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Published: October 18th 2012
Who is the strongest?
Here are some stones on the shore to see who is the strongestThe tours of the summer 2012 that stand out in my mind are the Canadian several. One group in June, the family from Utah in July as well as a family from Washington (only 3 people) in July/August, the couple from USA in August and then the school group from Lancaster University in September. One group after the other. Between those tours I had day-tours with mostly people from cruise ships. Simply a wonderful experience to be able to see all those people and be with them, even if it were only for a day.
The group of 16 in June was such a happy lot. We (my husband and I) took them to the westfjords to start with, then over to the northern part. They were here for 13 days. So enjoyable to have them, 6 of them had been to Iceland 2 years earlier, were with us then too. The weather played a big part in how nice the tour was, sunny and warm the whole time. They were such a lively group. Once driving along one of the fjords we spotted two whales playing in the sea so of course we stopped to enjoy the show. Not
Rocks on the shore
If you look closely there is a face in the rock often you see such a great show. Another day we saw seals sunbathing on the rocks in the sea and of course stopped for that too. The farmer who lives just above the road where we stopped has placed binoculars in a box by the road with a sign: "enjoy, but return to the box after use". Talking about hospitality!
We were not so lucky with the weather when the Utah family came. With them we did a tour all around Iceland, except the westfjords and the interior part – simply takes too long to do those parts too if you only stay for 12 days. The first day of our round tour the weather was so windy and awful that we had to skip all trekking and were rather early at the hotel. The day after we managed to do a trekking up the little holy hill where people are to walk up to the top without saying a word, must not have bad thoughts and never look back on the way up. Then as you get to the top you may make a wish and that wish will come true if you kept the rules. Most of
my tourists get to the top and make a wish. It is not a high hill, only 73 metres (240 ft) high. Once a man commented that it would be difficult not to have bad thoughts while walking up the hill, but since he didn't have a mother-in-law then he would be fine - a new M-I-L joke. We poor things, mothers-in-laws . . .
Having only 3 on a tour sounded like a headache – or so I thought before the tour. The three were Americans who wanted to see all of Iceland in two weeks but when we started the tour they saw how wrong they had been. Iceland is a bit bigger than most of my tourists think it is - a small island in the Atlantic Ocean can't be that big! Well, these tourists wanted to stay 2-3 nights in each hotel and only wanted the suites in the hotels or big rooms. With them I went through the interior of Iceland, between two of the biggest glaciers. I told them we’d do that IF the weather was good and thankfully it was a gorgeous, sunny day. The view we had to those big glaciers
was fantastic. On the way is a big cairne and the rule is that anyone passing should put one stone to the cairne and of course I stopped and told them to do that. Each one of them put two stones, they said that was so they would return another time. The man (they were a couple with their 23 year old daughter) got ill when we were in Akureyri on the northern part. At first we all thought it was not very serious so after two nights in Akureyri, doing all the best sites that area has to offer, I drove straight to Isafjordur without many stops and there I got him to a doctor to see if any antibiotics would help. He had a virus so no medicine was prescribed for him but we had some painkillers and pills to chew on for his sore throat. With him so ill we stayed in Isafjordur two nights without doing any of the things we meant to. No sail to the island in the Deep or looking around. I was so sorry, both for them and also for myself. Being in Isafjordur and not be able to show this beautiful
part of the country is awful - at least we had good weather so we could see the 'seat' in the mountain that the troll-lady created when she sat down to cool her feet. That tired troll lady put her feet into the see, perfect foot-spa for a big troll and since then two deep pools can be seen in the bottom of the sea in the fjord.
After the second night in Isafjordur the man was getting a bit better so we could continue our trip to the southern part of the westfjords. There are so few tourists who visit this part of Iceland and I guess that is why there are such few places where you can get food and refreshment stops. This is also the part of Iceland which has the lowest population denity. In the afternoon we drove over to a cliff where you can almost touch the puffins. The cliff is loaded with birds and no fence to prevent you from falling over the edge, only a line about one meter from the edge of the cliff tells you not to go further. I crouched on my stomack with a camera belonging to the
daughter, to take a photo of the puffins, but forgot to take one for myself. How silly can yoyu be? Well, I thought, I'll do that next time. After that we sailed across the bay, finished the tour in Reykjavik. That is, I was expecting my next tourists the day after, but they continued for a few more days in Reykjavik.
The next tourists I also took to the westfjords, but by then it was end of August and it was getting very cold. The puffins had left the big cliff, so much for my photo. I guess when you have these birds most part of the summer you really don't think it is anything special, don't take a photo and it is not until you have tourists that you realize they may be something worth taking a photo of. It was sunny while there, but so cold.
From there we went over to the Northern part, to Myvatn. Once considered 'the ugliest part of Iceland' is today considered one of the pearls of the Icelandic nature. Sunny and beautiful was our day here, but a bit cool and the mountains displayed white peaks. We drove up to
Dragon?
This one sails among the icebergs on the Glacier lagoon the mountains and suddenly we had entered 'winter wonderland' by the crater called Viti (=Hell in English). The last eruption from that crater was back in 1724, but was simmering for about 100 years after.
A couple (two men) asked for a ‘gay-friendly’ driverguide for a daytour from a cruise ship. I felt a bit sorry for anyone who feels the need to ask for a ‘gay-friendly’ guide, still in the year 2012 . . . they were very nice and the tour good. Then the day after we (again my husband with me) picked up a schoolgroup from England, glaciology students from a university there. Of course Eyjafjallajokull is of interest for such students and we headed towards one of the snouts of that glacier, saw how it is emerging down the hill again after the melt it went through during the eruption in 2010.
On the 4th day with that group, especially during the night, the wind starting playing. We were in the southeast part of the country and when you look at the peaks of the mountains here you can see how the wind has formed the many rocks standing on the top of the
mountain. Some of them look like humans and even have human names. My poor students could hardly sleep that night becauase of the strong wind, thought the roofs would be blown off the cabins they stayed in. Thank goodness the wind had dropped a little the day after but still there were rather strong gusts shaking the bus. It was so windy that the boats, which sail on the glacier lagoon, could not sail that day. One busdriver told me later that his bus had suffered so strongly durng the strong wind that the wipers were blown off, the side mirrors were loose and the driver himself a bit shaken. The following evening the weather had changed to the better and the Northern Lights put on a show, only for my students – or so I told them.
After the schoolgroup left I had two day tours with some Americans from a cruise, 7 couples who met on a cruise about 10 years ago and every year they do one cruise together. There were 4 couples from USA, one from Canada, one from England and one from Wales. They have become such good friends over the years. What a
wonderful friendship.
Now the fall is here and yet another group has arrived, a family from Asia staying with me for 5 days. They want to see the Northern Lights, go snowmobiling and do whale-watching among all the tours to the pretty places we have to offer as day tours from Reykjavik. What a wonderful job I have!
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Spyros Kaffes
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