Robin's Adventures

Our first stop was the Whaling Museum. There were many interesting exhibits relating to whaling and life at sea.

We boarded a bus and as we began our journey we noticed the beautiful green rolling hills and lots of farm crops, sheep, and Icelandic horses.

There were also large expanses of land covered with hardened lava floes. It was not difficult to see that there is a great deal of volcanic activity here.

Godafoss, which means "Waterfall of the Gods", was our next stop. This magnificent horseshoe shaped waterfall is about 39 feet tall and almost 100 feet wide.

In Iceland, like everywhere else in the world, you end up in a gift shop after looking at a tourist attraction. This one, however had some unique items of interest. There was a large statue pointing the way to the rest rooms. In the snack section, there was fish jerky and coke bottles that had names that were common locally on the bottles. We were also amused by the t-shirt designs and the ingenious mitten designed to hold a soda can in very cold weather.

Dimmuborgir, which translates to "dark castles," is a large lava field with interesting rock formations. It was formed when lava pooled over a small lake causing the water to boil and created lava pillars, many of which are hollow. We wandered along trails between the rock formations and enjoyed looking at all of the different sizes and shapes that the lava took when it solidified.

While walking the trails, we noticed some rather large and varied mushrooms that seemed to be thriving in the volcanic soil of Dimmuborgir. There were also some small trees and some colorful flowers.

The Myvatn area is a beautiful lake surrounded by wetlands that provide a home for many species of birds, especially ducks. The area surrounding the lake is filled with interesting volcanic pillars, craters, and other formations. After hiking around part of the lake we stopped for lunch in a restaurant that had wonderful views of the area.

We made an interesting stop at the Namaskaro Geothermal Fields. As we walked through this area we could see fumaroles, vents, and mud pots. The ground was covered in mineral deposits in various shades of yellow, tan, grey, orange, and brown.

At a depth of about 3,200 feet the temperature is about 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The groundwater that seeps in to this area is converted to steam. Along with the steam, sulfur hydroxide moves to the surface bringing with it a strong rotten egg smell. All of this geothermal activity, however, creates the interesting colors and geologic features that made Namaskaro so fun to visit.

Grundarfjordur is a quaint little fishing village on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula. As we entered the harbor, we saw the iconic Kirkjufell (church mountain). The town was surrounded by many majestic mountains and the views were spectacular.