Chapter 4 - Iceland
After a long day of being shuttled off the ship and flying to Reykjavik, we began a new adventure on a self-drive Circle Tour of Iceland. The first thing I want to say is that whoever named Greenland and Iceland got it all wrong. Greenland should have been named Iceland after its tremendous ice sheet and glaciers, and Iceland should have been Greenland, because it is quite green. There are extensive fields of moss covered lava, endless grasses, shrubs and even trees, which I didn’t expect. The trees have been introduced; Iceland used to have numerous trees and forests, but they all perished in the last ice age.
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| Moss Covered Lava |
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| Country Scene |
On the surface, Iceland appears to be a serene, bucolic place. But go below the surface, and the earth is in turmoil: boiling, steaming, and sometimes erupting through its many volcanoes (130 total / 30 active) and fissures. Thingvellir National Park features a deep gash in the earth caused by the separation of 2 tectonic plates: the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate. Each plate is moving in a different direction, so as time passes, the cleft increases in size. We also viewed the geothermal areas near there at appropriately named “Geysir”, for the geysers and bubbling mud pots there. All of Iceland’s electricity comes from geothermal energy, hence electric bills run about $20. U.S. per month. Tap water is very clean and safe to drink, but in some places, hot water smells of sulfur from the hot springs.
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| Thingvellir National Park - Separation of Tectonic Plates |
We were traveling in a counter clockwise direction on the island on Hwy. 1, the only major highway in Iceland. On the left of the car were mountains, waterfalls, glaciers, and red-roofed farms, churches and hamlets. On the right side was the coastline, sometimes near and at other times, farther away. Both sides of the road featured thousands of fluffy, shaggy sheep grazing on grasses and mosses (they outnumber people about 2 to 1). The unique Icelandic horses were also abundant. Secondary roads only went as far as the base of the mountains except for a couple of primitive roads going into or through the mountains. In Reynisdranger, we gazed up at basalt columns towering over the black sand beach. Above the geometrically shaped columns were birds flying around their colony on the jagged cliffs. Huge sea caves were also part of the geology. We felt very dismayed, however, that this natural treasure was being abused by tourists. They were breaking off pieces of the cave ceiling and climbing all over the columns.
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| Gullfoss |
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| Seljalandsfoss |
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| Skógafoss |
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| Dettifoss |
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| Goðafoss |
As we traveled, every half hour or so, the scenery totally changed, and there were natural attractions worth a detour every few minutes. The day we spent in the glacier region in the southeast was a good one. Since we had seen so many glaciers and icebergs on the cruise, I thought it might be a ho hum day. But, it wasn’t. We paused at least 3 times, not just to view the glaciers, but the glacier lagoons, which we’d never seen before. They are formed from glacial meltwater and sprinkled with icebergs that have calved off the glaciers. One of the lagoons connected to the ocean, and seals swam into it, playing, swimming and diving.
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| Skaftafellsjökul Glacier |
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| Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon |
It’s been said that no one comes to Iceland for the weather. So true, but we’ve really been lucky. Only once did we get soaked with rain and wind. The rest of the time, we’ve had almost every kind of weather during the course of each day. Maybe some sprinkles, ominous clouds at times, fog rolling in unpredictably, periods of sunshine and occasionally high winds. But the high winds are almost welcome, because some places are teeming with little flies; the wind keeps them away. Temperatures ranged from 40’s to 60’s, quite balmy after the Arctic!
In the north, there are numerous volcanoes, fumeroles, hot springs and a huge black cinder cone. It’s like a lunar or Martian landscape—so barren. In the middle of this area is Lake Myvatn, a shallow volcanic lake with abundant waterfowl. We’ve tried to photograph some of the birds, but it’s a real challenge. The roads here have no shoulders and very few pull-offs. Add to that, it’s illegal to stop on the road. So, when there were masses of whooper swans, geese and ducks, we didn’t actually have much of an opportunity for photographing them the way we’d like. Oh well, there were enough other natural attractions with which to aim our camera lenses.
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| Whooper Swan |
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| Lenticular Cloud above Volcano |
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| Hverfjall - Cinder Cone |
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| Bubbling Mud Pot |
One day didn’t go according to plan. We started out with a low-pressure tire. Could it be those rough gravel roads? We filled it with air and went to our first waterfall. Noticing that it was still leaking air, we drove by a tire and auto repair shop only to find it was closed. (It was noon on Saturday.) We then proceeded to a gas station/grocery store to change to the spare tire, which luckily was a regular tire and not a donut. As Dave was changing the tire, a young woman approached us and said she had a flat, too, and had called the tire and auto repair store number, reached the owner, and he was meeting her at the shop at 1:00PM. So, we decided to go back to have the defective tire repaired. When we arrived at the tire shop, there were at least 3 other people there with the same issue. The first 2 were told they needed a new tire; a repair wasn’t possible due to the damage. We thought we had an easy repair, but the repairman found 2 holes in the tire, which necessitated a new tire also. At $300. for each job, we calculated that this man made $1200. in 45 minutes!
As we motored toward our 2nd destination for the day, we noticed a large motorhome broken down on the road. We saw it an hour before on our way to the shop. We stopped and asked the stranded motorists if they had help coming. They had called several emergency numbers, including the police, but an hour later, they were still stopped on the road. We gave them the phone number of the repair shop we used for the tire, and by the time we came back from our next viewing point, the repairman that helped us was on the spot helping them. We noticed they got the motorhome as far as the shop, but we don’t know the eventual outcome.
At another stop on the north side, we visited a herring museum. This fish was an important industry for Iceland’s economy until about 1978 when the herring population collapsed from overfishing. The herring are now recovering thanks to regulations on numbers of fish that can be taken while still maintaining a sustainable population of them. The north coast drive was interesting for another reason. We had to motor through several mountain tunnels. We had never been through a one-way tunnel with two-way traffic before. Cars coming toward us had the right of way, so we had to be sure to use the pull over areas before the oncoming car got too close.
I’ve rambled on long enough, I think. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour of Iceland with its clean air, clean water, tidy farms and towns. It’s a beautiful country of natural wonders. I was curious about which area of the world was geologically the youngest--Hawaii or Iceland. According to the docent at a volcano museum, Iceland is the correct answer. Some may argue Hawaii, since there is recent and possibly still ongoing volcanic activity there. But overall, Iceland is still an accurate answer. The whole island is akin to a national park.
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| Seyðisfjörður |
Until the next adventure calls, bye for now.
Renée and Dave
