Iceland/Island

  The last time I flew was in 2002 when I returned from a bike trip in Ireland.  I was pretty sure I wouldn't fly again, but when we flew over Iceland I and I looked down I thought, maybe someday.
  Someday came.  Gail and I took a wonderful two-week trip to Iceland in August and found out first hand why it has become such a popular destination.  We decided against doing a bike trip based on weather reports and road conditions we'd read about; the weather turned out to be better than we expected but the roads didn't look inviting to biking for various reasons.  Renting bikes is as expensive as taking them on the plane, so we rented a little car and drove the circumference of the island including the West Fjords which is like an appendage sticking off the northwest part.
  In Icelandic, the spelling of Iceland is Island, but it was named for ice in a fjord someone encountered long ago, not the fact that it is an island.
  We had a pretty good idea of our itinerary, but left some room for modifications and on the first day I purchased a book about the geology which turned out to be a useful guide for many of the places we went.  Enjoy the pictures (click on them for full screen views), read the narrative if you are at work, and if you are convinced to go, I recommend not going in June, July or August unless you either like crowds or are OK with skipping some of the amazing sites.
  You might have to click "older posts" when you scroll to the bottom to see all the posts about Iceland, and older posts.

Iceland/Island

  To get to the first place we stayed we drove around the coastline of Snaefellsness Peninsula and did a short walk along the coast through a lava field past the Snaefellsjokull National Park where the Snaefells Glacier is located (jokull means glacier or ice cap-pay attention, there will be a quiz and spelling counts).  This was where Jules Verne claimed the entrance to the center of the Earth to be in his novel Journey to the Center of the Earth.  During the walk we saw this group of Glacier Worshippers sitting and meditating facing Snaefellsjokull.  I like writing that name even if I never learned to pronounce it.
  Iceland's economy is currently run on tourism, particularly the places within a few hours of Reykjavik.  This includes the Snaefellsness Peninsula but is seen most prominently in what's known as the Golden Circle and along the South Coast.  We had a ferry to catch our second morning so got away from the worst of the crowds until the end of the trip when we approached Reykjavik again from the east.  We skirted the capital city both coming and going, but stopped on the first day for yarn in a shop Gail had read about in a "suburb."
  Our first accommodations was an Air B&B that came with a few sheep.  Little cottages like this are all over the island to try to house the influx of visitors, we read that they can't keep up.  Sheep like this are really all over the island, on beaches, on cliffs of steep mountains, in the roads (especially in the early morning), even occasionally in a pasture.
 

Iceland/Island

  On the way there we had 11 hours to kill at JFK so we took the sort of free tram to the subway stop and headed for Rockaway Beach.  I swam after we got some lunch from a nice food court.
  On the way back we spent the last of our Icelandic Kronas at the airport (built in the least scenic spot of the country, a former US military base) at a place called Joe and the Juice.

Iceland/Island

  Food could get real expensive, real fast.  I was eating fish while there, something I don't do at home, but no matter where I am won't eat flour due to the reaction I've experienced in the past from gluten.  One day we went into a cafe for lunch and I thought I'd just have some fries, I ordered a large because the pile on a plate of fish and chips I saw included about 20 fries.  I almost ate the whole bucket.
  Most of our other lunches were peanut butter and jelly or cheese and crackers and a great Icelandic product, Skyr.  We thought that was yogurt, it's similar to Greek yogurt, but it's actually cheese.  Groceries weren't as expensive as restaurant meals, but then tipping isn't common there, and most places we visited were free so it worked out OK.

Iceland/Island

  We had some pretty amazing food, but none as good as at this fish fry in Isafjordjor.  It was served family style and the waitress told us the idea was to go up as often as possible because they keep bringing different kinds out.  The first time I went up I was dismayed to see all six or seven varieties were breaded.  When I asked if they were going to make any without flour they said no, but that they would fix up a pan for me without it.  I had no idea cod cheek is so delicious.  Gail declared this possibly the best meal she's ever had.
  We didn't have reservations so we were forced to sit out on the patio at a picnic table with a family from Spain who we got to converse with in Spanish and look at this view.  We didn't get a chance to hike up to the cirque but I read it's pretty accessible, just stay away in winter as avalanches are common.

Iceland/Island

  Every trip we take is made a little more interesting by doing some reading, whether it's books about the place before we go or information on placards or local publications while we're there.  Imagine the thrill I felt when I saw the announcement for the ram groping competition and realized we'd be right there when it was happening.  I've been practicing my whole life for this!
  Icelandic is pretty tough to figure out, I was glad the second sign had a graphic image to help the illiterate.  By the way, since I don't have a keyboard with Icelandic alphabet I'm making up my own English spelling for places and certain terms, and I'm using feet and miles for measurements even thought they use metric.
  I tried the advice in the third one about letting my pants fall, results were unexpected but I'm not going into details as this trip report is going to be long enough.  Let's just say there were no charges filed.
  Good thing they included using a lupine flower over your head to keep the Arctic Terns away when we went to the nesting cliffs at Skalanes because sticks were few and far between.

Iceland/Island

  We got to do some great hiking in the mountains.  A two or three thousand foot mountain seems pretty daunting when it is right next to the sea.  This is Mt. Sulur, near Akureyri, Iceland's second largest city (pop. 17,900).  We did drive a couple miles and gain some elevation before we started hiking.
  It's pretty interesting where snow hangs on all year and where it melts.  Sometimes it' s in an unlikely spot such as a south-facing slope, probably due to how it accumulates from winds or how densely it gets packed.  We heard a couple times how being near the sea means rain is common during the winter so that would affect the consistency and melting.

Iceland/Island

  At a farm we stayed at I asked the proprietor where we could go hiking, he pointed at the door and said, "Go out that door."  He got a little more specific and told us to follow his new hydro power system they are excavating and turn at the sheep path and follow it until we got to the gap.  We were then to pick a spot not too steep and get up to the next flat area, taking care to mark where we'd gone up so that on the return we didn't walk off a cliff, then we'd be able to get up a less steep section to the summit.
  We didn't make it.  The steep part had so much loose rock that when we wanted to get up it at the same place rock slides would make it tougher going for the person below.  The picture on top with Gail admiring the view is where we turned back.  We followed the sheep up a less steep path on the other side of the gap where we hung out awhile with some nice views.  If you zoom in on the second picture you might be able to pick out where Gail is sitting and drawing.  The third picture shows the whole scene, the dark line at the bottom left is the excavation with a rather large excavator at the bottom of the black line, the gap is just before the waterfall on the far right and the steep part is just below and to the left of the dark spot below and to the left of the snow.
  When we were headed back down we passed the farmer working on his new hydro system and learned about new laws making it more economically feasible for people to put them in.  He also told us about his share in a salmon fishing permit and how that system is going and hopefully improving and being more sustainable for more people (and the salmon).  When he asked about the hike I said it got pretty steep so we turned back and he replied, "Well, it is a mountain!"
  The next morning I had just enough time to hike solo up to the spot of snow across the road from the farm, both of which can be seen in the bottom photo.

Iceland/Island

  We did a flat walk one day in an area renown for the driftwood that washes up that has floated all the way from Siberia.  Even if you look at a globe and see the direct route it can take, Siberia is a long ways away.   On an island lacking in trees the wood is valuable and collected, less now than in the past, but we still saw some fjords where it was stacked up and ready to be hauled away for firewood or building material.
  One aspect of Icelandic culture is the lack of litter; it's almost nonexistent.  Except in this region it washes up from the ocean along with the driftwood, mostly plastic associated with fishing or boats.

Iceland/Island

  When in Rome...  Or in this case, Iceland, one must visit the hot springs.  They call them hot pots and can be found all over, in some places rivers run hot and people soak in them.  A couple hotels we stayed at had a hot pot and charged a small fee if it wasn't part of the bill or if you weren't a guest.  Sometimes the water flowed directly into them down a cliff but more often it was piped in from a nearby spring.  Sadly, we missed more than we were able to get to, but we did alright.  Our skin certainly had enough.

Iceland/Island

  While not many towns had their pools right on the ocean front, these two are more typical of what they mean by pools and hot pots.  The top one was on the north coast and if it had been a clearer day so we could see the mountains across the fjord it would have gotten my vote for best pool/ hot pot.  The one below was described in our guidebook as being at the end of infinity.  There is actually a "town" on the map beyond it, but it's probably fewer than 20 people.  Being the only ones there for almost an hour made us almost forget the bumpy dirt road that took two hours to drive to get to it.  The ride back didn't seem nearly as bad.
  Pools and hot pots are an integral part of the Icelandic culture.  Almost every town has a pool with hot pots, mostly outdoors, and people of all ages go and spend part of their day there talking, playing, drinking the free coffee and tea some provide, and swimming or just relaxing in naturally hot water.     
  One of my favorite memories is visiting the pools in Arkureyri on a hot (for Iceland) Saturday afternoon and being among several hundred people swimming in the two pools or hanging out in the five hot pots or going down the water slides.  It featured an indoor pool that connected to the outdoor.  Another day we sat in hot pots (OK, Gail swam in the pool too) when it was about 50 degrees and raining.
  We did not go to the Blue Lagoon, putting us in company of about 10% of the tourists in Iceland.  Most of the pools cost a few bucks and as you can see are generally not crowded.  The Blue Lagoon costs about $40 ($10 just to go in to look) and you wait in line to get in.  I later read in the geology book of Iceland that we picked up, that it's actually discharged water from a geothermal power plant that has so much silica in it that after several years clogged the porous rock and began pooling.

Iceland/Island

  One of the hot pots we looked forward to the most was the biggest disappointment.  It's situated up a river valley off the Ring Road and has three cement walls built up against a cliff with hot water flowing directly into it.  It's not run by any municipality or park so the facilities are not able to accommodate the thousands of tourists who visit and it was the one place in the whole country that was actually trashed.  Not surprisingly, it didn't seem like there were any locals there.
  It was meant to be the last pool we'd visit, but the next day we had a little time and a rainy afternoon persuaded us to go to the town pool where we were staying and enjoyed it with a half a dozen locals, mostly senior citizens as the kids had started school.

Iceland/Island

  The trip wasn't all about pleasure.  I had to punch the clock and get to work in the Herring Factory Museum and Gail had to shop for yarn in almost every grocery store we visited.  She'll be making authentic Icelandic sweaters for both of us.
  That's a joke about going to work in the herring factory, but it's a reality in one town we visited.  They are trying to entice tourists to go to their remote small town and doing it by having them tour and get some hands-on experience in the fish processing plants.  We didn't fall for it, we just visited the town to try out their pool and hot pots and even though we got there when the place was closed for a midday siesta or something, we found a nice little overlook of the fjord and had our own little siesta.  Later at the pool I heard a woman say, "Now that I'm back in Ithaca living with my parents..."  Small country indeed.

Iceland/Island

  One of Iceland's most famous sites is relatively new.  Jokulsarlon Bay began forming about 80 years ago when the Breidjamerkurjokull glacier started retreating and a bay was formed where the sea flows in at high tide and carries icebergs out when it goes out.  We were fortunate enough to get there early in the morning and not encounter crowds too big or too many powerboats cruising the roughly 10 sq. mile waters.  We were also fortunate to see a nice flock of Arctic Terns (not pictured) here that we missed when visiting Skalanes.  As we left around noon on a Sunday traffic was getting pretty scary, a one-lane bridge over the outlet on the Ring Road here can make things very interesting.  We returned when we drove by early Monday morning and had the beach all to ourselves.
  Icebergs can stay in the bay for five years before moving out to sea, I was able to stay in the water about one minute and smack my arm on the much larger part of the iceberg below the surface you always hear about. Once out to sea the waves can deposit them onto the beach where they either melt or get picked up and taken out again.
  By the way, ice takes on the blue color when it is compressed deep in a glacier and oxygen is forced out of it.  My head is blue because I figured it might stay warmer if I swam with my hat on.

Iceland/Island

  We're not generally excited about driving over 2000 miles in two weeks, but having scenery like this out the window makes it more palatable.  Actually the top picture is an example of the road construction that can make driving miserable, but not in Iceland.  No traffic back-up, no lane restrictions, no flagman directing traffic.  You just stop when the truck in front of you dumps a load of boulders and wait a few minutes as the truck drives away and the bucket loader moves a few rocks so you can get around.  It was part of a road improvement project that is going to make it easier to get to the end of infinity, but not much easier.
  The middle picture is of a glacier in the south that comes almost down to the Ring Road and the bottom picture is of Drangaljokull Glacier as seen across Isafjardjardjup.  We saw a whale breaching in the fjord when we pulled over for a long look at the view here.

Iceland/Island

  According to my counting, we drove around or skirted part of 23 fjords.  While we don't have photographic evidence of each one, we can attest, and rightly show with a few pictures, that they all are stunning.  The second picture is the first small one we saw, soon after crossing Breidjafjordjur on a three-hour ferry ride.  That seemed more like open ocean than a fjord, but we saw our first puffins so we didn't haggle over definitions. 
  The bottom picture is of an Alcoa factory in the Eastfjords.  We read a book before going about the efforts in the late 90's and into this century to open up Iceland to smelters with promises of guaranteed cheap, renewable energy.  Not as many dams were approved as needed, some areas actually got protected status, so not as many factories were established.  As bad as an economy based on tourism is, I think it beats one based on mining, damming rivers and smelting aluminum.
  The picture above that is Seydjisfjordjur, both the town and fjord.  We went up to a sculpture someone made part way up the mountain that produced cool echoes.  I felt it necessary to play banjo inside and take a little hike up the mountain above.

Iceland/Island

 

On top is Iceland's highest mountain, Hvannadalshnukur.  It can be climbed only when ice bridges span some of the crevasses in the glaciers on it.  This window of opportunity is shrinking yearly and now must be accomplished before June.
  A mountain that sticks up far from the highway in the eastern highlands is Herdjubreidj, its base is around 1200' above sea level and its peak is over a mile high.  We got nice views of it while driving for a few hours, and when we pulled over to read an information board about it there were a bunch of motorcyclists gearing up to ride in that direction on an F road.
  F roads are back country dirt roads that lack bridges at river crossings among other challenges, it's illegal to drive on them unless you have a high-clearance, 4X4 vehicle.  Our little compact car didn't qualify but did get over some pretty rough dirt roads.  We passed on a couple that were supposedly not too bad, but the ones to the glaciers on the South Coast were a little too rough so we walked in.
  The picture on the bottom is Hoffellsjokull, which like all glaciers in Iceland, is retreating rapidly.  What I found really amazing was the moss growing where the glacier had covered the ground just a year or two previously.

Iceland/Island

 

Iceland is superlative when it comes to contrasts.  One could hike to these two places in the same day.  On top is a common moss that grows in particularly wet areas.  Below is Hverfell, a tephra ring formed by certain volcanic eruptions, it's all sand and gravel that rises 1400' from the ground around it and is about 3/4 of a mile across.  It happens to be on the edge of Lake Myvatn, which one of us took a picture of by turning around on top of Hverfell and facing out instead of in.

Iceland/Island

  Our tour book listed 23 waterfalls of interest in Iceland, we made it to about ten, drawn by the description in the book and signage posted on the roads.  The top one is a big deal in Iceland's history because it's where the guy who recited the laws at the annual governing council threw all his idols after choosing to follow Christianity over Norse paganism around 1000 AD.  It's appropriately called Godafoss.
  The middle one is Dynjandi, the first official falls we encountered.  The road over the mountains it starts in was a real eye opener with it's twists and turns, no guardrails, and endless amazing views.  Come to think of it, the road up and over the mountain after Dynjandi had more of the same.
  Selfoss, on the bottom, believe it or not, is overshadowed by Dettifoss about 500 yards downstream.  Because Selfoss is separated into a number of falls it doesn't count as Europe's most powerful waterfall.  That goes to Dettifoss where all the water goes over in a single stream.  Picky, picky, picky.

Iceland/Island

  Then there are all the falls you see as you hike or drive anywhere.  We deemed them "Under Appreciated Waterfalls of Iceland."  Some are listed on maps, others don't even show up as a blue line indicating a river.  I imagine in the spring and early summer there are hundreds more that last only as long as there is snow and ice melting in the mountains.  The one shown here that I'm posing in front of was falling off the mountain behind the house we rented for a couple nights.  The pictures I took of Seydisfjordur and the echo sculpture were taken from just above the falls.