We arrived in Iceland via JFK at 630am on Wednesday.
Shortly after checking into our hotel, we left for a city tour of Reykjavík.
We started our tour at the Northern Lights Center,
where we took some pictures of pictures of the Aurora Borealis in case we never
saw it for real.
We went by the Old Town Center, the Parliament, the Harbor,
the Hofdi House (Reagan and Gorbachauv met here), and the Hallgrímskirkja
Church, whose steeple is a Reykjavík landmark. Then, we visited the Pearl Vantage Point. Built in 1988, the Pearl is a glass dome constructed atop six huge tanks in which natural hot water is stored for heating the city. Our last stop of the tour was the new Harpa Concert and Conference Hall right across the street from our Hotel Arnarhvoil. We never figured out how to pronounce the hotel name or any other Icelandic word for the matter. Inside it kind of reminded of a Rubix Cube!
The room had an interesting shower. It had a
swinging door that sort of blocked the water from the rest of the bath room. Washing
the hair was challenging! Forget shaving
of the legs!! After showering we had to squeegee the floor and dry the walls
and sink. Like all buildings in Iceland the room was heated by hot water pipes
running under the floor. But not in the bathroom.
We spent the afternoon walking around the city center.
That evening they took us out for an Aurora Borealis
search. Not sure why, because it was really overcast and we saw nothing. The
Aurora Borealis is one of the top 25 wonders of the world and we had two more
opportunities to view it that week, weather permitting. Best time for viewing is at 9pm-2am.
The next morning, we went to the Blue Lagoon, a
unique natural pool of mineral rich geothermal water located in the middle of a
lava field. There were buckets with mineral mud with youth qualities supposedly! It’s the other top 25 wonders of the world in Iceland. Wish we were
still at the Blue Lagoon! Loved it there!!!
That evening we went looking for the Lobster Hut cart
for dinner. Never found it and ended up at the Seabaron, authentic Islandic
food and décor, for dinner. The Lobster Soup and fish kabobs were very fresh and delicious!
That night we went searching for the Aurora Borealis
and found it! What an awesome night!! Very cold but so worth it!! It was
challenging to try and take pictures of the Northern Lights with a manual
setting on the camera! You had to hold the shutter down for about two minutes and hold very still!
Friday we did the Golden Circle tour. The tour
started at the Hellisheiði Power Plant at the foot of Mt. Hengill Volcano. 96
percent of all Icelandic electricity comes from geothermal power and all
building heating comes from the super-hot water. Very interesting but the whole experience of
Iceland and their heritage is very intriguing!
Then, to the icy Gullfoss waterfall, the queen of
Iceland's waterfalls, tumbling down a deep gorge. It was very, very cold there.
We did not get too close to the falls as there was a lot of icy spray and
slippery rocks!
Next stop was the Geyser geothermal area, home of the famous Geyser and Strokkur hot springs. The Strokkur hot spring erupts every 5 minutes or so, making it one of the most active geysers in the world. Trying to capture it when going off…was challenging!! Sometimes the 5 minutes was 3 minutes or sometimes two eruptions in a roll.
Our final stop of the day was Thingvellir National
Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site where the tectonic plates of Europe and
North America meet creating only one of two rift valleys in the world. Zach
thought it would be smaller than it was. It gets wider by 2 centimeters every
year!
Our final full day we went on South Shore Adventure
tour, which visits the amazing southern coast of Iceland, famous for its black volcanic
sand coastline. The first stop was the Seljalandsfoss waterfall. Another very
cold place.
Next, was the 200 feet Skógafoss waterfall. Couldn’t
get too close or would be covered by
ice.
We did stop to admire the beautiful horses that are
only breed in Iceland. They stay outdoors all the time no matter how cold.
Beautiful horses! Our tour guide raises these horses and leads week long riding
tours through the backcountry. They take out 50 horses and change out the riders. Horses are the love of her life!
Our lunch stop was at the village, Vik, with views
of Mýrdalsjökull glacier and a short drive to the Reynisdrangar rock formations
at the black sand beach. We managed to find several Heart Rocks here!! Very
cool beach! Most of the rocks on this beach were symmetrical. A lot of volcanic action in Iceland, especially in this area! Last eruption was in 2010, which stopped all
air traffic in Europe for several days.
Our last stop of the day was the very interesting
Icelandic Heritage Museum. The Icelandic people had a very hard life, almost
like Middle Ages, until World War 2. The US airbase there brought them into the
modern world quickly. Additionally, everyone on the island learned to speak
English and all still do. Thank goodness, Islandic is impossible to speak or
understand when you are only there for 5
days. The resources that they had had
were miniscule! Cannot image surviving in those conditions to make a life,
however, now they have the largest literacy rate on earth. More college degrees
by percentage of population than any other country in the world!! Quite
amazing!
That night it was back to the Seabaron for dinner,
after a fruitless search for the Lobster Hut cart. We had searched for the Lobster Hut
cart every day in Iceland. Mare, Zach’s sister, highly recommended this kiosk to us.
On our last morning we were walking around town taking pictures, and discovered the Lobster Hut cart, but it was closed.
On our last morning we were walking around town taking pictures, and discovered the Lobster Hut cart, but it was closed.
We stayed at the LaGuardia Marriott that night
before flying home the next day. The LaGuardia Airport really showed how great
an airport Atlanta has. One of the best and the busiest in the world!
