October 16, 2021 - October 23, 2021 - A Trip to Iceland

Kelly and I have had a trip to Iceland with John and Carlene planned for many months despite Covid. Iceland opened up for visitors before other countries. They have been very proactive with Covid. 88% of the population is vaccinated. 

To fly overseas now you have to have current Covid vaccinations plus a negative Covid PCR test within 72 hours of boarding your first flight. We spent a week searching to find a place that would do the Covid test and promise us results within 24 hours so we could take them along to the airport. We ended up having to drive to Farmington, Missouri, about 40 miles from Perryville, to the hospital there for our tests. We did that on Thursday the 14th. The next day we got the results that all four of us were negative. Unfortunately they cannot email the results because of HIPPA so we had to drive back to that hospital to pick up the results. We were all set for the trip.

On the 16th we headed to Iceland for a seven day tour. Our itinerary was to fly into Newark, New Jersey, and from there on to Keflavik Airport in Keflavik, Iceland. Our flight took off on time and everything was great until about half way through the flight when the Captain announced that all flights in and out of Newark had been cancelled due to severe weather. We were redirected to Pittsburgh. A little later the pilot came back on and said that we would be landing in Columbus, Ohio, to get fuel and hopefully by then the bad weather would pass and we could proceed on to Newark. We landed in Columbus for fuel.

The fuel stop was only to be for an hour. For whatever reason the Captain let people get off the plane. As you can imagine it then became a problem to get everyone back on board so we could take off. Finally everyone was accounted for and we did take off. We had been scheduled to have a two and a half hour layover in Newark but with the fuel stop we were cutting it close to make our connection to Iceland. Upon arriving at the gate for the flight to Iceland they were already boarding. Too close for my comfort but we made it. That was the important thing. We were settled in our seats when the pilot announced that another plane from San Francisco, that had been diverted to Washington, D.C., was just landing and there were about fifteen passengers on board who needed to catch this flight. He asked our indulgence as we waited for them to land and get to this plane. It was only about a half hour delay, no big deal considering a six hour flight. 

Iceland is five hours ahead of Missouri so we arrived at 7:00 a.m. their time. We got through customs, retrieved our luggage, and headed for the bus to take us to the hotel in Reykjavik, the Capitol. When we walked outside it was thirty degrees and the wind was blowing snow and rain sideways as we headed for the bus about five hundred feet away. Here is a picture of Kelly as we left the terminal with a rain hat and visor on she bought for the trip. It was freezing cold because of the strong wind blasting us with rain and snow. 

My first thought was "Oh, geez. With this weather it is going to be a long week". We quickly learned that strong wind is a constant in Iceland. We made the twenty-five mile bus trip to Rekjavik. Here is a picture of the snow along the way.

We arrived at the hotel about 8:00 a.m. but no rooms would be ready until 3:00 p.m. What a bummer. We checked our luggage and went into their restaurant and ate some breakfast. After that we just hung out in the lobby the rest of the time. We were exhausted and it was just too windy and cold to do any exploring of the area. We were quite happy when we were able to get into our rooms and take a little nap until meeting our tour guide that evening.

I took dozens of pictures throughout the week of the city and the countryside. I can only highlight a few here. 

This is a typical picture of the countryside. Their main farming is raising sheep, horses, and hay to feed them. Sheep can be seen way up on the sides of the mountains foraging. The sheep and horses are outside all of their lives. Both are long-haired and tough!

Iceland has no wild animals other than the Artic Fox. The Vikings brought sheep, horses and cattle to the island from Norway about 900 A.D. The sheep are raised for meat. The horses are raised for meat for the Japanese market, for breeding, and for trail riding. Their horses are pure Nordic horses and they jealously guard their genetic pool. If a horse leaves Iceland it can never come back into the country because of possible cross-breeding and disease. Their horses are short, stocky, and have a long coat to combat the weather. Here is a picture of a couple of breeding stock we were able to get up close to.

Sheep are everywhere and lamb is the main meat throughout the country. We saw thousands and thousands of sheep and horses grazing everywhere and only a handful of cattle. All cattle is raised for dairy only. They import their beef.

Iceland is the land of fire and ice. The "Fire" is from multiple volcanoes and molten rock under much of the country. We wanted to visit the volcano that recently erupted but it is now dormant so that didn't happen. The "Ice" part comes from the fact that 10% of the entire country is covered by glaciers. Here is a picture of one of many we saw.

Glaciers mean lots of amazing waterfalls. Here are pictures of a few. Pictures really don't do them justice. They are amazing.

There are volcanoes throughout the country and one or more erupts from time to time. Here are a couple of pictures of ones we drove by. Note the sheep and horses in the pastures.

Throughout the countryside, due to the underground geothermal activity, there are hundreds of steam vents. Here are a couple of pictures.

This is a picture of an area where the steam was bubbling up and is being harnessed by a pipeline underground to heat the nearby town. 100 degrees Celsius is 212 degrees Fahrenheit. That's bubbling hot water between our heads.

I will try a video, I don't know if it will work. I never tried it before.

The steam is used to heat all the homes and commercial buildings. Many farmers even have hot tubs from the hot water bubbling up on their property.

One of the places we visited they baked rye bread in the ground as it was done two hundred years ago using the hot water that bubbles up. Here is a picture of a hole that is dug with a metal pot of dough placed in and covered up. It bakes for 24 hours.

Here is a picture of the baked rye bread. We were given samples and it was delicious with butter and smoked salmon on it.

One of the reasons for going to Iceland in the fall or winter is to see the Northern Lights. They are caused by solar flares and the magnetic field of the earth in the North. You need three things to see the lights - be far enough North, have darkness, and have clear skies. We were able to see the lights from our hotel one night. Standing out in the cold and wind to observe them is quite uncomfortable but it is well worth it. I found it interesting that the lights appear like gray clouds to our eyes but in pictures taken of them they are green. Here are a few pictures from the first night that we saw them from our hotel patio in the middle of town. The ambient light lessons the intensity and shivering in the cold makes it hard to get good pictures with the camera in "night mode", which requires you to hold the camera still several seconds. The lights start out as an arch like a rainbow then constantly change configurations often separating into spheres, wavy lines, etc.

A second night we had good weather and took a night cruise on a Whale Watching Boat out into the bay where it was darker for viewing. Here are a couple of pictures. These pictures are much better despite fighting the wind and the rocking of the boat.

Pictures simply do not do the phenomenon justice. They are in constant motion so a tripod with a camera on video would have been nice. 

One day went to the black sand beach where there are columns of fractured rock that line the shore. There were several warnings to stay away from the water because at any time the wind could knock you off your feet and into the water where you would swiftly be washed away. It was brutally cold and windy. I have my sock hat on under my hood and at least three layers of clothes.

The wind was so fierce that two times in walking back to the bus it literally stopped me in my tracks and blew me backwards. There are crazy winds there all the time.

The tectonic plates whose turbulent interactions formed Iceland are the Eurasian plate and the North American plate. These plates are moving apart as opposed to the ones in the U.S. which are colliding. We visited the area where the two plates meet. It is in this area that the Vikings started having "The Gathering" in 930 A.D. The gathering was a great way for the many groups spread throughout the country to share information about what was going on and there they established the first parliamentary government in the world. Every year at the gathering a Viking would stand out on an outcropping of rock and proclaim from memory all the laws of the land. In these pictures we are on the North American plate and the mountains in the background are on the Eurasian plate. 

I will finish with some interesting Icelandic facts. Iceland has virtually no crime. Police officers do not carry guns and I only saw one police car in a week. Iceland does not have an army which is why Reagan and Gorbachev met there to end the cold war. This is a picture of the house on the bay where they met. 

Afterwards a piece of the Berlin Wall was sent by Gorbachev to Iceland and it is displayed on these grounds. Of course the Icelanders have spruced it up a bit.

Iceland is 3,700 miles from Missouri and a little over half the size of our state. It currently has a population of about 380,000. Reykjavik is the Capitol and about half the population lives there. Reykjavik is a very modern city with much building going on all over the city. I was astounded that there was absolutely no litter anywhere in the city or in the countryside. NONE! Icelanders are very green and respectful of others. They all start learning English in second grade and all speak it very well. The Icelandic language is the pure Norwegian language spoken by the Vikings and they guard its purity fiercely. They are so adamant about it that they have a "Naming Council" which has to approve the name of every newborn child. This is partly tradition and partly to maintain the purity of the language. 

It was fascinating that in the 800s they had a land grab where a person would light a fire at daybreak then walk until sundown and light another fire. That was the boundary of their land. These farms have remained in the same families for generations although often divided up among children.

A major industry in Iceland is the making of aluminum. Two things are needed in great abundance to make aluminum - water and cheap electricity. Iceland has plenty of both thanks to the glaciers and the heated ground from which they extract steam to make cheap electricity. The average cost of electric for a home is $20.00 per month. 

There are no wild animals in Iceland other than the Artic Fox. No bears, no coyotes, no deer, no snakes, and no mosquitoes. Due to the lack of bugs there are no screens on any windows.

The primary religion is Lutheran but today few young people attend church although there are small churches throughout the land. Tourism has just become the largest industry and help for the tourist industry comes from Poland and the Philippines.

A volcanic eruption in 1700 killed one quarter of the population and eighty million sheep. There was thereafter a large migration to the United States. In 1940 Canada and England invaded Iceland to protect shipping lanes during the war. 50,000 American troops were stationed there for the duration of the war, a number equal to the entire Icelandic male population at that time. The troops built roads and airports which were of great benefit to the country. Iceland declared independence from Denmark after WWII and set up their own Republic which now is made up of five parties and only sixty Members of Parliament. In 2008 they were the only country who let their banks fail and sent their bankers to prison for three to nine years. 

Iceland does not have lightning but lots and lots of clouds, rain, and strong winds. It is an absolutely wonderful place to visit but I don't think I would like to live there.