BROADWAY LIGHTS AND NORTHERN LIGHTS DAY #7 “Are We In Iceland? ……………YES!”

So far, except for hotel personnel, the only people we have met here are from Canada or the States.  That is not totally true, we also met a couple from Dubai.  So I started to wonder if we really were in Iceland.  Today’s adventure answered that question for sure and the answer is YES!   Fantastic sights proving that what we had heard about Iceland’s natural beauty is indeed true.

After breakfast we were met by our tour guide, Jon (pronounced “Yawn”).  We have had two tour guides thus far and both have been named Jon.  We were given some local history on our way to our first stop, Thingvellir National Park.  Don’t ask me to try to pronounce it.  Let me just say that National Park in Icelandic is “þjóðgarðurinn”.  Need I say more?  The park was wonderful and looked like a miniature version of Zion National Park in Utah.  In addition to beautiful cliffs that have been formed by the separation of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates we saw huge trout in the streams.  We were told they weighed 20 lbs and I think that might have been understated.

After the park we headed to the Gullfoss Waterfalls.  On our way, Jon #2 said that they were more spectacular than the Niagara Falls.  They were special but sorry, Niagara has them beat.  See this 17 second video for a glimpse of the falls at this link: https://youtu.be/MEOy5JcyPsA

Next we were on to Geysir Geyser.  Geysir is Icelandic for Geyser so a bit of redundancy in the name.  Apparently it is spectacular but it only erupts about twice a year so you will have to settle for this video of its neighbor, Strokkur (“Churn”) Geyser that erupts every 8-10 minutes.  Sorry about the red line (not sure what caused that) and I have no idea what is being said (in what I assume is Icelandic) in the background.  The link to the video is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsj2SH1Imow

Next the most important stop on the tour …………. you guessed it, lunch.  We ate at a local green house, sorry but I don’t recall the name.  They grow all their tomatoes indoors (correct, minus 2 degrees Celsius is not ideal for tomato growth) and according to our server produce 18% of the tomatoes eaten in Iceland (30% according to Jon #2).  The food was spectacular.  We both had the tomato soup and it was delicious.  At the table your centerpiece is a fresh basil plant from which you can use a specially formed scissors to harvest and slice the basil into strips.  For dessert they offer Tomato ice cream, Tomato Cheese Cake, or Tomato Apple Pie.  NO I AM NOT KIDDING!  And here is a picture to prove it.

Upon leaving the restaurant we got to see some Icelandic horses.  This is the only breed of horse in the country.  No other horses are allowed to be brought into the country and if any of the horses ever leave the island they are not allowed to return.  This is in order to preserve the breed’s purity.  Check out this 7 second video of them licking what we were told was a salt cube: https://youtu.be/JyiiS-tEs_Q

Our last stop on the tour was at the Kerid Crater Lake.  The crater was formed an estimated 6500 years ago as the result of collapse of the land over an emptied volcano unlike a volcanic explosion which experts (not me) say is the cause of most volcanic craters (I am a parrot repeating what I was told, I have no idea what I am saying).  This was my favorite spot because of its beauty.   This 19 second video doesn’t do it justice but you do get a peek at our guide (Jon #2) and Patrice.  I think you can tell how cold it was by looking at Patrice.  The link is: https://youtu.be/tfoUHMGLCY0

Tomorrow we leave for Akureyri.