WHAT WAS IT LIKE VISITING ICELAND?

I just returned from a ten day Iceland trip with friends. There were a couple of reasons we chose Iceland..

First, I live in NC, and in July, I get tired of the crazy heat, I thought the cool of Iceland would provide some relief from the dog days of summer.

Second, with global warming, I expect the glaciers to continue to disappear, and I wanted to see them. I went to Alaska last year, and Iceland is the land of glaciers.

Three, I like European liberal countries, I wanted to experience the culture . So, how was it? It was a demanding trip, for me. We drove over 1,000 miles in 7 days. Over one 3 day period we hiked over 30 miles. To me, the land is hauntingly erie. The entire island sits astride two tectonic plates that are moving apart, stretching the island. We actually walked between the two plates. I will post a picture of this later. The island also sits on a 100 mile wide magma column extending to the core. Apparently there are twelve known Magma columns in the world. The size of the magma column underlies about 50% of the land mass of Iceland. So there are thermals everywhere and they use it to heat and power the island.

The weather changes quickly and in July, the temperature ranged from 50 degrees at 3AM to a high of 62 during the day. Almost everyday the sky is partly cloudy and grey, though the sun does show itself most days.

The land is rugged with giant glaciers, huge volcano flows of basalt and in between miles and miles of farms growing fodder for these very small sheep, Icelandic ponies, some cows. They grow potatoes, carrots, and root vegetables and have hot houses for tomatoes and lettuce.

All the Ice and basalt mountains means there are waterfalls EVERYWHERE. One more spectacular than the next.

It is the fourth most prosperous nation on earth by GDP per person, and the people are hearty and welcoming. Not gregarious like Americans, but friendly.

The tourism industry is only about ten years old and as the island is sparsely populated outside the capital, the farmers stepped in and created a network of "guest houses". They may be a 16 unit building in the middle of no where , hosted by someone from the family, or an immigrant employee. They are spartan, but clean and comfortable. They serve a simple breakfast. We stayed at a small hotel in a town called Helnar. Foss Hotel Helnar, we were between the glacier and the ocean and the view everywhere was spectacular. They had a white tablecloth dinner with either fresh cod or lamb. Very nice.

All of the people I met were smart and educated, and very green and environmentally aware. They talked openly of global warning and more than a few mentioned the man that holds the office of president in the USA. I immediately shared my view on him, and the conversations were as fellow inhabitors of the planet. They expressed sympathy for the US citizens that were not supportive of him.

The country is growing and prosperous and in the capital there is building everywhere. People told me the biggest challenge was the dark winters and the absolute silence off season outside the capital.

It was great to not hear about DT everyday, and I did come back with a sense of calm, an appreciation of the beauty of the land and their culture, and I GOT TO SEE THE PUFFINS!

Food and petrol are very expensive, although there are some shortcuts available, I didnt usually avail them unless that was the only choice. Once or twice we were so far from civilization we only had one dining choice .... and one or two meals were pretty horrible.

I will post a bunch of pictures in the photograpy section. If anyone has any interest in going, feel free to PM me, I will be happy to help. Its an incredibly beautiful and haunting place. I highly reccommend it. Number 2 in all my travels , after Italy. You just cannot beat Italy.