Part Two - Iceland

After our transAtlantic flight and 45min cab ride from the airport to the city centre, we were able to check into our hotel early (for a fee). We rested for a couple of hours then headed out on foot to explore. 

Skip and I had visited Iceland 9 years ago. Our bus tour included a circle tour of Reykjavik, Thingvellir, Selfoss and Geysir. Our bus then drove up the middle of the country on a lava rock road to Akureyri on the north coast. We then sailed for 3 days back to Reykjavik via Isafjordur and Stykkisholmur. My account of the trip is here.

On this return trip, I had a pretty good idea where to head. Our first stop was at Hallgrimskirkja, a Lutheran Church on a high point of the downtown are and the largest church in Iceland. Out front is a statue to Leif Erikson, the son of Eric the Red. It was given as a gift to the Icelandic people from the US in 1930 to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of the Althing - the country's parliament (more about that later).

,

The interior of the church is stark white and free of much ornamentation. The organ has 4 keyboards and pedals, 72 voices and 5275 pipes. It's 15m high with the longest pipes 10m long. The organ weighs 25 tons.

Someone was practicing on it during our visit.

After lunch at a quaint bistro, we found our way downhill to the waterfront and the Harpa concert hall and conference centre. It features a 'coloured glass facade inspired by the basalt landscape of Iceland'. It's the home of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Iceland Opera. Other events such as international chess tournaments, award shows, and art festivals are held there.

The next morning, we checked out of our hotel and walked the block and a half to City Hall and our pick up point for our 3-day circle and south coast tour. 

One of the events on the tour was a glacier hike. We were given hard hats, crampons, and ice axes for the hike up a glacier. Also on the tour was a walk through an ice cave.

About halfway up the glacier Poppy and I both were gasping for air. The climb was very steep and we had to switch back and forth to climb. I could see Poppy was struggling and I no longer wanted to be so uncomfortable so we told our guide we were going to head back down. He told us the bus to pick up the group that was ahead of us would come by in an hour or so and could take us back to base camp. He also told us we could sit in the pickup truck if we wanted to while we waited.

So we made our way back down and enjoyed just sitting and resting. We did sit in the pickup truck and reclined the seats for a wee nap for a few minutes. Then Sasha (from Latvia) arrived with the bus to pick up the group that was just coming off the glacier and he agreed to take us back to base camp.

Back at base camp we turned in our equipment. The sun came out and we basked in it until the rest of the group returned an hour later. The organizers were concerned for us and wanted to know why we bailed. We simply told him we were too out of shape and too old. They offered us tea and anything they could do to make us comfortable. Poppy and I just enjoyed sitting out in the sun - we hadn't seen much of it thus far on our circle tour so it was very enjoyable.

Another point of the three-day excursion was a visit to Jokulsarlon glacial lake where icebergs that had calved from the glacier were floating around. There was some bird life and I spotted a European Greenfinch and a snow bunting. 

The glacier lake emptied into the ocean at a black sand beach  It was quite a hike to get there and we were warned to stay well back from the waves. I chose to admire it from a distance.

The next day we visited Skogafoss waterfall - a 60m drop. Some folks climbed the staircase to the shelf at the top of the waterfall.

We also visited Thingvellir, the site of the first parliament - meeting of all the tribes - in 930AD. It is also where the two tectonic plates, North American and Eurasian, meet. 

The landscape of Iceland is very barren - lava mostly covered with lichen. There is a joke among Icelanders:

Q: What do you do if you get lost in Iceland?

A: Stand up.

Trees do not grow there - there is very little, if any topsoil.

We briefly visited a horse farm. Icelandic horses are are very special breed. They are small in stature and have a couple of gaits no other horse breeds do. This day I wore the sweater I knit for Skip after we visited Iceland in 2016.

Poppy wore the lopapeysa she knit in only a month to take on the cruise. She did an amazing job.

We also visited Geysir that reliably erupts every 4 - 9 minutes. I just need to figure out how to upload the video file.

For two nights we stayed at the Adventure Hotel near Kirkjubaejarklauster (say that 5 times fast - LOL). A very comfortable establishment made of prefab buildings. 

One of our days on the tour it poured rain. I was very glad I had several layers under my fleece-lined raincoat with a hood. It was also fortuitous the glacier hike wasn't on the rainy day. That would have made for a miserable experience for the hikers. 

The bus took our group back to Reykjavik where we checked into our hotel again for our last night. We had supper at (of all places) a Mexican restaurant Tres Locos  The portion sizes were very small and my frozen mango margarita was very weak but the food was yummy and interestingly served on slate slabs.

The restaurant was only a couple of blocks from the hotel.

The next day we ordered a cab for 4:45am to take us back to Keflavik for our 7:50am flight to Oslo then on to Bergen where we were going to meet up with Heather and Jeff who flew in from Toronto that day via Amsterdam.

to be continued...