12 August, 2014
At point of departure from
home I wasn’t as happy with my organisation and planning as I have
been in the past. It showed up in Iceland, even before I left home.
I’d do it differently if I had it to do again. For a three day
stop-over I decided two x 1-day tours and one day walking about
Reykjavik would be my best chance at a taste of the country. The
airport at Keflavik and Icelandair leave a bit to be desired (poor
service, bag delay from plane with no information) but everyone and
everything else was brilliant.
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| Typical Icelandic countryside |
Because of the bag delay I
was panicking about missing my first tour but the bus people smoothed
it all out so efficiently, pleasantly, no fuss. That was to the south
coast as far as Vik to a beach with black sand (gravel, pebbles and
stones, in fact!), basalt columns, caves and amazing rock formations.
Oh, and a paraglider!
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| The South Shore, Iceland |
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| Cave and basalt pillars, South Shore |
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| Spot the paraglider! |
On the way there, there were
glaciers.
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Farm at the foot of Eyjafjallajokull,
the glacier topped volcano that erupted 2010 |
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“Black” glacier – still covered with ash
following the 2010 volcano eruption |
Two weeks before this visit,
the glacier had become unstable so people were barred from walking
where they had been allowed to up until then. The Icelanders have an
attitude to safety that assumes a measure of common sense, as
typified by the danger sign and how it was posted!
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| Safety notice, Icelandic style! |
On the way back there were wonderful waterfalls.
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| Waterfall with double rainbow |
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| Seljalandsfoss waterfall |
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Walking behind Seljalandsfoss -
a damp experience and a slippery scramble over rocks! |
And also on the way back
there was a museum of Icelandic life, including turf houses. The
houses were largely built of stone with turf padding/insulation up
the external walls and over the roof. The stone part of the
construction reminded me of the houses from 5,000 BC discovered at
Scara Brae on Orkney.
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| Turf houses - insulation when it's freezing! |
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| Stonework, very similar to a Scara Brae kitchen |
The latter part of the day
gave me one of my worst travel experiences ever. Earlier, I’d asked
the Chinese woman in front of me not to lean her head on the window, it was
blocking my view. On the way back her husband “defended her
honour”. They swapped seats and he reclined his seat – I didn’t
know bus seats could recline so far. I asked him to sit up a bit,
explained I was being squashed. He wouldn’t budge. But then he
complained that my knees were in his back …. well they were being
crushed, every move to relieve the pressure, of course he’d feel
it. And his head was almost in my lap. If the bus had stopped even a
little suddenly I’d have (very unwillingly!) been kissing his bald
spot. Oh yuk!!
That night I did treat
myself to a better meal than I usually settle for (cheaper meals
being a big way of saving money). Boston host Piers had asked an
Icelandic colleague for eating out suggestions. I couldn’t find the recommended one I chose but on the strength of the effort they both went to, I
found a very nice alternative. Then walked home in ‘daylight’
afterwards in spite of it being after 10 pm!
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| Hallsgrimskirkja at 10.45 pm |
