MORE ADVENTURES IN ICELAND

This is the second blog of our Iceland trip, taken in late January - last week I talked about our sea-faring activitIes, while this week I am going to show you what we got up to in and around the capital, Reykjavik.

THE GOLDEN CIRCLE

No trip to Iceland would be complete without a tour of the Golden Circle, taking in the Þingvellir National Park, which, like much of Iceland, is stunningly beautiful.  Our tour bus stopped at Sprunga Opnast, with its ancient fissures caused by earthquakes opening up to relieve pressure between the two tectronic plates of Eurasia and North America.


For Game of Thrones fans, much of the filming was done in Iceland, and we spotted where the Bloody Gates were filmed, but for real GOF buffs, there is a Game of Thrones themed tour, which has brought the tourists flocking.  The pass to the impregnable Eyrie is actually found in the Þingvellir National Park.  You can see it in season four, when Brienne and the Hound engage in a bloody battle. 

Our second stop on the tour was to the boiling hot geysers and bubbling pools at Blaskogabuggo.  The temperature of the water is around 100 degrees, so we were warned not to stray off the marked track or touch the water.  

Apparently the geysers erupt around every 10 minutes, but we found the frequency was much more often than that - which was fantastic for photographs since we only had a short stop, and had to include lunch during that time.  Rumour has it the meat soup there is to die for, but I opted for leek and potato, which was delicious.

There were plenty of other tourists there at the same time as us, but it wasn't too crowded and didn't detract from the experience.  Interestingly Iceland is becoming a magnet for tourists from around the world.  There were many Brits and Americans, but also Europeans, Japanese and Chinese.  I read at the airport that if you are travelling from Europe to America with some airlines, you can stop off in Iceland with no extra air fare, which must be a bargain (though you have to pay your own transfers and hotels etc.).

The history of Iceland denotes that it was discovered by Norweigan travellers, who after setting up home and living through the first winter decided that it was too cold, so upsticked and went home, only for a second set of Norsemen to rediscover Reykjavik - which translates as "Smokey Bay " from the geothermal and hot springs activity.  However, there is evidence that Iceland was first inhabited by Irish monks, who left the island once the pagan Norsemen arrived.

The history is quite fascinating, but since we only have limited space, I won't go into who ruled or for how long, but suffice to say it still has the oldest parliament in the world, which is still sitting.

One of the highlights of the week had to be the visit to the spectacular waterfall at Gullfoss - our third stop.  The photographs of the scenery just do not do justice to the size and scale of the amazing waterfall - in fact it is probably three waterfalls in one.

I am using video here for the first time to try and illustrate the point - if you look to the right of the screen at the end of the video you will see the crowd of people on the viewing platform, and how small they are in comparison to the mighty scenery.

And if that doesn't work on your device, I have also included a photograph, but you just do not get the scale of the atmosphere, and you can't hear the rushing water!

BACK TO THE CITY

Reykjavik is like any bustling city centre - with many of the same shops and restaurants that you would like anywhere in the world - Dominoes Pizza, Subway Sandwiches and Hard Rock Cafe burgers to name a few, though there are local delicacies which we chose to ignore, some of which serve whale meat and puffins (no thank you! I prefer to see them wild and free). If you read last week's blog, our whale watching tour guides urged us to boycott these establishments and let the whales roam free in the ocean, where they belong.

We spent a morning at Hallgrimskirkja - the largest church in Iceland with its iconic tower towering some 73 metres above the city.  Iceland has a chequered religious history - firstly pagan, then Catholic, then Lutheran, before religious freedom was granted in 1874.  The Hallgrimskirkja belongs to the Evangelical-Luthernan National Church, but all religions peacefully co-exist in Iceland.  Construction of the church took from 1945 to 1986, and features a magnificent organ standing 15 metres high and weighing 25 tons. The beauty of the church is in its simplicity - no stained windows or gold artifacts, to my mind it should be all about the people and the prayers, not the gold and the pomp which exist in many churches.

Incidentally the statue to the left of the church in the picture below is of Leifur Eriksson, the first European to discover America - some 500 years before Christopher Columbus.  The statue was a gift from the US to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the parliament at Þingvellir.

We took the lift to the top of the enclosed tower, and then a few steps up to the pinnacle, which although open to the elements, was safely enclosed - since I hate heights. The views from the top were absolutely breath-taking - literally because it was such a windy day!

CATCHING UP WITH THE NATURAL HISTORY

Our final morning was spent with some gorgeous Icelandic horses with Ishestar.  They offer riding tours all year round, but since we are not riders although we love horses, we opted for a "Meet the horse" morning.  Since we were the only two on the trip, we spent much longer than the hour and a half, moving the horses from the stable to the paddock, although my daughter managed a quick trot around the indoor arena.

These strong sturdy horses are much shorter and more squat than the horses we generally see at home, bred for their hardy survival in the harsh terrain.  The original Icelandic horses were the best horses brought by early settlers - mostly Germanic - eventually breeding to become the thoroughbreds of today.  

There are around 80,000 Icelandic horses in the country, which is quite a population for a small island with only around 330,000 inhabitants.There are no wild horses in Iceland - all are now used in the tourist industry or for pets.


And once they leave Iceland, they can never return, such are their strict conditions for the survival of their pedigree, ensuring they are pure and completely free from disease.  

Our lovely friendly guide Margaret told us that they breed thsse lovely horses for export.  Icelandic horses are in demand because unlike our horses, they have five gaits instead of the usual three of four.  Forgive us for our lack of knowledge here since we are not equestrians - but the fifth gait means a very smooth ride, so not moving up and down on horseback.  So smooth in fact that they have competitions balancing a pint of beer on the horses backs!

So that's another country ticked off my bucket list.  Sadly however, I still haven't got over the fact that we didn't see the Northern Lights.  I have to take some comfort however, that I have since read that many of the beautiful photos you see on the internet, are in fact photo-shopped!