Iceland
No, not the frozen food emporium, but the "Land of Fire and Ice"!
Might seem a bit of an extreme way to beat the baking temperatures at home, but this trip has actually been in the planning for the past 18 months. Dad was stationed here during the war and used to tell us all about it - frequently and at great length! When he died we had a little bit of money left over from the budget for his care home fees, so we thought it would be a fitting way to remember him by arranging this holiday.
Flew into Keflavik Airport where it was a balmy 14°C and what better way to start the holiday than a visit to the "blue lagoon", one of the most popular tourist spots on the island. The water is at 38°C, heated by the geothermal effect of the neighbouring volcano. The beer and face mask are not compulsory but it would have been rude to refuse, wouldn't it?
We are staying overnight at a very nice hotel in Reykjavik, right on the waterfront and near 2 noted landmarks - the Hofn House where Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev held there surprise summit which signalled the beginning of the end of the Cold War and the "yellow lighthouse" which looks out over the Atlantic and the mountains beyond.
We return here for 2 nights at the end of our trip, really looking forward to exploring the city and finding out more about what the RAF did back in the war.
Tomorrow we head north for the long drive to Akureyri, the second largest "city", just south of the Arctic Circle.
PS - it's approaching midnight and the sun is still shining brightly into our room, won't get dark until about 3am and then only "dusky" for a couple of hours!
It's been a long but totally memorable and enjoyable first day.
Comments
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Visit the cathedral, if you can manage the steps. The Volcanic 'park' at Dimmuborgir is worth a visit. You can stand in Europe and America at the same time.
The whale watching trips out of Reykavik can be a bit hit and miss, like most wildlife. Just a few fleeting glimpses of Minke when I was there. Another place worth a visit is Isafjordur.
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14°, eh. Enjoy!
Today is 18° here with Cornish mizzle - proper job👍🏻
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Sounds fantastic and a great photo M.
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A long day on the coach today to get to Akureyri in the North of the island. Past some dramatic river and mountain scenery - still lots of snow on the top of the mountains.
Then a glimpse of ancient & modern - the 20th century church at Blonduos which is reputed to have the best acoustics in the whole country - from above it is in the shape of a human ear - and the "turf church" at Vidimyri, built in 1836 and one of only 6 surviving examples in the country and one of only 3 still active - there is a wedding there tomorrow.
Early night tonight, I think!
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The cathedral in Akureyri is right next to our hotel! It's a rather plain uilding from outside but has an interesting history. For many years it was thought that the central pane of the stained glass windows behind the altar came from the old Coventry Cathedral, removed for safe keeping before the blitz! It's only recently that research has shown that not to be true, although it does originate from an unknown English church. The boat, suspended from the ceiling is there as a protection for all seafarers.
There are a number of colourful and historic buildings in the old part of the city too.
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Looks lovely M. I’ve actually been to Iceland once well sort off we stopped off there on the way to Canada Years ago as the plane needed to refuel so we sat on the run way for 40 mins weren’t allowed off the plane but I’d love to go and actually and visit the place it looked good from the air ha
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What a fabulous destination M😁 We are super envious. Huge chunks of GOT and other productions filmed in Iceland, and it’s super famous amongst the off road driving fans. Enjoy the rest of your nostalgic trip👍
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Our son and his wife visited Iceland about 17 years back, before their financial crash, a spectacular place, but at that time mega expensive!
They stayed in B+B type accommodation and bought food at supermarkets for lunch and dinner as meals out were so expensive. Other than commenting on the cost of things, they found much of the food very salty.
They were there for a week, so hired a car to tour around, which was not too expensive.
OH would very much like to visit Iceland.
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Well I would give in to your OH's wishes then, Kj, because it's a beautiful country. We've seen so much spectacular scenery already and we're not even half way round our tour yet! Yes, it is an expensive country, but the best advice I read before coming was definitely not to try converting the cost of things to sterling because you're bound to end up disappointed!
We went even further north yesterday, around the Tjornes peninsula.
The mountains behind the fjord at Akureyri still have plenty of snow on the top. We stopped off at Godafoss waterfall (falls of the gods) - not sure the double rainbow will show up too well on the photo - and then at Iceland's own little mini grand canyon at Aysbergi.
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There's something almost magical about the Arctic. Svalbard & Greenland are also spectacular places. Perhaps it's because the terrain is nothing like we usually see. Iceland stand out because of its volcanic nature, comparable to Tenerife for some amazing geology.
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Svalbard?, that’s we’re Loryk Byrnison hails from(Icelandic Royalty)👍🏻
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I was thinking of Floki 🤔
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I grew up in the Arctic, our house is/was about 50 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
My Mum was from Lofoten, where the scenery is very dramatic, my Dad from just south of Bodo. I was born in the dining room of our house, which was barely finished by 1942, due to the shortage of building materials during the war. It was originally a solid log school building from Lofoten, which my Dad and my Uncle bought, dismantled, and re-erected on their father's farm.
It was a pretty hard life up there, especially during and after WW 2 when all the towns were destroyed. My parents/other relatives were small farmers and fishermen, there were no roads linking us to anywhere, now there are many bridges and tunnels. We were first linked to the rest of the country by road only in 1976. When we visited back in 1975, our car had to be craned on and off the deck of my father's boat to get to the house.
The house was a shared one......shared entrance, staircases, and bathroom, but own kitchens and other rooms. Even now there is only one bathroom. 12 of us lived there, 6 in each family.
Until the mid 50s we had no mains electricity, and a mains water supply only became available in the early 1970s, when we could actually have a toilet in the bathroom rather than the cellar.
It all seems a long time back now!
These days it is a better place to live, most mod cons available. My nephew, who was born up there, has bought the old family home and just recently moved up there from Oslo. He is in the process of converting it into a single home, and will hopefully be adding another bathroom before we next visit!
There are 8 bedrooms now, so it can be a long queue for the facilities when all his friends, and some family come to stay!
It is a remote and beautiful place to live, but very cold in winter, no sun at all for about a month, but full daylight for a month in June/July.
These days I am happy to now live somewhere a little warmer!
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We are now about as far east in Iceland as it's possible to get, a small town called Egilsstadir.
And we have had one of those days where there is a "wow!" around every corner. So forgive me if I share a whole lot of "holiday snaps" with you, and if you're easily bored, look away now!
Our first stop was at Lake Myvatn - "midge lake" - aptly named because there must have been millions of the little blighters buzzing around, but fortunately, we were told, the non biting variety.
The lake is surrounded by the remnants of volcanic craters which have left some amazing formations.
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Then on to the volcanic park Dimmuborgir which CY mentioned earlier. It is truly breathtaking, plumes of steam emerging from the earth, boiling clay pits and a landscape which must be similar to lunar areas - Neil Armstrong and Co were brought here for training in how to manoeuver the lunar landing modules apparently.
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And finally to the biggest waterfall in Europe, in terms of water flow, Dettifoss. Up to 500 cubic metres of water per second can flow over these falls when it has been wet, which is quite often in Iceland though luckily we've missed out so far. A short walk upstream there is a second, smaller waterfall, Selfoss, spectacular in itself but not compared to its more powerful neighbour.
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Not sure when this post will appear as I've had to re- register to change my details! I've already done 3 posts, what's needed now, on the what you doing thread. Writing this at 1040 Friday 22 July 2022.
Lovely photos and a fabulous destination .
KjellNN great to read of your childhood home too.
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You haven't been nicking my pictures of my hard drive, have you?
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Enjoying your travellers tales Moulesy, when you get back you'll have to start on the Icelandic Sagas to complete your mission.. you can borrow mine if you like, they are sitting around waiting to be read!!
Have you listened to any of the old story telling yet? The history is fascinating. 0 -
It's been a slightly slower pace today, meandering around the fjords of the south east coast (names impossible to pronounce and pretty difficult even to spell!)
The fjords and mountains were shrouded in mist for much of the day, but occasionally the views opened up enough to make it worth recording. The little blue and white chapel is now used as a hostel where, for a modest fee, you can sleep in your sleeping bag stretched out on one of the original pews or, for considerably more, they will make up a proper bed for you!
Stopped for lunch at the amazingly pretty little harbour called Djupivogur and then on past the scenic black sand beaches to our overnight stop at Hofn with distant views of the giant glacier area which we'll be exploring tomorrow.
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From time to time I've been practising my best Icelandic phrases on the waitresses in the hotels - they tend to smile (not sure if that's in appreciation for my efforts or because I sound like a Scandinavian version of Officer Crabtree
) and then almost invariably reply in perfect, unaccented English! 2 -
I always got that with my French although not this year. Not sure if my French is improving or I was in places where they didn't speak English.
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We have had a fascinating day today in the huge glacier park. Vatnajokull is the third largest glacier in the world, covering almost 10% of the country. In places the ice is up to 1km deep!
There are several "tongues" leading off the main plateau down to a series of lagoons packed with icebergs. At one point you can watch icebergs being swept down onto one of the black sand beaches and out into the North Atlantic.
An awesome inspiring day, but the scary/depressing news came when our guide showed us where the glacier extended to less than 30 years ago. It is receding at a really alarming rate.
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We are now working our way along the south coast of Iceland back towards Reykjavik. We stopped at the black sand beach at Vik, the most southerly point on the mainland. From here, due south, there is no land until Antarctica!
The beach was used for the Russell Crowe film, "Noah". It features some amazing scenery - hexagonal basalt columns reminiscent of the Giant's Causeway, a sea cave with diamond shape basalt on the roof (Noah's shelter in the film) and two huge rock stacks just off the coast.
And it wouldn't be a day in Iceland without a waterfall - this one is Skogarfoss, a 62m vertical drop with lots of spray. Impressive from ground level, or, you can climb the 466 steep steps to view it from the top!
Another busy day, just 2 days left now, and another early night I think!
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We are now back in Reykjavik - our final day touring was around the "Golden Circle" and just about every visitor to Reykjavik, including a couple of cruise ship groups must have been following us around - we've been spoiled with quiet spots up until today.
So, one last waterfall - this one is Gulfoss or Golden Falls because of the huge rainbow you can normally see, but sadly today has been overcast so no chance of that.
It's not the biggest waterfall we've seen but probably one of the most powerful and you can really appreciate that by walking down to river level.Then a stop at the geothermal Geysir Park. The geyser called Strokkur blows regularly every 5 minutes - which seems a long time when you're holding a camera trying to capture the exact moment! The area also has a huge number of boiling pools of water bubbling away.
Tomorrow will be a day for exploring the city, although, after so much glorious weather, the forecast looks a bit grim.
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