Adventures of Beth and Dan: The Beautiful “Green” of Iceland

After we pulled out of Djúpivogur we headed in to Reykjavík where we would arrive mid day and stay overnight here. On the western shores of Iceland lies her capital and largest city in the country try. Many believe that the land was first settled by the Celtics and Norwegian immigrants in the 9th and 10th centuries. A full fledged township wasn’t established until the 18th century. Today you would find a bustling city which attracts a wealth of tourists during the summer months when the temperature tops off at a high of 55 degrees!

Our plans included going to the Blue Lagoon on Friday afternoon with a Holland America Tour and then going on a private tour with a small group on Saturday doing the Golden Circle.

The Blue Lagoon was about a 30 minute drive from where we were docked. They told us that we would shower and dress on a ommunal bathroom and then proceed out to the large geothermal pool. The Lagoon was extremely busy and wall to wall people trying to get in and out of the dressing rooms. We soaked in the hot bubbly waters for about two hours enjoying a drink of our choice included with the entrance fee. They also encouraged bathers to take advantage of the white warm clay mud packs for your face so of course we Hobbes that stuff all over our faces!! We have ourselves plenty of time to get out of the pool, shower and dress so that we didn’t miss the bus back to the ship. The weather was cool but partly sunny. When you enter the Lagoon they fit you with a bracelet that opens a locker for you so that you can store your belongings. The bracelet also unlocks just your locker when you are ready to dress. Still it’s a mad house trying to find a place to dress without getting your dry clothes wet. But we managed to get it together and get out to the bus with time to spare. That evening we decided to stay on the ship because our docking site was in a very commercial part of the port. The town was hosting a marathon the next day and a music festival so we had been told that taxis and buses would be hard to find. There was a movie in the theater Friday night for entertainment but we opted to watch a movie in our own room.

Saturday we were up early to have breakfast and get loaded up on a private tour of the Golden Circle which is a loop tour that takes about 7-8 hours. The gal that arranged the tours filled four small buses. Our busses were late coming into the port due to several streets being closed for the marathon. It was a wet cold day and we were all getting tired of waiting on the buses but finally after waiting 30 minutes passed the time they were to have been there they arrived. Folks got loaded up and on their way. We were on the last bus and right before we were to take off from the port the driver shared that one of our tires in the back looked low. He said we would take off from the port and meet a replace bus at a nearby gas station. It seemed like it wouldn’t create much of a hassle but folks started worrying a little. When we got to the station the driver told us that the replacement bus couldn’t get to us because of the closed roads so we were going to slowly drive to a tire shop where we would be a priority and our tire fixed immediately. So off we slowly drove to the repair shop. They were able to fix the tire quickly with all the passengers still on the bus.

Our driver was so apologetic and said we would not miss any of the tour and that for our patience and understanding he would buy us all ice cream. How could you argue with that?

The first part of our drive took us to the Gullfoss or Golden Waterfall. The driver had a heavy acccent but his information came easily and abundantly. We were taken to the Geysir in the Haukadalur Valley where we stretched our legs and had 90 minutes to get lunch or take a hike. The rain was still coming down and we had our hoods on and umbrellas up. The last part of the drive took us to the National Park where we witnessed the fault line where the plates are pulling apart in a dramatic fashion.

We did stop at a local dairy where we were served delicious ice cream. Another quick stop took us to a horse ranch and wool shop. By the time we got back to the ship it was dinner time and tired travelers offloaded and made their way up the ramp to the ship. We left port late that night at 11 pm. The next day was at sea and once again we turned our clocks back one hour. There were more guest speakers on the sea day getting us prepared for upcoming ports and lecturing on the people and history of Greenland and the Vikings as Navigators.