Stop 6: Reykjavik (Sept. 21-25)

Our hotel in Glasgow had an interesting way of calling a taxi. After pushing a button in the lobby and noting the reference number on the display, we waited at the curb. After confirming the reference number, we were off to the airport.

Glasgow airport had the largest duty free area that we'd ever seen. The serpentine walkway seemed to go on forever. I had to take a few pictures.

Finally, the waiting room where we watched the screens for the gate announcements.

We soon realized that those shops were a good way to get rid of our last 30 pounds. We bought a small bottle and a tiny bottle of 2 very good single malts. Something to enjoy in Reykjavik.

We had 3 full days in Iceland. We decided to explore Reykjavik on foot the first day and then take a couple of bus trips on the second and third days.

Day 1: Exploring Reykjavik

After breakfast at the hotel, we walked the couple of blocks over to the ocean (North Atlantic) and then walk down to the old harbor.

It's difficult to distinguish the clouds from the glaciers. By the time that we left Reykjavik, the hills were covered in snow.

Kristen and the Sun Voyager. We didn't realize it at the time but the place where Reagan met with Gorbachev in 1986 (in the former British consulate called Höfði) was right across the street from here.

A beach covered with cairns.

Harpa Concert Hall.

We continued on around the old harbor, visited a whaling museum (mostly because it had a public bathroom) and the worked our way inland to find the original settlement which was a well documented, underground, archaeological dig.

By then, it was time for lunch so we found one of the restaurant/shopping streets and had something to eat.

This might be a good time to mention the high prices in Iceland. An Icelandic Krona is worth 88/100 of a CENT (not a dollar, a CENT). The easiest way to estimate how much you're spending is to lop off 2 zeros. Even then, the prices are incredibly high. The total for a typical dinner looks like it would buy a car. Before we left the airport, we stopped at the ATM to get $50 (approx.) worth of Krona. I pushed the button that said 50.000 (that's not a decimal - that was 50,000 krona or $500+). We operated on a cash basis most of the time that we were in Iceland.

After lunch, we explored the main shopping street, Laugavegur (our hotel was at the far end from where we had lunch). Along the way, we spotted what everyone calls "the Tall Church" up a side street (also a shopping street).

Halldrimskirkja (Lutheran church)

The interior is very plain with the exception of the organ pipes. Some of the pipes look like they belong on some ultimate hot rod.

Lief Erickson statue in front of the church.

The inscription behind the statue.

After resting up and enjoying happy hour at the hotel, we headed back down Laugavegur to explore the section that we had bypassed to go to the church and find some dinner.

Day 2:Golden Circle Tour (8 Hours)

Þingvallavatn (in Þingvellir National Park) is the largest lake in Iceland.

Closeup of the geothermal plant on the far side of the lake. Plants like this provide much of Iceland's heat, electricity and hot water.

Þingvellir National Park includes the rift valley where the American seismic plate meets the Eurasian seismic plate.

Looking out over the rift valley from the edge of the American seismic plate.. The Eurasian plate in the distance is much less pronounced

Still on the edge of the American plate.

The drowning pool: As long as everyone followed the Norse Gods and then Catholicism, there was no need for a death penalty. Once they all became Lutherans (religion was prescribed by law), a death penalty was needed. They had many creative forms of execution for the men. The women were held under water in this pool. That's ice floating in the pool.

The water flowed off the edge of the American plate down into the drowning pool.

Looking up from the rift at the edge of the American plate.

Looking across the rift.

That fall eventually feeds the drowning pool.

Lögberg (Law Rock) in Þingvellir, is where Iceland's Althing parliament was formed. Much later, they declared their independence at (what might have been) the same site.

The Prime Minister keeps a home at Lögberg for special occasions.

The flag marks where they think the Law Rock was.

Our next stop was Gullfoss (Golden Falls - lends its name to Golden Circle)

See how golden the falls are? 😄

Views of he distant glaciers from the parking lot at Gullfoss. We had some terrific Lamb Stew at the restaurant here.

The horses in Iceland are a smaller variety that goes back to the original settlers. There are currently about 80,000 horses in Iceland for a human population of about 317,000. We stopped to visit with a few of them.

The horses pretty much run wild and stay out through the Icelandic Winter. By the next day, they were starting to come together into their Winter herds and the males were working to establish their place in the herd.

Our next stop was a geyser basin (very Yellowstonelike).

Kristen at Geysir. Geysir has given its name to all geysers but it has gone quiet and rarely erupts.

Geysir pool again (without Kristen)

Strokkur has taken Geysir's place. It erupts every 10 minutes or so and can be 50 meters high. This is Strokker from a distance.

We waited patiently for Strokker to erupt but, on a cold day, we got mostly steam.

The next waterfall was Faxi.

Faxi had an interesting fish ladder.

I'm not sure what the significance was but our next stop was an Episcopal Cathedral at Skálholt. There was a tomb down stairs for a slain bishop so maybe being Episcopal was a crime (?).

Wood construction was unusual in Iceland (no trees) and they tended to burn down. We were told that most wooden churches had a spare sod building next door so they'd have a place to meet after they got careless.

This roof made me think of the mowing job that awaited me at home.

No pictures here but we passed through a town called Hveragerdi. It was located in one of the most seismically active parts of Iceland so that they could take advantage of the geothermal vents to heat their many green houses). Several miles before Hveragerdi, we had a small church pointed out to us because of its very large cemetery. It seems that they don't bury people at the churches in Hveragerdi because the coffins will boil and, at the next earthquake, come flying out of the ground.

Our final stop was a bathroom break at a former Ski Lodge. It had a lot of interesting geothermal stuff.

Day 3: South Iceland Waterfalls and Black Sand Beach (10 Hours)

There's always somebody:

On our Golden Circle tour, we'd had a group of 3 women who had each grabbed window seats and insisted on conversing with each other over the heads of the other passengers. That, combined with the fact that they were late back to the bus a couple of times put them on a lot of peoples S-list.

On this tour, we had a couple who did at least sit together but they managed to be 10-15 minutes late getting back to the bus at every single stop. The rest of the bus was ready to leave them behind.

Enough of my complaining ...

Our first stop was Skógafoss.

Skógafoss

The path to the observation platform near the top of the falls.

That's me!

Pretty peak off to the side of Skógafoss.

Out at the farthest extent of our trip we had lunch at Vik Village and then visited nearby Reynisfjara with its black sand beach and awesome sea stacks. We had no sooner left the bus when the sky opened up with a horizontal mix of sleet and hail that came at us at gale force.  We pointed our umbrellas into the wind and saw what there was to see. Just as the sleet/hail died, the wind put on one final huge burst and absolutely destroyed our umbrellas (pointed into the wind, our umbrellas collapsed down around the handles).

A picture of the surf (This was just as the gale hit - people hadn't fled yet.).

This cliff formation is similar to Devils Postpile in California. A matrix of hexagonal lava columns. Notice how many people have taken shelter in the lee of the cliff.

These sea stacks are what's left of vertical lava tubes. The softer material eroded leaving the hard lava. These, and other sea stacks were also visible from Vik Village (where we had lunch). This was right at about the time that the gale gave its last gasp and destroyed our umbrellas.

Sea stacks, cliff and beach from a distance. Safe for people to be out now.

Interesting rocks off in the other direction. The hole is called he door (in Icelandic of course - Með?)

Sheep above Reynisfjara. Iceland has about 800,000 sheep (323,000 humans). They pretty much roam free but need to be brought indoors for the Winter. We did see some of the first snows while we were there so I guess it was time to gather the sheep. High up this very steep hill, we could see the dogs at work.

I obviously took this photo from the bus. It must have been because the colors were so unusual on this hill.

We next stopped at Skaftafell Nature Preserve where we walked out to Falljökull glacial tongue (part of Europe's largest glacier, Vatnajokull).

Falljökull glacial tongue.

I think that's a waterfall at the far side.

The melt flows through this iceberg covered lake.

Taken from the bus: We saw many of these farm buildings that were built back into the cliffs.

Our final stop was Seljalandsfoss, a waterfall that you can walk behind (if you don't mind getting wet).

Seljalandsfoss and its neighbors from a distance.

Closer up.

Behind the falls (at least this was as far behind the falls that I got - did I mention that it was wet?)

The falls from the other side.

UPDATE (only because I didn't think of it it earlier): All around Southern Iceland, we saw large flocks of swans. We were told that they were waiting for the winds to change so that they would be helped along on their way to Britain. In the past, they've put trackers on some of the swans. With a favorable wind, they can make it to Liverpool in 8-10 hours,

-JC-