This winter has been crazy. Been a winter with dentist visits (too many) and sicknesses (I had pneumonia) and just a very cold winter for Arizona. Colder than any we have experienced which caused us to hibernate more than normal. This past summer we started talking about where would we like to go on a trip - not RVing, but actually doing a tour of some kind. We settled on Iceland. Why? Dave worked with a man who was from Iceland and always talked about it and it pinked his interest so started looking for a tour company would do want we wanted to do and in the time and budget allowed. Settled on Nordic Visitor's Tour Company with an 8 day trip that started in Reykjavik (the capital of Iceland) and we went the Ring Road tour. This tour took in all the sights of the country, traveling around the island from west to south to east to north and back to the city. Amazing time, weather was rainy, cold, but we knew that from the onset - we wanted to avoid the people who come to Iceland.
The country has a population of 330,000 but with touring season starting the week we got back, it will swell to 4 million visitors from mid April to mid October. However, the weather is better (highs in the mid 60's, sunny) but we did not want to deal with the hoards of people. Our tour guide, Thornsteinn, said that it can be really crazy in about another week. We did not get to see the beautiful aqua blue lagoons, the winter snow melt/run off was in full swing and within a couple of weeks the waterfalls and ponds and lagoons would be the crystal blue. That's okay - our visit wetted our appetite to come back another time. We wanted to get the history and culture and soak in the environment by using professional. Wonderfull time. The following are some of the pictures I took while we were there, so many to choose, but alas, you have to visit to see the beauty!
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| Tunnels - one lane, the westbound has to move over |
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| Hobbit house |
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| Camp ground! Lots of camping going on |
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In the city - this church is a focal point where ever you look -
you can get your bearings if you see this |
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Went to Herring Museum - they were the largest
exports of herring/sardines until late 1960's |
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| Everyone has this app - 38 to 52 earthquakes a day |
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| Rift where North American tetonic plate and European plate comes/breaks apart |
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| Our ride (the small white van) with 8 travelers and 1 guide/driver for 8 days |
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| The Rift |
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| Geysers/mud pots - one of the hot spots for volcanic activity in world |
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| Everyone seems to own Icelandic horses |
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| Gullfoss - Waterfall of the Gods - BEAUTIFUL!!! |
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| On steroids! |
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| For going on top of glaciers |
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| Would love to have seen inside of this RV |
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| Icelandic horses have 5 gaits - all other horses have 3 |
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| First night out on tour - view from our hotel room |
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| Famous basalt rocks on south coast - was pouring rain |
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| Petrified trolls |
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| Entire island is lava - this area was covered in moss |
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| Glacier - dangerous due to calving of it, did not go up close |
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| Trolls looking down on us |
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Black diamond beach - almost lost one of our tour members - she
got hit by a rogue wave here while standing on beach |
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This is same area where that older lady about 2 months ago was sitting
on iceberg and it broke off and she floated out |
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Gale force winds all the time, Icelanders say it is not windy/breezy unless
you have to hang on to something |
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| Saw lots of snow still, but was very pretty |
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| Pay to go potty - about $1.50 to go into bathroom |
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| 2 Trolls kissing |
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| David Family from Philippines (part of our group) taking it all in |
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| Cairn system throughout, how the settlers moved around 1000 years ago |
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| More trolls (lava flow from 500 years ago) |
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| The Rift from our northern point of visit |
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| Cute town of Vik - most southern town in Iceland |
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| Puffins were out in water feeding, did not see any |
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Did not get to see Dettifoss - largest waterfall in Europe - flooded out 1 hour
prior to getting there |
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| GeoSea - spa overlooking the Arctic Cap |
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Met Elna and her Mom - Elna training to be mush
dog for next winter |
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| Loved Husavik! |
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| Fermented shark - yuck (smelly) and Icelandic vodka (strong!) |
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| Horse meat - a staple in Iceland, tried it - not good |
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| Cute horses!!! |
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| Looking out over the bay in Reykavik |
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| Last night of tour - view from our room |
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| Ferry came in while we were watching |
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| Game of Thrones fans - look familiar?? |
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| Waterfall seeped through lava from glacier about 8 miles away |
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