Visiting Iceland was a wonderfully unique experience. I had always thought it would be a country I would like to visit “someday”. I had even considered a special fare I read about through Icelandic Air once that would give a three day visit to Iceland and return but the timing wasn’t quite right.
Iceland was worth the wait and I would highly recommend it to anyone who would love a refreshingly different opportunity. We knew we had a very busy day in Reykjavik planned and it lived up to expectations. The captain had warned that Iceland’s weather was notoriously unpredictable and while rain was forecast, maybe we would be lucky and this time since he had never been to Reykjavik without rain. Hopefully, we thought, since he had jinxed himself saying that while only 35% of cruise ships that planned to enter Prince Christian Sound, had been permitted to do so, he had always been fortunate enough to do so. But ice conditions precluded it this time, so since he said he always had rain in Reykjavik, maybe he would be wrong again and there would be no rain. This time we weren’t so lucky and we had several downpours, especially in the morning.
Since Iceland had been in the news for its active volcanoes, we chose a morning shore excursion called “Ancient Ring of Fire” which took us immediately out of Reykjavik without seeing any of the city to see the nearby Hengill Volcano. It was considered active since it had “only” been about 2,000 years since its last eruption and about 10,000 years is required to make a volcano “inactive.” Along the good, but little trafficked road, we saw large pipelines that looked like the oil pipelines of Alaska. Instead these were bringing hot geothermal water to Reykjavik and environs. (This excursion, by the way, was pretty scientific for non-scientists, so the descriptions are not likely to be up to scientific standards.) Because Iceland is known as the “Land of Fire and Ice”, and because of its active volcanoes, there are plenty of hot springs and geysers similar to what one might see at Yellowstone National Park. This makes it possible to use geothermal power to provide hot water to much of Iceland. It’s a real benefit since if petroleum were required for heating, the cost in this remote area would be prohibitive.
Dodging the raindrops as much as possible, we made several stops. First stop was to see the rugged Hengill Volcano area with a markup 3-D design of the volcanic region and to show us how the North American Plate and the European Plate meet right through Iceland and near Reykjavik. We visited the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Thingvellir where we crossed from North America into Europe. First time we had ever gone between those two continents by land! I had never thought of North America and Europe meeting in Iceland. There was rough terrain, evidence of earthquakes that left the region scarred and giving opportunities for volcanic eruptions.
A very short visit to the village of Hveragerdi let us observe several hot springs and even see some eggs being boiled in the hot, steam waters. Unfortunately the rain was coming down pretty heavily there, so many headed back to the bus very quickly. Nearby we were taken to a very modern hotel for an Icelandic lunch using virtually all locally grown produce. The tour continued to the Hellisheidi Geothermal Plant Visitor Center for a short presentation of the world’s geothermal plates, including those that cut through Iceland, and an opportunity to see some of the equipment. This just opened in 2007 and is a showcase for modern Iceland’s geothermal energy. Upon our return to the ship, we were each given a small rock from last year’s volcanic eruption. This tour certainly opened our eyes into how Iceland deals with its volcanoes and harnesses the benefits through their geothermal part.
Before leaving home, we had made arrangements for what we knew would be a very special part of our entire Voyage of the Vikings. Way back in 1963-64, while we were still living in Lancaster, NY, some very close family friends hosted an exchange student from Iceland for a year. Barb is still in contact with the eldest daughter in the family who immediately contacted Grétar in Reykjavik. We had just thought that she might be interested to know that we were visiting Iceland, but much to our surprise and delight, Grétar emailed Barb and said he would be happy to show us around Reykjavik, and we arranged to meet at 3:00 PM. After sharing updated pictures, we easily met just outside the security gate of the terminal and spent the rest of the day seeing the city and their home.
We saw so much that, not having taken notes, I couldn’t possibly adequately describe everything we saw. Grétar suggested that since it was rainy and since we were on “The Voyage of the Vikings”, we might be interested in seeing two special exhibits at two Reykjavik museums. One featured Viking documents and the Edda Poems¸ some ancient Icelandic sagas. It would be like seeing original copies of the Declaration of Independence, except these documents are much older, some dating back to the 14th Century. The other museum was on the site of some excavations for modern building that uncovered some ancient Viking homes. This museum showed life in early Iceland. From there we did a walking tour of downtown Reykjavik and saw various government buildings including Parliament and City Hall which overlooks a lovely and actively used lake.
We took a break in our tour to visit Grétar’s home and meet his wife, Kristin, and later, their daughter, Lydia. Kristin served coffee and sweets as we had a chance to visit. We enjoyed the opportunity to see their beautiful home and think we may have been the only people on the ship to have had the good fortune to have visited in an Icelandic home. Barb was particularly interested in the nameplate on the door which had the name of each person in the family with their four different last names. In Iceland, a person doesn’t typically change names after marriage and until recently the last name would be the father’s first name followed by -son or
-dottir depending on gender. Now it is permitted to use the mother’s first name if that is desired. (Our tour guide this morning was was Rosa Maria Sigurbardsdottir since she was the daughter of Sigurbard. The last name of Grétar’s children is either Grétarson or Grétarsdottir.) Fascinating.
As we continued our tour, we visited the observation deck of round building which afforded spectacular views of this dynamic city. From there we drove to the magnificent Lutheran Cathedral which took from the late 1930s until 1986 to complete. Grétar told us that his parents had been on the building committee of the church and had given one of the large organ pipes for the church. The church was both simple in style and elegant in its beauty. After a stop at the site of the famous 1986 meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev which marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War, we went out to see the home of the prime minister. Unlike in the US and most countries, there is absolutely no security around the home. We got out of the car, walked past the chapel in front, and saw the home from a short distance. Considering ourselves privileged to have been invited to see Grétar and Kristin’s home, we decided not to press our luck by going to the prime minister’s door.
After a short stop back near the ship to see some interesting wall murals painted on buildings, we returned to our home away from home, considering this to have been the best day of our voyage!
Chuck
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