Planet Earth is fascinating – Reykjavik, Thursday 6th August
The clocks go forward tonight so we must get an early night. Today the weather is glorious and we can see snow capped peaks surrounding our fjord, shimmering under a blue sky. This is Iceland in summer. Our first view of Reykjavik is of a modern clean city in stunning surroundings.
It is going to be a long day, we are booked on the famous excursion – The Golden Circle. Liz and Paul enjoyed this tour on a previous visit to Reykjavik, so they spend the day exploring the city and visiting museums they did not see last time, including the Saga Museum and the new Whale Museum. The Whale Museum has life sized models of all the whales commonly seen in Icelandic waters, so it’s good to get a look at just how big the Humpback whales were that we saw on the whale watching trip. The flipper alone was bigger than Liz!
Our coach is full as we set off to Thingvellir a place of great historic importance – the first Icelandic Parliament met here in the tenth century and now the area is even more significant since it sits on a major fault line. The fault line is where the European and American tectonic plates are moving apart creating a rift valley, widening by about 6cm every year. Underneath is an active volcano, so one day, strong geological action here will have serious consequences for Iceland.
The rift valley created by the moving plates is awesome and as you walk along it there is a frightening feeling of what will happen to this place when the volcano spills its lava along this ridge. This rift stretches across Iceland but is most prominent here. At places you can walk along the ‘bottom’ of the ridge, but in others the rift narrows and drops 40m downwards into the darkness of the earths abyss. What would it be like to climb down there? How hot would it be near the bottom? The earth’s secrets are down there, what do they hold for us?
As we continue our coach journey the landscape for miles around is solidified lava. This ‘moonscape’ is eerie yet spectacular, some people are building on it – you may get free geothermal power but living on top of an active volcano ……. !
Our coach eventually delivers us to the Gullfoss Waterfall, it seems most of Iceland’s population is here too! The place is packed, this is an area to visit at sunrise or sunset. Yet despite the crowds, the first view of Gullfoss is simply stunning.
One upper waterfall crashes water onto a lower triangular fall. The noise, the spray, the sheer power of tumbling, rushing, water is exciting. We really need far more time to enjoy this place, but we are only allowed 30 minutes before we rush back to the coach.
Only a short journey brings us to Geysir, one of the iconic sights of Iceland. You can see people in the distance standing in a large circle, what are they doing? Then suddenly, it erupts, a plume of scalding water shooting high into the air, even from a distance it is impressive and we become impatient to walk up there and join the circle, we do not want to miss the next eruption. This is Strokkur a regularly erupting geyser.
Our guide is very clear with her instructions – ‘always make sure the wind is on your back’. We join the circle and now realise it is only half a circle except for a few brave souls opposite who must be thinking they have the best view. We stand with cameras at the ready, when will it spout again? We are told every six minutes but dare not look at our watches in case we miss it. The water rumbles around in the pond, looking like it is disappearing down a central hole, then ‘whoosh’, up it goes, a plume of hot water 30m into the air. The pond has disappeared leaving a gigantic muddy plug hole, then the water crashes down, fills the pond and the plughole disappears from view. Wow! Can’t wait for the next one.
Oh dear, across the circle, someone did not know about the ‘wind on back trick’ and stands there camera and person covered in warm liquid.
Once again, time is against us and we have to rush off for lunch. Lovely little restaurant and we all cram into the dining area, ten to a table. Two metal frames are placed on table, followed by two tureens of soup which look precariously balanced on these frames. A chap volunteers to be ‘mother’ and starts to ladle out the soup into bowls and passes them round, suddenly (and I suppose predictably) the tureen spins over, spilling hot soup all over the middle of the table. The staff do not seem bothered and just leave us to it! Thank goodness a lady steps into the breech and plays ‘mother’ to perfection with the other tureen. So we enjoyed our soup, all sat round a pond of the stuff on the table.
Second course was salmon, salad and a potato mixture, which again was balanced on the metal frames ready for us to serve ourselves. We would not let the previous fellow touch it and once again our lady performed the task to perfection. As we finished, one of the staff came along with towels to mop up the soup pond. Despite the mishap, the food was excellent and finished with one profiterole each.
Driving back through lunar landscapes and wonderful snow capped mountains, I noticed there were illuminated information boards at strategic points – these were Information Boards telling walkers about the wind speed, temperatures on top of mountains, plus remarkably, video cameras so walkers could tell whether anyone else was on the mountain.
We stop for ice cream. These cones are quite famous – you purchase a cone of whippy ice cream, then the assistant dips the cone upside down into molten chocolate which then solidifies over the ice cream. An interesting snack!
Last stop is Reykjavik – at the Pearl. This is an interesting vantage point – four massive storage tanks containing hot water have been topped with a glass domed building, accessible by elevator providing a café, shop and wonderful vantage point over the City.
The coach gives us a quick tour of the City – City Hall, National Gallery, Harp Conference centre, Hofdi House (Gorbachev and Reagan held a summit meeting there), one of the roads is painted like a rainbow because there is going to be a Gay Pride event soon. Then we reach the ship, just in time, the end of a long spectacular excursion.
Another wonderful meal, followed by a great show focussing on the Musicals, I thought it spectacular, especially, Kerris, the lead singer who really excelled in a performance from Chicago. Sometimes, I worry our neighbouring tables will not be able to hear the singers because of the attempted melodies coming from our table, but they appear to take it in good part. Daniel, the Entertainment Manager suggests that some of the audience are trying to get a job as singers on the next cruise – I can’t think who he means, but Paul and Sam appear to have enjoyed themselves.
Of course, the Disco beckoned us, have we become addicts to the disco beat? we are drawn to it like moths to the light. Some of the entertainment team also attend tonight. Kerri has a bubbly personality and hails from Tarleton (10 miles from Southport) and Daniel comes from Huyton where I used to work.
We know the clocks will be moving forward, yet we are still on the floor in the early hours. This new addiction has dumbed down all our common sense.
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Six Sail to Iceland 