Day 14 - 08/16/22 - Reykjavik, Iceland

 I love it when we have a late arrival to the next port.  This was the case today when we arrived at Reykjavik at 10am.  I slept in and got up around 9am in time for my customary breakfast.  We had a Golden Circle Plus tour scheduled with Your Day Tours as organized by another passenger, Jan.  

 

As the ship entered the calm waters of the harbor on this sunny day, we could see the Azamara Pursuit cruise ship already berthed.  As we arrived the ship slowly rotated to be facing out to sea which makes the scheduled evening departure. The captain and his crew slowly parallel parked the ship behind the Azamara Pursuit ship.  As is customary, nothing is felt when the ship finally touches the dock.  What was unusual at this port was that they have a small tractor with a powered windlass that a worker winds the throw rope around and the machine pulls the line ashore.  The longshoreman then affixes the large mooring line to the mooring point on the dock.  This method requires less manpower to manage the mooring lines.

 

We were down at the disembarkation location on deck one before 10 when BettyAnn, our Cruise and Travel Director  came on the PA and announced that we were not yet cleared and that clearance wasn't expected until 10:30am.  There was a noticeable gasp from the assembled crowd.  Fortunately clearance came sooner and we were quickly cleared (key cards scanned) off the ship,  We then had to walk 1/2 the length of the Nieuw Statendam and the full length of the Pursuit to reach the. Port gate.  There our two tour buses were waiting,  We lined up and paid the $100US per person tour fee (a fraction of the HAL tour cost to do much more).  Our driver and guide was Al.

 

After a brief introduction, Al drove us to his office to get a working headset.  His office is in an industrial park and he wasn't proud to show us this.  However, I found it very interesting to see it.  Armed with a working headset, we headed out on our tour with a first stop at Thingvellir National Park which was about a hour's drive away.  The terrain here was so much flatter and lush compared to the rugged features of our previous port stops.  There was lots of hay being grown and the occasional group of horses and sheep.  There was even a herd or two of cattle.

 

Thingvellir National Park's principal feature was that it's the location of the convergence of two tectonic plates: the North American and the Eurasian plates.  At this point the plates had separated leaving a "no man's land" in between them.  On the North American Plate side there was an immense cooled lava wall with a pathway alongside of it.  We first enjoyed the upper viewpoint (very crowded) with its expansive view of the two plates and no-man's land with a river flowing through it which is sourced by a glacier nearby,  This location is also where the Icelandic Parliament met for many years before moving the meeting location to Reykjavik.  There's a gorgeous little church and some government buildings located down on no man's land.

 

While Angela did her customary souvenir ship tour, I began to stroll down the path next to the North American plate snapping pictures along the way. There were periodic interpretive signs and side paths to explore.  Soon Angela caught up with me and we walked the remainder of the path and reached the lower parking lot where Al was waiting with our tour bus.  

 

From the National Park, we headed to the nearby Geysir which would also be our lunch stop. We chose to tour the souvenir shop where they had a nicely restored 1947 red Farmall tractor on display.  Years ago I once owned a competitor's version (Allis Chalmers) of the same vintage.  It was an excellent tractor for my needs on a small hobby farm we once owned.  After the souvenir shop, we purchased a bowl of traditional Icelandic meat soup.  I expected to be served horse-meat in the soup, but it was lamb and was very tasty, 

 

We then went in search of the geyser which was located up a wide path across from the visitor center and cafes.  The geyser goes off approximately every 4.5 minutes and reaches various heights. While we were there the largest eruption was probably 100 feet in the air.  There were many smaller steam vents and pools off boiling water in the area.  

 

Back in the bus, we headed for our next stop which was the Gulfoss Waterfall which is probably Iceland's most famous waterfall.  Upon arrival at the upper parking lot we were greeted by the larges SUV I have ever seen.  It was probably over 100' long and had a group of four 6' diameter steering wheels and a matching set of 4 drive wheels in the back.  This large red beast clearly wins my prize for the largest SUV I've ever seen.  We observed the falls from the upper viewpoint and they were magnificent and HUGE.  We descended the long metal staircase to the lower parking lot level and then hiked out the the viewpoint closest to the falls.  Along the way, one gets sprayed by the generous amounts of mist.  There were also several rainbows formed in the mist from the sun in this continued bright sunny day which was probably the warmest we've had during our 6 days in Iceland.  

 

Out at the the far viewpoint, the power and volume of water passing over the falls is very impressive.  It has the typical glacial silt color which transforms into white as it breaks over the rock formations. After this impressive stop, we headed off to our next stop at a horse ranch.

 

The horse ranch was a pleasant chance to get close to Icelandic horses.  They are about 2/3 the size of a standard American horse and have a dense coat that helps them endure the harsh Icelandic winters.  The ranch had a number of wool items available for sale and some other small souvenir type items.  The owner was pleasant and eager to answer our questions even with her limited English.

 

We then headed for our final stop of the day: the Secret Garden.  The Secret Garden is the oldest known thermal pool in Iceland.  There is one gravel bottomed pool with a VERY hot pool next to it that provides the heat.  In fact, as one moves around the pool area and closer the hot pool, the temperature climbs dramatically.  Ringing the pool is a wooden pathway that was refreshing to walk after a half hour soak in the thermal pool.  Also next to the pool was a collection of 3 sets of elf houses with sod roofs.  They were vey cute.  But alas, all good things must come to an end we changed back into our street clothes and reboarded the van for the 1 hour and 45 minute ride back to the port.  Once again we passed by lots of farm land as well as a large geothermal power plant.  

 

We arrived back at the port around 7:30pm in overcast skies and parked next to the Icewear store where there was one final chance for Icelandic souvenirs.  Little did we know how true this would be.

 

After doing the long walk in reverse of the morning walk, we reboarded the ship and deposited our things in the stateroom.  We planned to watch the 8:30pm movie in the World Stage, but getting a pizza was delayed,  Then around 8pm came the sad news from the Captain on the PA system.  He announced that our next and final port of call in NW Iceland was now cancelled because of deteriorating weather which would jeopardize the tendering operation.  Instead we would now set a course directly for our next port in Greenland.  Not having a port stop would allow the ship to traverse the stormy North Atlantic at a reduced speed which will increase the guest comfort level.

 

With this news and finished her pizza, Angela scurried to finish writing some postcards.  We left the ship in search of a place to mail them.  At the security checkpoint, we inquired where we might mail the postcards.  The security guard pulled out a 2" thick stack of postcards which he said came from another ship and said, "I'll just add yours to their stack of cards" for which we profusely thanked him.  Another guest showed up and added hers to the pile.

 

Back on board, we went up to the Crows Nest to watch our departure.  We watched the World (a condominium cruise ship)arrive.  Shortly after 11, the ship began moving to the starboard side and soon forward thrust was applied and we sailed out past the Azamara Pursuit into the black skies ahead.  The major lights came from the Airport, but soon there was only blackness ahead of us.  How rough would the seas be tonight?  I guess we'll have to wait.

 

This is one port that I wish we could have two days for seeing the area.  We never made it down town because it's a 55 minute walk and our tour took all day.