a delivery of flowers from my mum and Mike wishing us a memorable holiday
What a fantastic holiday, Iceland really is a place I’d like to go back to, more things to see and do and more things to see and do again, But Amanda and I had 2 whole days of cruising left to enjoy, and yes I’d quite happily become a continual cruiser on a bigger ship than Firecrest. But what’s to stop me having crispy bacon, pancakes and maple syrup for breakfast every day on Firecrest?
Just because we could…and I didn’t have to make it myself
And I’m not sure I would really want a dining room quite this big
And I discovered the pleasure in having a pedicure, we’ve been back in England 3 weeks now and my toes are still sparkley
We tried to persuade the sommelier to come home with us to keep the fizz flowing
We were supposed to be heading for a game of table tennis but when someone stops you with a glass of fizz you don’t say no
Infact Julius our lovely cocktail waiter told us he could cook and clean and quite fancied coming home with us
Amanda was very tempted to smuggle him out
I’m not sure I smile so much when it rains so much in an English summer
Standing over the great divide, between the American and Eurasian tectonic plates
And it was very disappointing when our whale watching trip got cancelled at the last minute
So disappointing, all dressed up and nowhere to go
But we really did get to see some magnificent sights in Iceland.
Gullfoss
The rain didn’t dampen our spirits
Gullfoss
Dressing for dinner was fun
And cocktail of the day was a must, although we tried to hold off until 5pm when we had a plate of canapés delivered to our cabin
And nothing beats live music
Sean the vocalist,
It’s been hard to pick out the best bits, I think perhaps Goðafoss was my favourite waterfall
my favourite waterfall Gullfoss
The lupins were my favourite flower on the island
lovely Alaska lupins, brought in to help reduce the soil erosion
The sunsets were memorable
This was the not quite midnight sun
And the company was the best,
I wish that Amanda had been able to share this with David as they’d planned back in 2022, but his memory travelled with us and this holiday was dedicated to him, his love of life and his love for Amanda. Thankyou Amanda for letting me share it with you.
There are many “must do” sights in Iceland and when we were planning our trip, visiting the golden circle, the 140 mile spectacular route was one we had to see, and didn’t we just pick the day with the weather.
It’s out there somewhere
But nothing was going stop Amanda and I making the most of every single minute, including shrieks of amazement when our tour bus was leaving the industrial harbour and I saw a Firecrest painted on the side of unit.
The Firecrest might be the smallest bird in England, but that’s definitely the biggest bird I’ve seen in Iceland
Luckily the perceived wisdom about the weather in Iceland is to “hang about 10 minutes and it will have changed completely”. So as our tour bus arrived at one of the magnificent waterfalls, the mist parted to reveal Gullfoss, “the golden waterfall” Of course being part of the must do tour of Iceland meant we weren’t the only ones enjoying the view.
Gullfoss
Gullfoss could be counted as two significant waterfalls, each worthy of a million photos
Back in the early 20th century an enterprising English man wanted to buy the waterfall from its owner, Tomas Tomasson, a sheep farmer. The plan was to use it to generate hydro-electricity. However Tomas refused to sell “his friend” but did agree to lease the land. This led to years of legal battles, because there was a loophole that Tomas hadn’t forseen. His daughter, Sigríður Tómasdóttir fought hard and sacrificed much, she frequently walked the 62 miles into Reykjavik to After much expense and uphill struggle, to the point where she threatened to throw herself into the falls if construction started, Howell pulled out and in 1929 Gullfoss returned to the custodianship of the Icelandic people. Sigríður is recognized as Iceland’s first environmentalist
Sigríður Tómasdóttir
I wonder if I have a bit of Iceland in my heritage, wearing plaits.
But there’s no way I’m going to throw myself down there no matter how special it is.
We could have stayed and marvelled all day at Gullfoss, but our excussion was ready to move on. We didn’t have time to visit the Langjökull Glacier,
Langjökull Glacier
it was only after a closer look that we realised it was ice not cloud
We fancied something a bit warmer so it was off to visit geysers
Our geyser is Stokkur, and you can see the comparison to other globally famous geysers
With dire warnings not to go into the water as it was coming out of the ground between 80 and 100°C we all dutifully stood around the discreet barrier
Wait for it……
And were rewarded with several very dramatic expulsions of water and steam as Stokkur revealed its glory
Wow, that was impressive
It’s little brother, appropriately named Little geyser was spluttering mud most of the time
Again as we have seen throughout our visit, despite it being height of tourist season and the number of visitors, we never really felt the crowds spoilt our own enjoyment.
No throwing coins in the pool please,
We had one final location to visit on our golden circle tour. Þingvellir, (thingvellir)This area is strangely unique as it forms both part of Iceland’s political heritage, and a significant geological feature. The newly arrived settlers gathered together at this site to decide how to live as a community. The Alþingi, general assembly was founded in 930 and continued meet until 1798, it is still revered as a national shrine.
the Assembly Plain
However impressive the sense of pride the Icelanders have of their country, we were fascinated by the fact that these rock formations were actually part of the earth’s tectonic plates. On one side we were able to reach out and touch the Americas,
Yes it was raining again, but who could resist touching America
whereas on the other we were in no-man’s land for the eurasion plates were now some 4km away and shifting by 2.5cm a year.
Thankfully thats only 0.07mm per day and we didn’t think the ground was going to swallow us up before we got home.
I’m glad we couldn’t see what we were walking over
We made it safely back to our ship in time for an early evening departure from Iceland. As we said our farewells we cruised past the Imagine Peace Tower, the right hand small white structure on Viðey Island. It is a memorial and symbol of international peace, erected by Yoko Ono in 2007,
Another early morning treat when we threw open the curtains, our very cartoon volcano on the horizon. Thankfully it wasn’t an erupting one.
approaching Reykjavik
And being up early we saw the pilot arrive to guide the ship into Reykjavik Harbour.The skyline was full of promise of an exciting city to explore
We decided to forgo the organised excusion to the famous Blue Lagoon, Back in March I had shared the locks on the Hatton flight with a family who turned out to be travel writers, I flippantly asked for any tips about Iceland and was told I must visit the Sky Lagoon, it being newer, a better location, smaller and less busy closer to Reykjavik, and cheaper to boot -with more extras. And after hearing our fellow passengers accounts it seems we chose well. Needless to say you will have to form your own picture of Amanda and I bathing in the thermal waters of the infinity pool overlooking the ocean, of course with a cocktail in hand, before we entered the 7 step spa ritual with its sauna, again overlooking the ocean, the salt scrub and whale music, (don’t picture us leaping into the ice cold plunge pool, that wasn’t so pretty) etc.
I could say that’s it for our trip to Reykjavik, but fortunately it wasn’t. With our radiant skin and chilled out minds we followed our taxi drivers recommendation and found ourselves a cafe serving proper icelandic food. And we sat on the pavement eating soused herring on ryebread
Yes it was delicious
After lunch we followed the rainbow road up to the magnificent Hallgrímskirkja, which although the most impressive of buildings, isnt the Reykjavik cathdral but the parish church. To me its sleek modern architecture summed up how artistic and stylish this island is. And interestingly it is known in English as the Church on the Hill, which is also what the Church our father in law was minister at for many years.
my photos don’t do justice to the scale of this elegant building, known in English as the Church on theHill
And standing watch outside is a monument of Lief Ericsson, the explorer credited with discovering Iceland in the 10th century
Leif Ericsson
Perhaps not all of Iceland’s art is quite as stylish
But I did like the piles of rocks all along the shoreline
We perhaps didn’t make the best of our day exploring Reykjavik, there were many many more attractions that we could have visited. But we had booked ourselves onto a whale watching trip at 3pm so we only had two hours between the spa and what was to be the highlight of our trip. We got ourselves all togged in the gear
And we’re just heading down to the awaiting RIB…..
This was to be a joy ride extraordinaire
…..when our excitement was shattered. The sea conditions had worsened and the waves were now over 2m so our trip was cancelled. To say we were gutted was an understatement. Although with that sort of swell perhaps our guts were secretly relieved. Although it was still only 4pm the last, courtesy bus back to Borealis was at 5. We could have found a taxi and stayed out longer but our spirits were dampened, until of course we got back to the ship, and were met by our favourite waiter, Julius, who gave us a hot toddy before we boarded.
We like to think we were his favourite passengers
all the crew were lovely on board, they were mainly from the Philippines, they all spoke excellent English, and nothing seemed too much trouble for them. We quickly got to know who worked where on the ship, and madam Cheryl and madam Amanda were always greeted with a smile. We’d recommend Fred Olsen as a cruise operator any day. The little extras always made us smile
(And Hi to Steven the cyclist who stopped to say hello yesterday, who let us know he was enjoying the blog- thanks Steven we appreciate knowing)
Iceland is such a dramatic place, from our first sighting as Borealis cruised into the Eastern fishing village of Seydisfjordur, we knew we were in for a treat, as we leaned over the balcony and gazed up at the waterfalls plummiting right into the sea. What would we find beyond the cloud
Despite the low cloud, we were filled with excitment about what we were to see. Donning our icelandic hand knitted sweaters we joined an excusion to visit the Hengifoss Waterfall.
Admittedly we were a bit apprehensive about being herded onto a coach with 60 “more mature travellers” and feared driving for hours, the comical situation of being turfed out for toilet stops, photo opportunities and obligatory purchase of a stuffed toy puffin, so we deliberately chose excusions that included a “good hike”. It was still a long drive, and we did have a pit stop. But the journey itself was worth it, as we climbed to the plateau, looking down at the ship in the distance.
And above the cloud level, we saw the last remnants of the winter snow.
we were assured that this snow would all be gone within a few weeks
Eventually we reached the start of our hike. And oh boy it was definitely a hike, the coach dropped us off in the valley and it didn’t take long before we were shedding layers as we warmed up.
But plenty of excuses to stop for photos – and catch our breathe, as we still had a long way to reach the summit
half way
But it was worth it.
Hengifoss
And we had plenty of time to sit around taking in all the amazing rock formations, the clarity of the air, the peace and gentle chatter of happy people.
Just look at those rock formations
Apparently these magnificent powerful waterfalls do freeze in winter, and the hardy souls still climb the path to see them
The Icelandic community take great pride in their landscape, there was no litter from man or beast, and the footpaths were wide and well maintained, so no necessity to take short cuts and cause erosion
Each turn revealed more amazing rock structures formed through a combination of volcanic and glacial movements
The downside of having chosen to do this hiking excusion, meant that we didn’t get the opportunity to walk around the village,
Seydisfjordur
But we had a very very good day,
And still had the energy to dance the night away after a spot of early evening whale watching
Please forgive the number of photos I’m sharing, this is as much my own diary for me to remember a great holiday, I hope you can enjoy them as much as I enjoy recording them, but its without expectation.
on significant dates it is lit with 15 searchlights and prisms that appear to create a tower of light reaching 4000m into the sky
