Sunday July 10, 2016

Sunday

July 10, 2016

Iceland is a place that is defined by its geology - earth quakes, volcanos and glaciers are alive here and transforming the face of this island country. Today, we visited spectacular cliffs and the shoreline around Vik, considered a hub because it has a gas station, grocery store, a few restaurants and a couple of hotels. Directly behind the town sits a glacier and a volcano. On the other side is the Atlantic with stunning cliffs, layers of geometric basalt columns and black sandy pebble beaches. Lying just offshore are twisted spiky rock formations recognized by Alex and Adrian for their three second cameo in Game of Thrones. We hiked for a couple hours to the top of one of the cliffs in search of puffins. Iceland is famous as a habitat for these cute birds. We did not find any but we really enjoyed the walk and the views. 

   We picnicked in the car and headed out to see if we could catch the ferry to Vestmannaeyjar (the Westman Islands) where we had a hotel reservation. We arrived just in time, purchased our tickets and jumped on, leaving our car and suitcases in the parking lot, with just overnight bags for our island off the island adventure. The Westman Islands are known for puffins so we are hoping to see them here. The 30 minute trip was I uneventful until we disembarked and walked into our hotel. The place, Hotel Vestmannaeyjar is clean and sleek and ten steps up from last night's guesthouse. However the power unexpectedly went out. Did you know that hotel electronic keys work on batteries? :)  no problem getting into the room. Reminder: it never gets dark in Iceland in the summer so who needs lights? No power = no problem. Temperature has been steady 48 - 55. No need for ac or heat so far. We dumped our bags and went to dinner at an incredible restaurant called Slipperinn. Sue had a dish she considers one of the best she has ever had - fresh off the boat (50 feet away) cod prepared with an incredible sauce and fresh herbs. I had fresh cod as well made simply and was excellent. Alex and Adrian enjoyed a selection of vegetarian appetizers. With Alex topping it off with chocolate mousse with chevrill granita and skyr. Great find! Back at the hotel the power was on. Nice room. Great Iceland day. Tomorrow we see the island! 

Saturday 

July 9, 2016

Leaving the town of Vik in the rear view mirror this morning. Behind us sit several hulking masses jabbing at the sky from the Atlantic Ocean. We will return tomorrow to explore in depth these fascinating formations. Just minutes after getting on the road, the sky opened up and released the first allotment of daily rain. After an hour or so we approached an enormous glacier that abutted our destination: Jökulsárlón, a glacial lake containing massive chunks of ice "calved" from the glacier. Seeing these floating icebergs up close was truly incredible. We booked an amphibious boat tour of the icebergs despite the continued cold, dreary drizzle. Once in the water though we forgot about the rain (I think it may have stopped). We were spellbound, trying to take in all we were seeing. Our view was framed by Iceland's largest glacier reaching to the lake and releasing large chunks of itself as the earth slowly warms. The glacier itself is retreating by about the length of a football field every year. It's clearly visible. The amount of water released by just this one glacier as it melts away is staggering. As the boat floated around, one of the crew brought up a chunk of crystal clear ice from the lake for us all to hold. Breaking off pieces, we had the opportunity to taste 1000 year old ice! It was refreshing, without a hint of outside influence. Crisp and clean is how I would describe it. As the tour ended, we stayed to admire the floating beauties. Eventually we climbed back into our Honda CRV rental and headed out, aiming for Klausturhoff Guesthouse in Kirkjubaejatklaustur.

   For the most part the driving has been fairly easy although the best roads are just one lane in each direction going full highway speed. It's no problem until you encounter an 18 wheeler barreling towards you. Then there is the matter of the bridges. There are many bridges over the numerous streams formed by melting snow caps and retreating glaciers. The best part is that many of these bridges are single lane. It's like a high speed game of chicken. If you are not confident behind the wheel it could be very stressful. For the driver, passengers and the other cars. We've had only one really close encounter and it was at slow speed. Since I am writing still you know doubt figured out how that encounter ended. 

  Arriving after a full day at our guesthouse we were looking forward to washing up and having some nice Icelandic food. Amazing fish, incredibly fresh. Every day. Yum! Their other specialty is lamb. The countryside is overrun by wild sheep, who appear much smarter than our doe-eyed deer back home. I won't belabor the "hotel" except to say it was fine if you like cinder block walls, cement floors, and no bathroom in the room. Let's just say it is unlikely we'll be retiring to Klausturhoff Guesthouse in Kirkjubaejatklaustur anytime soon. 

Photos 7/10

Photos 3

More photos

Photos

Friday, July 8, 2016

Vik, Iceland

They call it the Golden Curcle. When I heard that I scoffed. Today we experienced the Golden Circle and I retract any hint of scoffing (except to note there were 3 blockbuster stops - as Adrian noted, that is more like a Golden Triangle). But as I say, I scoff not, 

1. Þingvellir (pronounced something like "thing va leer", was fascinating. Has geologic interest, year 1200 interest and a sweet waterfall. Basalt lava cliffs formed as two tectonic plates pull apart has given the area an other worldly appearance. The cliffs are still being pulled apart 3mm per year. But try as we might, we did not feel the earth move. Within this area a small colony of Icelandic settlers lived. The first Icelandic parliament met here in the mid 900s. They had a system of parliament that met here and gave out stiff penalties for breaking the law-beheading men and drowning women. Maybe that's why Iceland is now an incredibly safe place to visit. The waterfall was quite a nice find and served as our up close and personal introduction to these amazing displays of the power of nature. 

2. Geysir. This is the site named for a column of water spewing from the earth for which all others have since been referred to as geysers. Only Geysir is spew-free these days. Instead Strokkur steals the show. Very entertaining to wait about 10 min between these water blasts and try to anticipate by the breathing in and out of the pit exactly when it would spew forth. 

3. Gulfoss. You have to really see it to understand the power of this magnificently powerful waterfall. Literally meaning Golden Waterfall, it is more powerful than Niagra. We approached first from above where the extent of the falls is best appreciated. The power of the water is sensed best from below. The spray from the cascading water caught the darting sun rays to create dancing, beautiful, ghostlike rainbows. There were no hotels, helicopters or Jewel of the Gullfoss tours. Just the river, the falls, the gorge it created and people fortunate enough to experience this glimpse into the beauty and power of nature. 

The golden circle, golden triangle or any other name wound fail to describe adequately our day today.

Just about midnight now. Sun is setting but it is still not dark. Tomorrow is another day.