Land of Fire and Ice

Bye bye and hushabye,

Can you see the swans fly?

Now half asleep in bed I lie,

Awake with half an eye.

Heyho and welladay,

Over hills and far away,

That's where the little children stray

To find lambs at play.

- An Icelandic lullaby on the IcelandAir pillow.

A land of weather extremes, a land of poets, a land where sheep and horses freely roam the fields, a land that is home to more birds than people, a land where the language hasn't changed in 1000 years. This is Iceland. The weather may chilly and unpredictable, but the people are warm and friendly.

We were greeted with a persistent chilly rain upon arrival in Reykjavik that lasted the rest of the day. After collecting our rental car and checking into our accommodation, it was time to check out the city of Reykjavik! We wandered the streets in search of traditional Icelandic knitwear, visited the church, and made a great choice in restaurant for dinner.

Hellgrimskirkja

The view of the city centre from the top of the church

The Sun Voyager (Solfar) sculpture

The first day of exploring dawned bright and clear but with a wind more vicious than anything I have ever seen in Cape Town adding serious wind chill factor to the mid-day high of 10ºC. We decided to explore Iceland's Golden Circle: Þingvellir National Park, Geysir, Gulfoss waterfall and Kerid Crater. (Þ is pronounced as a ‘th’ sound)

First stop was Þingvillar National Park. Þingvillar is situated in a rift valley marking the crest of the mid-atlantic ridge or more simply put, where the American and European continental plates meet. The plates are said to be moving apart 2 cm a year; the ridge of the European plate can clearly be seen rising above the valley offering some protection from the wind. Þingvillar is also situated on the Northern shore of the largest natural lake of Iceland, Þingvallavatn. Þingvillar was the seat of the first Icelandic Government known as the 'AlÞing'. The AlÞing was held for two weeks over the summer every year since 930 until 1800. This was where the rules and laws of the land where decided upon and disputes settled. The river Oxara, with the clearest water, runs through the lush green valley. It was lovely wandering around this area trying to imagine what attending an AlÞing must have been like in these open fields subject to the elements. Icelanders like to remember and celebrate their rich Viking heritage and still use this site for important events, concerts and celebrations.

The edge of the continental plate

Bron and Justin with Oxara river in the background

A small church down in the valley

More views of the valley

Next stop was the hot vents of Geysir! Here steam rises from cracks in the ground and water bubbles in open crater-like vents. Geysir is no longer active but there are some other interesting vents nearby. The most impressive is Krokkur, erupting a jet of piping hot water and steam up to 30 M in the air every few minutes. Litli Geysir only bubbles away and Blesi is a set of twin pools; one crystal clear, the other blue and opaque. Water temperatures in this area are 120-150ºC while underground water temperatures can reach 300ºC or more. The Geysir area is the most well-known of the hot vents, but there are vents all along where the two plates meet. It is quite interesting driving along and seeing steam rising out of the ground!

Standing around, waiting for a geysir to erupt

And there it goes!

The eruption

And the empty crater after the show

The two pools called Blesi (above and below)

Litli Geysir

The view up the hillside towards the various geysirs

From Geysir we went to Gullfoss or the Golden Falls, a double set of impressive and powerful waterfalls. Iceland's first environmental activist was Sigriour Tomasdottir, a lady who in the 1800s campaigned against the destruction of these beautiful falls. The noise and spray is impressive and Justin and Bronwen got quite wet getting up close! The restaurant at Gullfoss serves a mean Icelandic lamb soup which we enjoyed while gazing upon one of Iceland's glaciers, Langjokull. Last stop for the day was Kerid Crater. Formed from a blown out volcano, the red crater created now contains water.

Enjoying some lamb stew (and then again thanks to the free refills!)

Langjokull (a long panoramic so best viewed if you click on it)

Getting up close and personal with some Icelandic horses on the way back to the hotel

The next day it rained the whole day! But we made use of the day with a road trip around the Southern part of the Island down to Grindavik and back up to Reykjavik past the Blue Lagoon. Grindavik is a small coastal fishing town where we visited the Salt Fish museum. Fishing, salting and exporting cod was the main livelihood of Iceland for many years. So much so that a filleted cod appeared on the national coat of arms. This museum covers the history of the cod industry. But before we headed on the road trip, we visited a geothermal energy plant.

All of Iceland's electricity is 100% green, produced either by geothermal- or hydro-power. Geothermal energy makes up 30-40% of the total electricity produced on the island. Hot water (300ºC) is pumped from a depth of 3 km underground. The steam is separated from the water and is pumped under pressure to where it drives turbines for the generation of electricity. Left over steam and the separated hot water is used to heat fresh water which is then pumped to the end user. This water is 83ºC and only loses 2ºC by the time it reaches Reykjavik 20 km away. Any remaining water is pumped back into the ground to be naturally heated again. The whole plant smells like Sulphur because of the thermal water. When we used hot water at our accommodation we noticed a sulphur smell and now we knew why! In theory, Reykjavik should never run out of hot water. We felt less bad about using hot water after visiting the geothermal plant.

The Salt Fish Museum

Some of the countryside that we drove through

Our third and last full day in Iceland was another clear beautiful day, and less windy. We headed to the area South of Reykjavik to track down more waterfalls and look out for Puffins and other birds at the impressive sheer cliffs at Dyrholaey. 

First stop was Seljalandfoss, a narrow but powerful waterfall that drops into a shallow pool below. There are stairs to climb to walk to the back of the falls. It's pretty dry behind the falls and lovely for a different view of the falls and surrounding area, but bring a raincoat, you will get pretty wet on the way to the back! On the path nearby there are some lovely smaller falls to be seen, less impressive, but still beautiful. 

At 09:30 am, there were only a handful of people visiting this impressive natural feature. All the natural attractions of Iceland are relatively untouched. At most of the big attractions there is a visitor centre with information, souvenirs for sale and usually a cafe of sorts. But apart from that there are no fences, entry fees, big signage or anything else you would expect from a big tourist attraction. It is really lovely to enjoy the land in it's natural wild state.

Seljalandfoss

The view from behind Seljalandfoss

After Seljandafoss, we headed to Skogarfoss, a powerful curtain waterfall with a 62 m drop where rainbows play in the spray surrounding the pool. We climbed the steep stairs for a view of the waterfall from the top and the river beyond. 

On the way to the next stop, we passed the volcano that erupted in 2010 causing air traffic in Europe to come to a grinding halt due to the persisting ash cloud, the easy to pronounce Eyjafjallajokull. We stopped for a look and to give Dad Cross a chance to give the volcano a piece of his mind after their last planned trip to America was cancelled due to the ash cloud.

Eyjafjallajokull

Icelandic sheep

Skogarfoss

Next stop was the impressive sheer cliffs of Dyrholaey. This is the Southernmost tip of Iceland and a well known sea-bird reserve. Every available crevice is occupied with nesting birds during the Summer months but the reserve is closed during this time. We were grateful for our 4x4 rental car to get to the top of the cliffs for the best views of Iceland's version of Coffee Bays hole-in-the-wall and Reynisdrangar or the troll rocks; three tall offshore spires said to be petrified trolls caught by the sun as they were trying to drag a boat ashore. Although this area is rich with birdlife, we only saw a few gulls, or they might have been arctic terns, circling around the cliffs. We were really hoping to see some puffins but alas, there were none to be seen. This area is so beautiful and dramatic with the sheer cliffs, howling wind, surrounding black sand beaches and the glacier in the distance. It feels so desolate and wild, it's so great.

A view of the troll rocks (Reynisdrangar)

A view of the black beach from the top of the cliffs

The lighthouse on top of the cliffs

Another view from the top of the cliffs with a glacier in the background

The glacier we saw in the distance from Dyrholaey turned out to be not too far away. We handled the gravel track to get closer with ease in our rented 4x4 and were soon walking towards the glacier of Solheimajokull. Solheimajokull is a small glacier stretching like a finger away from the bigger glacier of Myrdalsjokull. After a quick snack break, we walked down the path toward the glacier. The edge of the glacier was covered in black grit and not the pristine white we expected, but where the ice had melted to create a crevice, intense blue ice could be seen. We didn't walk very far on the ice as it was quite slippery but it was not as cold as we expected it to be. Even though Solheimajokull is a small glacier, the thickness and quantity of ice is impressive.

A self taken photo with the glacier behind us

Solheimajokull

We really wanted to go to the Þorsmork National Park but a high wheel clearance 4x4 is needed to navigate the roads. Solheimajokull became our last stop in this jam-packed exploring day. We beaded back to Reykjavik to get ready to fly the next day and for a last yummy Icelandic lamb dinner.

After checking out on Friday morning we headed to the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa. The pools are shallow and fiberglass lined and naturally heated mineral water flows in at several points at a comfortable 38ºC. From above the water appears blue but at surface level the water is white and turbid. We had a nice morning floating in the pools smearing silica mud on our skin. The Blue Lagoon is definitely a tourist rip-off and I don't think we would go back, but it was interesting to check it out once.

Our last stop in Iceland was the airport to drop off our rental car and catch our flight onto Boston. Some other impressions of Iceland: The land is quite flat everywhere with no tall trees or shrubs probably owing to the howling wind. All the people we came into contact with spoke good English. The exchange rate is about 150 Krone to 1 Euro and you pay 100s and 1000s of Krone's for items. Most Icelandic words and names are very long and difficult for English speakers to pronounce. Although parts of Iceland can be quite touristy, it never feels crowded and the land is still pretty untouched. The people are very friendly and welcoming and are proud of their country. We really enjoyed our time in Iceland and would recommend it to anyone looking for a different adventure. 

More about our interesting landing at Boston Logan airport and our time in Boston next time!

Hope you are well! 

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