Wednesday 21 July 1999
Phew! It’s really hot inside the tent. Martin has to get out to breath and wonders yet again, why I beat him during the night. “I do not snore that much!” he says, but he actually does. The wind had dropped and this morning the sun was strong. We a thick head we slowly move ourselves to the pool and enjoys the hot water – this is just the right cure for us.
Hot and cold water mix and there is not much smell of sulfur here. A lovely young French couple romanticizes in the small pool and that brings the Frenchman in an embarrassing situation. He has to place himself under the cold tube to cool off as result of his beautiful girlfriend’s caress. Despite smiling of the situation all three of us envy him. Three kids are romping and laughing while just arrived tourists walk by dressed in Gore-Tex raincoats and woolen sweaters. They look incredulous at us half-naked Vikings, but they should know…
We get on the bus as planned in brilliant sunshine. The ride is long and hot. It’s actually 18 degrees Celsius today and that makes it the warmest day on our trip. We stop at the “Gullfoss” waterfall and I get into conversation with a female Norwegian violinist. She has stayed on Iceland three weeks and of course brought her violin along. She is very well informed about Iceland as she has stayed by friends on the entire trip. She tells us that “Gullfoss” (Gold waterfall) is brown colored at the moment as the glacier presses a lot of soil into the river. The bus continues and stops again, this time at the famous “Geysir”.
“Geysir” itself is almost inactive, but just next to it different smaller geysers are rather active. The original “Geysir” that named this strange natural phenomenon was very strong and was able to throw up water in 60 meters height in start last century. The greatest active geyser today is “Strukkur”. That one isn’t shy and shows us willingly what this is all about by spitting water 20 meters up in the air. Its fascinating to see how the water bubbles and works and suddenly is pressed upwards with an incredible power on and on. The geyser throws up water consistently every ten minutes and I am able to get some great photos.
Later we continue our bus trip and my conversation with the violinist continues as well. She gives good advices about what to see in “Reykjavík”. It seems like she knows everything and she is also the first to recognize “Hekla” in the distance. An absolutely incredible volcano that majestic appears snow-covered in the distance. We pass “Selfoss” that also is the name of the city built around the delta at the mouth of the river. It’s a really beautiful located city and the powerful river looks great. It’s around 6.30pm when we arrive the BSI-terminal, which is the junction for all long-distance routes to and from “Reykjavík”. I say goodbye to the violinist and we find a city bus to the center. We find the campsite and the nearby hostel rather fast where the German girls decide to stay.
Once again we charm and frustrate a female campsite guide and bum her for hot coffee. We rise the tent and cooks dinner. The weather is great so Hagen and the three of us take a long walk in the wonderful twilight. At the waterfront it’s easy to see the “Snæfellsjökull” glacier in the distance. Hagen determines the distance on his GPS and we are astonished when the answer appears on the display: Incredible 120 km. The sight is striking. The “Snæfellsjökull” glacier was the place where the adventures in Jules Vernes “Journey to the Center of the Earth” began their journey. We would really like to visit that place, but haven’t got the time.
The air is so clean and the sight impressive. No chimneys. The only pollution we smell is the exhaust from the few cars around. We continue our walk to the Viking ship, a steel sculpture raised to honor the first settlers on Iceland. Here young Icelandic’s gathers together to romanticize and enjoy the sunset. We truly understand why. For once I didn’t bring the camera and regret immediately. Behind us we spot the insignificant white wooden house where the summit between USA and The Soviet Union was held. This seems rather unreal, its just an ordinary house!
While we continue into the city center we examine and discuss the town plan, which is quite unique. We walk around in the worlds northernmost capital and probably one of the smallest as well with only 160,000 citizens. Still the city seems quite large. This is due to the large green spaces around. The houses are built with some distance to each other and sometimes we see greatness in architecture. Impressive international work of art as the restaurant “Perlen” (The Pearl) located on top of the city reservoir and of course the spectacular cathedral that is shaped like a tower of flowing lava. The city skyline is beautiful dominated by white walls, green, blue and red roofs and of course the mountain “Esja” and the modern waterfront. But we also see houses covered with sheet metal, peeled walls and colorless wood. This indicates how the raw and cold climate wears down all materials.
The citizens have their evening walk while young hotheads drives by fast and burns rubber in surprisingly rash driving. On the pedestrian street we see a lot of Danish shops and cinemas with new movies we do not even know the existence of. That reminds us about the fact that Iceland has a great American influence. This is also infect the police that drives Harley-Davidson motorcycles and with large sheriff badges.
Well one particular difference to America is present. The police on Iceland do not carry any weapon! Since World War II a NATO base has been present near “Keflavík” and was supposed to be abandoned after the war, but the Americans decided to stay. Not to all the Icelandic’s approbation. When we talked with Martin in “Akureyrí” about this, he said that the Americans are bored here nowadays. The base lost its importance after the cold war and the staff has been cut several times. A lot of Icelandic’s considers the base to be unimportant and might expect it to be reduced or abandoned in near future. That said, the American presence has undoubtedly marked the development and growth that Iceland has experienced the past 50 years.
We go to bed late this evening. We are all smiles and have the thoughts of the most beautiful day of sunshine on the entire trip.