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Published: October 1st 2008
Iceland Complete Tour, Day 1 - 13th August 2008.
We were heading to Europe for the trip of a lifetime on a Riverboat, little did we know that the fill in visit to Iceland would turn out to be probably the best holiday that we had ever had. No better way to start it than to travel on this new A380. Luxury and we didn’t realise just how comfortable and quiet it was until we later transferred to another plane.
This is the cabin upstairs, must be about the most comfortable economy seating there is with an entertainment system that surpasses those found in business class only five or so years ago. Regardless of all this luxury the Singapore Airlines Staff would make any flight enjoyable and the extra ten centimetres or so of legroom made a huge difference.
About one hour in the newest terminal at Changi Airport, would have liked a little bit longer to look around because it must be the most luxurious and comfortable airport in the world, yes we have been to the new one in Hong Kong. Even the oldest terminal in Changi, now around fifty years old, still looks like new.
Eventually we arrived in Amsterdam, a few hours before our flight to Reykjavik, after the trip from Sydney too tired to go into the city but we do have some time here in a couple of weeks.
The view from some of the moving walkways in Schiphol Airport is not very exciting so they put these bright murals on the windows. At the end of each walkway there are blank windows if you really want to look at the less scenic parts of the airport.
We were very lucky on the flight from Amsterdam to Reykjavik, normally there is plenty of cloud cover but just at the vital part it parted and we were able to see Skalafellsjökull Glacier part of Vatnajökull Europe's largest ice-cap.
Should you ever decide to fly to Iceland might be better going with an airline other than Icelandair. We found that their planes we very old and tired, the upholstery was most uncomfortable even for a short trip of around three hours. They also didn’t provide the vegetarian meals that we had requested, this happened on the return journey as well even though the people in their Head Office promised us that we would get them; other passengers had similar problems. The inflight entertainment system was antiquated, just a few small screens in the ceiling shared among passengers so we all had to watch the same movie.
Something completely different at Keflavik airport, a most interesting sculpture that makes even a carpark look interesting. Incidentally the airport is about 44 Kms from Reykjavik, there is a coach service but it takes rather a long time. We had to wait until the coach was full and that took 25 minutes, the trip into Reykjavik took about one hour but we were the last hotel so the total journey was 2 hours 20 minutes. Not quite what they advertise and not much fun when you’ve just travelled from Australia. A taxi for the two of us would not have cost a lot more.
A quick look at Reykjavik before we join our coach tour tomorrow. It is a lovely city and we will definitely return. Here we are at Lake Tjornin, tjornin means pond but it is a very nice pond and wouldn’t it be nice to live in a house like those.
Here we have a green bus, it’s powered by hydrogen and at the time there were only six of them. Just before we left Australia they were mentioned in TV documentary. The Icelandic Government admits that even with the low cost of energy in Iceland it costs more to run a bus on hydrogen than anything else but they have to start somewhere, they now have quite a start on the rest of the world with this technology.
This is a fairly ordinary house in Reykjavik but if you look close you’ll see that the sides have been clad with roofing material. This is fairly common here because in extreme weather very strong winds with rain and sleet come from all directions, roofing material is the easiest way to keep the dampness out, it also helps with maintenance.
This is a City Council building at one end of Lake Tjornin in Reykjavik, it houses a small museum along with some offices, also has very good free public toilets.
This is a block of housing units from the late fifties, like most buildings in Iceland it has been very well maintained keeping its condition to a very high standard.
This picture of two hotels illustrates just what a bit of architectural imagination can achieve. The basic buildings are of similar construction but with first class design each hotel has its own identity.
Even the simple window frames have been enhanced with a patterned decoration, possibly applied with a transfer but it does make it very pleasing to the eye.
There are many archaeological excavation sites like this in Iceland, later we would see first class displays in Museums resulting from the kind of work that is being carried out here.
Fishing has always been a very important part of Icelandic life, here is a memorial.
Not sure if this was a joke but our guide on a walking tour, he had a great sense of humour, mentioned that they didn’t have an army in Iceland so instead they have a statue to the unknown public servant.
To end our first day a piece of modern sculpture near the city centre.
Iceland Complete Tour, Day 2 - 14th August 2008.
The first day of our coach tour, it soon become clear that we have a very good tour guide, driver and nice fellow passengers. Just about all of the passengers wanted a better look at the geothermal area so instead of just driving past we called into the power station at Nesjavellir. Not only was it very interesting a power station guide explained everything and gave us lots of interesting information. As we came over the hill we were greeted with a wisp of steam rising from the geo-thermal area. The unusual colour on parts of the hillside is a kind of moss but we will have a better look at this further north in a few days time.
The pipes that we see here are insulated and carry hot water to Reykjavik about 30 Kms away. As well as domestic use the hot water is used for heating and even de-icing of roads and footpaths in some areas.
Along the pipe can be seen 90 degree bends like this, they allow for expansion and the cooling of the ground in winter and can also help in the events of an earthquake, these are fairly common throughout Iceland and somewhere there will be at least one small tremor every day.
The hot water is obtain by drilling a bore and from time to time they are given recovery time, this white structure is placed over a bore that is resting.
This illustrates a cross section of the pipe used to carry the hot water to Reykjavik. The insulation is so effective that in the coldest part of winter the water has only lost two degrees by the time that it arrives in Reykjavik at around 26C.
We now have a tour of the power station.
Everyone seemed to be enjoy this visit.
This is the drill used to make the bore holes. Iceland, being the newest country in the world, still has relatively soft rocks so it is not difficult to drill down a long way. The water does get hotter the further down they drill but generally they never extract water above 100C. Above boiling point water begins to dissolve many more chemicals that can damage the equipment.
We now visit Þingvellir National Park which was set up in 1930 to protect the site of the first parliament. Here we see a rift valley which has been created by the continental drift between the North American and Eurasian Plates.
A leisurely stroll through the rift valley, in the event of earthquake activity these tourists would probably move a little faster.
The rift from a different angle.
Our first view of the Alþing or assembly which became the legislative authority for Iceland in 930 and lasted until 1271 when it was annexed by Norway. During the early days Iceland did not have a written language, they elected a Lawspeaker who was appointed for a three year term, his main function was to recite the laws each year, he also presided over the assembly which was both a parliament and the supreme court of law. Eventually when a written language was established it was no longer necessary to recite the law and the title was abbreviated to Speaker, a term which has been adopted by many other parliaments throughout the world. The history of Iceland is a very interesting subject and is worth pursuing.
This is one of the areas where the law council met each year but from time to time it moved subject to the course of the River Öxará and to localised geological activity.
An overall view of the Alþing or Althingi as it is sometimes known.
It doesn’t take long to realise that Iceland has many waterfalls, this one is quite small.
Here we have Skogafoss Waterfall, the biggest drop in Iceland but not the most spectacular.
A series of lakes near to the rift.
The Mýrdalsjökull Glacier.
A beach of volcanic black sand.
The puffin season should have been well and truly over at the time of our visit but due to the local knowledge of both our tour guide and coach driver they knew of a couple of spots where there was a very good chance of finding some late breeders. At the second site we were able to see the following birds. This is an important part of our visit so we were all so grateful to our guide and our driver.
We got the feeling that these birds were actually posing for us. They felt quite safe knowing that humans never crossed the fence some distance away.
Possibly a young chicken.
This puffin is about to enter its burrow.
Ok so what has a dripping shower got to do with Iceland. This was actually in our first hotel, we mentioned to the manager that the water pressure seemed to be a bit low, he had a look, saw it just like this, said “its working” and wandered off with what could have been a perfect imitation of the Basil Fawlty walk. Actually, apart from this, which was ok but just took a long time to shower, it was a good and comfortable hotel with a first class breakfast, we let them off because free Internet was available.
We’ll finish with a panorama of cliffs in Þingvellir National Park.
Iceland Complete Tour, Day 3 - 15th August 2008.
We head to Skaftafell National Park crossing Eldhraun which is the largest mass of lava to flow on earth.
We wondered what natural phenomenon caused these stones and small rocks to be so evenly placed in small mounds. We found that many humans had actually arranged them this way because it is thought to bring good luck.
When we saw this moss we didn’t know what to expect. I was a very pleasant surprise to find that it was quite dry and very comfortable to touch and to sit on.
Close up the moss is like a very fine compact heath type of plant.
It is quite thick providing a very natural form of upholstery, would probably be very comfortable to use as a mattress.
These basalt columns are formed by the contraction and cooling of lava.
The lava flowed about two million years ago and must have flowed into a shallow valley from the north-west then before it had fully solidified water flowed over the surface. Smaller versions of these columns, often called organ pipes, are found in other countries.
We knew little about this feature, it was simply interesting to look at.
Not long ago this was part of a working farm, the original owner, now retired still lives in the area.
Here’s one of his old vehicles.
Not sure which glacier this is but it is part of the Vatnajökull ice cap.
We next visited the Jökulsárlón Lagoon, made us wonder if we ever needed to visit either of the polar regions.
A few birds and the occasional sea lion.
Here we have a couple of panorama views of the lagoon
In 1996 there was an eruption at Gjálp of the Vatnajökull ice cap, the resulted in much damage and loss of life. This remaining portion of a bridge is a simple memorial to that incident.
Iceland Complete Tour, Day 4 - 16th August 2008.
Today we visit the East Fjords so only a few scenery pictures. The highlight of the day was our visit to the Petra Museum at Stöðvarfjörður but more about that later.
Just a couple of shots of the Fjords
Stöðvarfjörður Village, as neat as anyone would expect to see in Iceland.
These are called Natural Terraces.
We have now arrived at the Petra Museum, a collection of stones found and flowers growing in the area of Stöðvarfjörður. It is the lifetimes work of Ljósbjörg Petra María who was born in 1922. She describes herself as a collector and a naturalist who has more interest in natural beauty than the geology and science behind it, this is probably the reason that there are very few labels on anything, you don’t have to keep stopping to read the signs, you just enjoy the beauty in this wonderful place. More than 20,000 people visit this museum each year, it is spread over about an acre of land. Like the museum I’ll just let you look at the beauty of a very small selection without any captions.
This whale skull would have been from one of the many that are washed up on the coast each year.
Many of those on our tour had expressed an interest in visiting an Aluminium Smelter. We were very fortunate to have a guide and a driver who seemed to know just about everyone in Iceland so a few quick calls on their mobiles and it was arranged at very short notice. I won’t try to describe it because I’m not really capable of doing so but if you do get a chance to visit it definitely worthwhile. The smelter is driven by thermal power that has a zero carbon footprint; it has also provided facilities and employment in the East Fjords area that they would never have got without it. Iceland is clearly one of the most suitable places in the world for this kind of venture.
Iceland Complete Tour, Day 5 - 17th August 2008.
This was more of a travelling day to take us to something more interesting.
You see many buildings that are insulated with turf, doesn’t seem to be anything better for their climate.
Small river running from the Möðrudalsöræfi Plateau
Small waterfall
This is like a moonscape on the Möðrudalsöræfi Plateau, later in the tour we will see an area that was very much like the Moon landing zone.
A small private Church on a farm, still in use, services are conducted by a travelling Lutheran Minister.
The inside of the private church.
I called this a bridge to nowhere, this was about the closest our coach got to it so couldn’t find out any more.
Dettifoss, Europe's most powerful waterfall.
I would have liked to have taken more pictures of this waterfall but there were too many people in the way. I hope the family from another country, who had a picnic right on the vantage point enjoyed their spaghetti.
Steam escaping as we approach the Námaskarð pass.
Boiling mud pools in the Námaskarð pass.
A rift left by earthquake activity.
Lake Myvatin.
Pseudocraters at Skútustaðir.
It was quite noticeable that you have far more freedom than you would in other countries to get close to waterfalls, cliffs, hot mud pools and other dangerous things. There are few warning notices but we did get good guidance from our guide and driver.
Iceland Complete Tour, Day 6 - 18th August 2008.
A quick look at Lake Mývatn as we head towards Akureyri.
Seems to be a scarecrow looking over the lake, the field looks as if a recent crop has been harvested.
Another look at Lake Mývatn.
A table top mountain, this geological feature seems to be found in many countries all over the world and for many different reasons. Mainly seems that some activity millions of years ago laid down a crust which set hard possibly forming granite, this eventually became the top of the mountain preserving the flat surface.
We might be well beyond Lake Mývatn now, this could be another lake.
These interesting rocks were found at the beginning of a walk at Dimmuborgir that we made to a cave which had been used as a church or Kirkja in Icelandic, similar to the Scottish word Kirk.
The cave used as a church or Kirkja.
We were looking for a rare bird, the Gyrfalcon which is thought to be breeding in this area, we a fairly sure that this was not it but it would provide an excellent meal for the Gyrfalcon’s chicks.
Even miles from anywhere the Iclandic people still make attractive buildings.
ĻŏąđŝāĐüķş.
A fast flowing stream as we head towards Goðafoss Waterfall.
An attractive timber house. The climate may not be quite as severe in this area as its gets elsewhere in Iceland, many of the buildings in this area do not have the extreme insulation.
The speed of the flow here indicates that we are close to the waterfall.
Goðafoss Waterfall or ‘Waterfall of the Gods’ on the Skjálfandafljót River. It got this name in the year 1,000 when the local Chieftain Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði made the decision that Iceland should become Christian, he then threw the heathen idols into the river just below the waterfall.
We have now moved to a more exposed area as indicated by this building which has been insulated with turf. It is part of Laufás in Eyjafjördur, a manor house that was in use until 1936. In 1948 it was acquired by the National Museum of Iceland. Extensive repairs were carried out between 1957 and 1959 to restore the house to the way that it looked during the time of the Rev. Björn Halldórsson who was Dean of Laufás from 1853 to 1882.
Several of us examined this piece of equipment but could not ascertain exactly what it was, our coach driver came to the rescue with a bit of detective work, he had found that it was actually a portable blacksmith’s forge. The blacksmith would operate the treadle with his foot, this would turn the flywheel which in turn would operate the small blower to make the charcoal burn.
These are the original manor house buildings, they are connected to each other by underground passages.
The interior ground floors of each building are similar to this.
Some older style skis and a rather worn millstone on the nearby bench.
This room is used to prepare the food harvest for storage during the winter. I remember a similar room in the Pockerley Manor at the Beamish Museum in County Durham UK.
This design of laundry mangle used for wringing clothes has been around for a few centuries and was still in use until some time after WW2. My grandparents had one until the end of their days.
Spinning wheels, something else that did not change much over a few centuries.
These beds were probably very comfortable. In those days they would spend a lot more time there than people do today.
We would have called a room like this The Parlour, our family would have had cucumber sandwiches and tea each afternoon in a room like this, the Icelandic people probably had smoked eels or fish.
A small writing table at one side of the lounge. At first I thought the black circles were some sort of stereo loudspeakers but they turned out to be just drawers.
The original Eyjafjördur Church.
Farm implements, they all seem to be in good condition and could probably be still used.
I don’t know if this tractor would run but the tyres were certainly in very good condition.
The modern residence used by the caretakers of the Museum, descendants of the original owners.
The Port of Akureyri, as net and tidy as any Iceland town.
The method of construction seems to be very popular in this area. Very similar to many Australian homes.
We think this might be a local boarding school.
Pedestrian Mall. Although inclement weather had been forecast it was actually rather pleasant as can be seen by the patrons enjoying a snack at the outdoor café around 5:30 p.m.
The main Lutheran Church at Akureyri.
The Botanic Gardens at Akureyri was one of the best that we had seen, well organised, a very pleasant design with most of the plants and flowers clearly labelled.
A few weeks before our visit there had been a conference or exhibition in Akureyri, cannot remember the details but it had been considered appropriate to install these heart shaped traffic lights for the occasion. The locals liked them so much they decided to keep them.
Incidentally all the buses in Akureyri are totally free, they a very modern and look comfortable, we saw several of them but none had any passengers. Like anywhere else only losers use public transport. Don’t blame governments and local authorities for not providing good public transport, it could be a waste of resources, we’ve seen similar situations elsewhere.
We’ll end today’s pictures with and unusual fountain that produces a sort of cataract waterfall.
Iceland Complete Tour, Day 7 - 19th August 2008.
We leave Akureyri and head towards Skagafjörður with a visit to see the Icelandic Horse, it has the appearance of an oversized Shetland pony. It is a very protected horse and no others are allowed to enter Iceland for fear of introducing disease, if a horse is taken overseas for competitions or any other reason it is not allowed to return to Iceland, this protects the population of about 1,000 Icelandic Horses.
We see some wonderful scenery on the way with view of more glaciers.
And now our first views of the Icelandic Horse.
Horses normally have four different gaits but the Icelandic Horse has a fifth one, the tölt which could be described as a fast but very smooth gallop. Whilst running the tölt the back of the animal including the rider is held very steady, so stable that, as can be seen here, the rider can cary a large glass of beer without spilling a drop.
The owners and staff of this Icelandic Horse stables put on a really good demonstration for us, have your cameras ready, the action is sudden and quick, they also provided us with a first class morning tea.
There are many waterfalls in Iceland, here are some of the smaller interesting ones.
We next visited the open air studio of a local artist. He select suitable rocks and with minimal carving creates interesting pieces of sculpture.
We now continue across the Holtavörðuheiði plateau.
At the highest point of the Holtavörðuheiði plateau is this mound of small stones. Tradition has it that passers by will add a small stones in return for a safe journey. We found that the skills of our coach driver also took care of this.
We end the journey in the Borgarnes area where we had this view of the moon from our hotel room.
Iceland Complete Tour, Day 8 - 20th August 2008.
River flowing though gorge in volcanic rock.
Hraunfossar waterfall
This became a word in the English language.
Geysir Rising
The temperature in this pool is close to 100C
Everywhere has its real touristy thing; this is the Blue Lagoon where we close for today. There are several hot pools in Reykjavik at about 10%!o(MISSING)f the cost of this one. This actually completes the Iceland Tour Blog. I have decided to make our last three days in Reykjavik a separate blog because this one is now so big.
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Doris Charles
non-member comment
Iceland
Hello Nigel, great pictures and sights,a very interesting holiday. Regards Doris