Did you happen to see the NPR story today about Iceland touting itself as a better destination than Mars or the Moon? After all, Iceland has otherworldly sights like red rocks, black sand, and sub-glacial volcanoes, not to mention such goodies as oxygen, and plenty of water. If you haven’t seen the story, you can find it here, along with photos and a very funny little video called Mission: Iceland. Don’t miss it!

I was particularly interested because, as many of you know, my last seven posts on this site combine into essentially a travelogue on Iceland. I describe much of the country and recount some of the interesting adventures my daughter, Anne, and I had while visiting that island nation in August. If you’ve missed any, they all are still available. You can find the first of the series by clicking here.

Briefly, the NPR story reveals that Iceland’s tourist board claims that their country offers more amenities than space, and at a fraction of the cost. Another advantage of Iceland? No space suit is required. Not only that but their geothermal pools are luxurious, as our time in the Blue Lagoon proved to me. Maybe Iceland does beat Mars and the Moon.

Even NASA likes the place. It often has used Iceland as a representative of the moon’s terrain for training purposes, and it is still doing so as it prepares astronauts for other missions.

Here’s a quote from NPR’s story: Iceland is an amazing analog for both the Moon and Mars,” says NASA’s Kelsey Young, who researches the exploration of planetary surfaces and who has done geologic fieldwork in Iceland.

As some of you have noticed, I’ve been silent here for over a month, longer than I would have liked. Why the silence? Well, I’ve been doing a bit of traveling, and I’ve also occupied myself with other jobs. I’ve spent time researching for a fairly extensive article I’m writing with the intent to submit it to a major newspaper. I’m also involved in another project that has taken more time than it should have. End of excuses. I hope to see you back here soon. Please stay tuned.

 

 

 

For our final days of exploring Iceland, the Island of Fire and Ice, we investigated Reykjavik, the capital city. Nearly 70% of Iceland’s citizens live in the Greater Reykjavik’s region. (Roughly 235,000 reside around Reykjavik whereas the entire Island is home to about 345,000 residents.

We had settled into the same hotel we had on our first day in Iceland, The Foss Hotel Reykjavik. I’ve mentioned a couple of times (for example here, and here) how fantastic Iceland’s hotel breakfasts are. Here’s an example. When we made our morning entrance into the Foss Hotel dining room, we usually began by selecting from a variety of fresh juices and coffee choices and taking our filled cups and glasses to a table waiting with folded napkins and flatware. Having established our beachhead, we made our initial foray to the lengthy line bulging with appetizing items.

The hot portion of the line offered bacon, eggs, sausages, hash browns and other potatoes, meat balls, baked beans, miso soup, pancakes, and more. Another section featured a broad selection of cold meats, cheeses, sauces and salsas. There was a selection of flavorful breads ranging from Icelandic black breads to rye and flatbreads. Toasters stood at the ready, as did a selection of butters and a generous mix of delicious jams.

If you have a yen for cereal, hot or cold, you couldn’t find a better place. The choices covered the gamut for discerning taste buds. After that, of course, were yogurts, skyr, milks, and creams, along with a cornucopia of toppings, twenty or more as I recall, each neatly stored in shiny stainless steel containers and including all of the common nuts, not to mention other options such as chia seeds and goji berries. In short, here was a cereal lover’s nirvana.

Last, but definitely not least, were the pastries. These tasty teasers usually were too much for us to consume while on the premises, but we couldn’t pass them up. Wrapped in paper napkins, they made a fine snack with coffee later in the day.

“Flying” over Iceland

Reykjavik shines with attractions. On Friday we rambled a good distance, walking along the shore and making our way to an immensely popular feature called FlyOver Iceland. Once inside that building, we buckled ourselves into seats before beginning our breath-stopping ride, our seats responding as to gravity while we skimmed virtually over Iceland’s wonders. You can experience an exhilarating sample of our experience by clicking HERE. (Do not pass up this opportunity! You will love the dynamic views of Iceland’s stunning topography. I suggest you right click on the link and open it in a new tab, ideally on a PC.)

We naturally sampled some of Iceland’s most popular provender. After “flying” over Iceland, we stopped for lunch at Reykjavik’s oldest hot dog stand, called Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur (English translation: “The best hotdog in town”). We had walked past the stand several times, and each time there had been a long line of folks waiting patiently to order from that little stand that has been in business since 1937! Anne took her place in line shortly after 1:30 p.m. while I settled onto a nearby bench to observe her progress. Some 20 minutes later she returned with our lunch, and a smile.

We learned these hotdogs are made from lamb as well as pork and beef. Toppings include crispy onions, raw onions, ketchup, mustard, and remoulade. Anne had ordered mine with everything, and hers with all but raw onions. The hotdogs, we discovered, were surprisingly delectable.

Well fortified by our satisfying lunch, we nosed around the city center, slipping down to the harbor and marching up, down, and across much of the city center.  As the afternoon faded, we headed back to the Foss Hotel. Anne proudly noticed she had accumulated over 15,000 steps that day (as I think she had on other days as well). That meant we had put 7 miles or more on our shoe leather that day. Actually, it wasn’t unusual for us. We hiked hours every day.

We popped into the Hotel’s Beer Garden for our evening meal, sharing an order of fish and chips and splitting a burger. Although the bar serves an astronomical number of brews from around the world, we settled for local tasty brews. After dinner we began packing our suitcases for tomorrow evening’s flight home.

Saturday

After lingering over the final morning meal of our trip, Anne and I ran our eyes over the hotel’s dining room for a final time, storing memories of Iceland’s fantastic breakfasts. Next, we finished our packing, checked out, and left our luggage with the porter. We had more to see and do. Our first stop was the Hallgrimskirkja Lutheran Church, which sits atop a long, sloping hill about 3/4 a mile from the Foss Hotel. With our eager stamina, we made the climb in less than Google’s estimated 15 minutes.

The church is beautiful, as the above collage shows. Notice the openings high above. Identical sets are on all four sides of the edifice. We took an elevator up to near the top and climbed the remaining stairs to the bell tower where we admired the city in all four directions. I took the featured image of this post that looks to the northeast from the tower, toward the Foss Hotel Reykjavik. Inside, the organ pipes are big, much larger than they appear in the photo above. And finally, did you notice the shadows of Anne and me? The sun was SHINING, a rarity during our trip (but we have no complaints).

After our leisurely visit to the church and its surroundings, we ambled down the hill, zigzaging from street to street to take stock of more of the town and making our way to the harbor where, we had been told, a super gustatory experience could be had at Saegrefinn (“The Sea Baron”), Gourmets near and far claim that restaurant makes the best lobster soup ever, and it comes, along with bread and butter, at a reasonable price in expensive Iceland. We, as people usually must do, waited the better part of an hour to be seated. The verdict? The lobster soup is truly tasty, but I think I’ve had lobster bisque equally good.

 

After enjoying that renowned soup, we walked briskly back to the Foss Hotel to collect our luggage and wait for our driver to return us to the airport. While waiting, we watched the lobby’s TV stream a live view of the nearby volcano (just 20 miles away) as it continued its recent eruption, spurting out bursts of fiery lava that oozed bright red onto its slopes.

Our  driver, the same friendly woman who had brought us into town, came a bit early and efficiently deposited us at Keflavik International Airport. We took off on time for our evening flight to Chicago, officially ending our delightful eight days in Iceland, the island of fire and ice. We flew over Greenland and, being far north, that land mass was still bathed in sunlight as we passed overhead. I’ll end this series with a collage I put together for us to ponder. Any thoughts?

Next time, I’ll tangle with another topic. Thanks for stopping by. And stay tuned.

For our fifth day of our exploring Iceland, the land of fire and Ice, we had ambitious plans, with three major attractions on our list. We left our elegant but dimly lighted room in the Geysir Hotel and headed for the dining room, anticipating another delicious and expansive breakfast. We were not disappointed. A huge buffet, offering practically every breakfast item one could imagine was set up in there (shown above), all sorts of foods located in an extensive area behind the spot this photo was taken.

Notice the steam

Look through the windows above and notice the steam rising from thermal areas just across the road. Notice also the parched land and rock just outside the windows. a feature I assume the hotel’s landscape architect left natural to reflect the nearby thermal areas. Also located nearby is the Great Geysir, one described in print in the 13th Century, and the source of our word geyser. The Great Geysir has pretty much run out of steam, so to say, and it rarely erupts these days, but another good-sized one is just a short distance from the hotel.

Strokkur

Known as Strokkur, this geyser erupts frequently. Since we were so close (Strokkur is just a couple hundred yards from the hotel), Anne and I went to see it do its stuff, examining various hot bubbling springs on the way. A group of maybe 50 folks stood upwind from Strokkur, their phones and cameras at eye level. We joined them, and within a couple of minutes, WHOOSH!! Off it went. Strokkur’s water source heats quickly, and it erupts every 4 to 10 minutes, often spurting its plume of boiling water up 100 feet into the air or more.

 

After our inspection of the engrossing thermal area (which reminded me of similar spots in Yellowstone National Park), we set off in our trusty Land Rover to explore more of Iceland’s diversified topography, our first stop being another watery wonder, Gullfoss, the most photographed waterfall in Iceland.

Google maps told us it was a short trip from Geysir to Gullfoss, and it was. When we arrived and stepped out of the car, the wind was whipping wildly (I had to grab my cap), turbulent water was pounding nearby, and the sun peeped out!

We made our way to near the roaring falls and paused with opened-mouth awe at the tumbling waters, their churning force.  Anne walked down further down the path to where the mist was swirling and shot the video below. It’s best viewed on a full computer screen. After you click the play button in the center, I recommend you watch it in full view by clicking the symbol in the lower right corner. You’ll need to press your ESC button to come back to this view afterward. (I mention this because you may be as nontechnical as I am.)

We then returned to our car via another path, covering some 2.5 Km on that late afternoon ramble. By then it was time for us to return to our base at the Geysir hotel. We had reservations for a special dinner that evening. Although our 2022 birthdays had occurred months earlier, we planned to celebrate them again while in Iceland. Anne piloted our Land Rover back to Geysir, thus completing the roughly triangular route we had followed on this inspiring day.

Once back in our ultramodern Geysir hotel, not to mention our dimly lighted room (although the lighting was irritating, the hotel overall is great), we had time to freshen up and even mix cocktails before wandering down to the hotel’s restaurant. Anne had alerted the staff to our special dinner, and we were offered glasses of champagne to set things in motion.

 

After tramping along the beach, and soaking in the majestic surroundings, we walked inland about 200 yards to a neat cafe/gift shop. I said neat, because the building and the inside were indeed neat as the proverbial pin, with all merchandise displayed tastefully, and all in perfect order. Not only that, but the cafeterias routinely provided tasty offerings. We found a table for our leisurely lunch of ham and cheese croissants, and a Skyr cake with blueberries for dessert.  (If you are not familiar with it, Skyr is an Icelandic product fitting somewhere between yogurt and cream cheese.) Our lunch ended our too brief interval at Iceland’s Reynisfjara black beach.

Next on our agenda was the Lava Center in Hvolsvollur, a drive westward of about 50 miles. The center was definitely worthy of a stop, and the hour plus we spent there paid dividends. (See more here). Much in the Center is interactive, and all exhibits worked flawlessly for us.

Anne in a special four-walled exhibit room in the Lava Center. By standing on an activating spot and pointing at a particular area of Iceland, she triggered further information from the display. The exhibits left no doubt that Iceland is indeed one of the most active volcanic areas on earth.

After learning all sorts of interesting tidbits at the Lava Center, we set our sights on our final destination of the day, the Geysir Hotel in the Haukadalur geothermal  valley. The hotel lies just across the road from an active geothermal area, and it was completely remodeled recently in a marvelous modern style.

The hotel’s rooms were equally modern, but unfortunately dim. The darkness was only slightly penetrated by a few weak bulbs, this all presumably designed to match the shadowy mood of the elegant hotel. It didn’t work for me. On several occasions I uttered a mild (or maybe not) curse, because I couldn’t find a damn thing in my suitcase. I needed the flashlight on my iPhone to peer into the mysterious depths of my luggage. Anne and I mentioned this annoyance to a woman at the front desk, but she spouted what we had guessed she would, namely that the rooms were meant to be an extension of the mood of the entire hotel.

Despite what I’ve said above, I would recommend this hotel to anyone, and with enthusiasm! Everything within it is clean, neat, and  unusually stylish. The restaurant was fine and, as apparently is standard in Iceland, the hotel’s breakfast buffet was excellent, not only plentiful, but also featuring numerous choices for individual tastes, and all absolutely delicious. Just one reminder, if you do plan to book a room here, remember to pack a flashlight, or better yet a lantern.

What to do for dinner?

We checked in at the Geysir Hotel after 6 p.m. and were disappointed that the in-house restaurant was completely booked for that evening. After reading through its extensive menu, we reserved a table for the following night. But where would we eat that night? There weren’t many choices. The woman at the front desk suggested two places, as I recall, one a small restaurant at the Skjol campsite, a drive of maybe 15 minutes away, which we chose. It didn’t sound promising, but we were hungry.

As we arrived at the site, we saw a few camper units, and even a few tents erected on the wet grass. (Yep, it was raining at the time.) The campsite didn’t appear to be thriving.  A few yards beyond the campers was a modest building with a lit OPEN sign in one of the window. There were more cars parked nearby than in the photo below, but we weren’t overwhelmed.

If you haven’t read my earlier posts from this Iceland series, see them here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Among the unanticipated pleasures we discovered while exploring Iceland, the island of fire and ice, were the hotel breakfasts. Iceland’s hotels, at least the ones Anne booked for us, set out each morning long and heavily laden buffets so tasty that breaking our fast became a daily delight. I’ll tell more in one of my coming posts, but now let’s focus on day 3 of exploring Iceland. We visited glaciers, icy lagoons, and checked out another impressive waterfall.

After a peaceful night in the Vik apartments (see here), and our scrumptious breakfast at the Vik hotel, we set our sights on the largest glacier in Iceland, Anne steering eastward along Route 1. The speed limit on that road is roughly 56 miles per hour (90 km/hour), and our target glacier, Vatnajokull, is about 120 miles distant from Vik, so our expected duration of the trip was about 2 1/2 hours. For most of that time we drove through rain and fog, but our Land Rover (mentioned here) kept us comfortable and dry.

The Good and the Bad

We encountered good and bad experiences along the way. Let’s get rid of the bad first. We had been told that highway patrols in Iceland usually do not bother drivers if they drive 100 km/hr or less. We also knew traffic cameras were scattered along the route. So Anne set the cruise control at 98, and we rolled along smoothly through the rain. At one point, when we were behind two slower cars, I pointed out there was room to pass with no oncoming traffic ahead.

Anne accelerated, passed both vehicles, and smoothly eased back into the proper lane just as a warning sign flashed. We had just passed a traffic camera, and I felt terrible. Without my prompting, Anne may not have passed at that precise time. Speeding fines in Iceland are exorbitantly expensive. I’m not sure exactly what speed the camera recorded, but I fear it was above 100. I haven’t heard whether a chain of bad news (through Hertz) has yet reached Anne. But it likely will.

A much better experience came about as two events coincided. First the rain let up and nearly stopped. Minutes afterward, as we drove through the small village of Kirkjubæjarklaustur (try your tongue with that one), a towering waterfall loomed to our left. The scene was so enticing that it demanded a stop, so we pulled into an adjacent parking lot and walked along a lower road near the base where we took photos.

This photo doesn’t capture the full impact of the scene. The wind was strong at the time, and the falling water often was blown off its downward course, at times curling half way to the left side of the picture. To gauge the length of the water drop, check out the fence posts below the rocks. For a time we simply stood silent, enjoying the beauty, and the force, of nature.

Anne had booked a boat ride for us on the Fjallsaron Glacier Lagoon in the early afternoon, so after a final admiring glance, we returned to our car and drove the remaining distance to the lagoon, arriving just at lunchtime. Fortunately, a cafe is located on the site, and we had time for a lunch of vegetable soup and bread that tasted home-baked. Then we checked in for our Zodiac boat ride (see here), where a small crowd was gathering. Along with others we were outfitted with waterproof jackets and life vests. See Anne below. Then we marched over a hill and down to the shore of the lagoon where we were photographed before entering one of the rubber boats.

Another Glacial Lake

Another glacial lagoon was on our program for day 3, this one being nearby and called Jakulsarlon (see here). Not only was this lagoon close, it was grandly picturesque, and it sat right beside Route 1, it lying to the north, and the Atlantic beach to the south. We parked in the convenient lot beside the road and walked to near the waters edge, awed by the seemingly stationary icebergs floating just ahead of us.

We had learned that the denser the glacial ice, the bluer it appears. Notice the varying colors as you recall that most of an iceberg is underwater, the exact amount varying by the density of the ice, and the density of the water. In any case, there is plenty of ice below the surface here. It was raining at the moment, but it didn’t bother us at all. We found a convenient bench and rested our happy muscles. We even asked a fellow tourist to take our photo as we relaxed.

People started jabbering as we sat there, so we turned around and saw seals playing in the water, surfacing now and then in the frigid waters. We lingered, letting the scene seep in, and then drove back to our modern apartment in charming Vik. We treated ourselves to a leisurely evening cocktail before heading to the crowded and hip Smidjan Brugghus where we ordered and savored our simple dinner (huge, succulent burgers and fries washed down with drafts of Gull beer).

The bathroom in our unit contained a large washer and dryer, both front-loading, and complicated. The washer was a Bosch and the dryer a brand I did not recognize. Anne solved their mysteries after we returned from dinner, and she put them into action. So washing and drying clothing ended day 3 of our exploring Iceland, although while our clothes tumbled we previewed our coming day, which would include visits to volcanic black sand beaches, cliffs of basalt columns resembling organ pipes, and other attractions. I’ll tell you how it went. Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

 

After lingering over our luscious breakfast buffet at the Foss Hotel on Sunday morning, we were eager to continue exploring Iceland, the island of fire and ice. Our first day (see here) had whetted our appetites for more. Anne caught a Hertz shuttle and picked up the rental she had ordered. She snared a good one, a practically new 2022 Land Rover Discovery (the odometer read just over 3,000 kilometers), and by the time she parked the vehicle outside our hotel she had figured out the vehicle’s basic controls. And the weather? Please examine the photo Anne took as she rented the car. (We learned to love gray clouds and rain during our stay.)

We quickly loaded loaded our luggage and headed out for our day’s destination, the town of Vik (pronounced veek by Icelanders). Our trip is marked in red on the accompanying map, with our destination located near the lower right corner. Notice the dropped pin on the map. It marks the site of Seljalandsfoss, the only waterfall in Iceland you can walk behind, and one we planned to explore on our way to Vik (see here).

A slight detour

Because we had an urge to check out Iceland’s Atlantic coast as quickly as possible, we took a longer route and headed southwest from Reykjavik on Route 41 with Anne at the wheel, retracing the road we had taken from the airport to Reykjavik’s city center upon arrival. Here’s a tidbit for you: Route 41, we were told, is the only divided highway in all of Iceland.

Although that momentarily surprised us, we soon learned that Iceland has little need for multi-lane highways. The 2022 population of Reykjavik is reported to be about 123,000, and Greater Reykjavik, which includes the capital city itself and the six municipalities around it, is comprised of something like 240,000 residents. Yet that relatively small constellation of folks represents more than two-thirds of Iceland’s total population (about 346,000 inhabitants). And, we discovered, traffic outside of the Reykjavik area was almost uniformly light.

A two lane road (the Ring Road) encircles the entire island. It usually appears on maps as Route 1, and it stretches for about 880 miles to wrap entirely around the island. During our little detour to the coast we stopped at a fishing village, Grindavik (see here), for a snack before making our way to Route 1 and heading eastward. The scene above is typical of much of our time on the Ring Road, especially the thin traffic, the cloud-fog shrouded landscape (often barely visible on our first day of driving), and the prevailing weather. Often we saw little but the bottoms of hills and mountains, and even those at times were nearly obscured by fog. Did you notice the raindrops on our windshield? Healthy cross winds also came into play, but our sturdy Land Rover paid them little attention as it rolled stalwartly along the pavement.

Here I’ll interrupt myself to mention an oddity of the trip, a first for me, and for Anne. Never before had either of us spent time in a foreign country without exchanging U.S. dollars for the local currency. But during our eight joyous days in Iceland, we exchanged no money, nor did we touch a single Icelandic króna! How did that work?

Credit cards carry the day

Iceland is remarkably credit card friendly. Even locals rarely use cash (except for bus transportation, I was told). We discovered that even the smallest businesses would take Mastercard or Visa, so we just flashed our cards to pay for whatever, small or large. I had signed up for a Discover Card as an economy move (Discover does not add foreign transaction fees to charges as my Visa card does). This saved me some money, but not all establishments honored the Discover card. 

Here’s a tip for you if you ever plan to visit Iceland. Filling a car’s gas tank isn’t simple. In fact, it offers unique frustrations for the unwary. One doesn’t simply pop in a card at a station and start gassing up. Nope. You have to use a previously assigned PIN with your credit card, and often you also have to estimate the amount of fuel you want to purchase in advance, along with other surprises. Such details aren’t important here, but, if you ever plan to head that way, prepare yourself.

On to Seljalandsfoss

It almost certainly would be impossible to miss the majestic Seljalandsfoss when driving past it. The waterfall, with its broad width and its parking lot churning with cars, jumps out at you with force. As we pulled into a parking spot on the busy lot, a man, obviously an American, approached us with a parking permit, explaining that he and his wife mistakenly had each bought a parking pass, and, since only one was needed, he generously gave the second to us, a friendly gesture much appreciated.

Before walking the couple of hundred yards to the base of the waterfall, we donned our rain wear (it was raining lightly, but we suited up because the heavy mist and splashing gives one a good soaking as one nears the Seljalandsfoss waterfall, which drops about 200 feet (roughly equivalent to a 20 story building). The water tumbles with prodigious power.

When we came along side of the falling torrent, the path behind the falls looked considerably more daunting than we had expected, but, after the briefest of pauses, we plunged ahead and made our way over the treacherous trail strewn with uneven, slippery rocks. I took a brief video of the scene during our moment of indecision.

Did you notice the folks walking behind the falls? They were on an easier stretch of the path. After we emerged from our adventure of encircling the waterfall, and feeling exuberant, we hiked a short distance to second waterfall that splashed into a cave and evaluated that before returning to the car to continue our drive to Vik, feeling quite pleased that we were exploring Iceland on our own.

As often happens in Iceland, we soon ran into another impressive waterfall, this one called Skogafoss. We couldn’t pass it by, so we stopped for a good look. I was satisfied with our adventure at the previous Seljalandsfoss, so I decided to enjoy this wonder of nature from the car, but intrepid Anne marched to the base of the falls and had her presence there documented with help from a nearby traveler.

This waterfall, about 80 feet across, also features a drop of some 200 feet, and nearby on the right side is a rugged stairway leading to the top of the hill and the falls. Anne couldn’t resist the challenge of tramping up those hundreds of steps, which took some good minutes, but she was rewarded with a majestic view of the falls and the river that feeds it. Skogafoss clearly is no puny attraction.

After our second waterfall interlude, we quickly covered the remaining short distance to Vik and checked into the Vik Apartments (a part of the Vik Hotel). Anne had booked us there for two nights. As we were checking in to our modern 2-bedroom apartment, a minor miracle occurred. IT STOPPED RAINING. It was dinner time then, but the patches of blue sky cried for more outdoor exploring.

Which we did! We had passed a recommended stopping point as we approached Vik, because the top of the attraction was shrouded in clouds, and we knew nothing would be visible if we drove up to the summit of Dyrhólaey, a promontory rising 400 feet over the ocean and known for its spectacular view of Iceland’s South Coast. Dyrhólaey was named for the massive arch in a rocky mass just off its shoreline. (Apparently the name means “door-hole” in Icelandic). Now with the clearing skies, we hopped into our Land Rover and headed the short distance westward to drive to the top of that imposing rocky mass. As we approached it glowed brightly in sunshine.

 

Above is a photo of the “door hole” through which I’m told certain boats have cruised, and even a stunt pilot reportedly flew his small plane through it. The shoreline along here is covered with black sand, a type formed when volcanic rocks (most commonly basalt) have eroded. This sand, much like the more common beige-colored variety on most of the world’s beaches takes millions of years to emerge. How ever they are made, black beaches are striking. In my coming post of Day 4, I will show you just how neat they can be.

After spending the better part of an hour wandering around on our lofty perch, we drove back to Vik and walked a short distance from our apartment to one of the few restaurants in the small town (Vik has about 270 residents). We arrived at the Strondin Pub near 9:30 p.m., and found the place to be cheerfully noisy and very crowded. While waiting for our table, we each ordered a Gull beer (pronounced something like “gutl,” a bright brew that I heartily recommend).

After we were seated and served, we gave our soups two enthusiastic thumbs up, but our Atlantic Char, recommended by our waiter, was decidedly “fishy.” A minor disappointment because the Char was the only less-than-delicious dish we had on our entire trip! We passed up dessert, returned to our apartment, and smiled as we reviewed our second day of exploring the island of fire and ice. Then we went over our next day’s schedule, a full day promising to include such excitements as a boat tour on a glacial lake and an up close and personal visit to a black beach. Stay tuned.

Do you enjoy tramping through spectacular terrains, like an array of glaciers, waterfalls, and active volcanoes? If so, head for the land of fire and ice. I suggest that destination with great enthusiasm because I recently spent eight days exploring Iceland, a truly amazing island. One thrilling adventure led to another, time after time again, and the combined impact made me glow brighter than most travels ever have. And, as long term readers know, I’ve nosed around quite a few spots on this earth (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15).

To come back to Iceland (see here), my impressions of that sizeable island have been formed mainly by my recent trip. Admittedly, I knew little about the place before visiting it, although I had watched its weather closely during my three years of Air Force duty in Europe many decades ago. My recent visit was a gift from my daughter, Anne, for my birthday. I had reached 90 earlier this year, and she 50, but we delayed the trip until August, thinking that would be a fine month to venture northward.

Anne and I boarded an Icelandic Airlines flight in Chicago late one Friday evening and flew to Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital, in just over 6 hours, arriving shortly before 10 a.m. Saturday local time (Icelandic clocks are set five hours earlier than those in Chicago). Reykjavik has the distinction of being the world’s northernmost capital of a sovereign state, and the upper edge of Iceland lies just below the Arctic Circle.

It was misting when we arrived, but fortunately rain held off for most of the day, and we managed to complete the Reykjavik food walk Anne had planned for that afternoon. Not a single drop spattered us during the 2 1/2 hour walk led by Thor, a native Icelander who spoke perfect English with an American accent. He took us to five different eateries, some fancy, some not, and provided a nice introduction to the streets of downtown Reykjavik. Our first stop on the tour was at the Forretta Barin where Anne and I had a beer and the best lamb we ever tasted. It was so good that I would eat lamb at least every week if it were always so delicious.

I’ll now jump to our last stop of the walk because we finished at a well-established bakery, one first opened in 1932, some 90 years ago. Since I was an early January, 1932, baby myself, and probably even a few months older than that ancient bakery, Anne took my photo in front of the place. Note the hiking pants and boots, all waterproof and soon to be tested.

Our food walk group included an interesting mix of individuals, among them were three dentists who had graduated from the University of Michigan dental school, a retired professor from California, and four sisters, Ireland born, but now living not far from Anne in Chicago; one had just graduated from law school, another was a medical student, and a third had recently set a number of Illinois state high school records for weight lifting. A most impressive and delightful set of siblings.