I met up with Linda for breakfast at her hotel then we hopped in the mini-bus. The tour guide, Ronald, began his narration as we began to leave Reykjavik. It was raining out with the occasional slight bit of sleet. Ronald explained that we were not to worry as the weather was going to change many times over the course of the day and he was correct.
The first stop was Thingvellir (or technically Þingvellir...that first letter called a thorn and pronounced as "th"). It is a national park and even a UNESCO world heritage site. It has a couple of claims to fame. One being that it is one of two places in the world that you can see two tectonic plates, in this case the North American and Eurasian ones, pulling apart. The other place surprisingly is Ethiopia. The other significant aspect to Thingvellir is that it is the site of Iceland's first parliament in 930 AD (considered to be the oldest parliament in Europe). Each summer, people would gather here for a couple of weeks, some having travelled for 2 weeks just to get there. A rocky outcropping called Lögberg or Law Rock, where the plates are pulling apart, was used by the presiding official for the assembly to speak to all members. Nearby, the Vikings had diverted a river in order to create a small waterfall which led to the "Drowning Pool" where about 70 some women were executed for various crimes, primarily adultery. Ronald had dropped us off and we walked about 500 meters to meet up with him on the other side of the river. While crossing a small wooden bridge, I thought it odd that there was a sign saying not to throw your money into the water. I guess there are some who believe in the good luck aspect of chucking in your coins. Linda and I got a chuckle when we saw that someone had even thrown in a credit card in one pool...buying dreams on credit, I guess it has been a tough economic recession!
What Thingvellir should look like (some crafty photography by Linda of a sign):
What we experienced:
Straddling the plates, a slow but effective way to stretch my groin:
The path between the plates:
The next stop was Gulfoss waterfalls.
They were fairly spectacular but I guess after having lived in Niagara Falls during a couple of my engineering work terms, I’m a bit of a waterfall snob. We walked down some stairs to a viewpoint. The water descends a staircase like set of rocks and then fall into a chasm, the bottom of which you can’t see. There were some nice chunks of ice covered snow clinging to the cliff walls. Linda and I began to chat to an older couple who were on the same tour. Turns out that Alice and Jerry were from Bellingham in Washington state, not too far away from Victoria. They were returning from northern Sweden, visiting their son. We then walked to the upper section. Ronald had mentioned that there would be a “Do Not Enter” sign on a chain blocking the path. In the winter the area can become treacherous due to ice created by the mist. He said that it was a personal choice whether to obey the sign or not...so of course we didn’t, nor did anyone else. Ironically Linda was almost tripped up by the chain on our way back. The view from the top was fantastic as we could now see down the chasm. There was only a rope barrier, all of 1 foot above the ground preventing one from going over the edge. I found this relaxed state of security refreshing from the usual paranoia in North America yet thought this low rope was more likely to send people into the water! We wandered back to the restaurant/gift shop for some lunch. I sampled the traditional Icelandic lamb soup. It was a pretty ordinary broth with massive chunks of meat in it. Having chilled out a bit in the wind and rain while looking at the falls, it was a great warmer upper.
Some pics of Gulfoss:
Linda and I were the last ones on the bus...again, a theme that would repeat itself throughout the day. Gotta get your money’s worth right? Next stop, Geysir...the original that lends its name to all other geysers in the world (not that there are too many). The actual Geysir doesn’t erupt very often anymore, in fact Ronald said he’s only seen it go off once in the last year. However another one called Strokkur bellows hot water 30-40 feet into the air every 7 minutes or so. It blew just as we pulled into the parking lot. I recall going to see Old Faithful in Yosemite National Park as a kid and although this one wasn’t as big, the cool thing was that you could stand about 20 feet away from it. It was roughly 5-6 feet in diameter. Linda and I kept trying to take the quintessential pic which is capturing the bubble of water just as it erupts. I got close on my last attempt but we both agreed we might just have to buy a postcard. Linda wasn’t too bothered to walk around to check out some of the other pools until a lady said that there was one pool with an incredible blue colour to it, and considering it was only 50 meters away, we’re glad we checked it out. The whole area was probably only a couple hundred meters in diameter so although it was no Yosemite, it was still a cool stop.
Strokkur:
A minor eruption of Strokkur:
Back on the bus, we travelled for only 10 minutes before checking out another waterfall. Nowhere near as impressive as Gulfoss, but still beautiful. There was a concrete fish ladder on one side and nearby a circular set of gates and pens. Ronald explained that farmers used this facility to sort and select from feral sheep that would be collected each year. Due to the rain and wind, this stop lasted but 5 minutes.
Another quick one was looking at a crater that was formed by a volcano. It was circular and quite steep on almost all sides with a lake about 2-300 meters below. Supposedly Björk played a concert there on a floating barge. I wondered how they would have gotten the gear down there and how many drunk teenagers might have fallen down the steep embankment!
The crater:
The final site to see was the geothermal power plant. Seemed like a stark contrast to all of the natural sites we had visited but the Icelanders seem quite proud of their power plants, both geothermal and hydro ones. I can’t blame them. It was quite a nice facility complete with a coffee shop and two 4 feet tall trolls in the foyer!
The power plant:
Back in Reykjavik, Linda and I decided to meet for dinner a couple of hours later. While hanging out in the hostel working on my blog, a blonde woman probably in her early 30s came in and we struck up a conversation. Silke was from southern Germany and was en route to Greenland where she has been a guide in summers past. This was the earliest she had headed out there so she would be leading some dog sled trips, skiing and eventually hiking and kayak ones too. I was happy to see that her bag was even bigger than mine but I guess you need to pack well for Greenland. She even had a kilo and a half of pepper for some guy there! I mentioned that I was meeting Linda for dinner and she accepted my offer to join us. I had overheard Raquel, a super helpful young lady at the hostel telling Alice and Jerry about a restaurant called Vegemot so we decided to head there. It was a trendy looking place with clean modern lines, candles and it was filled with locals, always a good sign. I ordered Jungle Curry Chicken but although it was fairly tasty, it was almost a soup with very little rice. Oh well, you can’t win them all. After dinner, Silke was ready to pack it in so we walked her almost all the way back to the hostel and then Linda and I went for a drink at a chic place called Cafe Paris. I then bid Linda adieu as she was flying back to Glasgow in the morning. She was a lot of fun to hang out with and perhaps our paths will cross again in the future.
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