Iceland Day 4, September 13

This day was called "a day in the life", and we spent time at a horse farm and a sheep farm.At the horse farm, called Thor Hester, we met Einar and Nicole--he is Icelandic and she is American born. Einar demonstrated the 5 gaits of the Icelandic horse (most horses only have 3 gaits).  We groomed the horses and then had a cup of coffee indoors,

We drove along Lake Thingvellir; such a beautiful place! There was a whale boat at the whaling station near where the British base was in World War II. Iceland is one of the few nations still hunting whales in the North Atlantic.

We arrived at the sheep farm Bjarteyjarsandur and met Arnheidur and Gudmunder, known as Adda and Gummi. While Adda cooked us a wonderful lunch (shepherds pie, of course), Gummi showed us around the farm. They maintain a herd of 600 sheep on this 900 acre farm, and these sheep produced 1000 lambs this year. This has been a family owned farm since the 1800s, and we met both Adda and Gummi's mothers. They were spinning and knitting when we arrived.

We went to the grocery store in Borgarnes--we were assigned teams and each team had a shopping list. We were all successful; this will be our lunch tomorrow. We stopped to investigate a Viking burial mound. The person in the mound is Skallagrimur, father to the famous Viking Egill. Linda told us his story.

Our last stop of the day was Grábrok crater.  This and 2 other craters were created 3400 years ago in a volcanic eruption. Many of us walked the hundreds of steps to the top of the crater--it was worth it! 

Iceland Day 3, September 12

Our first stop on this day was Seljalandsfoss; we walked behind this 200 foot high waterfall, where Linda took a group photo.

On our drive we stopped to see photos that were taken of the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption of 2020. The farm in the photos is Thorvaldseyri; it was in the news for days when the smoke plume paralyzed Europe. The news reporters referred to the volcano as E 15, as they could not pronounce Eyjafjallajökul.

We made an extra stop at  a peninsula that was created 80 thousand years ago in an underwater submarine eruption.  It is known as Dyrhólaey or Door Hill Island because of the huge natural arch. Linda entertained us with legends surrounding this place, mostly to do with trolls...

The highlight of this day was the super truck tour! We drove to Vik, the southernmost village 

in Iceland, where we met Ingo, our driver and guide for the tour. We all climbed up into the 

truck and set off across the lava fields toward the Mýrdalsjökull glacier.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

This portion of the glacier is covered with black ash, and we were fortunate enough to enter an ice cave!  (yes, it was lit up for our convenience).

After we returned from the cave, Ingo offered us Katla vodka poured over 800 yeaar old ice that he carried down from the glacier.

Iceland Day 2, September 11.

Our first stop today was at "Hespuhúsið" where Guðrún greeted us and invited us into her home studio.  She demonstrated the dyeing of wool using native plants--she did her masters thesis on the historical use of native Icelandic plants, which led to her life's work.

We then drove to Gullfoss waterfall. We hiked the trails and learned about Sigríður Tómasdóttir, the young woman who fought to save the waterfall from being harnessed to run a hydro electric powerplant.

Our next stop was the Geysir area, where we watched the Strokkur geyser erupt several times. We passed bubbling calderas on our hike to the geyser--this is a very active thermal area!

The most incredible stop of the day was at ÞIngvellir National Park. Here we stood on the edge of the Eurasian tectonic plate, looking across "no mans's land" to the North American plate. Iceland is one of only 2 places in the world where you can see and walk on the tectonic plates. (the other is in Kenya). 

After experiencing the Eurasian tectonic plate we got back in the van and drove to the North American plate. 

We walked to the Law Rock where the Law Speaker once stood and recited all of Iceland's laws from memory. We passed the drowning pool, where so-called sinful women were drowned. Drownable offenses were adultery, incest, and child abandonment. Of course if they were raped they were drowned as adulterers.

Iceland Day 1, September 9-10

This was a never ending travel day. We flew into Minneapolis, had a 3 hour layover there, and then took a redeye flight to Keflavik airport, near Rejkjavik, Iceland. We arrived the morning of September 10.

We met our guide, Linda, in the airport and were driven to Selfoss in a van. It was a lovely drive on the new coastal road--the old road was buried under lava from last year's volcano eruption.

Linda led us on a walking tour through Selfoss. It was 40 degrees and raining. That did not deter the swimmers in the local pool--they swim outdoors all year long.

                                                                             

We walked past the Bobby Fischer Center. He famously beat Boris Spassky in chess in Rejkjavik in 1972. He came to Selfoss in his later years and is buried nearby.

We are fortunate that our guide speaks perfect American English. She was born here, moved to the US as a child, came back and married an Icelander.