When in Reykjavik …

… go find other things.

That’s not fair. Reykjavik is a fine city. The name literally means “smoky bay” (Reykja is smoky; vík is bay). The city has about 120K people, but the metro area has about 250K people. And with fewer than 400K people in the whole country, that means there are fewer than 150K people everywhere else. So (except for sleeping) we spent most of our time in Reykjavik outside of Reykjavik. We were there for about 36 hours. 

Our guide both days was Erika. Apparently she had been the guide for the group many years ago when they were in Iceland so they brought her back for a reprise. She was very good (though not amazing). She is a Brazilian woman who lived in Germany for many years, fell in love with (and married) and Icelandic man so has lived in Iceland for almost 20 years. One assumes she speaks Brazilian Portuguese, German (not sure which dialect), English (I can confirm that) and Icelandic (we heard her speak it), though she may speak other languages too.

Our time was impacted by volcanic dust or vog (Erika kept insisting it was dust, not ash) from Sundhnúkur so visibility was poor at times. She kept saying, “you would have seen…”. So I’ll start with a dozen or so pieces of information Erika provided about Iceland, some of which may also be elsewhere in the blog:

1. Iceland has the oldest continuously working parliament in the world; it started in the year 930

2. The only war ever fought in Iceland was in the 1200s. After the war, Iceland became part of Norway which merged with Denmark in 1380. Iceland was part of Denmark from 1380 until WWII. At that point Germany had taken over Denmark, so the US took over Iceland. Iceland became independent in 1944.

3. We didn’t learn when Icelandic kids start learning English, though a quick search revealed that it’s required by 5th grade. They start a Scandinavian language in 7th grade. Schools teach students from age 6-19. 

4. About 90% of Icelandic homes receive hot water directly via geothermal energy which is piped to homes via well-insulated pipes that lose very little heat (so clearly it’s not recommended to start a hot water heater business here). The temperature is about 80C (about 175F). 

5. Iceland has about 56 sunny days per year (by comparison the internet claims Portland has 144 sunny days per year). The average summer high is 11C/52F. And of course being so far north, the sun never gets very high in the sky. As a result, farming is very difficult, and about the only things that grow in the ground are hay (for the horses) and root vegetables. The summers are too short to grow grains. They use greenhouses to grow a variety of fruits (including bananas!), but it’s still generally cheaper to import fruits and vegetables. Icelanders used to use licorice as a sweetener (before sugar was introduced in the 1800s). 

6. Pretty much every town of any size has both a public library and a pool, both of which are used by residents year-round. Students have swimming class in school 1-3 times per week. 

7 Iceland has no navigable rivers. 

8. There are 30 active volcanic systems in Iceland. 

9. Iceland has no military, though it is part of NATO. Their contribution to NATO is their strategic position. The country is literally partly on the North American tectonic plate and partly on the Eurasian tectonic plate. 

10. We had learned earlier that horses cannot be brought to Iceland. There are about 100K Icelandic horses in Iceland, and about 60K abroad. Sheep also cannot be brought to Iceland. 

11. The way to say “good day” in Icelandic is góðan daginn which is pronounced “go on dyin’”. The response is “daginn” (“dyin’”). A double (LL) in Icelandic is pronounced “TL”

12. Icelandic last names are not family names. A child is <parent’s name(s)> son or <parent’s name(s)> dottír. It can be based on the father’s name, the mother’s name, both names, or (in given same-sex marriage) both mothers/both fathers. People who are nonbinary will often use “yons” (maybe “jon’s”?)  rather than “son” or “dottír” in their last name. Needless to say, this means there is not a family names in the traditional sense, so a household could have 3 different last names (parent A, parent B, and children), even without considering step-children. And pretty much everyone goes by first name (including politicians, doctors, professors, et al.) because it’s such an egalitarian society. 

The first day we explored Iceland’s South Coast. And in Iceland that meant seeing some beautiful waterfalls. 

The first four pictures are from Seljalandsfoss. We declined to walk behind it as there were some interesting waterfalls a short walk away. Nothing screams Iceland more than four impressive waterfalls within a kilometer walk! While Seljalandsfoss was the tallest, I actually appreciated the furthest waterfall because it was in a fascinating nook between the rocks. I held my phone up to take a picture and someone(!) right in front of me had the same idea … which led to a fun picture. 

The next stop was Skógafoss, or “forest waterfall.” Iceland was once forested but the Vikings over harvested and the land hasn’t recovered. So it may look forested to an Icelander but it doesn’t to an Oregonian. It’s very nice. The problem with seeing several spectacular waterfalls in a short period of time is that one runs out of adjectives and some amazing sights get described as “very nice.” 

We then when to the town of Vík which means bay. We were encouraged to walk up(!) to the church or explore the 800-person town. We were discouraged from going to the black sand beach (Víkurfjara) … but fortunately were not dissuaded. All of the sand is lava, so the beach was black. Dark, deep, black. The sand was fairly soft. Given the gray skies it was a bit eerie. Yes, the picture behind me is of the sand and the ocean (and clouds) ... and the colors are accurate. The other picture shows the west end of the beach — to the breakwater seen in the picture, but the most interesting picture I took of the rocks in the water is the one here. I saw my first “definitely” puffin in the water there, though (spoiler alert) saw more later in the day. 

I was walking with a group of about 4 people. One walked into the water (on purpose) for a picture. I refrained, but I did touch the water which is surprisingly warm. Perhaps not so surprisingly, the water is part of the Gulf Stream, the same water that goes along the US east coast. I also skipped a stone, and (with our feet) participated in making a sand castle. While the waterfalls were beautiful, somehow the time on the black sand beach, with its comforting rhythmic sounds of the waves, was one of the best parts of the day. 

The next stop was to a different black sand beach, Reynisfjara. This is a famous beach, and apparently one of the ten most beautiful non-tropical beaches in the world. We walked on sand, gravel, and cobble-sized rocks. There was an impressive columnar basalt cave that was easily ten meters tall. Yes, once again I find myself thousands of miles from home visiting columnar basalt .… 

Above the cave were puffins. Lots of puffins. 

A fabulous day, filled with amazing places to visit! 

The second day we did the “Golden Circle” which is a popular tourist route with a national park, geysers, and a waterfall. Apparently we went “backwards” so we first saw Gullfoss waterfall, then the Geysir Geothermal Area, and finally Þingvellir. (The character “Þ” which looks sort of like a lower case b and p in a single character is pronounced “th” as in “thing” so the park name is pronounced “Thingfiller”). 

Guillifoss waterfall was fantastic. Probably my second favorite Icelandic waterfall (after Dynjandi, which we saw in Isafjördur) … which is high praise indeed. And we were fortunate to see it in the sun, which means that the mist was pleasant and also shows up nicely in the pictures. The first one shows as much of the whole scene as I could fit into a picture — the width, the various sections and levels of the falls, and the columnar basalt. The second picture shows the “lower” section and its mist. 

The Geysir Geothermal Area was nice. It was convenient that the geyser went off every few minutes, but I’m spoiled enough that I wasn’t as impressed as I probably should have been. The video I took wasn’t very good, so you’ll just have to imagine a tall geyser erupting in a somewhat desolate area because, well, that much steam doesn’t exactly promote plant growth. 

Þingvellir National Park highlights the area where the North American and Techtonic plates meet above ground. Actually, they meet about 7km apart, but who’s counting. It’s pretty, though not especially photogenic. Of note, Iceland’s former president, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, has a summer job as a park ranger at Þingvellir National Park. Yes, I got to see him, inside the visitor center. No, I did not take a picture because that would have been a very non-Icelandic thing to do. The two pictures aren’t of the tectonic plates, but rather of a sundial (which was working since it was sunny!) and a view from the park. 

We did a very quick mostly driving tour of Reykjavik. After prioritizing walking to retrieve a certain cache (it was a letterbox) over entering the iconic church I was actually able to do both. Inside is white. Outside is designed to represent, you guessed it, columnar basalt. We also stopped at the statue of a Viking boat. 

The second day was very nice. It would have been disappointing to miss the Golden Circle, even though it was somewhat anti-climactic after seeing so much of Iceland’s beauty elsewhere. So I’m glad I saw it. And I confirmed that while I would love to visit Iceland on a land tour, I did get to see a good amount of it with the various stops we made, so it’s no longer on my bucket list of places I must visit. So goodbye Iceland, it would be great to see you again (if it happens).

I’m posting this now, and hoping that I’m able to add pictures soon. More technical issues getting them from the phone to the iPad….