Today started pretty early, 6:15 am. Doing my back stretches seemed like a good idea. By 7, my husband K and I went next door to collect our daughter J and go to the breakfast room in the basement. We needed to get breakfast done early, so that we could go to the desk to get today's excursion straightened out.
When we got there with our reservation papers, it was the same guy as last night. He was working a twelve-hour shift. He remembered us and took the papers and called the tour company. It took him 10 minutes on the phone to get it worked out with them. He told us to stop at the Reykjavik Excursions desk in the bus terminal, when we got there this morning, to make sure it is all set for this one and the next two, as well as our departure seat on the bus on Tuesday. We thanked him for his help and went up stairs to finish getting ready.
We always try to be downstairs before the pick-up time, just in case they are early. Today, we were down at 8:15 for an 8:30 pick-up. It was a good thing, too, as the bus arrived at 8:26. It was the usual stopping to pick up others, although sometimes people were not there as they were supposed to be.
At the bus terminal, J and I went to the desk, while K went out to find the bus and make sure it didn't leave. The woman at the desk was able to confirm today's and the next two excursions. It took a bit more work to get the pick-up on the 29th set. However, she booked it for 10:30 and said to watch for an email confirmation.
At 9, the bus was on the road. It was a smaller one than yesterday and only 11 people were on board. It was sunny, with the 53° temperature actually feeling like 48°.
Today's excursion was one that I wanted. Since we were not going to see an active volcano, I wanted to go in a lava tunnel. As soon as I'd seen this excursion back when we were planning the trip, I knew I had to go.
We arrived at the Raufarhólshellir lava tube at 9:32. We had enough time to go to the restroom, while waiting for the rest of the party to arrive. I loved how they'd made the walls and even the counter inside out of rocks inside a wire frame. We'd seen them doing this along several roads in Germany back in 2017. The mesh negates the need for mortar.
We also had time to read explanatory signs. I particularly liked this one.
At about 10, our guide, Demetrius, who was Greek, came into the waiting area and told everybody about the helmets and pointed out that there were walking sticks for those who wanted them. I thought that was a great idea and grabbed one. Soon, the group was marching out to the entrance for the approximately one mile round-trip walk in the tunnel. The tunnel is actually the fourth longest in Iceland, being 4500 feet long, with the main tunnel being 3000 feet long. The tunnel is up to 98 feet wide and up to 32 feet high. The rock is 90% basalt.
I've been in plenty of caverns, although I've gone on the easier tours that involved fewer stairs of late. However, all of those caverns and caves have one thing in common- the floor is basically smooth. There's no climbing over rocks. That was not to be the case here. They've left the tube as natural as possible. They have moved some of the larger rocks, I think, but not many. J went ahead of me to scout the easiest path.
We stopped in this area with the hole above us. Demetrius explained how the lava tube forms and said that the only way that they know there is one, is when there is a cave-in, which is what we were standing in. Looking up, you could see how thick the roof had been. He also pointed out the great colors in the rocks. The tunnel was formed during the Leitahraun eruption about 5200 years ago.
A tube forms when low-viscosity lava develops a continuous and hard crust. That crust thickens to form a roof over the flowing lava. When the eruption stops, the lava continues to flow until the last of it flows out the end of the tube leaving the tube empty.
In the winter, snow falls through the three holes in the roof near the beginning of the tunnel. This freezes and creates amazing ice formations. Demetrius said that the ice we saw today would be melted by next week. This was all that was left of this winter's ice, which can go from the floor to the ceiling.
I managed to trip on the one in the middle of the metal walkway, because I was too busy taking photos. I had to remind myself to stand still to do that. I wasn't really found of climbing up and down the metal stairs, which were damp, including the railing, but it was better than the rocks. I wound up with a lot of rust on my coat.
Demetrius stopped to point out some pahoehoe lava. My ears perked up at that. He also brought up aa (or, more properly, 'A'ā). He asked if we knew what language they were from- Hawaiian, of course. How odd that these terms should be used, when the Hawaiians came into contact with Europeans in relatively recent times. You'd think lava terms would have been locked down before then. Anyway, the photo below is pahoehoe. Notice the swirls in it.
This photo shows the dropping level of lava in the tube as evidenced by the lines left behind.
It was truly amazing to make our way along and see all of these different lava formations. So incredibly cool!
While we were on the last section of raised walkway, as Demetrius was telling us that he was going to turn out the lights to show us how dark it would get, he noticed that a woman from the group had turned around and was headed back on another section of the walkway. She'd never said a word, and we were pretty sure that she'd been with her husband and another couple and they said nothing about her leaving. It was incredibly rude of her. We had to wait until he felt she was far enough along the way back to be safe.
He told us that there were no bats in the tube. First, because there are no bats in Iceland. Second, because the rocks were too porous to allow for the use of echolocation. The only thing alive in there were some amoeba that didn't mind the dark.
When he was finally able to safely turn out the lights, he asked everyone to be as quiet as possible. Of course, there was some giggling that was irritating, but there were a few moments of no sound. When he turned the lights back on, he said that one could never get used to that amount of darkness and that is why cave blindness develops. It was an excellent demonstration.
We now made our way down the stairs and toward the end of the main tube. Here people could pose and he'd take our photos. When it was our turn, I told him that the walking stick I'd taken was breaking. He took a look at it and agreed that it was. He asked me to put it to the side, when we got back and he'd try to fix it.
After our two photos at 10:56, we headed back for the stairs and the metal walkway. My knees really did not like this at all, but I plowed on. J offered a hand at times and usually led the way.
When we got back outside at 10:15, I took this photo to show how you just couldn't tell what was below.
We took off our helmets and I put the stick to the side in the office. We were on the road back to Reykjavik at 11:20. The driver dropped us at our hotel at 11:58.
We went upstairs to gather backpacks and such for the rest of the day. We were out again at 12:31. We needed lunch. So, we went back down to the Hlemmur Mathöll, arriving at 12:40. This time, there were a lot more people there. Tables inside and out were occupied. I perched on a very high chair, saving one on either side of me at the counter at the window, while K and J went to Fuego to get tacos. We wanted to know how they interpreted the idea. J got herself a Coke and the regular serving of 2 tacos. K got us a Coke Zero for 390 kr and 3 tacos for 2150 kr. He chose chili con carne, pollo a la parilla (chicken), and gambas (prawns). I missed photographing the chili con carne, but it was exactly what it said it was. As you can see, the tacos came on two corn tortillas. They were good and we probably should have gotten more, but didn't have time.
We made restroom visit, before we left at 1:08 for our 2 pm appointment for Covid-19 tests to be allowed back in the US on Tuesday. The health ministry was about 1.2 miles out Laugavegur and Google maps called it fairly flat. First, we had to climb our usual hill up Laugavegur, but instead of turning for the hotel, we continued on straight. This brought us to the wall mural we saw every day, but had never gotten close to. I've found out that it is called Underwater World by Raffaella Brizuela Sigurdardottir. It wasn't until today that we realized that it wasn't a squid up in the upper left corner, but rather hair!
We walked on the northern side of the street, because J could see on the map that the sidewalk on the other side would disappear into parking lots in front of businesses. After we crossed over highway 40 or Kringlumýarbraut, our street changed its name to Suðurlandsbraut. And soon I noticed a compound with fencing. I correctly guessed that it was our embassy! J sent a photo to a friend, who'd recently served in the embassy in Chad. She felt there wasn't nearly enough security. I told J to tell her that in a country where you can chat up the president in the street, you don't need a lot of security. We were pleased to see the pride flag below the Stars and Stripes.
Finally, at 1:50, we were at Suðurlandsbraut 34. It was about three stories tall, with the bottom floor windows covered in posters. Of course, we had to go all the way to the far side to reach the entrance. We were ten minutes early, but we figured we'd give it a try. We put on our masks and pulled up our appointments on the phones. They were scanned and we were waved on. There were several stations set up with testers in full protective gear. Like the one at the airport, it really wasn't too bad an experience.We were finished by 1:58.
Outside, we kind of dreaded that hike back. We saw a taxi dropping someone off, but by the time we realized the taxi was not going to park to wait, it was too late to flag it down. So, we started to walk back. We passed some kids, who were definitely American, and told them what the building looked like and they hurried on with way too much energy.
At least it was sunny and not really chilly. We had good views of the mountains north of town and some of the types of housing in the area.
At 2:37, we reached the street that went up to the hotel. K went up there to go drop things at the hotel. J and I were continuing on to a store we'd visited the other day, so that she could get sheep she saw there. K would meet us there.
When we reached the Mathöll at 2:42, I remembered that the coffee place had had croissants. We decided to stop for a quick bite and to use the restroom. They didn't have any more croissants, but they did have cookies. J got one kind and then decided that another at Te & Kaffi also looked good and she went back to get it. Suddenly, I saw K striding by and had to rush outside and bring him in. He'd been far faster than we expected. The cookies were very good.
We were on our way again at 3. The shop that J wanted to visit had these lovely flowers outside. They almost made up for the painful climb up the stairs to get in and then the couple of stairs inside.
It was still a lovely, bright day, when we finished in there and continued along Laugavegur. We came upon this part of the street with its sign proclaiming it a creative village. However, I saw no sign of craftsmen here, just the usual shops and stores.
K wanted to check out Bónus, which turned out to be more of a supermarket than our usual stop, 10-11. The meat and such was in a separate cold room from the rest of the store. What really stuck out to me was these cookies. Bizarrely, they are made in Dublin, Ireland. I have no idea, where they got the name.
Today was Saturday and folks were obviously taking advantage of the chance to be out and about. Some of them were in shorts. It definitely wasn't warm enough for that. Our coats were open, but on.
We stopped in a candy store that had table after table of goodies. However, the prices were a bit high. I did get a small candy bar for 180 kr.
4:22 found us with the big crowd outside of the Christmas store, Litla Jólabúðin. This store had been closed other times we'd come by and I was happy to see it open now. I thought that perhaps they were noting that it is about 6 months until Christmas. We saw a woman who seemed to be a helper or elf or something out by a Christmas tree. Then, two Santas came out of the store! We puzzled over how a kid would feel about that, but later we found out that they actually have 13 Santas! They start coming, one at a time, 13 days before Christmas. Then, after Christmas, they leave one at a time.
The store had the usual stuff -nutcrackers, balls, etc., but they also had some things made in Iceland, which I got. At a nearby shop, I found some dolls in Icelandic costume. J helped me pick one for my collection.
For no apparent reason, Laugavegur changed its name to Bankastræti. The street was also definitely heading downhill now. This 66° store is named for the latitude of the Arctic Circle. We saw several of these.
Since we wanted to have an Icelandic hot dog for dinner, I suggested that we get one now. That way dinner wouldn't be terribly late due to church and J and I could receive Communion. All agreed this was a good idea. We knew what the stand was called and J found it on Google maps.
The street changed its name again, this time to Austurstræti. We came upon these black booths that we'd seen before, but they were closed then. Now, they were open and several were selling jewelry. One caught my eye and J and went over to check it out. She had lava jewelry. I bought a gift from her and she included a whale tale charm and boxed it nicely.
We turned right onto Pósthússtræti and headed down toward the port. At 4:37, we reached Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, a famous hot dog stand that dates to 1937. There was no line. So, I claimed a table, while K and J went to get the food. Across the street, I noticed the customs house and noted the nice mural on it. They like public art.
The hot dogs were only 500 kr each and the Coke and Coke Zero were 270 kr each, excellent prices. The hot dogs are unusual, because they are made from lamb. K and I got ours with brown mustard, J with yellow. We all agreed that they were quite tasty and lived up to their reputation. As we ate, a tour group arrived and we were glad we'd gotten here first.
Since we were this close to it, we continued another block to the harbor. Once again, I really liked the variety of architecture we saw.
There were two things that struck me right away about this harbor. The first was how clean the pier and water were. We'd been at the Baltimore Inner Harbor back on Sunday and I'd been appalled by the amount of trash in the water in the dead end portions of the water. Not so here. Absolutely nothing in the water, nor was there any litter on the land. The second thing I noticed was the complete lack of odor. Most harbors that I've been in smell of fish and salt air. Not here. It was clean and fresh. I loved it.
I also loved the sign of welcome in 4 languages. I've cruised and have rarely seen such a welcome sign.
We enjoyed checking out the boats in the area from the coast guard cutter that J thought we might have sold them to the giant yacht way over to our left. We were also impressed by the very large HMS Protector, which required a panoramic photo to get the whole thing in. We googled it and found out it is a Royal ice patrol ship that had been built in 2000 in Norway. There it was a polar research icebreaker and subsea support vessel. The British bought it in 2013.
We then turned our attention to the shore, where we found some sculptures and a train engine. I found out later that they were on what is called the Sculpture and Shore Walk, which runs all along this shoreline and is part of a much longer Shore Walk. The first sculpture, which I'll admit is rather weird looking is called Hafnarsaga by Guðrún Oyahals.. That translates to "Harbor Story" and shows the topography of the harbor at six different time periods. Knowing that helps a little.
The second sculpture made sense even without a translation of its title. Obviously, it was two fishermen looking out to sea. In fact, they looked like they were dressed like the Gloucester fisherman from Gorton's seafood. Its title is Horft til hafs by Ingi P. Gislasoney and that translates to "Looking out to Sea". See?!
The train engine is actually a bit of history. It is Minør, one of two steam locomotives (the other was Pioner) that pulled the wagons loaded with rock and gravel at the start of the construction of the harbor area in 1913, according to a helpful sign with an English translation.
Another cool thing in this area right by the harbor was an area for kids, probably mostly teenagers. There was a skate park, perfect for skateboards. There was a basketball court and a concrete ping pong table. There were interesting designs on the ground, in addition to the unplanned graffiti in the area. Unfortunately, the restrooms there were locked up tight.
We were at the Cathedral of Christ the King at 5:41. We had more time and better weather this evening as opposed to last. So, we could notice things like the Landakotsskóli, which is not only the oldest and longest running private school in Iceland, but also one of the longest running of any kind in the country. It was established in 1896 and covers grades K-10, or ages 5-16. In spite of the fact that it is right by the church and on the land that had been the farm that the church was started on and has the farm's name as part of its name, the school is non-denominational and independent. Wikipedia notes that it follows the national curriculum and emphasizes "mathematics, languages, art and an innovative art curriculum". They also have an International Department that emphasizes English, math and science, using the Cambridge Curriculum developed at that university.
We went inside and sat in the same last pew as last night. There were ladies up front on the right reciting what was obviously the Rosary. I've seen that in plenty of churches back home on a Saturday night. The My Parish App was useless for the readings, because it was still showing the Saturday readings. But, there is Google, which helped me get to the USCCB site, which had the correct readings. Mass started at 6 with the priest ringing the bell by the side door, when he came in. We recognized several people as having been there last night. One unsettling thing was the amount of coughing the priest was doing. Happily, he used sanitizer and put on a mask before Communion. We felt more comfortable with the way things ran, when it came time for Communion. However, the priest threw me for a loop. He'd been doing the whole Mass in Icelandic, but when I got to him, he said, "Body of Christ" in English! J said he'd done the same to her. I don't know whether he recognized us as not being part of the congregation or we just look American. It was a shock.
After Mass, we found a couple of postcards for sale and put the money in a box in the wall by the candles. We walked out at 6:46 and it was clear with a temperature of 56° that felt like 55°. Really pleasant. We took a moment to look at things we didn't notice last night, like the statue of Mary outside and how close the harbor looked from here.
We headed downhill down Túngata, which took us past the Embassy of India with its spiky fence and building that looked like a big house. After a small bend, the street became Kirkjustræti, which was one-way in the opposite direction in which we were walking. We looked across the Austurvöllur, a grassy square across from the Alþingi (the Parliament House), which was on our right, and saw lots of people at the cafés that had been empty last night due to the rain. On the square at one end, we saw The Black Cone, Monument to Civil Disobedience by Spanish artist Santiago Sierra. Evidently, he cracked the rock with a black cone in reference to cone-shaped hats of humiliation used during the Inquisition in the 12th century. It sits directly across from the door of the Alþingi. (If I'd realized its significance, I would have gotten a better photo of it.) Beyond it, lots of little groups were taking the opportunity to relax in the sun on the grass.
Up in a window of the Alþingi, I noticed an elaborate clock, which made me wonder if you can take tours.
The street curved and briefly changed its name before emptying into Kirkjutorg, which led to Lækjargata, the street that is home to Hard Rock. On the other side of street was an interesting collection of buildings that turned out to be the Reykjavik Community College. We crossed the street and turned left, walking in front of the school.
We passed the statue of the woman with the water buckets before turning right onto Bankastræti and starting up its steep incline. As we were about to cross þingholtsstræti, I saw a most interesting builiding. It's an old house that dates to 1892, as it proudly proclaims. I liked the weird awning over its door, which actually was on the corner of the house. The place now houses Primo Ristorante, an Italian restaurant.
The street eventually became Laugavegur and flattened out a bit. Soon, I saw something I had yet to see in this city- a police car. They are painted in really friendly colors.
Stores were pretty well closed now and people were streaming past us in the opposite direction. We figured they were headed for restaurants and clubs downtown. We stopped in good old 10-11 to pick up some groceries, including a sandwich for K.
I was amazed at all the flavors of Philadelphia Cream Cheese. I haven't seen all of those at home. There were also a lot of flavors of Skyr, when I've only had plain or vanilla here or at home. They had the cheese in oil and herbs that has been on the breakfast bar the last two days. And, to go with the Maryland cookies, I suppose, we found Florida ones, which were also not made in Florida.
When we went down the couple of steps outside the store, my knees made it clear they didn't like it. The walk up the hill was an absolute slog, with me in agony and K and J pretty exhausted, too. At the corner to go up the next hill to the hotel, I had J and K crook their arms and I grabbed on. It really helped me get up the hill.
We were in the hotel at 7:55 and confirmed tomorrow's excursion at the desk.
When we got to the room, J and I snacked and K had his sandwich. I checked the phone-8 flights of stairs, 19,577 steps for 8.1 miles. I was in such shock at that number, that I had J check hers. It was true. No wonder my knees seemed ready to abandon me and K and J were worried. Quite a day!
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