Monday, July 4. Visited the varied terrain of the Lake Myvarn area. VIsited the “oven” of Hverabraud, or dark homemade bread. The baker uses a steam pit adjoining a hotspring. Delicious with a spoonful of butter. The entire area is a geothermal gold mine.

Then our olfactory senses were assailed by the stink of the Namafjall mud pools. Trully awful. It’s an alien environment suitable for the movies. Incredible sight.

Walked around the black castle lava formations of Dimmuborgir. Another alien vista.

Had lunch (cod again) next to the Skutustadir pseudocrater field, then did a short walk around a few of them. Scientists can’t quite explain how pseudocraters are formed. One of only two locations on earth where they appear. (They weren’t very photogenic, hense no photos.)

Godafoss “waterfall of the gods”, so named because a famous leader threw his pagan images into the falls after converting to Christianity. Very pretty, but a tourist trap. Charges for parking, expensive shop.

Had our Home Hosted Dinner. With a fun foursome. Lots of stories swapped. 

Sunday, July 3. This was mostly a travel day, from western to Northern Iceland. (At breakfast I had an oppurtunity to eat horse meat. Hard pass.) There were several tunnels, again frustrating my desire to see mountains. Stopped at the Siglufjorour fishing village, which in its past was a boomtown for the herring fishing business. Attended a briefing (from a Greek immigrant) about the history of collecting Icelandic folk music. She demostrated some of the traditional musical instruments. We had lunch at a popular little restaurant that serves a culturally diverse buffet. Afterwards we visited the Herring Era Museum, which was created just as the last buildings from the era were about to come down. This was a very well thought out and thorough establishment.

Continued our drive to Akureyri, which uses heart-shaped red lights. Marvelous views. In winter it’s a popular ski resort town. Dinner in the hotel.

Saturday, July 2. OMG, another waterfall. This one had a bridge spanning the lower river, making photos easier. It’s different in that it cuts through flat ground. You’d not know it was there from a few hundred yards away.

Stopped by the execution site of Agnes Magnusdottir, the last person executed in Iceland (1830). Though she was certainly guilty of something, obviously in hindsight her death is now considered extreme. An Australian grad student got her PHD by studying the event, then wrote an award-winning book about it (“Burial Rites”). I’ve read it. Very sad and disturbing from a “women are treated like slaves” perspective. A movie is being considered with Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role.

The rest of the day was spent at a Horse-training farm. Four cute girls were charmingly underfoot the whole time. The trainer was a young lady who bought the business from her father. Great fun. Some people rode on a horse, but only around the paddock. Another great photo oppurtunity.

Our hotel was, for once, in the country. Very windy location under heavy clouds. Happily, they had a bar. After dinner, some companions come together on the leeward patio of my room and we had a good time chatting. I walked up to the church on the hill afterwards (10PM!) for photos. As usual, the small graveyard was well maintained.

Friday, July 1. Blog failed. Without providing the ridiculous details of why it crashed, I’ll just say it’s up and running again. So my log continues.

Received a briefing on “Immigration”, though it was more generalized than that. It could almost have been retitled “Racism in Iceland”. Detailed the challenges foreign people face in a happily homogeneous culture. Based on the young and – immigrant herself – lecturer, I’m not sure Icelanders consider themselves biased or the immigrants unIcelandic.

Visited the Haafell goat farm and had a great time. One surviving goat from Game of Thrones was present.  Iceland is home to a special breed of goat. Tried some goat milk and it was delicious. Haafell is home to the “Queen of Goat Herders”. Very nice woman.

Next stop was Hraunfossar waterfalls, under a field of lava. I’d seen the same phenomena in Japan, where the water shoots out from underground streams. It was cool then, it’s cool now.

Kleppjarnsreykir greenhouse and restaurant. Americans opened it as a startup just as the Pandemic hit. Struggled to survive. They “cleanse” their garden each year by simply flooding the grounds with extremely hot water. Kills everything. Excellent tomato, carrot and mushroom soups. As usual, the bread was especially tasty.

Viewed some geothermal vents that for once included warning signs. Icelanders expect responsible people, so warning signs are rare. In this case there were too many people dipping their hand into steam that literally exceeded the temperature of boiling water.

We returned to the same hotel. I had another hot dog. Still too messy for my taste.

Thursday, June 30. Visited a woman who dyes wool, a job that began as a hobby and grew into a business. It’s always uplifting to spend time with someone who loves their work. She has a large garage with all the tools to dye wool and market her products. 16 hot plates, slowing blending the colors of various natural resources with wool. She seemed to enjoy explaining how in ancient times people would use urine as an acidic base. A real saleswoman too. Sells lots of accesories associated with her core business. Looks and acts a lot like Meryl Streep. I would have liked to buy something, but, as with many things Icelandic, it was all awfully expensive. 

OMG, another waterfall. Gullfoss. Very nice. The accompanying gift shop and cafe were nice too. Bought souvenirs. Then Geyser geyser, which is dormant, and Strokkur geyser, which is not. It erupts every five-seven minutes, sometimes with a small teaser eruption before the real one.  Unfortunately, I largely took poor photos.  

Thingvellir National Park has the original location of the world’s oldest Parliament. It’s also the site of the Atlantic Rift, which separates the North American Plate from Europe’s. The Rift is slowly expanding, so for a while we were not standing on any continent. We’re now on the North American side.

Arrived at the small town of Borgarnes, which is home to one of the first Icelandic settlements. Had an excellent dinner of cod. Some companions met me in the lobby for an evening taste of the port I purchased at the duty-free store. One day’s supply is left.

Anna is amazed at the total lack of wind so far. It’s why the flies are (still) bugging us.

Wednesday, June 29. Sun came out for most of the day. Warm. First stop was Seljalaandssfoss Waterfall, which can be walked behind. Yes, the backside of water. The entire drive was along a mostly green cliff face that had a variety of impressive waterfalls. They would have been individually stunning if they weren’t so common. 

Visited the Reynisfjara viewpoint at the southernmost point of land to see a jet-black beach, rock arches, and puffins. The puffin photos all seemed out of focus by just a little. Everything else was in focus. I have an unreasonable theory that their colorful beaks confused the camera’s processors.

Volcano Hotel for lunch, in Vik. A delicious version of salmon. The afternoon Climate Change discussion with Ingo wasn’t anything new. When 95% of a country’s power source is hydroelectric or geothermal, being green isn’t that hard. The story of Iceland’s continued whale hunting tradition was entertaining. The primary advocate is both rich and crazy.

“SuperJeep” Tour to the Kotlujokull Glacier. “Jeep” is a misnomer. A wildly decked out bus with huge wheels. Fantastic time walking over the glacier’s topsoil. The guide was extremely careful with his charges. Other groups had hard hats and ventured closer to the ice cliffs. Vodka with glacier ice. Dirtier ice than South America’s, but still fun. The glacier is retreating several hundred meters each year!

Stopped at another waterfall that was large but also of a pretty standard shape. Barely glanced at it. The remarkable has become common.

Dinner was a $25(!) bacon and onion ring burger at a food court. Great fries.

The countryside is so beautiful. Every farm or ranch looked like they’d just been painted. I wanted to just stop and stare so many times. Anna had obviously seen it all before, so she maintained a constant discussion of geography and history, while I was trying to soak up the views.

Tuesday, June 28. This was a slow day. Met other travelers. A lot of teachers. We did a little walkabout, including the local graveyard, where Anna, the Trip Leader, talked about the unusual naming traditions. The church was having a funeral, when they lower the flag to half mast during services. Anna was surprised when I said that churches in the USA don’t have flagpoles. Headstones have lots of bird figurines. The grounds are very well cared for.

Anna is a fun person. True to what I learned from my reading, Icelanders don’t spend much time in salutations. Anna doesn’t say hello or goodbye much. I like it.

Had another cup of hot chocolate at the bookstore. Lunch was pulled pork over fries with BBQ sauce. Dinner was a buffet where I could have had whale, but didn’t. Lively conversations with others about past trips.

Bugs continue to be a bother. Our proximity to the river is a factor. Anna says they won’t be as bad in other locations, which is a relief. I’m having to take multiple photos in hopes of getting one without bugs hogging the shot. Photos were few today. I am including some from yesterday.

I arrived a day before the official start. Customs was quick and easy with no vaccination check. Bought some wine at Duty Free since alcohol in Iceland is heavily taxed. The drive to our hotel in Selfoss was over mostly flat, treeless countryside covered in moss, with the ocean on one side and cliffs on the other. Extremely sparsely populated. Excellent roads. Speed cameras were in known locations, so the driver alternated between 90kph and 110 kph. 

The hotel sits alongside the only river we crossed, which I found surprising. Largest river in Iceland by flow rate. After a nice breakfast I wandered around the town in new hiking boats. They need some serious breaking in. I visited Bokakaffio book store/cafe and had a fantastic hot chocolate. Paid $7 to visit the Bobby Fischer Museum. Ate Iceland’s famous hot dog, with all the trimmings. A messy affair. I need to have another with fewer add-ons before passing judgement. 

After a little nap I took off on a 5km hike along the river. Many birds, a few orange rabbits. Millions of flies. In all my reviews of Iceland, the bugs were a barely mentioned nuisance. They don’t bite, but they are relentless. Stopping to look at the view at any time brought about a swarm. Across the river was a golf course with everyone dressed as though to ski. Beautiful snow-covered mountains in the distance beckoned.  

Had lamb shawarma for dinner, perhaps for the first time. As predicted, darkness did not arrive. Not as predicted, it was never cold, wet, or windy. 

After two years of postponements, I’m finally on the way to Iceland/Greenland. The flight “across” the Atlantic is impressively short. I’m now in Minneapolis, in what is certainly one of the nicest airports I can remember. The lounge I’m supposed to have access to is closed due to computer issues (unacceptable). But everything else is very new and clean. 

Tomorrow I arrive a day early, not to recover from jetlag but to make sure I get there in time. So many flight cancellations have me worried. But so far my fears are unfounded.

Two years ago I weighed 18 pounds less. I also didn’t have plantar fasciitis nor tendinitis. LIfe goes on. On the flip side, I didn’t yet qualify cataract surgery. But I’ve just gone through the procedure and the results are very satisfying, though my near vision hasn’t improved to my satisfaction yet (I bought the Cadillac version of the surgery). 

In preparation of the trip two years ago I began reading Burial Rites, based on an actual event but largely a fictitious accounting of the last person executed in Iceland in 1830 (a woman). I got halfway through before the trip was cancelled. This week I finished if. A sad story, but an apparently realistic description of Icelandic life back in the day. It’s soon supposed to come out as a movie with Jennifer Lawrence. Cool.

This map shows only a rough outline of the intinerary. It’s not a big country. We’re going far afield.