Our tour today was to the Reykjanes Peninsula, the area to the west of Reykjavik. It was just Aaron and I and the guide who was very knowledgable and entertaining. This area is largely covered by lava fields in various stages of regeneration. The scenery is dramatic. Lava fields are an area covered by rock like material which is actually cooled lava. Various size mounds are scattered as far as you can see. Some areas are older cooled areas where moss has begun to grow. The guide told us that it takes 1000 years for moss to be established. Those areas without moss show younger lava - the volcano that caused it erupted much less than 1000 years ago. We saw lava fields the result of eruptions 80 years ago - about the most recent in this part of Iceland. There are numerous volcanic craters to be seen,again some well formed and others collapsed through time. We particularly liked the moss covered fields, the green of the moss contrasting spectacularly with the dark black of the cooled lava.
We saw numerous hot spring areas, and the sulphur smell was much more evident in this area. The steam is rising out of cracks in the earth, little pools of hot water bubble away and all of this with late winter snow in places.
We visited a small fishing village where we were treated to morning tea in a very old house. We were told traditional stories of Iceland and learnt some of the history of this area. These cliffs were spectacular, wild seas, windy plateaus - the end of the island.
I haven't mentioned that Icelanders have a fond belief in trolls,elves and fairies. These play a very important part of their culture and history and blend nicely with their Christianity! The people will build around large rocks and even roads take a bend instead of rovings the rocks. This is because they believe the little people live in the rocks. It is all very serious and they tell it with such pride and belief it must be true.
Geo-thermal power is a big thing and we visited one power station with 30 sink holes each one capable of producing 1 megawatt of electricity per minute- staggering.
At the end of the Reykjanes Peninsula we saw another example of the bridge between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. This time it is only about 10 metres separating where they once joined - now moving apart at 2cm a year. An actual steel bridge structure has been built so it is possible to walk over. Where we saw this previously at Pingvellir there was a rift valley 5 kilometres wide. Here it is only metres wide and easier to understand and observe the special nature of this land movement.
The last stop was the Blue Lagoon. This is an area of naturally heated mineral springs with an unusual blue colour. It was beautiful and warm. Quite a performance to get changed then to wander outside in near freezing conditions with only bathers on and to walk down into the warm waters. Well it had to be done - so we did it. It was a great experience. Some women had mud-cakes on their faces having been prepared earlier to take advantage of the steam that was rising from the water.
It has been another great day in Iceland and if we look at this holiday in stages - 1. Norway, 2. Iceland; then tomorrow is stage 3. Greenland.
Although I will continue to write about our adventures I doubt we will have Internet connection so they probably won't be uploaded until we return to Reykjavik next Wednesday.