The Albatross tour of Iceland, having explored the north and south-east of the island, now proceeded to cover the tourist route known as the ‘Golden Circle’. This route takes in some wonderful historic and geologic features of the centre of the island, east of Reykjavik. We drove through hills to descend into the rift valley that has formed as the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates gradually pull apart. This stretches the earth’s crust and results in magma build-up and all the volcanic features of Iceland’s geology. In fact, that is why there is Iceland. The middle of the rift valley holds a lake, þingvallavatn. The ‘þ’ symbol is the old ‘thorn’ letter, which sounds a bit like ‘th’. The name derives from the place to the north of the lake where early Icelandic clan gatherings were held, the Alþingi, out of which developed lawmaking and the parliamentary process. Established in 930 CE, the Alþingi is considered the oldest Parliament in the world. However, it was not truly democratic in nature. The Clan Chiefs represented each clan and while this was not strictly hereditary, it tended to be. Also, only free men attended sessions. Iceland was ruled by Norway from 1262, and Denmark from the late 14th century, so the nature of the Alþingi changed to being a court of law and consultative body. At some point meetings were moved to Reykjavik. The site has great significance for the Icelandic people, and official celebration of 1000 years of settlement took place here (1874). When independence from Denmark occurred in 1944, the formal declaration was signed at the Alþingi site. The area is part of the þingvellir National Park.
Our first stop in the area was at the Alþingi site. The meetings were held on a rock outcrop, on the North American Plate side of the rift and backed by south-facing cliffs. Thus there was protection from cold northerlies and warmth from southern sunlight. We approached the site from above, where there are great views over the valley, then made our way down a cleft in the rocks.
There was an opportunity to head off the path to take a look at the view about half way down, and take more photographs.
The meeting place itself is marked by a flagpole and Icelandic flag. Nearby are the remains of the stone walls that formed the bases of the Clan Chiefs’ tents or ‘booths’, temporary shelters rebuilt each meeting but on the same site, so the base was left for future use.
There were a number of information boards about the kinds of offences covered by the laws and the punishments meted out if found guilty. If execution was prescribed, men tended to be beheaded while women were drowned. There is a pool in a stream below the meeting site where legend says such drownings took place. For lesser crimes, a perpetrator might be exiled or fined. We continued down the slope and were met by our coach. We drove out of the rift valley on the Eurasian side, where there was another cliff face.
We travelled on to go to a tomato farm for lunch. The farm produces tomatoes grown in greenhouses which are heated using water from a nearby hot spring and the electricity used is thermally generated. It was very warm inside, I think they said it was kept to 25 C. We all had to remove our outer layers, having dressed for an outside temperature of 5 C or less! The farm must have a lot of greenhouses because we were told that their farm supplies 40% of Iceland’s domestic market in fresh tomatoes. We had a tomato juice aperitif while being told about the farm. We were also shown a hive of bees, they have many bee boxes about the greenhouse to fertilise the vines. Our lunch was tomato soup and bread, followed by green tomato ice cream (basically vanilla with bits of green tomato in it). Quite tasty! It was amazing what a turnover of people there was, with several bus-loads coming and going while we were there.
Back on the road again, we headed for Gulfoss, a big, famous waterfall. It was saved from hydro-electric exploitation by the efforts of a determined young local woman. We walked to a couple of different lookouts over the huge falls, not so much high as wide and over several levels. Then the river falls into a narrow gorge and away at a right angle to its direction of flow on the upper level. There was a strong cold wind that must have come off a nearby glacier, all the colder for us having just arrived from the warm greenhouses! We soon retired to the souvenir shop to warm up again.
Our next stop was a back-track to the Geysir park, a geothermically active area with a number of bubbling pools, lots of steam and one geyser that still blows a high plume, called Strokkur. The word geyser is derived from the name Geysir, the biggest geyser here, but that no longer blows. We saw Strokkur blow (if that is the right verb) but the plume was a bit flattened by the wind. Still impressive!
We headed back to Reykjavik. I had an early night exhausted by our exertions! The following day, 15 March, we left Reykjavik by coach and headed south to the Reykjanes Peninsula. We passed a pyramidal mountain (or large hill) on the way through a very barren looking landscape of lava rubble and dry grasses. Our tour manager told us that the pyramid is a popular hiking site, but it can be a difficult climb because of the loose scree on the slopes. We were heading towards Grindavik but our destination was the Blue Lagoon. To get there, our coach had to drive over the lava from the February eruption. Workers had constructed a ‘bridge’ by depositing a thick layer of dirt (lava pebbles?) over the still-hot lava flow. They had also constructed large banks of earth (lava ash?) to deflect further lava flows from the important geo-thermal power station right next to the Blue Lagoon.
The Blue Lagoon uses the outflow water of the geothermic power station. Originally a worker at the power station decided to bathe in the outflow water and found that after a while it improved his psoriasis. He talked to his doctor about it, who then investigated further, and is now one of the major share-holders in the resort. The resort started as a health retreat for the treatment of skin conditions, but is now a full-blown tourist attraction, with a couple of associated hotels and a huge swimming pool, fed by the geothermic outflow. We had a ‘premium package’ which gave us three face masks and two drinks and several hours in the pool. We were also instructed that if the announcement came that we needed to evacuate then we were to immediately leave the pool, get our belongings and get back to the bus, pronto. If our bus was gone, just get on another one!
Once we arrived, we were given wrist bands with QR codes that regulated our ‘freebies’. We were directed into separate male and female change room – which appeared to be just for us. Lockers were available for our clothes, shoes and bags. We changed into swimsuits and headed down to the pool. There was a ramp to wade into the hot water and then wade through a door into the external pool. It was cloudy blue water (I really don’t want to know what minerals/chemicals are involved) and was just the right temperature, averaging 37C! I did not take my phone into the pool, but others did and shared their pictures. At one end of the pool was a kiosk which we could wade up to and be given a gloop of paste to spread on our faces. There was a metal plate that acted as a mirror opposite the kiosk, and also a water outlet for washing the stuff off again. I guess (I hope!) this was near an outlet for the pool water. At the other end of the pool was a wade-up bar, from where we got our drinks. I favoured the sparkling strawberry wine.
As the time approached for us to leave, it began to snow! By the time we had got ourselves showered and dressed and ready to leave, the snow fall was just beginning to lie on the ground rather than melt. We stopped briefly at the exit from the car-park for one of our number to leap out and take a photo of the altered sign, a reminder of recent volcanic events – Grindavik is no longer publicly accessible. It was also quite clear that the lava flow we drove across was still warm – the snow was melting on contact.
Back at the hotel I regrouped and set out to visit the Settlement Exhibition. This is a museum built around an archaeological dig that uncovered one of the early buildings of the Reykjavik settlement. It is a long house, of the type common in early Norse settings: stone lower walls, turf roof and a central open fire. The exhibition was fascinating, with considerable information about the settlement, development and later history of Iceland, as well as general information about ‘the Viking age’. It is well worth visiting.
That evening we had our farewell meal together at a lovely restaurant in the waterfront area. Our Tour Manager showed us a map of our explorations of Iceland, we had certainly covered a lot of ground. A few days later our tour manager shared a photo from her home, of the light from the eruption of 16 March on the Reykjanes Peninsula. Last year I walked on Mt Etna a week before the latest eruption. Now the Reykjanes eruption was the day after I visited. In mid-April I will be travelling near Vesuvius… I am a little concerned.
HauntsofmyAncestors 