Sunday, another lovely breezy day, gusts of 32kmh, top temperature of 0 °C. At one stage, during the day the driver asked me how things were and I said it was very windy. He told me that in all the years he’s lived in Reykjavik there was only one day that wasn’t windy and that was part of a day not the whole day. It was the same mayhem at the bus stop this morning and once again our bus seemed to be one of the last to pull up. The bus today was larger and there was a full load. Most people kept to the schedule but there were times when some of the passengers were late and that held us up a little bit. Our tour guide had an unpronounceable name but said we could call her the pink lady because her hair is a vivid pink colour. During the day she told us that she moved north a couple of years ago to a small village near a fjord. From mid-November to mid-January they don’t have any direct sunlight because of the cliffs around. They only see reflections of the sun in the snow and ice that surrounds them.
We drove for a while and stopped for a morning tea and comfort stop, then on to our first point of interest Keriõ Crater. It is all that is left of a now extinct volcano. Usually, the walls of the crater are dark red because of the high iron content in the soil but today it was covered in snow and none of the red was showing through. We walked down the steep walkway into the mouth of the crater but because of the conditions it really wasn’t very interesting viewing. Of course, then we had to walk back up again. Not sure it was worth the effort.
Another hour down the road we visited Gullfoss waterfall. There was a good view from the car park level but we had to walk down several flights of metal stairs to reach the best viewing area. There were over 50 stairs but I gave up counting. The main section of waterfall is quite wide. Along the sides of the channel leading up to it there are several smaller waterfalls. The volume of water falling over the edge is massive and it’s quite a spectacular sight. The temperature and the wind here were even more punishing than back in Reykjavik. You barely had your hands out of your pocket before it felt like your fingers would just snap off. There was ice on the handrails and the small amount of vegetation around was completely frozen and the grass looked like ice ribbons. The return back up the stairs was a hard slog and took my breath away. I had to pause close to the top for a breather before carrying on.
We returned about 15 minutes back down the road for a quick visit with some Icelandic horses. This is the purest breed of horse in the world. No other breeds have ever been introduced to Iceland and are not allowed in the country for fear that they would pass on diseases that Icelandic horses couldn’t cope with. If an Icelandic horse is exported it can never come home. All horses have 3 gaits walk, trot and canter but Icelandic horses have 2 extras, tölt and flying pace. They are small horses and have very rough coats. Over the last couple of days, we have seen them in paddocks all over the country. They are used for many purposes, one of which is food. Don’t think I will be trying any
We retraced our steps a bit further down the road and visited the Geysir Centre for lunch and to visit Strokkur Geysir. Geysir is actually an Icelandic word adopted into English. It was the name of one particular Geysir but is now used in English as generic term for all geysers. We had lunch first and then wandered through the fields of bubbling water to the geyser that shot up into the air a couple of times while we were there. Even though there is a lot of heat generated in this area there was ice all around, on the ground and in the water
Most of the electricity in Iceland is generated by geothermal activity. AlsoAlso, they don’t grow crops in the fields. All their fruit and vegetables are grown in greenhouses heated by geothermal pipes.
Our last stop for the day was Thingvellir National Park where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates move against each other and drift apart creating a rift valley. The process is slow but the changes in the landscape are continual. SoSo, for part of the dayday, we were technically standing in North America according to our guide. We could see 5 houses and and church beside the river in the valley below. There is a steep walkway with metal handrails and mesh along the sides leading down through the rift to the valley floor. There were several buses in the car park and many of the passengers ventured down the walkway. We stayed up top and viewed it from above. Because what goes down must come up and we were running out of energy and as usual it was bitterly cold. In 930A.D. there was a meeting of chieftains in this area. They met to discuss news, legislation and justice. They continued to meet here for over 300 years until authority was passed to Norway. The assemblies continued at Thingvellir until 1798 but more as a ceremonial ritual. They are now held in Reykjavik. We left just after 4pm for a long trip back to Reykjavik. The sun was starting to set and the surrounding snow dusted hills were glowing pink as the sun sank in the sky.
On the way back our guide mentioned that it could be a good night for viewing the northern lights. As soon as we were back in the apartment around 6.30pm we got online and booked a night bus trip to hunt for the lights. We were lucky to get places on a 9.30pm tour but Vicki elected to stay at home because she had been battling a cold for the last few days and was very tired. After a quick dinner we rugged up again. Getting ready to go anywhere can take up to half an hour because of all the layers and getting your boots on. We were at the bus stop about 10 minutes early but the bus didn’t arrive till nearly 10pm because they did other pickups before our stop. There was a big crowd waiting to get on and we all huddled in the sheltered area in front of the hotel. It felt about 10° colder than this afternoon. After driving for about half an hour, away from the city lights, we pulled over because the guide and driver could see the northern lights up ahead. It was the faintest of auroras and to the untrained eye it just looked like wispy white clouds drifting across the sky. When you looked through the camera you could see a bit of green as well. Apparently, the lights come and go very quickly so after about 15 minutes we were back on the bus and heading to another likely spot. Once again, we were off the bus for about 15 minutes. This time the display was a bit stronger. Our final stop was at the crater we had visited this morning. I took several photos but most of them were blurry and only one turned out really well. We headed back home and arrived back at the apartment around 1.30am, very tired and we have another early start later in the morning.
This featured blog entry was written by caties55 from the blog Winter Wonderland.
Read comments or Subscribe
