Edmund Hillary

Epilogue-

Thank you to any and all who came along. I hope you enjoyed the photos and some of my missives. I hiked beside a lava flow and in a lava tunnel, saw a humpback whale, relaxed in a hot spring. Wandered a city that was so- civilized. Learned some travel lessons. Learned one or two things about myself.

After what we all have been though recently, I hope the world begins to heal and we care for it and each other .

Special thanks to my coffee shop for making an annoying transition back to the States a little less so.

It’s 5am for me. Good Night.

I was not looking forward to dealing with buses and trains when I got back to the states. It never occurred to me the first hurdle would be actually leaving Iceland. The CDC requires a negative Covid test for returning passenger’s. Did I miss something? I didn’t see anything on the websites, nor did I get any notification about the is requirement.

Based on how many other people got caught up short, and that Iceland Air is re-booking flights no charge, I think someone screwed the pooch on this one. I couldn’t make my flight last night as the testing center ( which is not at the airport ) required a reservation? To add to the entertainment value you have to pay for the test. I usually have to be at work for this level of SMH.

So I made my appointment for very early Saturday morning ( today) to pad the time, and found a hotel on the old American airbase. Nice room for a last minute booking not far from the terminal So my last meal in Iceland wasn’t the lamb but Domino’s pizza.

On the bright side the women at the hotel desk was wonderful. Alexandra is from Poland and has lived in Iceland for five years. We had a wonderful conversation and some laughs. She booked my taxi for the morning and after a long shower I got a decent nights sleep.

All that aside it’s been a great trip. I really like Reykjavik. It’s a lovely, quiet , clean city. The drivers actually stop for you at crosswalks. Very walk-able with my handy street map. I enjoyed some excellent food, fun excursions, and got a couple decent photos.

I intend to return and explore the vast and varied nature the island has to offer. As someone said to me this week, you can spend two months here and not see everything.

I will check in once I’m finally home. Hopefully on schedule- looking at you Amtrak.

Me and the people of Calypso are to see the nests of the puffin. What will these small colorful birds, who have migrated here to reproduce, think of the strange orange creatures who come to admire them.

from the website–

Raufarhólshellir, one of the longest and best-known lava tubes in Iceland.

One walks in the path of lava that flowed during the Leitahraun eruption, which occurred east of the Bláfjöll mountains about 5200 years ago.

The total length of the tunnel is an impressive 1360 m (4500 ft), the main tunnel being 900 m (3000 ft) long. The tunnel is up to 30 m wide with headroom up to 10 m high, making it one of the most expansive lava tunnels in Iceland. Near the entrance of the tunnel the ceiling has caved in creating three beautiful columns of light inside the tunnel. At the end of Raufarhólshellir the tunnel branches into three smaller tunnels where magnificent lava falls and formations are clearly visible.

When we reached the end of the tunnel the guide had us turn our headlamps off. Then she told us not to make a sound as she turned the lights in the tunnel off. Complete darkness. Nothing but the sound of the water dripping down through the porous rock.

Very cool.

Today was a nice chill day again with a long walk to the Old Harbor area and a visit to the Maritime Museum. I like ‘working’ harbors, the sights and sounds. I turned down a side alley and found some restaurants of interest. The one I picked was excellent. Lunch with a nice view of the harbor. Cloudy today but still hasn’t rained.

The Maritime Museum has an interesting exhibit about a dutch merchant shipwreck from 1659. Artifacts from the wreck show how vibrant and wide spread trade to and from Iceland was at that time.

Nope. No post last night. I blame the nice young man behind the bar who said I needed to help finish off the Bollinger since it was my birthday. Happy to help. No problem sleeping through the midnight sun last night.

As someone pointed out to me before I left, Iceland is another in a long string of islands I have visited. If I’ve learned anything it’s to expect the weather to change constantly. An excursion planned for yesterday morning was cancelled, but my reaction to that was ‘ I can have more kaffe! ‘ . Besides as of two weeks ago it was supposed to rain the whole time I was here.

Monday I felt I was starting to book too many things and wasn’t going to spend as much time in the city as I originally intended. So that worked out. Whatever the weather at the excursion destination, it was sunny and warm in the city. I lost all the layers except a t-shirt for most of the day.

I was walking for quite awhile just enjoying myself when I realized I wasn’t taking any photos, it was just so nice to wander around. So I made myself take a few to share.

So I walked around down town with a couple of museums on my list. The National Gallery and the National Museum were very nice and well executed.

I was particularly impressed with the ‘Settlement Museum’. They excavated a long house and built the exhibit and building around it. So essentially the house is displayed in situ. Wow.

As you walk completely around the house there is a lit panel showing the landscape. Along the way ghostly figures appear hunting or fishing or performing a burial ceremony. So well done.

So things work out. I’m getting couple of days of just walking around. Right now I’m having a leisurely breakfast before heading up to the harbor for a look around.

tidbit- these are everywhere.

Oh wait. Wrong lagoon, sorry about that.

It’s almost 10pm here and it’s still light out. Midnight Sun.

So this is real time I guess as it’s still Monday. I’m hoping to put my head down after a hot shower. Today was Blue Lagoon day. I must say it was very nice. I was worried it might be crowded and I saw a full tour bus heading that way yesterday. Today it was just a small van. There were people but it was not very crowded. In the morning it was still cloudy with lots of steam and mist so it had an ethereal quality to it. The closer you get to the rocks the water gets very much warmer. Moving about you can find your sweet spot or go back and forth. I found the second bar at the far end which never got crowded and I had, well, it was green. And tasty.

I didn’t take my camera. I just wanted to relax. Which I did. The warm water and the minerals just felt so nice. Then I treated myself to lunch, and champagne and chocolates.

I planned on daily updates but I was pretty tired once I got back to the hotel. Wifi in the hotel bar- nope. So I had a beer and that was it. So here’s yesterday’s update.

Here is the Wikipedia entry for Fagradalsfjall volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula, 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Reykjavík. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fagradalsfjall

I’m going to pick a few of 145 images I shot. Here’s the caveat. We did not make it to the volcano itself yesterday as the top of the mountain was shrouded in fog. We did hike along the Northwestern lava field. If you stood still you could here gas escaping and cracking and shifting under the cooled lava. The hike was a challenge, but good footwear and the voices in my head kept me going.

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So that was the journey. Probably about 4hrs out and back. Don’t worry-

Maybe I should date these entries? It’s Sunday morning the 27th. I decided a good nights sleep was in order. Basically off and on for 12 hours but now I’m rested and time zone adjusted. I wanted to be ready for today’s hike up to the volcano. The hotel breakfast is perfect. Cereal, meat, cheeses , fruit, bread, and the a fore mentioned porridge. There is also Skyr. I’ll try that in a day or two.

Tidbit- Sunrise 2:29 am. Sunset 12:01 am.