Iceland Trip--July 21 - August 1, 2013

Getting there and first stop:

When I read a travel tip about Iceland in the Denver Post and remembered how much some Pueblo friends had enjoyed their trip to Iceland, I started considering it seriously instead of Scotland.  Also, since Icelandair allows no extra charge stops of up to seven days, I might go through there if I go to Scotland or the Scandinavian countries eventually.  I wanted to see how well the seven hour nonstop from Denver went. The flight left Denver at 5:30 pm  and arrived in Iceland at 6:30 am the next day.  I actually got some sleep and didn't feel all that bad once there.  Icelandair flights from all over the US converged about the same time, and we met the trip leader, Jens and the motor coach driver, Ole.  Both these gentlemen proved to be top-notch at their respective jobs, adding to the overall enjoyment of this excellent trip.  It was a short drive to our hotel to enjoy breakfast and more important, coffee/tea (not surprising Icelanders love their excellent and widely available coffee) before heading out to explore close-by attractions.  The land in the airport area is completely covered with lava, which is heavily covered with lichens and mosses.  Weather was cool and misty as I had expected and packed Colorado hiking gear for this trip.

Our first stop on the coast line tour allowed us to straddle Europe and North America at the same time!  The rift between those tectonic plates runs more or less longitudinally through Iceland, accounting for all the volcanic and related activity.   We hiked around the rift before walking along a high cliff on the coast with a light house.

Later we went to the famous Blue Lagoon, a series of large, warm pools with minerals and azure blue water. It was formed from waste water from the adjacent power plant that utilizes the superheated water underground in that area.  The Blue Lagoon is behind this picture of the hotel and power plant.  I didn't have my camera with me when we went for our dip, which was so relaxing and perfect after the flight.   Various compounds made from the minerals and blue mud with much touted qualities are sold at the gift shop.  A sample I tried in the pool was a bit too gritty for me.

Day trips from Borgarnes:

We spent three nights at Hotel Borgarnes.  The public swimming pool, of which there are many in Iceland, was about ½ mile from the hotel, so I was able to get in the laps a couple of mornings before breakfast.  I had read about the many outdoor pools heated with super heated water from those geothermal features and packed the swim fins.  Below is the view from my hotel room.

On the way to Borgarnes we visited a fishing village where we had a lecture on the fishing industry, toured a fish plant (exceedingly clean and not very fishy smelling, happily), and were hosted in a local home to a midmorning coffee/tea.  Tea is served English style with rich milk from Icelandic dairy cows--delicious.  The home appeared much like a ranch style with a Scandinavian flair.  The great room opened onto a patio with lush green grass and flower area.  All over Iceland flowers are greatly appreciated.  Driving through sparsely populated countryside, we saw large, well-maintained farms completely out of sight of neighboring farms.  Great fields of grass pastured sheep and horses or had been mowed and baled for winter forage.  Jens said the animals must be fed this baled grass from mid-September to as late as May some years.

Later we visited an agricultural college and had a lecture on the country’s agricultural before touring the farm. One cow at a time eagerly entered the stall and was hooked automatically to a high tech milking machine.  I finally had a chance to get a picture of Icelandic horses close up.  There are 320,000 people in Iceland and 100,000 horses!  The breed goes all the way back to the settlement of the 9^th century and is kept pure by strict rules on not allowing any horse in from outside Iceland, even one from Iceland if it has traveled away.

The next day a Lutheran pastor gave a presentation on a famous saga writer on the very grounds he walked.  He was an interesting and handsome old gentleman—very dramatic and dressed to the nines!  Throughout Iceland Lutheran churches are beautiful buildings, often strikingly so, and perfectly maintained.  Many farms have a private small church, and its history may go back to saga times, even though the building itself has been reconstructed on the same location.  The larger towns each have a central grand cathedral.  According to Jens, the government supports church maintenance, partly for historic and cultural reasons.

Finally, that afternoon we got to walk more along a prolific hot spring and a long passage of cascading waterfalls along a rushing river, leading to a greater waterfall and a viewing cliff high above.  During some of the driving, Jens would relate sagas or appropriate information on recent events.  The book, “Iceland:  Land of the Sagas”, had prepared me a little for these often shocking and brutal tales.  They also have a large dose of mystical and supernatural characters and events.  Saga scholars cannot tell which parts are fantasy and which are real, but all agree that the tales contain large bases in fact. 

The last day trip out of Borgarnes was to a west coast fishing village.  The weather was so beautiful, sunny and in the 70s, that most Icelanders we met remarked on how lucky we were, but I was sorry not to have packed shorts.   A boat ride through tiny islands, many of them teaming with nesting birds, was made even more enjoyable by the Captain’s interesting accounts in a strikingly beautiful voice and excellent English.  The picture below of the island with a vertical split had a gruesome story.  Criminals were hung in the split as a warning and their body left to the elements and birds to eventually fall in the sea. 

After lunch there was time for strolling through the village before another drive through farm country to a shark meat drying operation.  Since everyone who tasted it said it was not especially good, I was not tempted.  This farm had several friendly horses, one of a color combination I had never seen.  The farmer showed us how to pick long bunches of grass to feed them.  They were in a small enclosure with most of that grass grazed down, so they were eager to grab a bite on the other side from us.  These horses are very gentle and curious, behaving just like the pets they appear to be. 

That evening a mezzo with her accompanist from a local college sang Icelandic songs, and a group of traditional dancers exhibited delightful costumes along with their excellent stepping.  The last dance had them inviting audience members to participate in an easy but energetic finale.  My older gentleman partner managed to get me through it without much foot tripping on my part.  Great fun!  

Akureyri and outings from there

The drive to Akureyri from Borgarnes was through more beautiful farm country, a wide valley overlooked by many mountains.  Throughout Iceland, homes and buildings are immaculately maintained.  Fields were full of horses, sheep and bales.  Occasionally, a herd of dairy cattle appeared.  I did not see any cattle that looked as if they were for beef, and beef was never on our menus.  We stopped for lunch in a quaint village and later stopped at a restored 18^th century farmstead.  All the rooms were connected, including workshops, and partly underground with thick grass roofs. 

Akureyri is the second largest city in Iceland, right on a fjord coming in from the northern coast.  Our hotel was downtown and not too far from water’s edge.  A steep hill, with a large cathedral about half-way up was the way to the public pool.  Walking to the top early two mornings was quite a chore but worth it to enjoy the warm outdoor pool.  Our first day in Akureyri consisted of lectures on geography, flora, and birds of Iceland followed by a driving tour and sightseeing on our own.  Some of us left the bus at the botanical gardens, surprisingly lush and varied.

That evening we were treated to a modern day folk singer in a small historic church.  He had even left a wedding to serenade us for awhile before returning to the festivities.  Perhaps this illustrates how welcoming Icelanders are to tourists or  how seriously business is practiced-- maybe both.  No tourist attraction, no matter how small and obscure, was without a gift shop.  The thing I appreciated most was the shops did not carry all the same merchandise and usually had some items related to the attraction.

The next day took us high above Akureyri for a photo op before driving about 60 miles over a mountain pass to the coast for whale watching.  Before our boat trip, we visited the whale museum in Husavik.  This museum was excellent, as was strolling around the harbor.  The day was quite windy with a little intermittent rain, so I was really cold in spite of several layers topped by the boat supplied long raincoat.  We did see humpback and minke whales, as well as a couple of dolphins.  By the time we returned to land and drove back over gorgeous mountains, I was not in the mood for searching out a restaurant and chatting for two or more hours.  (This was one of the dinner on our own evenings.)  So I sneaked off to the much maligned Subway near our hotel and snuck back with a sandwich hidden in my bag to enjoy in my room before an early night.

Our last day out of Akureyri took us over some of the same lovely mountains and farm scenery to Lake Mvatin, famous area of volcanic and related activity.  Our first stop was a series of circular trails below an area of large lava spikes surrounded by stunted trees and vegetation.  Next was a stop at a large, wide water fall and path down along the river filled with cascades and rapids.  A later drive after close up looks at the very large lake took us to a series of craters covered with grass and then an area of bubbly black mud, steamers, and barren copper infused land.  After returning to Akureyri, we boarded an airplane and flew to Reykjavik.  The flight was only 40 minutes, but the flight attendant managed to serve coffee and other drinks.  Icelanders shares a similarity to Alaskans in often using air travel to cover larger distances.  My understanding was that roads were few and not so great before more tourism of recent years.

Reykjavik and final outings 

After a bus tour of Reykjavik, we drove to the outskirts of the city to wander through a restored 19^th century village.  Besides the usual friendly and curious horses was a cat that accompanied us throughout our visit.  The homes were very familiar to me, as my maternal grandparents’ home was much the same (but not so well maintained), without electricity or indoor plumbing until the early 50s.  Later we were dropped off at the huge cathedral overlooking the city at its highest point and walked back to the hotel for lunch and a free afternoon.  I was interested in buying a jacket labeled 66 North, referring to Iceland’s latitude.  Alas, shops in the center of Reykjavik were much too pricey for me.  But upon return I found exactly what I wanted at sierratradingpost.com for less than half the price.

That evening we drove to another high hill with a most interesting building.  It had been a power plant but now houses a multipurpose entertainment facility.  The building’s large circular center is surrounded by three large cylinders, creatively used.  We went into the one with a wax works illustrating Iceland’s early history.  I recalled a television piece about the remarkable acoustics in another of the cylinders made into a recording studio.  On top of it all is a restaurant, meeting rooms, and a balcony all around the floor below the restaurant.

The next day we drove to the power plant that replaced the one we visited the night before.  It supplies all the electricity for Reykjavik and any industry in the region.  The visitor center part is in an impressive tall building with three floors of information in various media forms about the plant.  Much of the exterior is glass fronting a large, tall foyer where a guide introduced to the exhibits.  A restaurant, snack bar and gift shop occupy much of the entrance.  Of course, the plant itself is simply awesome, making use of the superheated underground water in the area.

Visiting the grandest of waterfalls, actually two, was a challenge due to high winds and a little rain.  But it was worth every bit of discomfort.

We next visited more geothermal features.  Our word for geyser comes from this location.  The original Geyser is rarely active now, but one close by goes off every 10 minutes or less.  None of these can compete with Old Faithful, however.  

Later we drove to the truly awesome site of Iceland's Althink, perhaps western Europe's first parliament, in the southern part of Iceland.  The site where all Icelanders met each year in the middle ages to elect the law speaker and hear the law recited every year, along with holding a type of court to hear disputes, and various festivities with markets is where the rift forms a great, black cliff above a grassy plateau.  "The Game of Thrones" wall holding off winter was filmed here, and one can certainly see why.

Our final morning in Iceland had nothing scheduled,  so I had time to get in a last swim at the local pool.  I walked a much longer distance here, but it was interesting to see more of Reykjavik.  A large pond and park on the way, filled with water fowl, was just a few blocks from the hotel.  Then I passes a large, old cemetery and lovely homes before walking into more working class neighborhoods with apartment buildings.  After lunch it was on to the airport and farewell to Iceland, a truly gorgeous and interesting country.