It’s a beautiful sunny day…wow!  So glad to see it after floating around on foggy seas all day yesterday. Our port stop in Heimaey was cancelled due to fog and swells making it unsafe to tender in. 

TMP is the licence plate of our vehicle so that we can find it …Nice Travel. Phillip is our guide. He has been here for 7 years …. From Poland and loves it. 

Icelandic weather “mostly gives the country the middle finger, is psycho, bi-polar……is mental”. 

It is the land of ice and fire. Never trust the meteorologists. Who knows what the next 5 minutes will bring. 

Smoke and bay meaning of the name Reykjavik. It was under Danish control for 350 years. 

Population of Reykjavik is 250,000 out of 400,000 for the whole of the country. 80% live in the surrounding area near Reykjavik. 

10% population is Polish …is the largest foreign group.  When Phillip was returning to Poland after visiting and falling in love with the country, the wind when Phillip was on plane, was 110 km per hour. He was scared but survived and returned.

It was 24 million years ago when tectonic plates started to pull apart ….1 inch (25 mm) / yr. The Eurasian plate is also rising about 10 mm per year. 

In 930 AD, almost 1100 years ago -parliament began when Vikings chose to stop killing each other and start looking out for each other. “Thingvellir” (the parliament) was situated between the 2 plates.

Next stop to Geysir

 Left as we are leaving is North American plate and on right side is Eurasian plate. 

25 million trees have been planted  over last 20 years (3 million a year now) covering 2% of the land….6x what it was. 

30 volcanoes are still considered “active” meaning… during the period of human life. There are 9 highly active right now. Mountain Heckla is rumbling … one never knows when it will blow. Laugarvatyn Lake is a geothermal. .  “bathing lake”…. 100 C (212 F) temp ground…. They bake rye bread in the ground. 

Before the volcano that erupted in 2010, the number of tourists numbered 350,000/year …. 430,000 after and 2.4 million now.  “The 8 days that it paralyzed air traffic all over Europe was the best advertising campaign”. 

Biggest crop in Iceland is grass, 3-4 crops a year. It is used for the animals… cows, horses and sheep. They only have grass-fed lamb… no antibiotics, no fertilizers, etc 

Golden waterfall “Gullfoss”

The canyon walls are 230 feet. Water over the falls is 100 cubic metres per sec. The wind is also at 55 miles per hour. Pelted by the spray. Wow!

It was 108 steps up the stairs and 108 back down not including the walk down to the falls. 

“Kerid Crater”

Volcanic fissure eruption means it was on flat ground. In the case of the Kerid Crater, the centre cone started sinking.  The sides are 180 feet deep. 

Reykjanes peninsula is the most active volcanic area of the country. There are 28 mountains with the same name….. Burfell.  There have been 12 eruption since 2021 (20 since 2000). 

S’mores and bbqing is done during lava eruption…. Yah sure!

July-Aug /25 was the most recent and has ceased. Eruptions 2020 & 21 and the December/23 is still hot below the surface. 25 people refused to leave when the last one erupted.

Only 1 person died …. he fell into a crevasse. 2 homes were destroyed by the lava flow. What causes the most damage to homes though is caused by the ground elevating by 3 metres. 

Largest geothermal plant largest in the country started in 1970s. The water there is an eerie colour of blue….. the Blue Lagoon. High ph cause hair to frizz and will damage silver.

Iceland is the 2nd largest producer of aluminum in Europe. 

14.8 C at 7:52 this evening when we were returning to Reykjavik…. blue skies all day.  What a day!