Arriving in Iceland

Kveðjur og halló við alla!

Day 1 of any European adventure is always “the longest day”! Leaving Denver at 4:50pm and arriving in Keflavik, Iceland at 5:50am is really like 11:50pm, with a whopping 3-4hrs sleep on the plane. Good thing my commando training included sleep deprivation. So now it’s find the rental car, do the insurance dance, and strike out on the road to see a few sites. Driving time today is only 4-5hrs with plenty of stops to get out and stretch the ol’ legs.

We’re driving what is known here as the “Golden Circle” named such because people are shelling out fortunes to cruise around in a tour bus and see a little water and rock. We, on the other hand, have our own mode of transportation, a Toyota Aygo, and what a fine automobile it is. This car reminded us of the Fiat 500 we rented in France that would almost come to a stop when the wind blew. The Aygo-slow, with its .04 liter engine, will actually stop when trucks pass us. Maybe out of fear of being sucked under or just because the turbulence are too great but the little car that could, couldn’t.

Our beloved, “Aygo – slow”

Icelandic roads are excellent, clean, clearly marked, and just enough asphalt so Aygo and the trucks can maneuver safely. The speed limit is 90kph or around 55mph so not slow but not overly fast either. Doesn’t matter, top speed in Aygo-slow is about 15mph if we keep the windows closed and my foot in it.

First stop is Thingvellir National Park, home to the first known “Law Council” in Europe. Established sometime around 930AD, the “Logretta” was responsible for law making and resolution of legal disputes. I imagine that settling legal disputes took up the lion’s share of time since at that time, the Icelander’s had no written language and the laws were recited by memory each year.

One of the attractions at this park is Lake Thingvallavtn, Iceland’s largest lake.  So I’ll apologize now for not sounding out the names of these places, but I have no idea how to say most if not all Icelandic words. But I don’t feel bad, Goggle doesn’t know how to pronounce them either, try it and see. OK, so about the lake. Lake Thingvallavtn has about 84 km2 of surface area, and is about 114 meters (46ft) deep. Claim to fame, 4 species of Arctic char.

The park is also home to a seven kilometer rift in the Earth’s crust where the North American tectonic plate and a micro tectonic plate pull away from each other. Pretty awesome scenery as you walk down the path along side the continental plate. But this is only the first stop, we must motor on…..

Thingvellir National Park

Lake Thingvallavtn

The “Rift”

Back on the road to the town of Geysir and the hot springs. This is one of the many geothermal areas where tourists can scald themselves in boiling mud or at least come away drenched from a spouting geyser. We strolled up the path to one of the spouters walking amongst several bubbling, spewing pots of mud. Quite dangerous so I let Collette go first. (Always the gentleman) We waited for about 10 minutes and whoosh, a not so impressive blast of water came shooting out of this hole in the ground a whopping 10ft. Ugh, really? I know this isn’t Old Faithful but come on, 10ft! Must have sensed we were under-impressed cause the next eruption sent water 40ft in the air. Now we’re talkin!

Enough thermal activity, we’re heading for the waterfalls. Unbeknownst to most, Iceland has more waterfalls than trees. We counted 28 trees on our way and over 300 waterfalls. Not really but there were a lot of waterfalls and few trees. This waterfall is one of the better known falls, Gullfoss, which means “Golden Waterfall”. (OK, clean it up. This is about Nature’s waterfall.) Water from the White river falls some 32 meters (105ft) from two levels into a chasm. Really cool but we’re not through…

Gullfoss

Free shot of a glacier

A little more driving and we come across a very special place. Only through many months of research, asking questions and corresponding with exiled Icelandic nobles did I hear about this place. Saying the name in public can actually get you arrested. It is one of Iceland’s best guarded secrets. As a matter of fact, that’s its name, the “Secret Lagoon”! The directions to this enchanted Shangri-La are sketchy but we managed to find the side road, put the Aygo-slow in Ninja mode and blew past the guards. Once inside the private compound, we found a place to hide the car and slipped inside to pay our “membership” fee, no questions asked. After a quick shower, open the door and walk out to the Garden of Eden! Never before had I imagined how wonderful a natural pool of thermal Sulfur water could feel, especially with 80 other people milling around. What I don’t understand is they made me take a “proper” shower but let an Indian family (not the Custer’s last stand type) wear their laundry into the pool, completely dressed! Go figure.

OK, so we wandered around in the water for about an hour and called it a day, got dressed and headed off to our hotel, Hotel Eldhestar.

The “Not so secret lagoon”

Damn, I’m tired. To bed around 8pm for much needed sleep.

Later amigos.

One last picture for my good friend Dave. I can see “All Pro Fire” all over this van!!!!