Last post from Iceland

 July 12: Reykjavik 

This morning we docked in Reykjavik and disembarked. Much of the day was spent on a bus tour of the Reykanes peninsula, famous for its thermal activity (mudpots, hot springs, etc) and lava fields from historic eruptions. In the 12th and 13th centuries there were a series of well documented eruptions, and then the area entered a dormant period. Starting in 2021 there was a new small eruption, another in 2022 and of course another just two days ago, all in the same region of the peninsula. We are lucky to have been here at this time, and also lucky that (so far)the new  eruption is far from populated areas and is not causing any disruption to air travel. 

The roads to the area around the new eruption have been closed; on our drive today we saw at least 39 cars parked along the main road, belonging to people prepared to hike 15-20 km round trip to get to the volcano site.  Similar to the Heimaey eruption in 1973, this is a long fissure that is beginning to develop a crater at one end. Kevin was able to get good pictures of the eruption from the ship last night (about 00:24 hours) as we cruised past, and again today from the bus as we drove the perimeter of the peninsula. 

We visited a number of thermal features and learned various tidbits from our local guide. She told us about walking up to the 2021 site, and in a peculiarly Icelandic saying “ it is lovely to see an eruption where everything goes well”. She meant that the lava flow did not damage any infrastructure but it is a funny notion. 

We also learned about Reykjavik, which means “smoking bay” because King Magnus in 874 mistook the steam from the local hot springs for smoke. Reykjavik was still a small town (although the seat of the government) at the beginning of World War II (just 38,000 inhabitants) and really only began to grow as a consequence of the UK, US and later NATO bases. It now has 120,000 residents and another 120,000 in the suburbs, so the majority of buildings date from the 1950s or later. Only the center city has older buildings. There is construction everywhere. 

We spent the late afternoon exploring the center city and the “Central Park”, established near the turn the 20th century. It is a beautiful park with a large central lake, home to many species of ducks. The park also has a lot of sculpture installations. We ate dinner at a Icelandic smorgasbord.  The food was very good and the sampled desserts were very good as well. Tomorrow we fly back to the land of heat and humidity— but it will be nice to leave the wind behind!

Pictured: 2023 volcano, sculpture in the park, lava men and a lava field