel more like a part of nature than in some places, where tap water smells of chloride. It's also naturally hot, up to 100°C in some places, so we do not have to waste energy to heat it up. It runs through pipes and heats people's houses. Without burning fuel, electricity, wood or energy gained from nuclear power plants. What's a little smell in comparison to that?
The smell in question is sulphur. The extent of it varies from one region to another, but sulphur is a smell that will follow you around Iceland like a creepy stalker. Up in the north west where I was staying, you turn on the tap for a nice fresh shower - sulphur will offer to scrub your back. You wash your dishes - sulphur washes them with you. You want to go to the hot tub for a relaxing bath? Sulphur is there to have a chat with you. You hike to that gorgeous hidden spot behind the waterfall where a natural hot spring meets the glacial river - sulphur has been expecting you already. You go inland to a marvelous site where the earth is hissing and spluttering hot steam, boiling beneath you - sulphur smiles at you through the smoke and flashes its yellow teeth.
Many regions all over the world and certainly volcanic areas are rich in sulphur and smell accordingly. It's a fragrant mix between really old egg and lethal flatulence and while you might not ever learn to love it (at least I haven't so far), you can get used to it, kind of. Fortunately, it is only the hot water coming directly out of the ground that brings the sulphurous smell from hell, the cold water comes from a different source and is wonderful drinking water. I recommend you use that to make coffee, unless you like your coffee tasting faintly of fart (there, I've said it).
Like the creepy stalker it is, sulphur never really leaves you. Even if it's not there, you will feel like being watched. If you are a tourist or new to the country, you are likely to continuously sniff yourself to make sure you dont reek of sulphur. Which you don't. If you have been around for a while, you realise you never actually smell the sulphur on anyone or anything, so you don't smell of it either. Fortunately, the H2S that causes the smell is very volatile, so it won't stick to you, once you're out of the water. Poor Frankenspouse wasn't there long enough to figure this out, after a cooking himself under the smelly hot shower for 30 minutes, he then turned on the cold water to wash off the sulphurous smell, totally ruining the nice, relaxing, heart-warming effect of the hot shower.
I might not enjoy the smell itself, but it reminds me that the water is coming directly out of the earth. To me, that's pretty cool. Makes me feel more like a part of nature than in some places, where tap water smells of chloride. It's also naturally hot, up to 100°C in some places, so we do not have to waste energy to heat it up. It runs through pipes and heats people's houses. Without burning fuel, electricity, wood or energy gained from nuclear power plants. What's a little smell in comparison to that?
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