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| Coming into Iceland |
The
Republic of Iceland is a sparsely settled
(about 9 people per square mile) island that just touches the Arctic Circle and
it was one of the places I always wanted to visit. If you put Hawaii and
Yellowstone in a sack, shook them up and dumped them out, you’d have the
countryside of Iceland (without the palm trees). There are volcanoes, black
beaches, geysers and other geothermal features. Differing from these two places
are the glaciers that formed valleys and that persist over 5,000 square miles
of the island’s interior. Because of all
of the geothermal energy almost all of the energy used is from this renewable
resource; it also allows production gardening in greenhouses. Within these
greenhouses are enough banana trees to make Iceland the largest supplier of
bananas to Europe. However, since its founding in 874 by Ingólfr Arnarson, most
of the economy was based on fishing and agriculture; now one of the biggest
money-makers is tourism, even though this is an expensive place to visit. Islandic
culture has its roots in Scandinavian and Germanic heritage, which isn’t
surprising since most Icelanders are descendants from these groups. What’s
interesting is how people are named: usually a person’s last name signifies the
first name of the father or in some cases the mother. This is a hereditary
tradition that is distinctly different from that of Europe. If a man is named
John Smith and has a son named George and a daughter named Mary, their last
names will not be Smith. They will be George Johnson for the boy and Mary Johndaughter
for the girl. It works in the same manner if the children are given the
mother’s name. So Sally Jones’s children would be George Sallyson and Mary
Sallydaughter. Iceland became a sovereign country under the Crown of Denmark,
the Kingdom of Iceland on December 1, 1918; in 1944 Iceland became a republic
with a president as the head of government. Chilly and windy, all three towns
we visited in Iceland reminded us a great deal of Tasmania and of Scotland.
Arriving in Akureyri
Our first day in Iceland was at Akureyri. Although it is a small
city, it is Iceland's second largest urban area. Cold, wet, and filled with
sheep, it echoed Scotland/Tasmania for us.
Akureyri was originally settled in
the 9th century by the Norse Viking Helgi magri (the slim) Eyvindarson. By the
17th century, Danish merchants based their camps here because of the excellent
natural harbor and the fertility of the land. The king of Denmark hoped to
improve the living conditions so he granted permanent settlement status to
Akureyri started in 1778. During World War II the town was the site of Allied
units which protected convoys traveling from the United States to the United
Kingdom and Murmansk from attack by German submarines. As the population grew,
so did the fishing industry. This along with tourism is the basis for the
town’s continued growth. We took a bus tour out to Godafoss waterfall, a
cascade made even lovelier by the surrounding black igneous rock, then on to Lake Myvatn, a rather shallow lake
created by a series of volcanic eruptions near Krafla volcano. We heard a lot
about how the environment was impacted and created by the volcanoes and the
mid-Atlantic ridge. The part of the mid-Atlantic ridge that we saw was not all
that impressive since it looked a great deal like a lava tube; however I did
get to step from the North American Plate to the Eurasian plate and back again
several times. Under this lake are hot spots that still throw steam into the
air. Repeated explosions created groups of craters on the shores and formed crater islands within the lake; these are
called pseudocraters or rootless vents. The pseudocraters at Skútustaðir are a
natural monument and a tourist attraction. There are wetlands surrounding the
lake supporting a wide variety of ducks. Many of the plants looked like what
you’d see in the American northwest as did the trees. Although it was still
summer in Texas, it was already fall here and the trees were changing colors. We
also heard stories about trolls who didn’t like humans and were so delighted
with their plans to get rid of them that they partied too long and forgot that
when the sun rose they would be turned into pillars of lava. The guide also
told about the ‘little’ people and how these beliefs still impact the manner in
which things are done on the island. The people of Iceland have just gotten
permission from the government to practice their traditional religions that
name Thor (Odin) and other Norse gods as icons, particularly in matters of
births, deaths, and marriages; interesting stuff. I didn’t get up close and
personal to any of the Icelandic horses, but I still had hopes. We also visited
one of the active volcanism sites; it reminded me of the Yellowstone geyser
basins. However, instead of walkways and barriers everywhere, folks were warned
of the dangers and then turned loose. Some were doing stupid things, but most
were acting reasonably. Had it been sunny the day would have been pretty close
to perfect. As we came out of the fjord, we were waved to by a young humpbacked
whale; pretty cute! Although we were just off the shore of Iceland, there was
no cell phone signal and the internet was out of range, even with the ship’s
satellite uplink.
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| Top L to R: Godafoss waterfall, Squirrel rock, Mid-Atlantic Rift Center L to R: Riding Icelandic horses, Geyser Bottom L to R: Geyser field, Skútustaðir |
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| Top: Asparagus soup Bottom: Arctic Char |
Lunch was at the very nice Lacks Hotel on the
edge of the lake. We were presented with hot cream of asparagus soup and Arctic
Char, a local white fish that was fresh and broiled to perfection, on a bed of
green leafy vegetables with a side of hot roasted potatoes. We weren’t sure
just how much there was to eat, so we were polite; I wished I’d eaten more of
the fish! Lunch was at a hotel/restaurant and was very good. The heavy brown
bread was a nice accompaniment to it all.
Back on the ship we had a lovely dinner. This
evening I had chilled apple vichyssoise and
curry coconut chicken, followed by a
mango chiffon tort. Dave had salmon and corn fritters, a traditional Weiner
schnitzel with a cherry ice cream sundae.
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| Top L to R: Vichyssoise, Fritters, Sundae Middle L to R: Schnitzel, Curry Bottom: Tort |
Into Isafjordur
Ísafjörður, fjord of ice, is a town of about 2,600 people in
the northwest of Iceland. It was
nice not to have to be up at the crack of dawn
to get on a bus, but I don’t know that I really liked riding the ‘tender’ from
the ship to the dock. It was cold, windy and damp. Of course the Icelandic
people talked about how this was a typical summer day – ha! I think it made it
up all the way to 50oF. The scenery is spectacular and the town,
itself, easily walkable. Many of the houses are made of corrugated metal,
painted bright colors. It’s a tidy town and folks are accustomed to tourists
wandering down all of the streets. The people in and out of the shops are
friendly. The Maritime
Museum, housed in one of the oldest
buildings in the town, had lots of information, a short film, and a large
collection of accordions. There were actually four levels with displays on each
one, the top being a lookout point. Most displays were about the town and the
fishing industry. Fishing has always been the main business here, and one of
the largest fisheries in Iceland is located in the city. The other exhibit that
took up much of the museum space concerned accordions. These jewel-toned music
boxes had histories that showed the development of the music culture in
Iceland. From these it was easy to see what lead to Iceland being recognized as
an alternative music center with globally known artists. There were lots of
places to shop including a book store and a shop that had local handcrafts
(knitted goods). Once we had explored the town thoroughly, we came back to the
ship and spent some time on the top deck reading and looking out at the
scenery. We think that we saw some Arctic terns and know that we saw lots of
seagulls. We did see a very nice sunset! Being out in the wind is exhausting. Everyone
seemed tired after supper and looking forward to hitting the beds.
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| Left T to B: Corrugated houses, Red house Right T to B: Maritime Museum, Dried fish, Accordions |
Since we had only the morning in Isafjordur we
came back to the ship for lunch. Again we
indulged in a burger, a hot dog with
bacon, and fries. The fries were outstanding! I happened to notice that there
was baklava on the dessert table, so Dave and I shared a serving.
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| Left: Burger, dog and fries Right: Baklava |
Dinner was equally good. I had the chicken pho
that was lightly spicy. My main dish was
roasted saithe, a white fish, with a
scampi sauce. Not surprisingly I indulged in dessert that this evening was rhubarb
crisp worthy of its name. Dave began his dinner with a thick and hearty carrot
soup. The brisket, that had a good flavor but more of a roast beef texture
followed. He ended his meal with a very nice plum tart.
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| Top L to R: Pho, Carrot soup Middle L to R: Fish, Brisket Bottom L to R: Rhubarb, Tart |
Running around Reykjavik
Reykjavík
(loosely translated as Smoke Cove) is the capital and largest city of Iceland,
as well as the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is among
the cleanest,
greenest, and safest cities in the world. The first permanent
settlement in Iceland by Norsemen is believed to have been established at
Reykjavík by Ingólfur Arnarson from Norway around AD 870. As with Akureyri,
King Frederik V of Denmark hoped to stimulate domestic industry by donating his
estate of Reykjavík to the Innréttingar Corporation in 1752. In turn this created a need for workers in
the wool industry and for establishment of a town to supply the workers’ needs.
Industries that grew up subsequently were fisheries, sulfur mining,
agriculture, and shipbuilding, all of which encouraged the growth of trade
between Iceland, Denmark, and eventually Europe. We had an all-day bus tour
that was very good. Although the city appears rather tightly packed with housing
and businesses, outer residential neighborhoods of Reykjavik are widely spaced
from each other with farms and ranches in between and the main traffic arteries
tying everything together. It was obvious that our tour guide loved his job and
was very knowledgeable. He actually walked with the group and talked about what
we were seeing rather than dumping us off and picking us up. This trip was centered
on Thingvellir National Park with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and how it appeared in
this part of Iceland. While what we saw in Akureyri was tiny, this part of the
rift was huge. You could literally drive between the plates. Thingvellir is
also the site of the Speaker’s Rock from which leaders talked to the populous,
giving them directives and to some extent a voice in the governing of Iceland.
In the valley below are some relatively new (less than 100 years old)
buildings, including a church and housing for visiting officials. Icelandic
leaders still come to the Speaker’s Rock for ceremonies. On down the road we
saw Gullfoss waterfall
with its mists and rumble from the dropping water. I was
surprised at the height and asked if there was a problem with the falls moving
from erosion of the rocks beneath, but evidently not. The major erosion problem
is from wind and the desertification caused by that. The government imported
Alaskan Lupine that are nitrogen fixing plants with a short spreading pattern
(grow for 10 – 12 years then die off) to combat erosion and desertification;
however with any sort of intervention that brings non-natives into an area, the
outcome may be positive at first, but become a problem. The lupine are not
dying off as expected but living 30 to 40 years instead; and of course, nothing
on Iceland will eat them. Geysir geothermal area was our final stop. There are
several large and small geysers in the area; one erupts every five to ten
minutes. Although the ones in Yellowstone rumble and hiss before they spew,
this one did not. An elderly Australian lady standing next to me said, ‘Well
that burst was sudden and short, like some people I know!’ We had a good laugh
together and the next time it blew we got our pictures. It was a gorgeous day
and not nearly as cold as it had been, making it a good day to be off the ship.
We came hauling back to the ship with minutes left before it actually sailed
and luckily weren’t the last bus to arrive. There were about 100 of us who got
on at about 4:55PM when the boat was due to leave at 5:00PM. Needless to say,
the crew checked us on-board in a hurry and we got underway almost immediately.
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| Reykjavik |
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| Top L to R: Geothermal power plant, Gullfoss waterfall, Church and houses Center: Walking on the Mid-Atlantic Rift Bottom L to R: Geyser eruption, Mountains with ice sheet behind |
Since our tour lasted eight hours, we had lunch on
shore. At the Geysir Hotel restaurant we
had a nicely warmed paprika coconut
soup that we sopped up with fresh herb bread. That was followed by salmon,
catfish cakes, and haddock stew. This was a pretty setting with a view of the
garden and some of their statues.
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| Top: Coconut soup Bottom: Fish |
Dinner on the ship began for Dave with a smoked seafood sampler,
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| Top L to R: Salad, Sampler Middle L to R: Meats, Mango sorbet Bottom: Baked Alaska |
In all three towns in Iceland we heard stories about trolls and ‘little people’. One, in
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| Left to Right: Cow thief, Yule Cat |
Iceland was one of the places I always wanted to
see and I was not disappointed. The rugged landscapes, volcanoes, glaciers and
geysers all lived up to what I had imagined, if not more so. If I were to go
back, I would rent a car and tour the entire island. I’d also ride one of the
Icelandic horses.
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| Sunset from Iceland |
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