Iceland - a quick travelogue

 Our June Iceland adventure didn’t disappoint.

... and yes, I definitely look like a tourist coming off an overnight flight ...

It delighted. It surprised. It rained. It exploded (geysers did anyway). It charmed. It never saw a sunset. It far exceeded expectations.

We explored Iceland with four friends - Neil and Deb McLean and Jim and Frankie McLean -  on a Viking Cruise that left out of Reykjavik and circumnavigated the small island nation of 400,000 inhabitants. We made stops in six diverse ports including one small island on the southern coast with only 4,000 residents.

I’ve got a few rambling thoughts from what I learned and enjoyed beyond the history, geography, food, weather, culture and geological wonders.

1. It’s true what they say… if you don’t like the weather wait 10 minutes. Most days were low 50s with mist/light rain. We did have one gloriously sunny day which ironically showed up at our northernmost stop. That day - pristine blue skies and temps in the low 60s - we visited Akureyri’s Public Park and Botanic Garden that’s home to 2,000 species of local and foreign flowers thanks to Akureyri’s warm microclimate.

 

High above Akureyri

2. You can tell locals vs tourists because tourists are all bundled up to protect against the mid-40s temps while locals are wearing a light jacket and even shorts. The day I did a bike ride to explore fjords, we were told to dress in layers and bring gloves, hats and rain gear. I complied and felt I was dressed like the Michelin Man. Our guide wore shorts, a light hoodie pullover and a ball cap under his helmet.  

This was about 3 minutes after a 30-minute burst of sunshine where we'd all shed layers. 
Quickly back to the cold mist.

3. One of the most interesting stops was touring a power plant. Yes, a power plant. Much of Iceland is powered by geothermal heat because of the country’s location on a volcanic hotspot. Something like 90 percent of Iceland’s homes are heated using geothermal energy that also contributes substantially to the country’s electricity generation. On my bike ride tour, I also noticed several signs along the way that cautioned “hot water” in streams that were heated by geothermal energy. We heard the theme of sustainable energy a lot on our tours.

Following the power plant visit, we stopped to watch a geyser (hopefully) erupt. We hit it on a lucky day and saw several eruptions. Not only will you miss the eruption if you blink, it's practically impossible to get a good photo - but I promise this is a good photo!

4. The political nerd in me loved this fun fact ... Iceland has the oldest continuously meeting Parliament in the world dating back to 900 AD. It is a unicameral (one body) government led by a president elected every four years (although it was tri-cameral until 1991).

While we didn’t have enough time in Reykjavik to visit the current Parliament, we did get to visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Thingvellir National Park, where the first Parliament met. Geologically, this park is located in a valley where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling apart, making it a cool location to see the results of continental drift. This stop was particularly interesting to David as he spent 3 ½ years of college as a geology major and rarely gets the chance to put that knowledge to work.

The path through the tectonic plates

5.  We were in Iceland on the longest day of the year. On that day, we also crossed the Arctic Circle. I wasn’t exactly sure where the Arctic Circle was located, so I looked it up and learned it’s kind of a moving target. The circle is a line of latitude, not a physical spot, and it shifts slightly each year based on the Earth's tilt. This area sees the day of the midnight sun (continuous daylight) in summer and the polar night (continuous darkness) in winter. We just happened to be there on the longest day where the sun never set (which also happened to be our warmest, sunniest day). We even got certificates noting we crossed the Arctic Circle on the longest day of the year. 

Crossing the Arctic Circle at appx. 8:10 pm on June 20 
(I'm wearing the local "art"  - puffin sweater - I'd bought that day)

 

 6.  I learned from our traveling companions that it’s possible to sign up for a tour of the bridge of the ship. Neil and Jim took advantage of this opportunity, and they had a fun time “driving” the boat. Definitely an experience to explore on future trips.  

7. We saw lots of waterfalls and geysers on this adventure. Gullfoss (Golden Falls) is the site of Iceland’s largest waterfall and it considered the highlight of the “Golden Circle” must-see tour out from Reykjavik. This two-tiered magnificent waterfall is loud, spraying visitors from yards away. 

8.  Every child in Iceland learns to swim by age 6. Public swimming pools are very common. Most have hot tubs with them and people consider them social gathering places like a pub. Most are heated by geothermal energy.

9. In Iceland, last names are derived from the parents’ last name and a suffix that means either son or daughter. “Dóttir,” meaning daughter, or ‘son” meaning son is added to the parents' last name to indicate the child’s family name. For example, if a man named Björn has a son, he will have the last name Björnsson. If he has a girl, her last name will be Björnsdottir simply meaning the son or daughter of Björn. It seemed rather confusing, but, at the same time, made sense.

In a small local art shop in Seydisfjördur, I came up on an artist who makes jewelry under the name of “dottir” which is a nod to the “fearless self-belief that Icelandic women have shown through the centuries.” The simply designed jewelry with its strong message caught my eye, and I brought home a lovely black bracelet to add to my daily jewelry collection.

10. In Djúpivogur, we took off on our own to explore the black sand beaches. We bundled up good in layers for a quick, but bumpy, tender ride to shore. There we followed our own personal guide (Neil) who had done a little research about the black beaches. In mostly misty rain, we walked about 1.5 miles from the harbor to the beach that definitely lived up to its description of “black beach.” Yes, it was cold. Yes, we looked like tourists. Yes, we had a wonderful day!

The sand is black because of its volcanic origin. When erupting volcanoes release molten lava, it then cools and solidifies, forming dark-colored volcanic rock. Over time, erosion grinds the rocks into smaller particles, thus the black sand.

11. On the last day, we visited Heimaey, a small island in the southernmost Westman Islands inhabited by about 4000 people. In 1973, the island was devastated by a volcano that unexpectedly erupted and basically covered the entire town. Our guide was a young woman whose grandparents experienced the volcano’s eruption, evacuation and eventual return to the island. She, like several of our other guides, was very knowledgeable about local history and culture and very proud of her heritage.

This was the day that I should have heeded the lesson “if you don’t like the weather …” The forecast said “light rain,” so we dressed in anticipation of a bus tour we’d booked because there was no space on the walking tour. When we realized we could do the walking tour, off we went … into two hours of constant rain. No raincoats, no water resistant pants. Just soaked jeans, dripping hair and soggy shoes. But in spite of that, our lovely guide powered on.

This town had my favorite museum of the trip – it honored the people affected by the 1973 volcano. Very powerful.

12.  The language in Iceland is Icelandic, a version of Old Norse. Its alphabet has lots of confusing accents and words seem to be unusually long. We didn’t run up on anyone who didn’t speak fluent English, although we did run into Icelandic being spoken among natives frequently in shops and restaurants.

13. Finding an outing on a bike is always a top priority of mine when we travel like this. I chose a ride around the fjord where our ship was docked while we were in Isafjördur. The ride was mostly tame and flat although we did have a few hills leading up to a magnificent waterfall view. This is where I noticed signs warning about hot water (the earlier reference to geothermal heat) in a number of local streams we passed. On this day, the rest of our crew took off for a local seafood tour in the small village of Sudureyri where they learned about a sustainable seafood community.

14. Believe the guidebooks when they say Iceland is expensive. Fortunately, since we traveled on a cruise, we weren’t overly impacted by this. But it did slow down our usual efforts to buy local art, jewelry or gifts.

My one splurge was buying two Icelandic sweaters (why, you ask, two sweaters since we don’t experience two days in SC cold enough for these warm Icelandic sweaters). Not only were the sweaters a practical purchase that I wore several times on the trip, but one, in particular, is what I’d consider local art. It is completely handmade and fit like it was made for me. So one on that one snow day this winter, look for me in my exquisite Icelandic sweater.