Iceland 2022

Our June 2022 group at Thingvellir National Park!

Front row: Yvonne, George, Roger, Gunna, Cindy, Rick.
Back row: Ben, Jan, Emerson, Linda, Melinda, Rolla, Marilyn.

A map of the different regions of Iceland. We spent the first few days in the Southern Region, then the Capital and Western Regions, followed by the Northwestern and Northeastern Regions before flying back to the Capital Region, where we also spent half a day on the Southern Pennisula at the Blue Lagoon.

We (Linda and Emerson) were invited by Jan and Ben to go on the Untamed Icelands tour by OAT over a year prior to the start of our trip. We gladly signed on.

We flew from Dallas through Minneapolis for our 6 hour 5 time zone last flight and arrived at Keflavik International airport at 7:30am Wednesday June 8.

Waiting for our luggage and then we exit through the duty free store. Alcohol is very expensive in Iceland and returning Icelanders likely stock up on the way through. Our tour leader Gunna, was waiting for us as we exited the security area. We rode a tour bus to Selfoss about 1 hr and 20 minutes away from the airport and shared the ride with some OAT travelers starting the same tour the following day.

We stayed at the Hotel Selfoss our first few days. It sits along the Olfusa River in the town of Selfoss, population 9000 which is the largest town in Southern Iceland. We'd expected temperatures in the low 50's but for a few days we were even well into the 60's. The locals told us to enjoy this unusual weather.

Hotel Selfoss.

The breakfast and dinner at the Selfoss Hotel were both good and varied. Gunna advised us to try the cod liver oil that was at the breakfast buffet. They had small glasses, think shot glass size, to pour it into. It didn't taste bad but unless it was doing some good you wouldn't normally drink it.

The Icelandic alphabet has 32 letters not including C, Q and W (though these letter can be found in words of foreign origin). We found pronouncing the words very difficult. Luckily one of the easiest to say was Takk for Thank You.

Due to keyboard limitations we've used the English spelling. For example, the Icelandic alphabet has a letter that resembles a small p but is phonetically pronounced "th".

The suspension bridge over the Olfusa was originally built in 1891 and connected the agricultural south to the capital region. We were fascinated by the amount of hot water continuously pouring out into the river. A lady at the hotel said it was just excess water from a borehole. We came to understand the abundance of natural hot water in Iceland.

The Olfusa River.

Volcanic steam pots along river.

Expanation of these geological formations.

Images from the story of Jora who became an abominable troll. This was under the bridge crossing the Olfusa river.

A small but very busy hog dog store just outside our Selfoss hotel. It was recommended to us. There was an American couple in line ahead of us and they highly recommended the dog with everything. The dog (Pylsa) contains mostly lamb with pork and beef. Served on a steamed bun topped with fried onions, white onions, sweet brown mustard and remoulade We split one hot dog and later ate at a food court just across the street from our hotel.

Emerson and Linda in a sleigh outside of the year round Christmas store.

A church close to our hotel. A graveyard is behind it. Lutheranism is the official religion of Iceland and most churches are Lutheran. They don't even bother to identify the demonination on signage like we do in the US.

They take good care of the graveyard and there is a large variety of markers.

The natural hexagonal basalt used to make this marker showed up in a lot of places.

A quaint bookstore/coffee shop. They had a nice section of English titles.

A grass covered house in Selfoss.

A 1929 building totally upgraded. We had our first taste of Skyr (yogurt from pasteurized skim milk) here and for an evening meal we ordered soup and bread from a restaurant in the food court.

Gunna provided a daily schedule that included a word of the day and her own creative artwork!

OAT had a mandatory policy of wearing face masks while on the bus. Gunna said that the air circulation on buses is not good.

We usually sat across from each other as there was plenty of room on the bus.

This map of the southern region shows Rt 1. All of our stops this day were along this road: first to Seljalandsfoss, then a view of Eyjafjoll, a stop at Skogafoss, lunch at the Volcano Hotel with an environmental talk by Ingo, then on to Dyrholaey, Vik and finally an overland drive to the head of the Mulakmisl river where we hiked to the Kotlujokull glacier.

Gunna pronounces the names of some landmarks.

The first waterfall we stopped at, Seljanlandsfoss.

Seljalandsfoss is right along Ring Road (Rt 1), Iceland's main thoroughfare around the island - 830 miles of mostly paved highway.

In front of Seljalandsfoss.

You can walk behind the Seljalandsfoss falls but its pretty slippery. As our time was limited, we chose not to do it.

Helka. About 10% of the tephra created in Iceland in the last 1000 years has come from this volcano.

We drive by Eyjafjallajokull Volcano or E15 for short. This was the volcano that in March of 2010 stopped air traffic into Europe because of all the volcanic ash it sent into the air traffic lanes.

Legend has it that a settler named Prasi hid a chest of gold behind Skogafoss.

Skogafoss. If you stare at the falls and then look off just to either side, the sides appear to grow (an optical illusion). It's a very repeatable and noticable affect. Gunna said that it works on falls that come straight down. The falls are 60 meters high.

Gunna at Skogafoss. By the way "foss" means waterfall.

Ben and Jan.

A map of the national park we stopped at. This is the most southern point of mainland Iceland. We hoped to see some Puffins but they were scarce. Some people saw one or two in the grass. It was a very windy day. Many days early in our trip were windy.

Another map of the nature reserve.

Still windy with a lot of dust in the air.

Formations known as "hay stacks".

Panoramic shot.

Unbelieveably windy! We had to really hold tightly to our IPhones!

At the Volcano Hotel we enjoy artic char, boiled potatoes and a salad for lunch. We had a lot of sea food meals all prepared excellently.

Ingo's presentation about Global Warming.

Ingo drives us out to the glacier in his modified van. When we left the Ring Road Ingo partially deflated the tires and when we returned he reinflated them with a portable electric pump.

Walking through the black sands.

Beautiful barren landscape.

Nice new bridge over a wet area.

Hard to believe this is a color photo.

Approaching an area with an ice cave.

Ice cave.

Ingo treats us to Katlo Islenskur Vodki!

We toast.

Skal!

Our group.

Again, this is a color photo!

A wide view of the glacier tonque.

Time to leave.

One last look.

Ten percent of Iceland is covered with glaciers and 73% of their electricity is from hydro-power resources. The continued loss of the glaciers has long term implications for the country. Currently Iceland produces 16.9 tons of carbon per capita compared to Europes 7.3 tons.

Walking away.

Lichen/moss is the first plant to take hold in the volcanic soil.

It was a very windy day and a lot of the volcanic dust was being blown about. The Alaskan Lupines were brought in to help stabalize the soil. They are doing a good job but some people resent the rapid spread of this now invasive plant.

Our last evening in Selfoss we walk to Bobby Fisher museum, however, it was closed.

Surrounded by Alaskin lupines.

Our last look at the Olfosa River as we plan to leave Selfoss the next morning.

Our second daily schedule. Today we visit the famous Golden Circle and its 3 most beloved and popular attractions. But first we visit a local wool studio.

The wool studio is actually the home and workshop of a woman who uses old fashioned methods to dye wool. (She has a Phd!)

The natural dyes need acid to work and historically this was sourced using urine. She mentioned she had tried an old receipe that called for steer urine and went to a farm where the kids gladly collected it for her. Using urine isn't part of her normal routine.

That is cabbage in her right hand and yarn in her left hand

She was working on a lot of different colors.

This is her home, workshop, and teaching studio. This is also her kitchen.

An assortment of her finished products.

We go to Gullfoss the first of 3 Golden Circle attractions.

Gullfoss. It was another really windy day. I'm glad we were all dressed for it. Not all of the people in the video were with our group.

Gullfoss from high above. We'll walk down to where those tiny people are in a bit!

On our way down we video a bit closer view.

Rolla and Marilyn

Close up video of lower falls.

Close up of upper falls.

One last view of Gullfoss.

We visit a geothermal area with the GEYSIR geyser. All other geysers in the world are named for this original!

Geysir is no longer active, with its last erruption in 2000.

The Strokkur geyser erupts every 8-10 minutes. Kind of neat to see the start of the blast and then some of the water running back down into the hole. It's best to be upwind when it goes off. Video is at half speed.

Walking up the hill above the geyser field.

Looking down on Strokkur.

A view of farmland from the hill behind the geysers. The trenches along side the field provide drainage and are ubiguitous around Iceland

Gunna explains this unique form of Icelandic wrestling.

Next we drive through an area where the tectonic plates are separating. We're on the Eurasian side in this photo. The dark line on the opposite side is the edge of the North American plate.

The edge of the North American plate. This is in Thingvellir National Park. This park contains the site of their original parliament from 930AD.

Gunna explaining. We are wearing receivers with ear pieces so we can hear her without crowding in. They called the devices whispers.

Along the edge of the plate.

An explanation.

Important visitors can stay in the houses below. The round raised area was supposed to be a cemetary for important people. So far only two are interred there and the identity of one is questioned.

The rift valley.

Ta Da

Cindy and Rick

Rolla and Marilyn.

Looking back into the valley as we walk out.

On our way to Borganes where we'll stay for 2 nights, we make a brief stop and climb to the top of this hill where we use a compass device to help us sight and identify mountains, glaciers etc.

That evening we check into our Hotel B59 in Borganes and head for a nice meal at the Settlement Center's restaurant. Linda snapped photos from our rooms's window that night- 10:00pm and 1:30am which is the "middle of the night" -the sun rises again around 4am! The next day Linda and Emerson went through the Settlement Center.

The Settlement House

10:00pm

1:30am

Our June 11th schedule.

The brown line is the territory we cover this day.

We start the day with a lecture/discussion about immigration in Iceland. The native replacement rate is about 1.8. Without at least seasonal immigration they would not have enough people to handle all of the tourists. Tourism has increased a lot in Iceland over the last few years. A lot of the hotel workers we talked to had been in country only a few weeks.

We took a back road which was very undeveloped. These bike riders have mosquito nets over their heads. The reason was for midges.

We visit the Haafell goat farm. The lady who runs the farm started it as a way to keep the Icelandic goat from going extinct. The government originally classified her goats as pets but once she achieved a certain size they became farm animals and could be subsidized which was a big support for her.

The assistant who stayed with us when we were in the goat pin. I think she really likes the goats.

George and a goat

George and Yvonne.

Really long hair.

Cindy and Rick.

Melinda and Roger

It's too hot to have all that hair.

Linda gets a goat from Roger.

Mutual affection!

This little goat says to Emerson "no you can't have my stick!"

And goat products for sale.

Hraunfossar Waterfalls. The water is coming out of the lave field rocks.

Barnafoss

Barnafoss. A new arch has formed.

The new arch.

George, Yvonne,Linda, Marilyn, Melinda, Roger and Rolla

Snorri was a significant figure in Icelands history.

Snorri's pool(Snorralaug). It's heated from a local hot spring. Snorri was a major figure 1179-1241).

Jan, George and I check out this hut built into a hill. It once was a tunnel but has been closed off. Someone closes the door while we're inside! It's pitch black!!

Caught in the act...Roger runs away after slamming that door on us!

A statue of Snorri.

We visit a small restaurant that serves vegetable soups for lunch. Carrot and mushroom today. This is in the geothermal area of Kleppjarnsreykir.

They raise their vegetables in their own greenhouse. Lots of carrots. Running along the edges are the hot water pipes.

"Farmer" Emerson inspects the corn!

The co-owner talks to us. He used to be in sales and he and his wife started the restaurant just as the Covid shutdown started. His wife picks wild mushrooms in the fall that they use for the rest of the year for their soups.

We get ready to try 3 different soups - carrot, rhubarb and mushroom.

Gunna treats us to some birch liquor after lunch.

Skal!

A hot springs that puts out 130 liters per second of very hot water. It is piped over 60km and provides heat to Bogarnes where we stayed.

The pumping station and hot water pipe sending out the water. There are a lot of smaller bore holes supplying local hot water.

That evening we have free time and walk to the Settlement Museum. It has a very nice overview of early Iceland. We then tried to go swimming at the town's public pool and spa but we were too late.

Since we cannot swim we head back to our hotel and come acros a beautiful patch of lupines!

Back at the hotel, we run into Rick, Cindy, Marilyn and Rolla and head out for dinner.

Another day, another drawing.

One of our stops on the way to the horse farm is to Kolugljufur gorge which is 40-50 meters in depth.

Another windy day!

Kolugljufur.

Unobstructed view of Kolugljufur.

We visit the sight of the last execution in Iceland. Jeniffer Lawerence has bought the movie rights from a recent book about the trial and execution and the events leading up to it.

The lead up to the execution site.

Beheaded right here.

Our DAY IN THE LIFE visit is to a horse farm where we learn about Icelandic horses and about life on a horse farm.

But first lunch in the stables.

Very pretty horses. No horses can be imported to Iceland. Horses exported cannot be brought back.

Most horses are kept outside in the winter to help maintain the breeds hardiness. The breed was developed in the 9th and 10th centuries by Norse settlers.

This cat followed George all over the stands.

Taking care of the horse used to demonstrate the five Icelandic horse gaits. Walk, trot, cantor/gallop, tolt and flying pace. Most other horses have only the first three natural gaits.

Demonstrating the Tolt gait.

Jan takes a ride.

Limo horse.

Look, no hands!

Rogers turn.

A greenhouse attached to the barn. Note the hot water pipes. The grapes were really abundant

Ben and Rick dig a hole for planting a tree.

Each OAT tour group that visits the farm plants a birch tree to form a wind break.

Yvonne plants the tree.

Maybe we'll be back to visit our tree someday!

The Hofsstadir Country Hotel we stayed at.

A church sitting quite alone in the country above where we stayed.

A view inside the church.

Looking around the area where we stayed.

Horses along the lane to our hotel.

Happy hour at Hofsstadir restaurant.

Another nice meal.

Breakfast. We choose from a buffet.

More breakfast.

Monday June 13.

We head to North Iceland today.

Our first stop is along the coast near the town of Hofsos - Stadarbjargavik.

The hexagonal basalt formations are found it this area. There's a public swimming pool at the top of the hill that has a fabulous view! Many small towns have swimming pools.

George and Yvonne.

It was a bit of a climb back up.

Back to the top and a gorgeous view!

In this same area is where Icelandic Eider (ducks) come to nest each spring. They are resident birds that do not migrate. To stay warm they produce down which they shed in warmer weather. This is collected by Icelanders to be used for scarves, fillings etc. It's soft and the lightest down by volume in the world. It's also very expensive!

The first of 3 tunnels, this one takes us to Siglufjordur.

As we get our first glimse of the town of Siglufjordur, Gunna tells us about these fences that protect the town from the frequent avalanches that happen each winter.

The first building of the 3 building Herring Museum which used to house the young women who worked seasonally to salt the fish.

Inside the first building of the herring era museum.

Our docent in the first building.

The herring trade was a big opportunity for women to earn cash. They stayed in dorms like this. One back breaking job was to place the herring in a barrel, tails to the inside and then layer with salt.

A storage space in the women's upstairs dorm.

Photos of many of the women who resided in the dorm building.

Three pots on one burner in the womens dorm.

In the second museum building we fine an elevator like Emerson's family used on their farm when he was a kid.

A lot of herring were processed here.

Jan and Ben

Jan and Linda

Rick and Cindy

Emerson and Linda

In the third museum building we fine examples of boats used in the trade.

Pretty sure this is another one of Adalheidur S Eysteinsdottir's works.

A view to the current three museum buildings.

The Folk Music Center.

We got a nice explanation of how Icelandic folk songs were collected and an explanation of two instruments.

At the end of her presentation she sang for us. It was almost shocking how great her voice was.

Ben "plays" a two string instrument

Our museum guides father and uncle.

Oh grandpa.

Emerson and Ben join in the posing.

Between the 2 tunnels which connect Siglufjordur and Olafsfjordur, we make a stop at the beautiful unihabited Hedinsfjordur.

The sign here tells of a monument erected at the spot on the mountain to the left that was the site of the single most fatal accident in aviation in Iceland when a passender aircraft crashed killing all 25 on board.

It is at this stop that Gunna treats us to dried cod with butter and a shot of Aquavit. The dried cod was really tough and took a long time to chew.

We catch sight of our next home for 2 nights - Akureryi

Our hotel room in Akureryi is across the street from Sundlaug Akureyrar, with 3 heated outdoor swimming pools, suanas and steamrooms. We took advantage of this with free time on our second day.

We were not crazy about the bathroom door in this room...door rattled and slammed when closing and not much privacy with hole in door that is the "handle"!

We see this artists works throughout our trip.

Botanical Garden and Public Park in Akureyi.

It was a lovely place. Some women a long time ago talked the city into giving them some land for it.

We definitely needed to get some laundry done. This laundromat did a good job - it came back neatly folded for about $25 US.

Our tour guide points out the gap in the hill - yet another place on our Iceland trip where we see the Eurasian and North American plates moving apart.

We go to a thermal vent area in the Lake Myvatn region.

Belching mudflats and the stench of sulphur, it's like something from a SiFi movie.

Sulphur gathers on the rocks above the vent.

Piping fumarole

Map of the general area we're visiting.

We're told about these unusual lake-balls seen only here and in Japan.

Lots of midges in this area so we all don our fly nets! So very chic!

Pens where the sheep were sorted after bringing them down from the highlands before winter.

Icelandic Rye bread cooked in the hot ground.

Bread, salmon and butter. Pretty tasty.

Dimmuborg referred to as the Black Castle or Dark Fortress. This area was formed only 2300 years ago.

Before the trails were marked it was a place where you could get lost.

They have names like Spoon Licker, Pot Scraper, Window Peeper, Meat Hook, Candle Beggar, etc..

Sigrun - "call me Siggy", our very capable guide for the 2 days we're in Akureyri, tells us about the Yule Lads.

Trolls turn to stone if they are outside when the sun rises.

Another Troll

One more.

Emerson, Linda, Cindy, Rick, Jan, Ben, Yvonne and George.

Skutustadagigar - an area with pseudo craters.

Pseudo craters

Lake Myvatn

The midges weren't too bad but the mosquito nets did help. We're told they get a lot worse as the summer progresses.

We stop for locally made ice cream.

Godafoss from our bus window.

Named because a local threw his pagen god statues into the falls after Christianity was adopted.

Panoramic view.

Very breezy here!

Fuel is not cheap. It was between 125-130 Icelandic dollars to 1 US dollar. So around $11US per gallon of gasoline

Our home hosted meal. Two delightful hours.

They gave us really nice warm thermal coveralls to wear that would also provide flotation if we fell into the water.

Dalvik harbor.

A starfish along side the boat dock.

Ready to see whales!

Our boat took us around part of Hrisey Island which is in the middle of Eyjafjordur.

Ben spies me trying to take a candid photo of him and Jan.

Whale fluke - a rare citing on this relatively inactive day.They said the day before this whale was putting on quite a show. Today he was being lazy!

We ate at this place in Dalvik that served fish soup and that was about it. Emerson actually found it too salty for his taste. It was attached to a small auditorium where our group dined in front of the stage and after lunch we were entertained.

16 year old high school students sang and played guitar and piano...beautifully!

Heading back in Akureyi after our day of whale watching. Panoramic view.

Martini Night. A tradition continues. We think the bar tender had to look up the receipe!

Our last night in Akureyri, we walk from Hotel to downtown to get dinner on our own. We pass the beautiful Aykureyrarkirkja which sits high on a hill. This church was designed by Gudjon Samuelsson, the architect responsible for Reykjavik's Hallgrimskirkja.

We walk down this street to find a place to eat.

We spy Rick, Cindy, Jan and Ben through the window of the restaurant at Backpackers Hostel. We decide to eat there as well. We had a very light rain after dinner and a long hill to climb back, so we took a taxi back to the hotel.

We fly back to Reykjavik.

Lots of mountain tops are flatened from ice age glaciers.

After arriving at the Reykyvik City Airport we toured the shoreline and downtown area by bus. We see the famous Harpa Opera House which we will get a closer look at in a few days.

Hofdi House - has a remarkable history connected to Icelandic relations with other countries. Reagan and Gorbachev met for a summit in this building in 1986 marking the beginning of the end of the cold war.

This door knob is famous as Icelandic television focused on it for eight hours while the 2 leaders were inside!

Along the waterfront.

It's call Sun Voyager

Outside Ocean Cluster House. It is an organization dedicated to bringing businesses and entrepreneurs together in shared rental space. It was nicely done.

Ben and Gunna checking out the artwork in the shape of a uterus in front of the Cluster House!

Products made from fish. They used to use less than half of a fish now most of it is processed and used.

After the Cluster House, we head to our Icelandair Hotel (behind Jan and Ben here) and check into our rooms.

Our hotel room wall and ceiling.

We had free time in our first afternoon in Reykyvik so we got tickets for 4:30pm thrill ride at FlyOver Iceland. Pretty spectacular footage!

Places where they filmed.

The Helicopter that did the filming.

SuVitra

Before we head out for the evening, we check out the wooden artwork at our hotel, which is by artist Adalheidur S Eysteinsdottir, who did the wood sculptures in our Akureyri hotel and elsewhere on our trip.

This one is particularly interesting!.

Walking around Reykyvik we see some local artwork and commentary of excessive taxes on artists.

We stop at a sign for an escape room experince and lecture about the real spy that fictional James Bond may have been based on.

Eye catching corsetted pig outside a bar/restaurant!

We were looking at a display in the window of an art gallery. They seemed to be having an event and a lady motioned us in. They had imported beer, Budvar. It was very good.

Hot dog stand since 1937. Bill Clinton ate here. We "dined" here our first night in Reykyvik with Jan and Ben.

After hot dogs we head for Gelato and run into Marilyn and Rolla. We stopped by here several times.

Orka Natturunnar - Geothermal Power Plant

Young geophysicist giving presentation. She was from Greece, a lot of organizations are sending people to learn about geothermal electricity generation.

The yellow is the hotspot powering Icelands growth. This was a display inside the Hellisheidarvirkjun Geothermal Power plant.

The plant produces 300Mega Watts of power and is starting to also isolate CO2.

Carbon capture.

Carbon capture.

An outdoor museum.

Interesting exhibits inside this building reveal the rapid change and modernizatin of Iceland in the second half of the 20th century.

The 1960's in Iceland.

Our 22 year old museum guide - very poised, friendly and informative.

A small restored church.

Our 6'4" guide had to really watch his head on the low beams!

The house with the 3 peaks is the more modern home. This main road in front of these dwellings was the original Rt 1 road.

The family would spend most evenings up here.

Well worn steps leading to the family area.

The cook stove.

Sod house - The owners moved out of this sod house and rented it out to travelers.

Inside the sod house.

A view of a wall in the sod house.

They are still doing archeological digging in the area.

Our OAT guide on the left (call me Gretzky) and the museum guide on the right.

Our faithful driver, Christian and our bus. The Puffin in the window is "Oaty".

Iceland gained independence June 17, 1944. We are lucky to be in Iceland for their Independence Day!-

Strike up the band!

Lots of folks out of this pretty day.

More celebrating.

We head to the beautiful opera house.

Inside the Harpa Concert Hall. Lisa and Jeff have a photo like this on a canvas sitting over their fireplace! Their wonderful trip to Iceland years ago promted us to add Iceland to our "bucket list"!

At the Saga's museum. These wax figures were so lifelike. There was even one wax figure that was "breathing"! In the gift shop area there was a person sitting on a bench near the exit watching a film about how they make the wax figures. It took a few minutes for us to realize this was another wax figure!

A tiny Ramen place close to our hotel where we ate.

Quite good.

Ben, Jan and Linda looking out the window from our crowded perch at Raman Momo.

Ok Ben, now you take the photo so Emerson can be in it!