Blogs from Southwest, Iceland, Europe - page 37

Some dive are more impressive than others...some are actually even colder than your average dive! Today challenge, diving the Great Divide of Silfra in the Thingvellir National Park. I know, you are asking me but what the hell is he speaking about. Fifty kilometers from Reykjavik lay the Thingvellir National Park with a huge lake in the middle of it. This lake is actually fed by water filtring from glaciers way away from here. And in the middle of this wonderland is Silfra. This is the crack in between two seismic plates, being the European plate and the North American plate. In some places this crack has been filled through the centuries by water melting and filtering from surrounding glaciers. This means the water is at a constant 2 degrees celsius...but better, this water is so ... read more

Please note: all the photos and titles have been mixed up during the upload by travelblog. So sorry, try to imagine how they should be! Iceland is just gorgeous. I arrived to near-zero visibility, driving rain and icy temperatures, but still I was instantly in love. The landscape is magnificent and the postcard pictures finally do a place justice. The ground is black larval rock that rises in mounds like giant chocolate muffin tops, breaking through. There is soft, luxurious. luminous green moss covering most of it, with sprinkles of red, orange and yellow flowers. Yummy! Melissa took me on a drive on the first day to see the geothermal areas. Here, the ground is literally broken open by hot steam and water. They bore holes into the ground to capture the steam in pipelines that ... read more

Ok, so i havent seen any vikings or hung out with Bjork. But i have eaten hotdogs and am in Iceland. Arrived here late fri night and met Carla at the airport and stocked up on Icelandic beer and Italian wine (its really expensive in town). We have been really lucky with the weather and have had all sunny days so far. So what better way to spend the 1st day then by going to the blue lagoon, lounge around in the hot pools and put white stuff (silica) on our faces. Don't look 10 years younger, but my skin felt great after. After a day of relaxing, we headed out of Reykjavik to Þingvellir (Thingvellir) to see some canyons, waterfalls and the big sprouting geyser. Þingvellir is where the 1st Icelandic parliment was formed. The ... read more

Signs you're in Iceland.... read more

The Blue Lagoon is a marketing marvel ... how do you make an environmental mess into a tourist trap? Well ... a geothermal power plant had believed they could return the waste water back deep into the earth by just letting it flow out and that it would naturally seep into the ground. It did for a while, but after a few years, the ground couldn't absorb anymore and the waste water started accumulating at the surface. No environmental impact studies? No problem ... just build some fancy looking buildings, name it the Blue Lagoon, call it a spa, charge an arm and a leg to get your body soaked and voila!... read more