Reykjavik - Hallgrimskirkja - Perlan - Njarovik - Vikingaheimar - Sandgeroi campsite 9/20/16

It was intended to be a travel and catch up on laundry etc.  As we drove through Reykjavik we saw this magnificent church on the hill, the Hallgrimskirkja.  Since it was such a visible target we decided to head into town and find it.  Success after some narrow streets through Old Town and parking within a block.  It's a stunning white concrete church.  The columns represent the volcanic basalt columns found throughout the country.  It was built from 1945-86.

 Hallgrimskirkja

 Leifur Eiriksson, the first European to discover America

stands proudly in front of the church.

 Very plain inside - clear glass windows.

 until you turn around and see the vast 5275-pipe organ!

 You can take an elevator up the tower -- Old Reykjavik...

 and the other direction (N) the mountains of the next peninsula.

 Perlan is a "notable" building with one of the best restaurants

in town on the top floor

 The mirrored dome covers huge geothermal-water tanks.

There are spouting geysers on the bottom floor.

 We made a stop at the Viking World Exhibition.  The star of the

show is the 23m long Islendingur, an exact replica of the Viking

Age Gokstad longship.  It was built by Gunnar Marel Eggertsson

who then sailed it from Iceland to NY in 2000 in commemoration

of the 1000th anniversary of Leif's journey to America.

 Side rooms in the Exhibition featured old Celtic remains and

a room that told Saga tales focused for children.  

And finally to a wonderful find in Sandgeroi at the end of the Reykjanes Peninsula - I-Stay campground complete with free showers and a washer and dryer (most of the washing machines we've found have been associated with swimming pools (which almost every town has) but dryers are almost unheard of in the camping world in Iceland!!  Very fun day!

Borgarnes - Settlement Center & Egil Saga - Lunch at Settlement Cafe - Hvalfjorour - 9/19/16

We left Hverinn and headed to Borgarnes.  We had zipped through town on the way to the Westfjords when we first arrived but there were a few places we wanted to visit there so headed north on a blue sky day!

The air was still - great reflections in the river.  We drove through

the largest agriculture valley along the way - beautiful.

The scaffolding is down from this lovely church now.

We drove through town to the harbor where we found the Settlement Center.  It featured two audio exhibits, one an in depth look at the discovery and settlement of Iceland including flora & fauna along with history and the second on Egil's Saga that recounts the life of Egil Skallagrimsson (Egil's Saga) and his family.  He was one of the most influential characters in early development.  It was an outstanding presentation.

Then we took Lonely Planet's "top notch" cafe

recommendations and ate upstairs at the Settlement 

House Cafe - they had a vegetarian buffet w/soup to 

die for!  Don't miss either if you come visit here!

It was raining as we left and started along Rt. 47 around the fjord rather than the tunnel under the water.  It misted and rained a good deal of the way creating many glorious rainbows!!  The purples are incredibly deep in the rainbows around here and many are double ones.

Great coastline views.

First mushrooms - very different.

A fisherman statue in one of the small villages.

The Navy had a submarine station in this fjord during 

WWII with 20,000 American and British troops that

went through here.  There are still storage tanks here.

More great geography...

and more great rainbows.  One started just below the van!!

No pot of gold in evidence, however!

Waterfalls are magnificent following rains!  We pulled off the road to check out these old foundations.  There was a sign but all in Icelandic so didn't help any.  

Just another waterfall in Iceland!

Our campsite view for the night.  The owner was a sheep farmer and the local school bus driver.  This place had the best shower we've run across.  It was a delightful stay at Kaffi Kjos!

The Golden Circle Part 2 - Geysir at sunrise, Gullfoss and Hraunfossar - 9/18/16

 Ah, will you look at that blue sky with only a few clouds to accent the sunrise this morning!  It's been quite a number of days since that has greated us.  It was a lovely sunrise as we watched

 Strokker at work again.  Beautiful.

 Then on to Gullfoss - the "Golden Falls" due to it's clouds of spray.

It's still early morning so a little hard to see that it falls from the

river level and then makes a turn and falls into a deep canyon.

Better light now...we'll be back for this one!

 

 Kerio Crater - a small crater with lake..black & red lava colors.

 Ah, more of the moss covered lava fields then...

 into the grassy plains with large mountains and glaciers behind.

 Snorrastofa - a memorial to Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241) a very

important figure in the Island's history--unfortunately, it was

closed.  He is one of the large Saga figures.  Check the internet

for more info if interested. 

 This was our "blow you away" waterfall for Iceland - Hraunfossar

This picture can't begin to do it justice.  The water flows under the

lava field and then just appears with dozens and dozens of small

falls pouring into the river.  Incredible!!

Imagine dozens and dozens of these falls and you might get

a little bit of what it's like...one of those "you have to be there"

places.  Then off to a campground for the night - rain, rain & rain!

The Golden Circle - Part 1 Pingvellir National Park and Geysir 9/17/16

The Golden Circle is the short-term visitor's answer to seeing Iceland.  We're glad it's mid Sept because the crowds are bad enough...can't imagine what it's like in July!  Anyway...we begin our journey by trying to find Hwy. 1  More signage problems but we did finally make our way the direction intended :-).  Join us on our trip.

As we were getting ready to leave the campground this morning we saw this wonderful moon-set between the clouds.  Nice beginning.

Once on the right road we ran across a riding group out for their

Saturday morning ride.  They love their horses around here!

A little about Pingvellir National Park.  It's not really Ping but I don't have the right letters.  Imagine a lower case p & b on top of each other at the circle...it makes a th sound so it sounds like Thingveler.  It's located in the mid-Atlantic Ridge where the land has a huge opening from Lake Pingvallavatn to the north.  In AD930 the islands 36 chieftains selected this site for the annual Abping (same th at p) or their General Assembly.The entire population of the country assembled to hear the laws, settle disputes and fight - 60,000 that first time.  It continued until 1798,  It's a beautiful area loaded with cracks and crevices in the lava flow.

We were so lucky to come during the fall with

all the fall colors.  These are small plants.

The pathway down into the area of the assembly.

You can just see the church to the left of the small buildings.  It was build in 1859.  The pulpit dates back to 1683.  "It's a reminder of the Alping of AD 1000 when, despite strong opposition from pagan priests, the Icelandic nation adopted Christianity as its sole religion under threat of Norwegian invasion" according to Top 10 Iceland  the other house is the summer residence of the Prime Minister.  

Lava ropes

Lower Oxararfoss - foss indicates Falls.

Another split 

The aforementioned Church.

Cracks are everywhere...

Upper Oxararfoss

We can't get enough of the moss covered lava.

Last stop before heading out to Geysir, part 2 of the Golden Circle.

Geothermal signs all around....

This is Strokkur, "the Churn" that reliably erupts every few minutes.

It's no Old Faithful but impressive if you've never seen one before.

Lilli Geysir a "violently slushing muddy pool belching steam and bubbles.

From here we found a campground and had this nice treat to bookend with our moon-set.

Nighty Night!