Here, there be Vikings
Iceland Vacation at EveryTrail
Note: I'll keep updating this post as frequently as possible through our Icelandic adventure. When we're back, I'll post more photos -- but for now, check out a few pics by zooming up and clicking the map markers.
August 13
The flight out was nothing to write home about -- there was a bawling kid behind us that kept jolting us alert from our already awake state on a regular basis. We landed, got through security again -- yes, Icelandic security checks you after you get off the plane, since North American aviation security doesn't conform to the exacting standards of the EEC. So they took away a bottle of water we had purchased at Pearson, dumped the water, then allowed us to have the bottle.
Today we spent all day in Reykjavík, walking, since we are car-less until tomorrow morning -- when we hop into the car and blow this popsicle stand. Actually, the weather was pretty nice today. We arrived in drizzle, but after our morning nap, the sun broke through the clouds, and the blue sky make everything photogenic. By evening however, dark clouds were sporadically drifting through the sky. The temperature was in the low teens, with some wind, which made it sweater-temperature in the shade.
The map above will have embedded photos from today. The GPS recorder works great -- but apparently, the signal couldn't get through in the plane. I could have held it up against the window, but that would probably have resulted in a reprimand -- or worse, getting my ass kicked by a Viking stewardess. So I turned it off when I saw no signal was to be had and kept it in my pocket. Therefore I have no idea what route we took to from Toronto to Keflavík.
Updated: August 16, 2009
New map updated with trip to date. As mentioned before, zoom in on the map and click the markers to see some photos. The last few days have been incredible. Lots of hiking and lots of driving, as you can tell from the map. I've eaten from an iceberg, hiked to a waterfall at the bottom of a volcano, drove through a mountain, around a mountain, over a mountain, between mountains, and froze my feet in the Atlantic. And there is so much more that I could mention. This place is magic.
Updated: August 23, 2009
Finally got some decent Internet access again, so the map and photos have been updated. The photos have also been added to a Picasa album, for those who find the map tiring -- it is taking some time to load now, since there are a lot of way points added. The total GPS log file is about 10MB.
The days of the vacation are rapidly running out, and just as we've missed too much thus far, there will be far too much missed in the next few days. There is much to see in this tiny country -- and most of what I want to see is nature. Coming in August has been both a blessing and a curse. The weather is more wet in August, but there are less tourists. Being late summer, we've also missed a lot of the migratory birds. But there are less tourists. It would have been cool to see the midnight sun, but it would have also been cool to see the aurora borealis -- which you don't see when the sky is all bright. Being here in August also means that the sky has a lot more clouds, which doesn't allow us to see the stars. In a country as sparsely populated as Iceland, I wouldn't think there would be much of a light pollution problem.
On the bright side however, there has been much to experience in our short stay. To start with, the language has been fairly interesting. They love their Vikings in Iceland, and while just about every Icelander we've encountered has spoken a beautifully accented English, it's not pronounced vi-kings, it's pronounced vee-kins; and ice-land is ees-land. I also love the place names, even the ones I can't pronounced or haven't learned how to. I'm currently in Grundarfjordur. The place name is cool. I was at Akureyri, which I was pronouncing as ah-que-rey-ri. Turns out that the locals pronounce it properly as ah-koo-er-ee. Little things like that with the language has been cool. It is also funny how every foreign visitor here defaults to English when speaking to the Icelanders. I guess I should thank the Americans for that.
Beyond the language of course, there is much to be said for the Viking history here. Today we visited the home of Erik the Red and the birthplace of Leif Ericson -- the first European to set foot on North American soil, beating Columbus by 500 years. Last week we also visited a site where Snorri Thorfinnson may have settled after leaving Canada -- Snorri being the first European recorded to have been born on North American soil. There is a lot of history here, and Icelanders are proud of their sagas, in all their bloodthirsty glory.
I came to Iceland of course, for the nature. There is so much geology and geography here, it's truly amazing. Around every bend in the road is literally a surprise waiting. It got to a point where we simply got overwhelmed with it all. I don't want to start describing it all here, as it would take hours and I'd never get any rest tonight. Suffice to say, I saw mountains! Lots and lots of mountains! All colours of mountains. This island had a violent volcanic past, with the earth ripped open, wounds everywhere, lava flows like waves frozen in time, rocks and black volcanic sand beaches, geothermal vents, desserts, glaciers, volcanoes under glaciers, rivers, lakes and waterfalls everywhere! It's stunning. The Icelanders have burrowed tunnels right through mountains where it just wasn't feasible to build a meandering road up, around and between mountains to get from one point to another. I traveled through a couple of those. Freaky! Driving through a one lane road that tunnels under a mountain, dark and wet, with the weight of the world above. Everywhere in Iceland there are sheep and horses, and their poop. Sheep just seem to wander everywhere, up the side of mountains and across roads. I don't know if they belong to anyone. It was amazing to see the many horses as well. Sometimes more than dozens would be grazing, playing and running together. And whereas the sheep would run from us, the horses were just curious. A couple of times they wandered right onto the road and stuck their heads into our car. On the wild side, we were late for puffins, but we saw many birds still, although no as close as we would have liked, to take pictures. We did walk along a beach however, and found us a seal colony, basking and being noisy in the afternoon sun. It was too bad they were being so lazy. It would have been cool to have a close encounter. Likewise, we saw a minke on our whale watching tour, but it was only one, and a good distance away in a crowded boat. We may have been late in the season to see the real giants. Still, examples of what natural riches there are here in Iceland.
(Excuse the rambling above ... tired and there's a lot I'm trying to cram into a few paragraphs.)
Updated: August 28, 2009
3,627km! That's the amount of driving completed on the 15-day whirlwind trip through Iceland. Simply marvelous. Map, with photos, has been updated above. Full photo set from the trip is coming and will be uploaded to floccipics soon.
Updated: August 29, 2009
I've uploaded a panoramic set of photos. Check them out and enjoy!
Note: I'll keep updating this post as frequently as possible through our Icelandic adventure. When we're back, I'll post more photos -- but for now, check out a few pics by zooming up and clicking the map markers.
August 13
The flight out was nothing to write home about -- there was a bawling kid behind us that kept jolting us alert from our already awake state on a regular basis. We landed, got through security again -- yes, Icelandic security checks you after you get off the plane, since North American aviation security doesn't conform to the exacting standards of the EEC. So they took away a bottle of water we had purchased at Pearson, dumped the water, then allowed us to have the bottle.
Today we spent all day in Reykjavík, walking, since we are car-less until tomorrow morning -- when we hop into the car and blow this popsicle stand. Actually, the weather was pretty nice today. We arrived in drizzle, but after our morning nap, the sun broke through the clouds, and the blue sky make everything photogenic. By evening however, dark clouds were sporadically drifting through the sky. The temperature was in the low teens, with some wind, which made it sweater-temperature in the shade.
The map above will have embedded photos from today. The GPS recorder works great -- but apparently, the signal couldn't get through in the plane. I could have held it up against the window, but that would probably have resulted in a reprimand -- or worse, getting my ass kicked by a Viking stewardess. So I turned it off when I saw no signal was to be had and kept it in my pocket. Therefore I have no idea what route we took to from Toronto to Keflavík.
Updated: August 16, 2009
New map updated with trip to date. As mentioned before, zoom in on the map and click the markers to see some photos. The last few days have been incredible. Lots of hiking and lots of driving, as you can tell from the map. I've eaten from an iceberg, hiked to a waterfall at the bottom of a volcano, drove through a mountain, around a mountain, over a mountain, between mountains, and froze my feet in the Atlantic. And there is so much more that I could mention. This place is magic.
Updated: August 23, 2009
Finally got some decent Internet access again, so the map and photos have been updated. The photos have also been added to a Picasa album, for those who find the map tiring -- it is taking some time to load now, since there are a lot of way points added. The total GPS log file is about 10MB.
The days of the vacation are rapidly running out, and just as we've missed too much thus far, there will be far too much missed in the next few days. There is much to see in this tiny country -- and most of what I want to see is nature. Coming in August has been both a blessing and a curse. The weather is more wet in August, but there are less tourists. Being late summer, we've also missed a lot of the migratory birds. But there are less tourists. It would have been cool to see the midnight sun, but it would have also been cool to see the aurora borealis -- which you don't see when the sky is all bright. Being here in August also means that the sky has a lot more clouds, which doesn't allow us to see the stars. In a country as sparsely populated as Iceland, I wouldn't think there would be much of a light pollution problem.
On the bright side however, there has been much to experience in our short stay. To start with, the language has been fairly interesting. They love their Vikings in Iceland, and while just about every Icelander we've encountered has spoken a beautifully accented English, it's not pronounced vi-kings, it's pronounced vee-kins; and ice-land is ees-land. I also love the place names, even the ones I can't pronounced or haven't learned how to. I'm currently in Grundarfjordur. The place name is cool. I was at Akureyri, which I was pronouncing as ah-que-rey-ri. Turns out that the locals pronounce it properly as ah-koo-er-ee. Little things like that with the language has been cool. It is also funny how every foreign visitor here defaults to English when speaking to the Icelanders. I guess I should thank the Americans for that.
Beyond the language of course, there is much to be said for the Viking history here. Today we visited the home of Erik the Red and the birthplace of Leif Ericson -- the first European to set foot on North American soil, beating Columbus by 500 years. Last week we also visited a site where Snorri Thorfinnson may have settled after leaving Canada -- Snorri being the first European recorded to have been born on North American soil. There is a lot of history here, and Icelanders are proud of their sagas, in all their bloodthirsty glory.
I came to Iceland of course, for the nature. There is so much geology and geography here, it's truly amazing. Around every bend in the road is literally a surprise waiting. It got to a point where we simply got overwhelmed with it all. I don't want to start describing it all here, as it would take hours and I'd never get any rest tonight. Suffice to say, I saw mountains! Lots and lots of mountains! All colours of mountains. This island had a violent volcanic past, with the earth ripped open, wounds everywhere, lava flows like waves frozen in time, rocks and black volcanic sand beaches, geothermal vents, desserts, glaciers, volcanoes under glaciers, rivers, lakes and waterfalls everywhere! It's stunning. The Icelanders have burrowed tunnels right through mountains where it just wasn't feasible to build a meandering road up, around and between mountains to get from one point to another. I traveled through a couple of those. Freaky! Driving through a one lane road that tunnels under a mountain, dark and wet, with the weight of the world above. Everywhere in Iceland there are sheep and horses, and their poop. Sheep just seem to wander everywhere, up the side of mountains and across roads. I don't know if they belong to anyone. It was amazing to see the many horses as well. Sometimes more than dozens would be grazing, playing and running together. And whereas the sheep would run from us, the horses were just curious. A couple of times they wandered right onto the road and stuck their heads into our car. On the wild side, we were late for puffins, but we saw many birds still, although no as close as we would have liked, to take pictures. We did walk along a beach however, and found us a seal colony, basking and being noisy in the afternoon sun. It was too bad they were being so lazy. It would have been cool to have a close encounter. Likewise, we saw a minke on our whale watching tour, but it was only one, and a good distance away in a crowded boat. We may have been late in the season to see the real giants. Still, examples of what natural riches there are here in Iceland.
(Excuse the rambling above ... tired and there's a lot I'm trying to cram into a few paragraphs.)
Updated: August 28, 2009
3,627km! That's the amount of driving completed on the 15-day whirlwind trip through Iceland. Simply marvelous. Map, with photos, has been updated above. Full photo set from the trip is coming and will be uploaded to floccipics soon.
Updated: August 29, 2009
I've uploaded a panoramic set of photos. Check them out and enjoy!
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