After we left Dublin, we spent two days at sea which I enjoyed. We went from sunbathing on deck by the pool to seeing our breath in the fog. Reykjavik didn't look like much when we arrived but we were doing out of town on a tour so I didn't mind. The first thing I noticed as we drove out of the city on the coach (besides the marathon that everyone and their Icelandic brother were participating in) were the bright houses. They look like little barns. There were bright red, blue, green and yellow houses everywhere we went. On this tour we went to see a geothermal plant just outside of town. They are very proud of their hot air leaking out of the ground. Its nice to see I have to admit. There are many plumes of various sizes coming out of the ground. Even though the weather was wet and cloudy ever hill and mountain was covered in the most luminous green moss. The lower cloud and the bright green mountains were beautiful. There are almost no mammals to see in Iceland. They don't have frogs or snakes and they only got rabbits 20 years ago. Apparently there are mink, foxes and deer but we didn't see them.
After we left the power plant and headed on to a geyser that erupts ever 5-7 minutes. There was bubbling mud puddles and steam vents all around us. We walked around watching the explosions for a while and then went in for a fish lunch. I went to the gift shop to get my postcards and the crafty sales clerk upsold me some schnapps. It had a very strong taste! Fortifying for a cold day. Then we went to a big waterfall in high wind conditions. We looked for a few minutes, took some pictures then scurried back to the coach. Our tour guide was very strange but entertaining. She sang us many folk songs as she drove us around. She also offered us some kelp she had baked at home. The final stop was at a world heritage site where the North American tectonic plate meets the European one. There are extremely deep crevasses that are coated in lovely moss and lots of little waterfalls. Our tour guide stood in the mist spray and sang the national anthem of Iceland for us. It was odd but she was enjoying herself. After a short snooze on the coach with the old people we made our way back to Reykjavik and the ship to warm up and dress for dinner. It was a really great day. I know the pictures don't do it justice because it is hard to show the beautiful open landscape in a single photo. I would definitely go back and see it again.
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| Geyser explosion! |
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| Giant waterfall, can't remember the name. |
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| Really big waterfall |
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A former geyser pool that no longer erupts
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| The tectonic plate park |
Interesting church in the mist
After we left Dublin, we spent two days at sea which I enjoyed. We went from sunbathing on deck by the pool to seeing our breath in the fog. Reykjavik didn't look like much when we arrived but we were doing out of town on a tour so I didn't mind. The first thing I noticed as we drove out of the city on the coach (besides the marathon that everyone and their Icelandic brother were participating in) were the bright houses. They look like little barns. There were bright red, blue, green and yellow houses everywhere we went. On this tour we went to see a geothermal plant just outside of town. They are very proud of their hot air leaking out of the ground. Its nice to see I have to admit. There are many plumes of various sizes coming out of the ground. Even though the weather was wet and cloudy ever hill and mountain was covered in the most luminous green moss. The lower cloud and the bright green mountains were beautiful. There are almost no mammals to see in Iceland. They don't have frogs or snakes and they only got rabbits 20 years ago. Apparently there are mink, foxes and deer but we didn't see them.
After we left the power plant and headed on to a geyser that erupts ever 5-7 minutes. There was bubbling mud puddles and steam vents all around us. We walked around watching the explosions for a while and then went in for a fish lunch. I went to the gift shop to get my postcards and the crafty sales clerk upsold me some schnapps. It had a very strong taste! Fortifying for a cold day. Then we went to a big waterfall in high wind conditions. We looked for a few minutes, took some pictures then scurried back to the coach. Our tour guide was very strange but entertaining. She sang us many folk songs as she drove us around. She also offered us some kelp she had baked at home. The final stop was at a world heritage site where the North American tectonic plate meets the European one. There are extremely deep crevasses that are coated in lovely moss and lots of little waterfalls. Our tour guide stood in the mist spray and sang the national anthem of Iceland for us. It was odd but she was enjoying herself. After a short snooze on the coach with the old people we made our way back to Reykjavik and the ship to warm up and dress for dinner. It was a really great day. I know the pictures don't do it justice because it is hard to show the beautiful open landscape in a single photo. I would definitely go back and see it again.
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