Day 16 - Reykjavik, Iceland

This morning, we arrived in Iceland and while we actually docked in Reykjavik, our day was spent touring the island with an extremely brief tour of Reykjavik at the end of our tour.

Our first view of the island was a picture of craggy magestic cliffs.


Our first stop on our "circle tour" was at this quaint
church. The wall decoration was on the back interior wall of the church.





The next place that we stopped was at the "small waterfall" (as opposed to the "big waterfall" that we saw later in the morning). I was especially impressed by the salmon ladder on the left side of the falls.






Next, the "big waterfall". Not as big as Niagara Falls, but different in that there are two levels of falls. These falls then follow through a long, narrow canyon.

I discovered how to drive Graham crazy. He is afraid of heights; I am not. I spent some time at the edge of the cliff above the canyon to obtain some pictures. Graham went wild - he was quite convinced that I was going to end up at the bottom of the canyon.


Here is one of the pictures that I was able to get.








Probably the most spectacular part of the day was the time that we spent at the "geysir" area. Seventy percent of Iceland's energy is geothermal and this area certainly showed us why. Graham managed to get this perfect picture of the geyser that spouts on a regular basis (about every 2 - 3 minutes). We saw several spouts, but this is the best picture.




There were also hot pools, including one that was actually boiling.











We ate lunch at a restaurant in the Geysir area - salmon. I found it very good, but Graham, who we all know is extremely picky couldn't eat it.


After lunch we headed off to see Thingvellir. Thingvellir occupies a very special place in the hearts and minds of Icelanders. In 930 the Icelandic Parliament was founded there. Thus the medieval Icelandic commonwealth was established. Many important events in the history of the country have taken place here, e.g. the official adoption of Christianity in the year 1000. Late in the 18th century Parliament discontinued its use of this site and in 1845 it
was re-established in Reykjavik.

After some time spent in this amazing area, we headed back to Reykjavik and the Eurodam.