Hi, everyone!
We’ve seen a lot more of Iceland in the last three days! On Wednesday, Atli-san took us on the Golden Circle — the most famous tourist attractions in Iceland. First, we went to the thermal area in Selfoss. The most famous feature there is Geysir. Geysir is a small area where hot steam is covered by cold water. When the pressure builds up enough, the steam shoots through the water and up into the air. Now all spouts like that are called geysers, after Geysir! Geysir is worn out and doesn’t spout any more, but there are bubbling hot springs to see and pools of very hot, very clear water. And there’s another geyser, Strokkur, that does erupt every five minutes or so. We waited around to see a couple of strong Strokkur eruptions!
From Geyser, it’s not very far to drive to Gulfoss. The name means “gold waterfall”. Gulfoss is very pretty! There was a lot of water flowing because we’ve had both warm, sunny weather and rain to melt the snow fields. Gulfoss has two levels of falls, and the second level is twisted from the first and drops into a narrow canyon. It’s hard to find a place to see it all! I think Gulfoss is just as nice as Niagara Falls!
After Gulfoss, we had lunch at a dairy and beef cattle farm. The cows were having lunch at the same time we were! One of the menu items was a hamburger with peanut butter and jelly on it! Before we left, we visited the horses on the farm. Icelandic horses are famous for being small and strong, and we’ve seen lots of horse breeding farms as we drove around. This time of year there are brand new foals out with their mothers!
Then Atli-san drove us to Pingvellir National Park. Pingvellir is famous for both geology and history, and Atli-san told us about both. First, we stopped by Lake Pingvellir. Atli-san explained that the continental plates for Europe and North America are pulling apart, leaving places in between for molten rock to come up to the surface. Mostly, this happens under the ocean, but in Iceland the rift is above water. Pingvellir is part of that rift, and the lake is where the continents are coming apart. Iceland gets wider by 1″ every year because of the plate movement, and the land in between sags a bit more. That makes Pingvellir lake wider and deeper! It’s a very pretty lake with lots of birds around!
After we watched the birds for a while, we drove up on the ridge that marks the North American side of the continental plate. We took a hike down to the valley below from there through the ridges of lava. This is the historical part of the park! The people of Iceland have been sending representatives to make laws and settle disputes in national meetings for over a thousand years! That makes the Iceland parliament the oldest representative governing group in the world! The meetings are now held in Reykjavik, but the prime minister still has his summer residence here. Atli-san says it’s like Camp David in the United States.
From Pingvellir, we drove out to the very end of the Snaefellnes peninsula. We were lucky to see Snaefell mountain and glacier when we got to the Budir hotel, because in the morning it was raining! We were going to Stykkisholmur take a cruise around the islands in Breitfjordur. On the way, Atli-san stopped to explore a waterfall he’d just learned about near the road. Even though it was raining, he said it was pretty enough to visit! Grandma tucked me into her rain jacket so I could take a look!
It rained on and off while we were on our cruise, so I was glad I could go inside while the boat was cruising in between islands! There were lots of birds to see nesting on the island cliffs or swimming nearby. This is an area of very old volcanic rock and it has been twisted into unusual shapes by the glaciers that were sitting on top of the volcanos when they erupted!
A special part of the cruise was Viking Sushi! The crew dragged a small dredge along the bottom to collect the shellfish living there. When the dredge came up, they opened the net and prepared all the sea creatures to be eaten raw! One crab didn’t want to be eaten and asked me for directions back to the ocean!
After sushi, there were a few more islands to visit, including one with a colony of nesting puffins. The trip back to port from the cruise was windy and wet on deck, so I was happy to stay inside with Grandpa. Then we all warmed up with lunch on shore!
We weren’t done with fish! Our next stop was at the only place in Iceland that still prepares fermented shark – a traditional Icelandic food. We watched a video about making fermented shark, then Grandma and Grandpa tasted it. Grandma said it tasted like the rind of aged camembert cheese. That didn’t sound yummy to me, so I didn’t have any! I did make some more friends among the museum exhibits. There was a shark outside ready to be processed, so I took a look at the shark, too. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be friends with a fish that had such a big sharp set of teeth!
When we got back to the hotel, it was still raining. Grandma and some of my travel friends took a walk through the lava fields with Atli-san, but Grandpa and I decided to spend time reading in our nice dry hotel room instead!
This morning, it was cloudy, but there wasn’t any more rain! Atli-san says we have had very good weather for Iceland, with three sunny days in a row. We took a hike along the seashore between two fishing villages. The trail starts out with a nice boardwalk, but it gets narrow and rocky later. There were interesting lava formations to see and more birds nesting in the cliffs where we could watch them. Our hike ended at the Snaefellnes troll! I think I have a new rocky friend!
We had one final stop to make on our Iceland adventure, so I got in the van for the last time and sat in my special seat. We went to have lunch with Atli-san’s friend Johanna, who is a pagan priestess. I made friends with the ram decoration on her wall. Johanna-san told us about the old customs and religion and showed us her runes. She explained that runes aren’t used for seeing the future, but for helping people figure out their futures by thinking about important themes that the runes represent. Johanna has an outdoor temple with a circle of earth walls, a fire, and a symbol of Thor’s hammer. We had a ceremony there to mark the end of our journey together. That was a nice way to appreciate my new travel friends and the time we’ve shared together.
Tonight, we’re staying in Keflavik, close to the airport. Tomorrow, we’re starting a new chapter of our adventure! This bird sculpture at the harbor is a good symbol, because we’re going to be flying again!
Love,
Lion-san
Very cool!
It was neat to see puffins! We’ve not seen any and you got to stand between the continintal plates. Iceland looks like a great place to visit.