The Blue Lagoon

We visited the village of Hveragerði which took the brunt of a 6.3 Richter earthquake on May 29, 2008. Here they had pictures of the scene, see the crack formed by the quake, and a short video of bottles falling in a store. We had the chance to feel what the earthquake felt like. Then Siggy treated us to cake with our group picture on it.

Cake with our Ice Cave Picture

Next stop was the Hellisheidi Geothermal plant. This plant uses the thermal features of this region to supply 303 MW of electricity and 130 MW of hot water, heating 40% of Reyjavik. One fourth of Iceland is volcanic and they experience an eruption about every four years.The wells here go down about 2 to 3 thousand meters. The water is to caustic to use directly so they use heat exchangers to create steam for the turbines and heat water. The hot water is piped through insulated pipes27 Km to Reyjavik only losing about 2 degrees Celsius. Iceland gets 30% of its power 23rdfrom geothermal and 70% from hydroelectric.

Hellisheidi Geothermal Plant

In the town of Grindavik, we rode ATVs along the Ocean shore to a lighthouse and several ship wrecks. Our guide was a member of the search and rescue team here. They have rescued over 250 sailors since 1931. The rescue in 1931 involved a ship which lost steering and crashed into the rocks. They used a gun to shoot a line to the ship, then rigged a double line to the ship so they could pull a chair out to the ship. They pulled the men in one at a time. Twenty minutes after pulling the Captain to shore the ship sank. 

Riding our ATVs along the coast

We finished our day at the Blue Lagoon bathing in the hot waters. I was expecting a natural lagoon, but it was created from a small natural lake filled with water from the nearby geothermal electric plant and the water was green. But we did enjoy the waters.

The Blue Lagoon

Summary of the trip: 

Despite the cold, windy weather, we really enjoyed this trip. Iceland is another country with huge variety of scenery in a small country: seasides, thermal areas, mountains, waterfalls, and glaciers. For lovers of nature this is an ideal place. The people were also delightful, everyone was friendly and most speak English. We also enjoyed our small group of travelers, especially happy hour every night. Our biggest complaint was the prices: $14 beers and $24 hamburgers. 

If you want more pictures, the narrated video for this trip is on youtube.

South Iceland

We woke up to partly cloudy skies, but a fierce wind. We traveled along the current seacoast with sea cliffs above us, land that has risen above the sea. First stop was Seljalanfoss waterfall. It was interesting to hike behind this waterfall. Nearby we watched waterfalls falling up because the wind was so fierce.

Behind Seljalanfoss

Soon we saw Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which had erupted for 39 days in April, 2010 disrupting air traffic to Europe.  Then we came to Skógafoss, the forest waterfall. Next to the falls was a huge staircase leading to the top of the falls. Yes, I had to take the challenge and see the view from the top. We continued on to Reynisfjala, the Black Beach. The rock formations here are very intriguing: caves, basalt columns, and patterns of rock everywhere including several spires in the water. The waves were rolling in steadily. 

Basalt columns on Reynisfjala

After a trout lunch at a nearby restaurant, we headed to our highlight of the day, a super truck ride to the glacier. Our local guide explained the dangers of volcanoes in the area. The volcano begins to melt the ice into water, as the water collects in the volcano, it begins to create steam and eventually explodes through the glacier and floods at rates of 600K cubic feet per second causing a tsunami out to the sea destroying everything in its path. This last happened here in 1918 producing a wave 300 feet high. They expect another within the next 20 years. We traveled through a barren field of pulverized lava as we approached the Mýrdalsjökull Glacier. The face of the glacier is 600 to 800 years old. We explored a ice cave that was absolutely fabulous. Everything was eerie with the clouds, ash, ice, and green moss on the hills. Our last stop was Dyrhólae with views of the sea cliffs. We were hoping to see puffins, but they weren't there, probably because of the wind.

The Golden Circle

We flew from Akureyri to Rekjavik turning a 6 hour drive into a 40 minute flight. The beauty of the trip is that it was like flying 40 years ago. We didn't have to go through any security or baggage inspection, we just got on the plane. 

Thingvellir drowning spot

Then we started the Golden Circle. The first stop was the historic site of Thingvellir. This central location was the site of Iceland's original Parliament in 930. The 36 tribal leaders would create laws in a circle next to the river while the people could listen from the hill above the river. This is also where judgement would be made. If death was the sentence men would be beheaded, unmarried women who had babies would be drowned in the river. The people would also celebrate here in the shelter of the cliffs. The cliffs are formed by the mid Atlantic ridge.

We stopped at a greenhouse farm, which specializes in cut flowers. Why here? Because of 3 good neighbors: hot water to heat, cold water, and pumice from the nearby volcano, a light soil which is easy for the roots. The fertilizer is mixed in with the water and is fed to each plant by computer. Because of the high cost of electricity, they only sell cut flowers within Iceland, protected by a tariff against foreign competition. But the flowers are shipped direct and always are in water, so they last for several weeks.

Geysir area

Our next stop was Geysir. This was the original geyser from which all others are named. Discovered in 1274, it erupted until a recent earthquake about 25 years ago.  But the neighboring Strokkur geyser erupts every 10 minutes about 20 meters high.

Strokkur Geyser

The last stop was Gullfoss, the Golden Falls a tiered falls of 32 meters. It reminded us of a small Victoria Falls as it falls into a 70 meter canyon.

Gulfoss

We stayed at the Hotel Selfoss, which had a fabulous buffet dinner and the cheapest glasses of wine we've had on the trip. This rated as the best hotel on the trip in my book. 

Whale Watching

We headed to the village of Dalvik to go whale watching. We donned a water proof parka over our jackets and boarded an old fishing trawler into the Eyjafjörðu fjord. As we approached an island in the fjord, we began seeing the spouts of whales, often seeing two or three at a time. We got close enough to catch a lot of whale tails as they dove deep. This continued for over an hour with over 20 sightings.Then we headed back to shore, but stopped to fish for cod and paddock for a half hour. I didn't catch anything, but overall we caught about 10 fish. They barbecued the fish while we undressed. Then we stopped for fish soup, salad and bread at a restaurant run by the captains daughter.

Fishing for Cod

We returned to town, then our Sigrún, our guide, invited us to her house for drinks. She has a beautiful house filled with artwork. Siggy has been a journalist for most of her life. She has a PhD in journalism from Minnesota, and just retired from teaching at the local university (as required by law). She and her husband both studied to become tourist guides. 

Lake Myvatn

Goðafoss

We woke to rain and winds, but the weather improved over the course of the day. This has been the coldest May in 100 years in the wettest May in 20 years. Goðafoss, the water falls of the Gods is named  such because a leader threw his statues of Norse gods into the falls upon the adoption of Christianity.

We're traveling around Lake Mývatn, a lake formed 2300 years ago when lava dammed this area fed by springs. The lake is only two to three meters deep. First, we went to have Hverir which looks like Yellowstone National Park with fumaroles steaming up from the ground and bubbling mud pots. The mid-Atlantic ridge is easily seen here. Iceland was pushed up from the sea by the collision of the American and European plates. 

Dimmuborgir

This was followed Dimmuborgir with its Black Castle lava formations. After lunch we saw the pseudo craters formed by steam escaping from the lava, then exploding creating the crater. 

After leaving the lake we stopped at Laufás turf house, a wealthy vicarage from 1853-1882. A complex of connected rooms which served a community of 10 to 20 people and the local church next to it. On the way back to Akureyri, we stopped at Siggy's summer house, which she shares with her brothers and sisters. A cute cottage on the Fjord. That evening we had a home hosted dinner with Thoririn and Marguarite. Thoririn is the uncle of our guide, Siggy. They fixed a delicious cod dinner and then surprised us when they sang some local tunes on guitar.

Travel to Akureyri

We woke up to new snow on the mountains around us, 38 degrees, wind, and sun. Today we're traveling near the coast to get to northern Iceland. Our first stop was at Eiriksstadir museum. This is a replica of a Viking home near where Eric the Red, father of Leif Erikson, lived. We listened to a fascinating story teller who told us the story of the Settlement of Greenland and Vinland (Labrador) by the Vikings. All documented in the Journel of Settlement.He was great at telling jokes as he went along.

We stopped at a horse farm for lunch and a horse show. They raise Icelandic horses, a pure breed.The breed has a unique gait, called tilt, each hoof hits the ground separately, removing all bounce for the rider, which they demonstrated by going around the track with a glass of beer without spilling a drop. The horse can also do four other gaits: the trot, gallop, walk and flying pace. The latter has all hoofs off the ground on every second step. We had a chance to see the horses in their stables afterwards.

On the road again, we traversed several passes with snow just above us as went between fjords. We stopped briefly at a sod church built in 1834, one of the many farm churches in the country.

Vídimýrarkirju Sod Church

Our hotel in Akureyri is the Icelandair Akureyri Hotel, right in the center of town and very nice. Akureyri is the third largest city in Iceland with 30,000 inhabitants and home to our guide.

Snaefellsnes Penninsula

We traveled around the Snaefellsnes Penninsula today. The wind was down and the clear except for occasional showers. Our first stop was a beach where some seals were sunning themselves and the Northern Gannet was nesting. Then we hiked to the base of Bjarnarfoss a beautiful waterfall.

Bjarnarfoss

At Anarstapi village we hiked along the cliffs with Common Guillenots nesting. There were a number of blow holes and arches along the path. The best was called Guard Gate. Our hike ended at a sculpture, called the God of Snaefal.

Guard Gate

We had a fish soup lunch at Hellnar in a tiny restaurant. I hiked the trail a little ways and the sun was shining bright on Snaefellsjokul, literally “snow mountain glacier”. Further down the road was the visitor center for this national park and a view of the lava formation Malarrif.

Snaefellsjokul in background

On to black pebble beach Djupalonssandur with the pieces of a shipwreck trawler still remaining. Rounded pebbles covered the beach from the strong surf.surf. We drove the bus into the cone of Holanplar volcano. On the way home we stopped at the Shark Museum to snack on shark. The Greenland shark is the raw material, but its raw meat is toxic because of the amount of urine in the meat that serves as antifreeze for the Shark. They have to let the Shark meat ferment for 6 to 10 days and then let it air dry for 3-4 months to remove the toxin. Shark is considered a snack food, we ate it in a shot glass filled with alcohol. 

Greenland Sharks

Road to Stykkisholmar

Our first stop was to a wool dyer, she uses natural material to dye the wool:

• leaves and grass for brown 
• rhubarb and lupine leaves for yellow 
• onion for orange
• soaking with copper powder and ammonia turns the yellow green. 
• The root of Icelandic Moss mixed with cow urine for weeks (or ammonia) produces red 
• Berry makes black. 
• Blue requires indigo from India. 
• To get green start with yellow yarn and then soak in indigo for 5 minutes when exposed to oxygen it turns dark green.

Outside her home we saw a double waterfall. But she asked whether the waterfall was "on". At the base of the waterfall is a hydroelectric plant. If it is running, they shut off the waterfall by having the water flow through pipes to the plant. Apparently, this is quite common in Iceland and the source of some controversy as they convert waterfalls for hydroelectricity. 

Waterfall and its Hydroelectric Plant

Our next stop was the Settlement Center which provided the story of the first 90 years of the settling of Iceland. The story is well known because it was written down long ago in the Book of Settlement. While today the island has few trees (only 1.2% of the land), when Iceland was settled they could only travel the coast and rivers because it was covered with trees and bushes. The settler's ships could sail from Norway in just seven days with just the aid of the sun. Iceland was first settled in 874.

View from Helgafel Mountain

Our last stop was Helgafel mountain, the holy mountain. The mountain is mentioned in the Book of Settlements and people were believed to come here after their death. The wind was howling over 50 mph, but most of the group climbed the 250 feet to the top. The view at the top was great, but we had difficulty just standing with the wind. A few fell on the way down when the wind threw them off balance. At the bottom we viewed the community church built in 1903. There are over 300 churches in Iceland, but most of them are similar to this one - a small church for the local community, where the primary celebrations are Christmas, Easter, Baptisms, Weddings, and Funerals.

Interesting Things about Iceland

• The population of Iceland is 340,000 people. 
• 10% of Iceland is covered by glaciers. 
• The Icelandic language is based on the Old Norse language used by the Vikings.
• When a new word is needed for something more modern, a committee creates it combining old words.
• The Icelanders have no last names, your second name is created by saying your the son or daughter of your father's first name. 
• Over 90% of households are furnished hot water from the underground thermal features.
• The average salary here is 6800/mo versus $4709 in the U.S. A teacher here makes 5400/mo while a plumber makes 9000/mo.
• But alcohol costs 2X what is does in the U.S. (A glass of beer is $14, a glass of wine is $13, unless you purchase it during happy hour at our hotels when it is 2 for 1.) 
• Clothes are 3X the U.S. cost, but utilities are 20% lower because of all the hydroelectric and geothermal power. Rent is about 33% more.
• Mandatory retirement age is 70, retirement pension income averages $50,000/yr

Exploring Reykjavik

We woke up to a rainy, windy day. Today we visited the Ocean Cluster a shared office that allows businesses to innovate together  on Ocean products. When Iceland gained home rule in 1904 there were 100,000 people here, mostly farmers. In 1917 the harbor was built and the first trawlers which were more efficient fishing boats started plying in the waters. At that time most of the fish were salted and sent to the Southern Europe. The Good Force was Iceland's first passenger ship ending Iceland's isolation. It sailed from 1920 to 1968. The first freezer ships came in 1936. At the start of WWII, Iceland declared itself neutral, but in May 1940 warships were outside the harbor, 4 policemen were sent on a coast guard vessel to investigate. The British had invaded, Iceland began a profitable period of shipping fish to England. From 1950 to 1975 Iceland began expanding their exclusive fishing zone from 4 to 7 to 50 and then to 200 miles.This led to the Cod Wars with Britain. Coast Guard ships would cut the nets of Britain's fishing ships and British war ships would ram the Coast Guard ships, whose skippers became local heroes. Eventually the Americans helped end the war.

Net Scissors in the Cod Wars

In 1975 the Maritime Institute warned that the fish stock was rapidly declining. At the time, 400 million tons of cod were harvested yearly. In 1984 a quota system was established based on the estimated Cod stock. Each vessel got a quota based on past catches. The annual quota started at 150M tons rising slowly to 260M tons today. The system is highly controversial highly successful at saving the fisheries but at the toll of lost jobs and industry consolidation .

The cluster has studied the industry. With modern vessels the catch that took 10 ships and 300 men can be done by 1 ship and 10 men. Fifty percent of the fish industry jobs have been lost since 1985. New jobs have replaced them in shipping companies, process equipment companies and new products from fish using the skin, bones and livers. Creams, oils, candy, medicines or fish skin to repair burns and wounds,even 800 Cod Skin lamps. The jobs are more varied and unemployment is only 2%.

Cod Skin Lamp

We hurried to catch the bus to go the Iceland National Museum which explained the history of Iceland from its settling in 874 AD until the present times. It's population was never very large and mostly ruled from Denmark. The museum has artifacts from burial sites, the Catholic and Lutheran religious traditions, and the tools of the trades through the ages. It only took about an hour to tour.

After a quick lunch, we toured the Icelandic Parliament. Iceland's first Parliament was held around 930, the oldest in the world. The current building was built in 1880 and the roof has a Danish crown on top. Today there is one house of 63 members. We toured the chambers and heard the stories about the art decorating the rooms and the rise in women members over recent years.

Iceland's Parliament

The wind was still blowing and the skies raining so we took the bus back to our hotel rather than walking downtown. One of the ladies almost fell when a gust of wind grabbed her. Dinner was at the Brasserie Askur about a block from the hotel, which had chicken wings, hamburgers and traditional lamb dishes.

Reykjavik

Harpa Concert Hall

If you prefer watching a video to reading, the narrated video of this trip is on youtube.

We flew from New York to Iceland on a Delta flight that only took 4 and a half hours and upon arrival at 6:30 am we headed into town to go to breakfast. First impressions of the countryside, lots of grass and lava with almost no trees. Where have we landed? Our rooms at the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica actually were ready so we got to have a nap and before heading into Reykjavik. The hotel was about 2 miles from downtown. Easy bus rides into town, but the weather would prove a deterrent over the next few days. The day was beautiful with sun. We touring with Overseas Adventure on their Untamed Iceland Tour.  After taking the bus into town we stopped at the prime minister’s house and then to the Harpa Concert Hall which is brand new, built in 2011 The first thing you notice is that the building appears to be made of crystals. The Chinese crystal on the outside of the building actually had to be installed twice because of problems with the weather.  Then we walked the downtown, stopping at the City hall, Parliament Building and Hallgrinskirkja Lutheran church. The church has the appearance of a pipe organ from the outside. Inside was a pipe organ with 5275 pipes. That night we had dinner at the hotel: the aperitif was a mini-roast beef sandwich, mail course a fish with a delicious avocado dressing and an oatmeal dessert.

Hallgrinskirkja Lutheran Church