Iceland, 2018
I had heard so much about the natural beauty of Iceland, that I had always wanted to visit it. In August, 2018, I took a cruise from Copenhagen, to Iceland and back. It was all I had expected, and more. Despite it being August, it was a little chilly, especially in the northern part of Iceland, where the high was only 45 degree F. The forecast called for rain, but we were lucky and it did not rain at all.
After a day at sea, the ship stopped at two ports in Scotland, both of which I had visited before. The first stop was at Invergordon. The last time I was there, I had visited Loch Ness and the ruins of Urquhart Castle, so rather than visit it again, I chose to go to the romantic Eilean Donan Castle. Along the way, we drove through the picturesque Scottish Highlands. The castle was very beautiful. and the drive was lovely. The second port was South Queensferry. I took the bus into Edinburgh, and walked to Edinburgh Castle. I then walked along the Royal Mile, to Holyrood Palace. I wanted to try 'haggis' but I wasn't hungry enough to order it as the main dish, so I settled for Haggis Fritters and fries from a small place on the Royal Mile. I actually thought it was quite tasty. The Edinburgh Tattoo was going on, so there were a lot of people, and a lot of street entertainment.
After another day at sea, we arrived in Iceland, to the small port of Seydisfjordur. I chose to walk through the small town. There were many brightly painted wooden structures, including a little blue church, with a long rainbow path to the church. From there, I took a hike on the Waterfall Trail.
Our next stop was Akureyri. Here I chose to take a tour called 'Jewels of the North'. We drove along the fjord, crossing Vikurskard Pass and Fnjoskadalur Valley, to the Godafoss Falls. Godafoss means 'Waterfall of the Gods', because of the many statues of pagan gods that were thrown into the falls. From there, we went to the gurgling purple and yellow Sulphur cauldrons at the high temperature geothermal field of Namaskard. After lunch, we went to our last stop, which was Dimmuborgir, or the Black Fortress. This is a Lava Labyrinth in the Lake Myvatn area. It is a paradise of towering lava castles, natural arches and countless grottos just waiting to be explored. Unfortunately, being on a tour, our timer was limited and we could not explore as much as I wanted to.
The next day, we went to the port of Isafjordur. We set out on a panoramic drive through the Westfjords area. The route took us through an unforgiving landscape of jagged mountain ridges and narrow passes, to the Dynjandi Waterfall. This beautiful water fall has a tall upper cascade, and 7 tiered waterfalls, than ends in a free-fall into the pool below. I walked up to the base of the upper cascade. Next we drove to Sudureyri Village, where we were treated to home-cooked fish balls and tartar sauce - delicious. We also saw a structure where fish was hung out to dry. Our guide took some dried fish, pounded it with a hammer to soften it up, then tore off strips for us to taste. It was salty, a little like jerky, but not bad.
Our final stop in Iceland was in Reykjavik, the northernmost capital of the world. We had an overnight stay here. The first day, I took a tour called 'Best of the Golden Circle'. We drove to Gullfoss, of Golden Falls. It was very cold and windy. There were 100 steps to go down to the falls. We then went to Geysir Geothermal Area, where we had lunch. After lunch, we had time to walk around and enjoy the many hot springs. The most active one, Strokkur, spouts up to 90 feet, every 7-8 minutes. Our final stop was at Thingvellir National Park. Here we walked through a massive geological fault, where the Eurasian and American tectonic plates meet. This was also the site where Europe's oldest national legislative assembly, the Icelandic Althing was established. The next day, I made a mistake. Instead of taking the hop-on-hop-off bus which starts right at the port, I took a tour of the highlights of Reykjavik. This tour took us on a driving tour of the city. We made brief stops at the Hallgrimskirkja Church and Hofdi House, the site of the 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev summit. We stopped at the Pearl, which is a glass hemisphere that sits on 6 massive hot water tanks. There is an outdoor viewing deck that provides panoramic vistas of the city. We took a tour of the Arbaer Open-Air Museum, which showcases a selection of old Icelandic houses, church, stable, furnishings and implements.
We left Iceland, and it's breathtaking scenery, and went to the port of Runavik, Faroe Islands. This is a beautiful island. From the port, we headed north, passing some incredible scenery, through a tunnel, to the west side of Eysturoy, where we crossed over the mountains, to Gjogv, where there is a gorge that is 616 feet long. There are many steps that take you down the gorge. There is also another short walk to the edge of the cliff, with a fantastic scenic view.
Our last port was Lerwick, Shetland Islands. I took the coastal walk, with some incredibly beautiful views. The Broch of Clickimin, an iron-age defensive building, is at one end of the walk
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Iceland, 2018
