Iceland Blog

Iceland Blog

Day 1

Our small group of 16 - 2 Canadians, 2 Frogs, 2 Poms, 2 Poles, 2 Koreans, a Yank and 5 Australians (funny how Aussies always make up about a third of these tour groups) - set off from Reykjavik on what was to be a brilliant first day. Our tour guide was the delightful Belgian Annie (a youthful 69), who, in her quaint French-accented English, all day long shared with us her knowledge of the history and geology of Iceland and her passion for the landscape and people. The weather was glorious - after weeks of foul weather with no sun we had been blessed with perfect touring conditions. May it last the week! (Editor's note: it didn't.)

From Reykjavik we travelled south through different landscapes, all strange and exotic. At first the terrain looked barren, rocky and lunar (though green with mosses and grass), sometimes with steam escaping from the rocks. You could never forget that the land was volcanic. 

Steam escaping from the rocky ground. They pipe this into the city to heat the houses.

Following Route 1 along the southern coast, we travelled through fertile farmland fed by glacial rivers. We made a couple of stops at some beautiful waterfalls before stopping at a farm at the base of the famous Eyjafjallajökull volcano (that's easy for you to say) which erupted in April 2010 and crippled the world's airlines. The people who own the farm saw a once in a lifetime opportunity. They opened a visitors centre that shows guests a 20-minute film depicting and explaining the spectacular event (at $7.50 per person) as well as selling all kinds of souvenirs at inflated prices. Good on them, they could milk this for years! 

A typical waterfall along the way.

It was then on to Skógar to view an awe-inspiring waterfall with the brightest,  most colourful rainbow at its base that I have ever seen. You could climb 370 steps to the top to view the falls from above, but of course His Laziness preferred to see it from below. 

How´s that for a rainbow? Can you see the second?

Skógar is a former school community and is known for its excellent folk museum that contains all sorts of household objects, tools and equipment depicting the life and customs of the southern Icelanders from the arrival of the Vikings in the 9th century to the early twentieth century. They also had a number of typical old turf-covered buildings which you could enter and get a good impression of how hard life must have been in times past.

Typical turf house. Apparently they weren´t heated in winter for fear of fires. Must´ve been bloody cold in winter!

Inside. Vey intimate.

The sleeping quarters were in a separate building.

After this the really spectacular scenery started. We drove past some glaciers then stopped at a couple of places along the coastline to view the vertiginous Reynisdrangar cliffs, the strange and beautiful rock formations, the black sand beaches and the "millions of flocking birds". Unfortunately the latter had all flocked off to Europe on migration, leaving only a few puffins and wild geese who were obviously too lazy to bother. We ended the day at our hotel in the Vik area, not far from the beach. A lovely three-course communal meal ended a long, tiring but enjoyable first day. 

A very lazy puffin who was not into migrating

Day 2

A second day of awesome sights. Again the weather was great, though a bit cooler (10-12 degrees) and cloudier than the day before. We began the day by driving to Skatafell National park, through huge mossy, then  black and barren  plains devastated by lava and flooding from frequent volcanic eruptions. Throughout the day we passed several enormous glaciers, waterfalls and tall mountains, including Vatnajökull, the largest ice-cap in Iceland. It was all so primeval, I kept expecting a dinosaur to come trundling out from behind the next mountain! 

 

A devastated plain with a glacier in the background

The last stop, and highlight of the day, was the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon where aqua-coloured icebergs float and bump into each other in the still waters at the glacier's mouth. (The lagoon has been used in several Hollywood movies, including the James Bond film Die Another Day.) The afternoon's activities finished with an optional amphibian boat tour (which we all did) among the floating icebergs. Only during our two-hour drive back to the hotel did it finally start to rain. It was to continue for the rest of the tour.

The awesome Jökulsarlon Glacier

Our "boat"

Icebergs breaking off the glacier

Striped icebergs!

Oue guide explains about icebergs by showing us a baby one.

Day 3

A disappointing day in all respects. Firstly, the weather was terrible (it was grey, misty and drizzly all day) and the sightseeing was not up to the standard of the days before. We took off early to catch a ferry to Haimaey, chief of the Westman Islands, a group of 15 islands situated off the south coast of Iceland. Haimaey, home to a small fishing village, has four adjoining sections, all produced by volcanic eruptions at various times in history. The north-easterly part was formed by a massive 5-month lava discharge in 1973 that buried part of the village and threatened to close the harbour. They refer to this section as the "Pompeii of the North" which they are just now starting to excavate. The magnificent ocean cliffs that greet you as you enter the harbour are home to millions of nesting birds. Unfortunately most were off soaking up the sun on the French Riveria when we arrived. Just a few kittiwakes, gulls and the odd pair of terns were to be seen. (Did you know that male and female terns mate for life? Just shows that one good tern deserves another.)

The fishing village on Haimaey. Note the lava in the foreground that threatened to close the harbour in 1973.

Our bus in the crater of the last volcanic eruption on Haimaey.

A baby kittiwake

A group of flocking kittiwakes

All this was quite scenic and very interesting and it would have been great if we could have returned on the 2.30 ferry, but no, they left us there till the 5.30 ferry for "some extra time to explore the island". There was nothing more to explore! Some of the younger well-heeled members of the group did a "ribsafari" tour around the island in a high-speed open boat, exploring the cliffs and the many caves at the base of the cliffs, but at $75 for an hour's ride Dorrie the Jew chose the gratis "footsafari" tour. Most of us just aimlessly strolled around, eating and drinking as we went. A total waste of time. Because of the late return of the ferry and a two-hour drive to the next overnight stop, we didn't reach our hotel till 8 pm, making for an almost 12-hour day. Too long and too boring, was the general consensus of opinion. The magnificent three-course meal provided by the hotel, however, helped lift our sagging spirits somewhat. 

Day 4 

Awesome sights, awful weather. The day was supposed to have started with an optional tour to a stud farm to see how the horses were bred and trained, followed by an inspection of a greenhouse (most of Iceland's fruit and vegetables are cultivated in greenhouses), however no one wanted to be saddled with the horse tour and the prospect of sweltering in a hothouse left us cold, so we got straight into the official program: The Golden Circle. No, not a pineapple farm, but the three "must-see" attractions close to Reykjavik. The first was the Geysir Geothermal Area, where hot springs and mud pools bubble and a geyser spouts 30 metres high every ten minutes (spectacular!); the second was the thundering Gullfoss, or Golden Waterfall (like a mini Niagara Falls); and the third was the Thingvellir National Park, site of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge where the North American and European tectonic plates meet. The continental drift between the plates can be clearly seen in the cracks or faults that traverse the region, the biggest one, Almannagjá, being a veritable canyon. It is a truly awesome site which we would loved to have checked out fully on foot. The pouring rain put paid to this unfortunately. 

The spouting geyser

The Golden Waterfall

The fault line of the Thingvellir National Park from the air.

So that was southern Iceland in four days. Not enough time to do it justice of course but enough to give you an idea of the forces of nature that have shaped (and are still shaping) the land. I was eager to see more. Maybe one day I'll return and check out the northern part. Watch this space..

Postscript 

At the end of my Iceland visit I had a whole day to fill before my flight to Hamburg that night (at 45 minutes after midnight!) Since the weather was glorious - blue skies, sunshine, 15 degree temperature - I decided to go to the mother of all Icelandic tourist attractions: the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa about 40 minutes away from Reykjavik. The waters are rich in minerals like silica and sulphur and are reputed to heal all kinds of skin diseases and other ailments. To access the pools you have to pay a substantial entrance fee, hire a towel and  bathrobe, and then, horror of horrors, you have to take a communal shower. The thought of exposing myself to other guys - something I hadn't done in 50 years - filled me with some trepidation but no one pointed or giggled so it was less painful than I feared. It was all worth it. The pleasantly heated pools were pure bliss. I wanted to get a massage as well, as my neck and shoulders were particularly knotted after weeks of sitting in buses and planes. They managed to slot me in almost immediately and for 30 minutes I was oiled, kneaded and pummelled by a blond Nordic god (would've preferred a goddess) whilst floating on a mat on the warm sulphuric waters. This put me in a relaxed state for the next couple of hours as I waded around the pool, soaking up the warm sunshine and stopping now and then for a refreshing glass of beer. If heaven is like this I'm going to turn religious! It was a fitting end to my Iceland adventure, don't you think?

Beautiful, no?