First Day in Iceland

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Geo: 65.6839, -18.1105

This morning we are to meet Mary, our tour leader from Cruise Critic, at 9:45am in the Ocean Bar where our group of 8 will assemble and leave the ship for a day long excursion. We gained another hour of sleep back last night which is nice. We have our breakfast in the Lido and head to the the Ocean Bar, stopping by the room to drop off my milk for later tonight. Milk is difficult to get any other time but breakfast and I like to have cookies and milk in the evenings before bed. I try to get an extra milk when I remember and keep a few extras in our room refrigerator for later. I digress. At the bar by 9:30, we are the first to arrive and it's not until 9:45 that the others show up. We disembark the ship and easily find our tour company bus, a 20 passenger but for the eight of us. That leaves plenty of room to stretch out comfortably.

Our first stop is Godafoss Falls, the waterfall of heathen gods and one of the most spectacular in Iceland. Apparently back in the year 1000, the law speaker at the time, Þorgeirr Ljósvetningagoði, had the unenviable task of choosing the official religion of Iceland. Perhaps under the pressure of Christianity's convert or die methods, Þorgeirr threw his icons of Norse deities into the falls but secretly maintained allegiance to the Norse deities, thereby creating the name "Waterfall of the gods".

Fortunately, it's a flat, easy walk for Karen and she navigates the path directly to the falls where we take some photos and I explore the area. About 30 minutes go by and we're back on the bus, this time to see the Skutustadir Craters. They're like mini-volcanoes, formed by explosions and not eruptions. They're not too exciting and, while I make the trek up the hill to investigate, Mom remains on the bus. She didn't miss much.

We're passing Myvatn Lake. In fact, most of our travels are in the so-called Myvatn area. Our guide tells us that Myvatn Lake is home to billions of black flies. The eggs lie dormant in the water until late summer when they rise to the surface and hatch, only to be eaten by the thousands of ducks and other waterfowl waiting for this event. He says that one year the flies didn't hatch and tons of birds starved to death. Continuing to travel around the Myvatn Lake area, we visit the lava labyrinth known as Dimmuborgir, a paradise of towering lava castles, natural arches and countless unexplored grottos. Although one could spend hours wandering through the maze of lava formations, we take one big loop and return to our bus. That hour's walk was enough for Karen.

Also on the itinerary was the Hverir mud pits and hot springs, surrounded by a bare landscape. If there were no other tourists, you would have thought you were on another planet. It was interesting to see and hear the sound of the hot gas escaping from the ground. What wasn't so great was the strong sulfur smell emitting from the vents, strong enough to make one gag if you get enough of it. Mom gets up close to one while I shoot my shot. The guide says the mud and water is heated to 79°C. Flint, the guy from our Lerwick trip, insists it's 100°C. The guide repeats 79°C but Flint isn't listening. He says, "That mud's boiling and that means 100°C! I know!" The guide calmly explains, "It's not boiling. That's gas escaping from below. It's 79°C." Finally, silence.

Our last stop is at the Myvatn Nature Baths where they offer a luxurious swim in several pools naturally heated to different temperatures ranging from 100-104°F for $30pp. Only one couple opt to try it while the rest of us hang out in the restaurant and gift shop located above, providing a great vantage point to observe all the action in the pools. These pools are heated by natural sulfur but we can't take any more of that smell as occasional clouds of smelly steam pass over the pool area. No thanks. We settle for some mushroom soup and rolls while we wait 45 minutes for our bathers to finish.

At this point, it's time to start heading back to the ship. The driver says, "No problem. It's about 1:15 minutes. I do it all the time. If you want we can stay longer." Everyone agrees that getting back earlier is preferred so off we go and, oh yes, we do get back to the port in 1:15 minutes.

At dinner tonight, Karen has the Jack Dory fish and I had a traditional turkey dinner. We sat with a couple from Ohio and then went to the 8pm show. Tonight it's the Rotterdam Singers and Dancers but it's not very good. We took the pain and stayed to the end, returning to our room as our ship sails for another port in Iceland, Isafjordur.

Note: For devotees of the fantasy TV show Game of Thrones (more than 18 million viewers per episode last year), this is the mother lode – the land beyond the Wall, the battleground where men and monsters clash, and where a wolf can be both friend and protector. Organized tours of Icelandic filming sites are available, running from one day to a week. Some spend four days in Akureyri, the center for filming most of the show's winter scenes and the "Land beyond the Wall".

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