Iceland Day 5–Puffins and Porpoises

We woke up to a bright blue sky, the bad weather and haze of the previous day having dissipated completely. We had a leisurely breakfast, and then strolled down to the harbor where I had booked a whale watching cruise. After doing a bit of research, I had chosen Elding, though to be honest, I don’t think there would be much difference between the various providers. Whale watching is such a chancy business, and the various boats are in constant radio touch to help all their passengers get a chance to see a whale.

We were quite early and used the time to explore the levels of the ship and find the best spot to sit. The bright sunlight made Reykjavik gleam, and spangles of light bounced off the deep blue waters of the bay. The ship gradually filled up, and soon our spotter climbed into the crow’s nest (or what passes for a crow’s nest in a modern ship) and we were off.

We renewed our acquaintance with a Chinese girl who we recognized from our Northern Lights tour, and we also saw our first other Indian group since coming to Iceland. (After UK and most of Europe, where we saw Indians everywhere, this was pretty unusual!) They were Telugu, and to my deep shame, not five minutes after our spotter had talked about the danger of plastic waste to marine life, they were happily chucking empty crisp packets and chocolate wrappers off the side of the boat. What is wrong with us?!

The waters of the bay were beautifully calm, but as we got out to open sea there was a strong wind blowing and the waves suddenly picked up.  Our position in the bow of the boat suddenly got a lot less comfortable, and we started pulling on our gloves and pulling the zippers of our jackets as far up as they would go.

Hardly 5 minutes had passed when our spotter pointed out White-beaked dolphins frolicking off starboard, throwing everyone into a frenzy of activity, camera’s being clicked frantically with one hand with the other clinging to the guard rail.

After about 15 minutes, the pod tired of toying with us, and descended to more peaceful depths, and we turned our attention to hunting for whales. We searched for around 20 minutes and it seemed we would be going back empty handed, when our spotter got word that the other boat had spotted a whale. We raced over and caught a glimpse of these majestic creatures just as they began their dive.

There were maybe around ten Minke whales in the bay, surfacing in random locations, and what followed was a race around the bay to try and catch up with them. As we crashed into the waves, several of the passengers turned green and retired below the decks. With only the tip of my nose protruding, I hung on to the guard rail with all my strength, but it was worth it to catch sight of these leviathans of the deep.

After an hour or so of chasing after the whales, we turned back, completely satisfied. Our luck had held, and we got to see the whales on our first attempt!

After de-boating, we spent a half hour in the gloomy, and rather uninteresting ‘Life of Whales’ museum, before wandering back into town, but not before grabbing a seafood chowder from a waterfront restaurant.

We spend the next couple of days wandering through the city, and the collection of weird, trendy shops which made up Reykjavik, finally ending up at the Hallgrímskirkja, which was made to look like lava basalt flows. A statue of Leif Eriksson stands in front. As imposing as the structure was from the outside, it was pretty austere and plain inside, except for a huge organ dominating one of the walls; rather disappointing after the lush cathedrals of France and Italy. What was awesome was the viewing area right at the top of the church, where Reykjavik stretched before us in the bright sunshine. I spent 15minutes happily clicking snaps before we headed down.

We spend the next couple of days wandering through the city, and the collection of weird, trendy shops which made up Reykjavik, finally ending up at the Hallgrímskirkja, which was made to look like lava basalt flows. A statue of Leif Eriksson stands in front. As imposing as the structure was from the outside, it was pretty austere and plain inside, except for a huge organ dominating one of the walls; rather disappointing after the lush cathedrals of France and Italy. What was awesome was the viewing area right at the top of the church, where Reykjavik stretched before us in the bright sunshine. I spent 15minutes happily clicking snaps before we headed down.

We also made a quick stop at the local wine store or Vinbuden to pick up a couple of bottles of Brennivin, the most famous local liquer, and a delicate berry liqueur. The Brennivin was a bust; super strong and harsh on the palate, but adding a touch of class to any liquor cabinet.

An hour or so later, as the evening light fled the sky, we made our way back to the Apartment to change for dinner. We planned for a Icelandic meal, and had decided on Laekjarbrekka, a classic restaurant situated in a building constructed in 1834. We got seated quickly, and after scanning the menu, decided to start off with a platter of smoked puffin, fried cod and picked beet. The smoked puffin was actually served in a jar full of smoke, which puffed out very satisfactorily as it was opened. The taste of the puffin, on the other hand was very fishy and oily, so I suspect it was a tourist sort of thing. The cod and the pickled beets were very tasty, though.

For the main, we decided to have the grilled Minke whale, with grilled root vegetables and a Brennevin sauce. To all the people exclaiming in anger: I agree with you completely. A lot of farming of Minke whales in Icelandcaters to the tourist population, and I urge you all to refrain from it. My mom was also horrified, but she doesn’t eat rabbit or venison either, as they’re ‘cute’. Having said this, the whale was delicious! I expected something fishy, but what I got was meaty, almost like beef, with a faint taste of the sea.

After dooming the whales and puffins to extinction with our starter and main, the dessert was pretty mild. We chose the traditional Icelandic Skyr, which was served with white chocolate, a lime sorbet and assorted wild berries, which when it arrived, was as pretty as a picture.

Sated and satisfied, we wandered into the chilly Icelandic twilight for a stroll along the sea, where I toll a last few pictures of the glass encrusted Harpa Concert Hall, before heading back for our last night in Iceland.

As usual the complete flickr set is below - 

Iceland Day 4–Light and Magic

After an arduous though exhilarating time the day before, we had planned a relatively tame outing for our fourth day in Iceland. We had booked a tour of Iceland’s Golden circle with David from Iceland Horizons who came highly recommended on Trip Advisor.

On our way!

David picked us up bright and early in his van, and after a few more stops to pick up the rest of the group, including a party of several elderly, very friendly and excited Americans, we were off! We first drove out of Reykjavik on the very familiar highway 1, but this time instead of passing by the big steam clouds on the left which marked the position of the thermal energy plants, David turned off the highway to takes us for a closer look.

Geothermal Power Plants

Though British, and not a native Icelander, to our initial disappointment, David knew a huge amount about the country and kept us enthralled throughout the trip. 

After the power plants, we turned off the highway and drove to a volcanic lake crater Kerið, filled with water of the most violent blue colour, apparently due to the chemicals of the meteor.

Our next stop was a pretty little waterfall, whose name eludes me now.  The wind was really picking up by this time, and the horizon had turned a dull red color as the wind whipped the loose volcanic soil into the air.

En Route we had a friendly encounter with a herd of Iceland horses, a breed unique to the place. The wind whipped their manes, but besides chewing on the sleeve of my jacket they were very friendly.

Or next stop was the Haukadalur geothermal area which was another first for me as I had never seen a geyser before. The landscape was alien, with pools of violently blue-green coloured water bubbling between rust coloured tracts of land, with cloud of steam bellowing from the more active geysers. The original, Geysir, was now dormant but another, Strokkur, sent out a huge plume of water and steam every 5 to 10 minutes. 

 

We stood around and watched a few eruptions, and then it was back onto the van for our next stop at Gullfoss, or Golden Falls,  Iceland’s largest waterfall. It was massive with tons of water thundering past, but somehow not as beautiful as Skógafoss which we saw the previous day. After some time getting soaked from the spray, I climbed up to see the Hvítá twist its way across the plains before plunging into the falls. We then had a quick lunch consisting of a beautiful lamb stew from the nearby tourist shop.

   

Our final stop was Þingvellir National Park, the place which has both geological importance, as this is where the North American and Eurasian plates collide, as well as historical importance, as this is where the Icelandic parliament was founded in 930 AD.  It may be hard to appreciate the amount of history here, but the geological upheaval is apparent in the chasms and ridges running across the valley. 

After a wander around the valley, we got back in the bus and were driven back to Reykjavik while David told us more about Iceland, touching on varied topics such as the political climate in Iceland, the Yule Lads of Icelandic Christmas, and even why people consider fermented shark or Hákarl a delicacy. Little did we know that we would be seeing Þingvellir again before the day was out.

Back in Reykjavik, after dumping our stuff in the apartment, we headed out to explore the town. Reykjavik is super small, super cool and très trendy with fashion boutiques and cool graffiti lining the roads. Being the only obvious foreigners on the streets, we were repeatedly approached by bunches of school kids who were trying to interview foreigners about their experience in Iceland for their school work. We wandered into a few quaint shops and even an Icelandic supermarket, which was quite alien. Protip: Bonus is the main supermarket chain, and can be recognized by its logo of a pig with an extremely sleazy expression on its face.

Just as we were nearly about to walk into a restaurant for dinner, Shweta happened to spy a travel agency with a chalkboard outside on which was scrawled ‘Northern Lights tour starts TODAY’. Well, we had asked around as several places before, but no one had started these tours as it was too early. Well, we couldn’t give up this slim chance of seeing the Aurora Borealis, so while Shweta stayed to buy tickets, I raced to the apartment to pick up our coats and sweaters.

We were just in time, and in about fifteen minutes, we were racing toward, where else, but Þingvellir park, which, as the guide explained, was the nearest spot to view the lights without any artificial light interrupting the experience.

And of course there could be no better setting; as we stood on the cliff overlooking Þingvellir, Þingvallavatn lake stretched into the distance with the moons reflection bouncing off the calm waters. Now, Aurora hunting is not as easy as it sounds; you stare into the sky, imagining phantom bands, all the while shivering as Iceland’s icy winds penetrate your layers of clothing and play with you in a disturbingly intimate way.

After a while, the adrenaline was wearing off, and we were beginning to feel pretty miserable. A lot of people had taken refuge inside the bus, and we were thinking seriously of doing the same. But rather than pack up my tripod and camera, we decided to give it another 10 minutes, and boy were we glad we did!

Almost imperceptibly, a band of pale luminous green stole across the sky, soon brightening to a series of intense blue green snakes which coiled twisted across the heavens. The mood was euphoric, and all of us were pointing and laughing in amazement. Done clicking photos to my heart’s content, I loaned out my tripod to groups of Chinese girls while the bands faded away some 45 minutes later.

The lights were exceptionally active that night, and the bus stopped twice on the way back to Reykjavik as they grew bright in the sky.

Tired and satisfied we fell into bed concluding out penultimate day in this amazing country.


Slideshow with all the photos below.

Iceland Day 2 - Glaciers and Waterfalls

The next day we were up at the crack of dawn (well 6 am anyway) to light streaming in through our windows. The days were still very long, even though it was September! We were to go for a glacier trek today and Sólheimajökull beckoned. We had booked the tour, Take a Walk on the Ice Side, with Icelandic Mountain Guides and it cost approx.  20900 ISK per person.

The tour bus was due to pick us up at around 8:30, and we were hanging out outside our apartment, when we met this German girl who was on the same tour as us. She complained quite vociferously about all the noise of the previous night (the partying went on till 3 am), and though we smiled sympathetically, we were were quite happy about how lively Reykjavik was. The tour bus picked us up and took us to the main bus stand where we transferred to the larger coach which was to take us to the glacier.

This part of the tour was conducted by Reykjavik Excursions, and it overlapped with their South Coast tour till we reached the lip of the Sólheimajökull glacier, where we would separate from the main group and go on the glacier trek, while they would continue onwards to the black beaches of Vik, and pick us up on their way back.

The lip of the Sólheimajökull

The tour guide (who's name I forget) was a native Icelander, who was passionate about his country and had a wealth of knowledge and lore at his fingertips. Unfortunately, he was not a natural storyteller, but for people who made the effort to listen, he was captivating. As we drove through Reykjavik, we learned how three fourths of the country's meager 300,000 odd people lived here, and how it was one of the cleanest greenest cities in the world. We also learnt about how Iceland was settled, and how Irish monks were coming there way before the Vikings. Iceland seems to have a lot of Ireland in it, with the Vikings often bringing back Irish women as concubines and slaves. the people of Iceland are thus as Irish as they are Viking, though they tend to pay down their Irish ancestry. As one person put it, the Icelanders are Viking when they're sober and Irish when they're drunk.

Just outside Reykjavik, we were driving thorough the fields of boulders covered by moss so characteristic to Iceland. There were lava fields which were fresh enough that no plants were able to settle but the moss. In the middle of this, a few miles outside Reykjavik, we saw a number of places billowing steam which marked the Hellisheiði geothermal power station, which utilised these natural hot steam vents to both generate power as well as supply Reykjavik with cheap hot water. I can attest to the fact that I was bathing in genuine geothermically heated hot water, as there is a distinct smell of sulphur as you turn on the shower.

We passed the small town of Selfoss and stopped about mid day for a quick bite and use of the facilities at a roadside cafe. After enjoying an Icelandic hot dog and some Skyr ( an Icelandic dessert of thickened yoghurt) we were soon off. Geologically speaking, Iceland is a fascinating place, and we could see a variety of landscapes, ranging for huge fields of black volcanic dust, mountains and cliffs twisted into a variety of bizarre shapes to lush green meadows.

Skyr with blueberries

However, behind this amazing landscape is the constant threat of geological catastrophe; earthquakes, volcanoes, and volcano induced flash-floods. As we drove through the various newly restored portions of the road, this was brought home to us.

Finally, we turned off the road onto a dirt path, which took us to about a kilometre from the lip of the glacier. We got off the bus leaving behind the people who would continue on a south coast tour.

Here we met our guides from Icelandic Mountain Guides, who started providing us with ice picks and crampons to fit on our hiking boots. As usual, it took Trigby (our guide) about 15 minutes to find crampons to fit my size 12 boots (and I thought these Vikings had big feet). 

The Crampons

The crampons were nasty pieces of work, and we had to be careful we didn't trip over our own feet and impale ourselves. All kitted up, we walked the remaining portion of the moraine till we reached a small stream. A quick skip over it, and we were on the ice!

Ice Picks

Navigating on ice was not as tricky as I thought (it helped that the incline was gradual), but definitely needed some care as the ice was extremely slick. We were grateful for our crampons, driving them into the ice at each step. 

As we went higher, the terrain became more difficult, and Trigby had to cut out rough steps for us in the ice. Climbing a narrow channel with deep crevasses on either side took some nerve, but worse was to come on our way back.

After visiting some spectacular ice caves we started our descent. Trigby took us on a circular route, so we were going down a new path. Walking down was more difficult than going up, but we were up to the challenge. Or at least we were until we came to the edge of a cliff. Well, I promptly turned around to walk back the way we came, but looked back to see Trigby climbing down this narrow ridge with deep crevasses on either side. It was around this point that our group collectively shat it's pants. 

A beautiful ice cave

My camera, which till this point was slinging nonchalantly around my neck, was stowed in my backpack, leaving both hands free to, as I imagined, wave goodbye as i fell into the bowels of the earth. This was a shame, as the scenery at this point was stupendous. Of course, I would have preferred said scenery on a wallpaper on my laptop, as I couldn't appreciate it and control my bladder at the same time.

Well, I inched my way down this 70 degree slope, slipped the last few feet, and jammed my crampon into my foot ripping the leg of my pants. I think I got off lightly. 

After giving my small toe a kings burial, we continued down where our bus was waiting to take us home. 

On the way back, we stopped a two beautiful waterfalls. Skógafoss, a huge waterfall with an amazingly pretty double rainbow around it, and Seljalandsfoss a smaller waterfall, but one where you could actually walk behind the falls.

Skógafoss

In the mist

Seljalandsfoss

Behind the waterfall

On the way back, we stopped at a farm that had been devastated by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, and our guide explained how he was part of the huge effort to rescue the farm and clear it of vocanic ash. It was hard to believe how different it looked now.

Eyjafjallajökull in the background of the farm.

A picture of the eruption

And then it was back to our apartment, for a well deserved snooze.

More pictures below. Click to take you to a bigger version -