Iceland- Day 8

We briefly thought the forecasters might be wrong, but the wind and rain (not as heavy to start) continued.  This morning we had an indoor activity planned; crawling down into an 8,000 year old lava tube, the Vatneshellir Cave.

The Snæffelsnesjokull (glacier) sits atop a 5,400 ft mountain, the tallest in Iceland within Snæffelsnesjokull National Park.  

During prior volcanic eruptions, rivers of lava flowed to the ocean.  As the surface lava cooled, it solidified with molten lava flowing beneath it until the source was expended.  At that point, a hollow tube remained.  We walked through similar tubes in Hawaii (and will again in January).  We descended a 100 ft. spiral staircase to the depth of the tube wearing lights and climbing helmets.  

                                       

Good thing since I whacked my head several times on the jagged walls.  We spent about 45 minutes exploring the caves.  At one point, we all turned out our lights.  You couldn’t see your hand on your nose. Really dark!

                                        

Arctic fox remains.  rapped in cave

We came back to the surface, and the rain had stopped for now.  We had tried to find the visitor’s center before the cave tour, but the road signs told us it was 2 km to the visitor’s center and we went much more than this ­­­(including exiting the N.P).  We came to find out that the national park never told the sign people they moved!  Finally found a nice new center with good exhibits, and a short hike to the rocket-shaped lighthouse at Malaria 

along the cliffs above the black sand beach and the ocean.  

The wind was whipping up some great swells that crashed on the rocks.  

Not far from here was a really cool rock formation, the pillars of Londragar.  Local myth claims that the elves use these lava formations as a church. There was also a cabin with whale ribs adorning the exterior.

As we left the Visitor’s Center the rain started up again in earnest.  The cold, wind, and rain made us elect to not attempt any additional outdoor activities today (we had hoped to ride Icelandic horses-as long as they didn’t have any Donald Trump look-alikes, but the weather saved us), but rather hit a museum.  We opted for the Icelandic National Museum on the University of Iceland campus.  The museum is quite new and tells the story of Iceland from early settlement to today.  It was very well done, and we now are experts in Icelandic history (but still can’t pronounce any of the language).

                                          

                         

Our hotel for the last night was strategically placed about 2 miles from the airport and right on the harbor at Keflavik.  

We had one last great dinner in Iceland at a seafood and Indian restaurant.  The chef is Indian, so they had a full Indian menu, and fantastic seafood.  We shared a seafood mixed grill appetizer and cod tikka masala, then all had monkfish with langoustines and a light curry sauce. 

Up tomorrow early for our flight home.

Some final thoughts and observations about Iceland:

1.      People very friendly and helpful

2.     Without a doubt, the best tap water anywhere in the world (that we’ve been to)

3.     Weather is highly changeable.  Sunny one minute, raining the next.

4.     Hiking trails in the national parks are superbly maintained.

5.     Never saw any litter, anywhere (I guess it helps to have a population 1/3 the size of Vermont in an area the size of Virginia)

6.     Every public restroom was immaculate.

7.     If you drive there, get a 4-wheel drive vehicle with adequate clearance.  Subaru Outback was fine, but if you want to drive on some of the mountain roads (like the road to Laki), you should consider something like a Land Rover.  Many of the gravel roads go through streams and the depth can vary.  More clearance , better chance of not getting stuck.

8.     There is good cell service nearly everywhere.  Recommend getting a GPS and mobile hot spot for your vehicle.  Mobile hot spots have unlimited use.  Most hotels have decent WIFI.

9.     The airport is fairly small and easy to get in and out of.  There is a hotel (Hotel Smari, a.k.a. the Aurora Star) that is a 5 minute walk from the airport if you arrive late at night. Otherwise, the hotel we stayed at on our last night is less expensive, nicer, and a 10 minute drive.

10.  There is a gas station on Rt. 45 just before rental car return.

11.  Make sure you have credit cards with chips and preferably with a PIN. Most places take Visa, MC, and Amex (a few don’t take AMEX). Don’t really need much cash Some gas stations require a PIN with the credit card to pay outside.  If you are stuck, you can buy a gas card and put on it any denomination of Icelandic Kroners.  You then use it as a debit card until it is exhausted.

12.  There a stores called Vinbud which are liquor stores.  Some have better wine selections than others.  Also the groceries are great with pretty good variety (Netto).

13.  You can see Northern Lights in the fall, winter and spring (we didn’t due to weather, but we met others who did).  There is a website that can predict the likelihood of seeing the Aurora Borealis.  It increases about 3 days after a solar flare, so as long as the weather is clear, you have a good shot.

14.  In the past 2 years tourism has skyrocketed. The infrastructure, especially outside of Reykjavik, hasn’t caught up.  Most nicer hotels are in the 3-star category. Also, there are not large numbers of restaurants to choose from.  But the food was, overall, excellent.

15.  Everywhere the dress was hiker casual.  I would leave the tux and evening dress at home.

16.  Most of the major tourist sites are easily accessed by car and usually a short walk.  To get to some of the less travelled areas requires some degree of hiking.

17.  If you are going to do anything other than minimal walking, I would recommend a good sturdy hiking boot. I wore my lightweight low hikers, and could feel every single rock underfoot.  Lava is everywhere, and it tends to be quite jagged.  I wished I had my sturdy  leather Asolos.

Iceland- Day 7

No luck with the weather.  If anything it is worse.  Cold, rainy, and (yes, Toby) windy.  Not quite as much wind as we encountered in Patagonia, but still gale force.  I also found out today that my Gortex boots and rain pants are no match for the Icelandic weather.

We left the sulfurous Ion Adventure Hotel 

to visit þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park.  

Þingveallarvatn (Lake Thingvellir) lies at the southern end of  þingvellir N.P. It is the largest lake in Iceland at 32 sq miles.

At Þingvellir - literally "Parliament Plains" - the Alþing general assembly was established around 930 and continued to convene there until 1798. Major events in the history of Iceland have taken place at Þingvellir and therefore the place is held in high esteem by all Icelanders. Today Þingvellir is a protected national shrine. According to the law, passed in 1928, the protected area shall always be the property of the Icelandic nation, under the preservation of the Alþing.

Within the national park an area where the North American and the Eurasian tectonic plates meet. In the south, the plates inch past each other, but at Þingvellir, they break apart and the land between subsides.   This area is called the Almannagja Fault.

Away from the plate boundaries the activity is fairly constant, about two centimetres a year, but, in the rift zones themselves, tensional stress accumulates during a long period and is then released in a burst of activity when fracture boundaries are reached. The most recent burst of activity swept over Þingvellir in spring 1789.

From the Visitor’s Center, there are great views of the rift zone with the two continents clearly visible.  

                                       

The rain stopped briefly and we decided to walk down through the rift to the valley below.  Half way down, the weather started again turning bad, so Dave and I decided to run back to the car and drive it to the parking lot below (we thought).  We planned to meet Jeri and Molly at the lot with a back-up plan to meet at a small church that was near the parking lot (we thought).  We didn’t realize that getting to the lot required us to go all the way around the rift (several miles) and the church had no access from the lot.  By this time, the deluge had begun, and the ladies were gone.  On top of that, the hordes transported by bus from Reykjavik had descended and the area was now a mass of humanity.  We found a way to the church and they were not there. This is when we realized that the parking lot and church were on separate planets.  Jeri’s phone was off, so I couldn’t call.  Dave and I hoofed it back across the rift and searched for a pair of yellow sailing jackets (Molly was borrowing mine- her raincoat leaked worse than my rain pants).  

Fortunately, eagle-eyed Dave spotted them at about 1,000 yds., and we were able to intercept them.  We finally got back to the car, cold and wet, but reunited.

Given the abysmal weather, we decided to skip the hike to another waterfall and to the  Alþing.

Instead, we began our drive to the Snæffelsnes peninsula, just north of Reykjavik. 

Eider ducks

Snæffelsnes is a 100km long peninsula packed with fjords, sea cliffs, black beaches, and a volcano covered by the Snæffelsnesjokull glacier.  The glacier and volcano were the inspiration for Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth.  The drive took us past more waterfalls, 

farms with sheep 

and Icelandic horses. Icelandic horses are a distinct breed that descended from horses brought here by the Norse settlers in the 9^th and 10^th Centuries.  Importation of any horses is prohibited in Iceland, assuring that the breed will remain pure.  We stopped at a group of these horses that were near a roadside turnout for Dave to visit with them, 

until we realized that amongst them Donald Trump was hiding!

The "Donald"

Even in the rain the drive was beautiful.  We drove past several fjords and crossed one large one via a 6 km tunnel.  Once on the Snæffelsnes peninsula, the traffic became extremely sparse, even by NH standards. We stopped at Stykkisholmur, a quaint seaside village at the northeastern part of the peninsula.  

The wind here was fierce and combined with the rain, we needed something hot to warm us.  We tried a restaurant recommended by many for their seafood soup, but we were a bit too late with the entire restaurant filled with some tour group.  One of the waitresses there suggested an alternative down by the docks, so we gave it a try.  Best seafood soup any of us ever had (except Jeri’s, of course). 

Warmed and stuffed and with a short break in the rain, we hiked to the top of Sugandisey, an island with tall basalt columns that protects Stykkisholmur’s harbor from weather.  The lighthouse dates to 1948 and was lit by gas until it was converted to electric in 1995. 

It was connected to the land in 1989.  It overlooks Br­­eiðafjörður (the fjord) that contains hundreds of tiny islands that farmers use to graze sheep (they certainly aren’t getting away).   There were great views of the town which has been used for several movie sets including, most recently, Walter Mitty. 

With another wave of rain fast approaching, and the wind counteracting our warmth from our soup, we hightailed it down the mountain to the car. 

Our last stop before finding our hotel was Kirkjufellsfoss, a pretty two-tiered waterfall and adjacent mountain.  

A little sun would have made it spectacular.  We finally found out the reason for so many waterfalls in Iceland. Iceland, in geologic terms is very young, a mere 13 million years old (unless you are a creationist- then I can’t explain the falls).  There are major icefields all over Iceland and melt from the icefields created hundreds and hundreds of rivers.  Over time, these rivers will cause enough erosion to cut gentle valleys, but now, the melt has only the steep drop offs to encounter, thus the waterfalls. This explanation doesn’t work if the earth is 5,000-6,000 years old.  Sorry creationists.

Our hotel was pretty basic, but interesting.  We were sent a front door code and room code via email.  The room was pre-paid, and there wasn’t a soul at the reception desk, or anywhere else.  Shades of the future. 

Weather predictions for tomorrow don’t seem to be much better.  Could this be the beginning of 40 days and nights?  Where is Noah when we need him.