Iceland-Day 1

Had a few concerns about Molly and Dave getting out of Florida ahead of the hurricane, but they were delayed only about 40 minutes.  Still plenty of time to have a nice lunch at Durgan Park at Logan.  The flight last night was quite uneventful.  Thanks to Andy and Betty's heads up, we stayed at the airport hotel, only a 5 minute walk from the terminal and got a decent night's sleep before heading out this morning.

After picking up our car (another 5 minute walk from the hotel- everything is a 5 minute walk in this small country) we drove into the capital, and only real city (3/4 of the entire population of Iceland, 300,000, live here), Reykjavik.  Reykjavik is probably the easiest Icelandic word to spell and pronounce.  The language is illegible, unpronounceable, and incomprehensible!

Fortunately, English is spoken nearly everywhere (hope that is true further into the hinterlands).

A little about Iceland before we continue our saga (Icelandic story). Iceland began its history a mere 20 million years ago as magma spewing out of a fissure between the North American and European continental plates.  It continues to be extremely active both seismologically and geothermally with 20 active volcanoes and innumerable hot springs and mudpots.  Ice has also played a major role in carving steep valleys and deep fjords.  10% of the country is still covered in ice in the form of icefields and glaciers.

Irish monks were the first human  inhabitants of Iceland in the 800’s.  Norse settlements began at the latter half of the 9^th century, the first of which was in Reykjavik in 874.  An early parliament was established in 930 which established an egalitarian nation of farmers and fisherman.  It came under the rule of Norway  in 1262, and of Denmark in 1380.  It finally regained independence as the Republic of Iceland in 1944.

Now, back to the trip.  The drive into Reykjavik from the airport took about ½ hour on excellent roads and with little traffic on a Saturday morning (I guess with only a few thousand inhabitants, how bad could rush hour really be?).  Our first stop was the Lutheran cathedral, Hallgrimskirkja.

The church was completed in 1986 and, although quite impressive outside, its interior is very plain with columns of volcanic basalt on either side of the tower. There is an impressive  5275 pipe organ inside which was installed in 1992.  

Outside of the church is a large bronze statue of Leifur Eriksson, the 1^st European to discover America.  This was presented to Iceland by the USA on the 1000^th anniversary of the Alphing, the 1^st national assembly in 1930.

We spent the rest of the morning walking around Old Reykjavik and the harbor.  Sweater shops were in abundance and naturally sucked Jeri and Molly into their wombs.  We fortunately got out unscathed, though we tried unsuccessfully to get Molly to go for a puffin hat.

Bronze statues and urban art adorn the streets of Reykjavik.  

They also have some interesting museums (which we skipped).

A recent addition to the city is the Harpa, the concert hall.  It is made up of an intricate latticework of glass panels that reflect light an seem to change colors depending on where you stand.

Early afternoon we began driving south and east on the main national highway N1.  The landscape changed abruptly upon leaving the city of Reykjavík to very rural, sparsely inhabited rolling farmland.  There are quite a bit more sheep in Iceland than people! The sheep were brought here in 870 and the strain of Icelandic sheep has remained quite pure since then.  Sheep were extremely important for survival of Icelanders providing both food and warmth.

We stopped in Hveragerdi, which translates to “geothermal energy”.  The area is surrounded by lava fields dotted with steaming vents, giving it a surreal sense.  Its active geothermal field heats hundreds of greenhouses making the area an ideal place for the nation’s horticultural college.

We did a nice hike from the edge of town through the Hot River Valley (Reykjadalur) to a portion of the heated river suitable for dunking.  

Along the way, we climbed to beautiful views of waterfalls 

and walked through dense, sulfur laden steam. 

Oh yeah, more sheep.  By the time we reached the pools, 

it was getting late, and we decided to skip the dip (c’mon, did you really think Jeri and Molly would go swimming in 50 degree weather?).

The drive to our hotel in Hella took about 45 minutes.  What we need now is a glass of wine (got it), a good meal (got it), and bed (need it ).  Tomorrow, waterfalls and the coastal town of Vik.