Reykjavik, Iceland Sept 18 Part 1

 

One of the main reasons we went on this particular cruise was Reykjavik.  Greenland and Iceland were places on our “bucket list”.   Of course I wanted to see the volcano that caused all the air trouble, and we did see it, but it is just sitting there, no activity.  Iceland volcanoes are so active that they can predict, within a margin, when different volcanoes will go off.  The eruption that caused the trouble was a relatively small one.  It was the direction of the wind that caused the trouble.  We were told that a volcano near “the trouble maker” (notice I haven’t used the name of the mountain, because I didn’t write it down and it has a million letters and we don’t have any internet right now to look it up)  is actually expected to go any time.  It is late and when it erupts it will be much larger than the last one.

                                                 When this one goes, there will be floods from the melted snow.

Our stop in Reykjavik was to be from noon to 7 pm.  The day before we arrived I booked a tour through Grey Lines Tours that would pick us up and leave at 1pm.  Well the best laid plans can be messed up easily, or at least ours were.  We hit some heavy winds during the night before we arrive in Iceland, which set our arrival time back 2 hours.  Well, I freaked out when I found out the evening before our arrival.  I had to cancel 24 hours ahead to get our money back, and anyway, I didn’t want my money back, I wanted the tour.  I emailed the company, hoping that there were other people on our ship going on this trip and they would reschedule.  Well, that is exactly what happened and we went on a wonderful tour of the “Golden Circle”, the most popular tour on the island.

Our first view of the island gave us a glimpse of how active this island really is.

   

Amazingly, although the island is called Iceland, it is very green and fertile, in the summer.  It is also very volcanic which keeps the ground in some areas clear of snow all year. 

The first place we went was the Rift Valley.  There are only 2 places on earth where the tectonic plates are moving apart that under water.  One is in Africa and the other is right here.  We went to the Rift valley and stood in between the North American Plate and the Euro-Asian Plate.  That was a neat surprise.

On the left side is the end of the North American plate        There are some rocks that broke off from the plate on the right.

In the distance you can see the edge of the Euro-Asian Plate.   

The plates move apart on average of 3 cm per year, and no, we couldn’t feel it '

Another thing interesting at this location is that here, at the site with the flag, is the meeting place of the longest parliamentary government in the world.  Back when there were only tribes here, they met here and set rules and dealt with disputes in a peaceful manner.  Another interesting surprise.

     

    

From the rift valley,  we went to see a waterfall. 

    Nice waterfall, so we walked closer

And found we had only seen a small part of the beautiful waterfall.          It was very windy and cold…..and sunny

 

Even this picture barely gives an idea of the beauty of the falls.  When we get home, we can show you many more shots.  Iceland is a place where I could post dozens of photos, but unless you ask, I won’t.