Blogs from Iceland, Europe - page 6

We are continuing our around the island tour and heading west to Borgarfjorour. This is area was voted as one of the destinations bu Lonely Planet on 2016. First stop was Deildartunguhver Hot Springs, situated on a beautiful farm, it's the most powerful hot spring in Europe with a flow rate of 180 liters (50 gallons) of water per second at a piping hot 97°C (200°F). The scalding water rushes out of an algae covered rocky outcrop. We then visited the Historic settlement of Reykholt, the home of the former chieftain, politician, scholar, and author Snorri Sturluson (1178-1241). We went inside the 1887 charmingly restored church where I stood in the pulpit and delivered my Sunday morning sermon, lol. There is also a very handsome new church on the grounds with appealing lines. The Exhibit of ... read more

Last night we traveled through numerous mountain tunnels to gt to our hotel in Akureyri. This sophisticated and thriving city is called the "Second City" and is much warmer and drier than Reykjavik. We have definitely lucked out in the weather department on this trip. The first known settler was "Helgi the lean" who arrived here around year 890. We dined with others from our group, including Renee's new friend, Zack and his father John, at the Rub 23 and enjoyed some great sushi. We are getting use to having virtual daylight around the clock. Sunset has been around 11:30 pm and rising 2:30 am, but it really doesn't get dark with dusk and dawn. Today's main event is a whale watching tour in Dalvik in the longest fjord in Iceland, Eyjafjordur Fjord. We had to ... read more

Our day 4 was filled with stunning North Iceland highlights. First thing we did was stop at a most magnificent waterfall, Rjukandafoss. It was one of the loveliest waterfalls in all of Iceland. We drove from Egilsstadir through some very wild and remote landscape. There was an mostly barren, vegetation-less area where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin came to simulate walking on the moon before they actually did. We went to Modrudalur, the highest farm in Iceland at 469 meters (1,539 feet). This farm had a store and restaurant and it own little church built in 1949. Next we hiked to the magnificent Dettifoss Waterfall, the most powerful waterfall in all of Europe, at an awesome flow rate of 6,816 cubic feet per second. The river drops 144 feet through the rugged canyon. It actually rained ... read more

On our way to our hotel last night we stopped for fuel and our driver, Omar told us to go out by the house in the back. There we were buzzed hundred of birds who were protecting their nests. It looked like something out of Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds. Arriving at our hotel for the night we spotted a nearby church and a few of us went to explore. It was a Earthen structure covered by soil and grass. I read that when wood has hard to come by they started using this method for some homes. They are very energy efficient. Renee and her new friend Zack decided to climb to the top of the mountain behind the hotel, you can see the top of it behind the church in one of the pictures. ... read more

We started our 2nd day going back to the Black Sand Beach. We were able to climb some rocks and go into the famous basalt sea cave, which is only accessible at low tide, and see loads of rock nesting birds. The scenery here was stunning. The Legend of the Trolls, the two tall standing rocks, arrived in Iceland as stowaways on Viking Ships and made their homes in caves and cliffs. They stay in the dark to avoid being turned into stone from the sunlight. These two didn't listen. Interesting! Next we stopped at a couple of churches in Vik on our way to the Vatnajokull National Park and a day of Glacier hiking at Skaftafell. There were Glaciers everywhere in the area. After getting our Crampons, Helmet, Safety Harness and Ice Axe we headed ... read more