After a perfectly adequate breakfast at Hotel Hella (although they were always running out of coffee), we boarded the bus on another rainy, cloudy day. Our tour started with a very long drive along the east coast past remote farms with lots of sheep and horses. The largest farm in Iceland sits at the base of the volcano that erupted in 2010. The upshot of that event was that the farm experienced very fertile soil, so they did not require fertilizer. The land is volcanic and hard to work, so long, narrow plots of land are created with four-foot trenches in between for drainage. We learned about the flooding that the eruption caused. One large river rose one hundred percent above normal! We drove over that river and saw the difference one day of rain makes. It's pretty amazing how full it was.
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| Me and Nancy |
We drove past beautiful mountains and crawling glaciers. Flat lands were covered in golden grass, and volcanic rock fields were covered in green moss. We stopped at one such field on the way back, and were able to feel how soft the four-inch thick moss is on the lava rocks. We learned it takes seventy-five years for it to grow back if a thoughtless human picks it. There were also black sand fields as far as the eye could see that was "good for absolutely nothing", according to Eythor. He stayed with us for the entire week and was very knowledgeable with good humor.
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| Nancy Beachcombing |
On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at a really large waterfall. It was surrounded by mountains with farms, sheep and a river. The water was clear, clean and cold. The waterfall was sixty meters high and was created by runoff from a double glacier we couldn't see because of the cloud cover. There were 527 steps to the top of this waterfall, but we didn't venture up. Instead we walked toward it along the river collecting stones as we went. Nancy and I got close enough to get good and wet, and we yelled at the top of our lungs and hooted and hollered like crazy women. It was really fun. We laughed hard at our antics. I was so grateful for my rain suit. So was Larry.
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| Larry |
Our next stop was the black sand beach. What a magnificent place! Huge volcanic, very phallic-looking rock formations were in the ocean and basalt rock walls with tall columns surrounded the bay that people climbed a little way to take pictures. A large, shallow cave lent interesting texture to the area as well. We were warned not to get too close to the ocean as large waves can sneak up and suck you in. Eythor chuckled to Marco to bring the video camera to watch the tourists go into the water. Obviously, not everyone heeds their warnings. The basalt columns reminded Larry and I of the Giant's Causeway in Ireland. The color of the columns resembled molten silver.
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| Church in Vik |
We had lunch at the Black Sand Restaurant on the beach. Hot meat soup with lamb, onions and carrots was a welcome meal. It was all we could eat with bread. I also tried the homemade rye bread topped with pickled herring and hard-boiled egg and mayonnaise. It was really delicious. A Viking beer and espresso rounded out my meal. It was just delicious.
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| Washstand in Vik |
Homemade woolen sweaters, hats and gloves were sold there. I bought a sweater. It was made by the woman who owned the restaurant and her sister. I love it and it is very warm. I love that it has no tags.
The end of the line was a visit to the icebergs. We
climbed atop a small hill to get a good view of the beautiful blue
icebergs. They really are a beautiful blue color. Some had stripes of black through them. They were huge!
Smaller icebergs floated past while the large ones didn't seem to move
at all. We were told seals roosted here, but we didn't see any. It was a
pretty amazing site. Larry and I warmed up with a coffee at the cafe before boarding the bus again.
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| Iceberg Tour Boat |
We stayed at another lovely, new and contemporary hotel. It just opened in June. It was the Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon for just one night. We once again enjoyed dinner in a private room. A salmon appetizer was served and then a wonderful cod entree with picked onions and mashed potatoes. No green anything was served! Dessert was blueberry Skyr with lemon sorbet. It was wonderful.
We also made a stop this day in the village of Vik before we ventured to iceberg bay. There was a woolen mill there, and I bought two more sweaters. My goal is to donate old sweaters I don't want to wear anymore and replace them with new ones. I also got very warm slippers. The village has a lovely church atop a high hill: a white building with a red roof. The parking lot had a cute outdoor washstand with carved birds on either side atop the mirror. Volcanic rock formations in the ocean behind them made a good backdrop for an artsy photo shot.
The major thing hanging over our trip this day was whether the rain would stop. Thursday was the night predicted to be the best for viewing Northern Lights. Larry confirmed through a web site he knows that there was an event on the sun and it takes three days to reach earth which would cause Northern Lights. We all waited with anticipation to see what would happen.
After a perfectly adequate breakfast at Hotel Hella (although they were always running out of coffee), we boarded the bus on another rainy, cloudy day. Our tour started with a very long drive along the east coast past remote farms with lots of sheep and horses. The largest farm in Iceland sits at the base of the volcano that erupted in 2010. The upshot of that event was that the farm experienced very fertile soil, so they did not require fertilizer. The land is volcanic and hard to work, so long, narrow plots of land are created with four-foot trenches in between for drainage. We learned about the flooding that the eruption caused. One large river rose one hundred percent above normal! We drove over that river and saw the difference one day of rain makes. It's pretty amazing how full it was.
On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at a really large waterfall. It was surrounded by mountains with farms, sheep and a river. The water was clear, clean and cold. The waterfall was sixty meters high and was created by runoff from a double glacier we couldn't see because of the cloud cover. There were 527 steps to the top of this waterfall, but we didn't venture up. Instead we walked toward it along the river collecting stones as we went. Nancy and I got close enough to get good and wet, and we yelled at the top of our lungs and hooted and hollered like crazy women. It was really fun. We laughed hard at our antics. I was so grateful for my rain suit. So was Larry.
Our next stop was the black sand beach. What a magnificent place! Huge volcanic, very phallic-looking rock formations were in the ocean and basalt rock walls with tall columns surrounded the bay that people climbed a little way to take pictures. A large, shallow cave lent interesting texture to the area as well. We were warned not to get too close to the ocean as large waves can sneak up and suck you in. Eythor chuckled to Marco to bring the video camera to watch the tourists go into the water. Obviously, not everyone heeds their warnings. The basalt columns reminded Larry and I of the Giant's Causeway in Ireland. The color of the columns resembled molten silver.
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