Reykjavik 2
Tuesday April 9, 2024
My second day trip was up to the Langjokull Glacier. A few hours north of Reyjavik, Langjokull is Iceland's second largest; the largest being Vatnajokull in the east. We stopped by Deildartunguhver, natural hot springs along the way, before continuing to Hraunfossar and Barnafoss Waterfalls, dramatic rapids and water flows caused by lava caverns. The water was exceptionally blue, and at this time of year, there was a little bit of ice on the paths around the area.
To ascend the glacier, we sat in a large converted missile carrier. These were decommissioned and exported to Iceland on the condition that they never leave the island and never used for war (that one's easy, said the tour guide, since they don't have an army). The pneumatic pipe system allows the driver to inflate and deflate the tyres depending on the type of snow on the road, and this is a uniquely Icelandic invention that is being used for research vehicles in Antarctica. The ascent took around an hour, and at the top, we shuffled into a metallic tube resembling a sewer.
The Langjokull ice cave is a man-made cavern drilled out eight years ago for tourism purposes. Due to the glacier movement, the tunnels are expected to disappear in five years' time, as crevasses and open and close as well. Various lights have been drilled into the ice to illuminate and highlight the blue colour of the glacier, as well as draw attention to the characteristic banding caused by the successive layering and compression of snow each year. The layer of ash caused by the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in 2010 was also clearly visible, and I thought that was pretty amazing.
We went out the way we came and descended in the converted missile carriers. The trip back to Reykjavik took around two hours, and since I had an early start the next day, I opted not to go on an aurora hunt that night. Instead, after grabbing some food for dinner, I walked around the park near the Perlan museum and spotted a few black and grey bunnies feeding in the fields!
My third and final day trip was to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. This would take us almost 11 hours, but we had so many stops along the way. After leaving Reykjavik around 9am, we drove for around 90 minutes to reach Gerðuberg Cliffs, large hexagonal columns in a row that reminded me very much of Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. From there, we continued west to Ytri Tunga, famous for its seal colony and whale backbone sitting on the beach, then to Búðakirkja, the black church, and then to Arnarstapi. We did a short hike along the coast to see hundreds of seagulls nesting in the cliffs, as well as some dramatic rock formations like a stone bridge, very similar to what I saw in Newfoundland, and a couple of holes in rocks.
Continuing west, we saw Lóndrangar, a rock formation that looked like a viking ship. The locals called it an elf cathedral and an elf library. Our next stop was Djúpalónssandur, the black pebble beach, where they had four strength stones that they used to use to determine suitability to become fishermen - the first stone weighed 23kg, the second 54kg, the third 100kg and the fourth 154kg. The lore goes that the stone you could lift to your chest would determine how much you would be paid - the heavier the stone, the greater the pay. Hafþór Björnsson, famous for being "The Mountain" on Game of Thrones, often comes here to do exhibitions; for me, I was pleased enough to lift the 54kg stone, given I'm not really in the business of lifting more than my own weight. We stopped by the red church quickly, Ingjaldshólskirkja, before heading to our final destination for the day, Kirkjufellsfossar Waterfall and Kirkjufell Mountain.
Along the way, we had a quick toilet break, but some idiots on the tour decided it would be a good opportunity to order food from the cafe. We ended up waiting half an hour for them to get their food, instead of stopping for only ten minutes. Sometimes I really can't understand how inconsiderate people can be, with no sense of how the rest of the group is affected by these selfish actions.
The view of Kirkjufell Mountain towering over the waterfall is so iconic that they use it for every promotional image for the peninsula. It’s not a surprise though, it really is a beautiful sight. When we were there, it was covered in white snow. In summer, it’s green. If you come at the right time of day, the sun will create a rainbow in the spray of the waterfall. We drove back to Reykjavik, a two hour drive, and I tried to grab some food from two restaurants but they were both too busy, so I ended up at a seafood grill on the outskirts of town. I had to rush for my final aurora tour of the week! This one started out quite mellow but soon that brilliant glow intensified. It was bitterly cold and very windy but we stuck it out for as long as we could. We had both green and purple that night, and again, a surprising show given the Kp index was only 3.00.
On my last day in Reykjavik, I wandered around the park where the Perlan building is and then popped into town. I ended up at the Phallological Museum again to use their wifi and their toilet, and then went for lunch at one of the places I had missed out on the previous night. It was an uneventful bus ride to Keflavik airport and a five hour flight back to Toronto.
The last three months have had decent highs but huge lows. It’s taken a toll on me emotionally. I felt I did the best I could with the logistical changes, and then I was lucky to have the support of my family while I was laid off. The drama with Prytania continues - maybe I’ll write about this separately - and litigation is also in the works. I’m looking forward to a week off to recover, and then I’m in the skies again to chase the Great American Solar Eclipse of April 2024.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:47am on Tuesday April 9, 2024 :: 0 comments :: 
Reykjavik 1
Saturday March 30, 2024
The flight from Akureyri was straightforward, and I managed to get a taxi from Reykjavik domestic airport to my new hostel. A drive of 10 mins (which could have been walked in 30 mins) cost me $30CAD. I spent the afternoon doing laundry and wandering around the downtown area, admiring all the cats of Reykjavik as well as the big church on the hill, Hallgrimskirkja, with its distinctive silhouette. I had some very average fish and chips before heading to the bus terminal for an aurora hunt. Though the weather was perfect, the northern lights evaded us that night, so we got to rebook the following night for free.
My first day tour covered the Golden Circle - a loop of south Iceland's most famous attractions. The first stop was Thingvellir National Park, where we had actually been the night before for the aurora tour. This beautiful area has the fissure where the European and the North American tectonic plates meet, evident in the large valley forming between two rock formations. There were a lot of people around, but I opted to walk off the main path where I could get a nice view of the area. We then stopped by Efstidalur, a dairy farm selling ice cream, where I got a scoop of blueberry skyr and a scoop of orange ice cream. There was an area where you could watch the calves feeding, which was super cute.
From there, we continued to Strokkur, a geyser reaching 20 metres tall that erupts every 10 or so minutes. It's so bizzare to see this giant bulge of water forming, then suddenly shooting an incredible jet into the sky. It's not like the small ones that we see in Rotorua, but the sulfurous smell was definitely evident in the area. The furthest landmark on our tour was Gullfoss Waterfall, fed by the waters from Langjokull Glacier, Iceland's second largest and home of the man-made ice cave that I would be visiting the next day. This was my favourite, though definitely not the most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen. The cascading, multi-level falls coupled with the rich blue colour of the water made for incredibly picturesque photographs, though the wind made it difficult to stay outside for too long.
On our way home, we dropped by Friðheimar, a tomato farm that uses greenhouses to grow all its produce. The greenhouses in Iceland are powered by both geothermal energy for heat and electricity for full-spectrum light, and they grow a variety of vegetables and fruits, such as tomatoes, potatoes, salad greens, cucumbers and mushrooms. This particular greenhouse also kept its own bees to pollinate the tomatoes and flowers inside. The smell of pomodoro sauce filled the interior of the greenhouse, which housed a restaurant and bar as well, and despite the huge variety of strange tomato products - tomato beer, tomato cocktails, soups, breads, tomato espresso tonic - I only got to try their tomato ice cream, which tasted very fruity, almost like passionfruit. Our final stop was the Kerid volcanic crater, formed over 6000 years ago. The crater lake at the bottom had frozen over, giving an interesting aesthetic to the rocky, iceless basin.
Our aurora tour that night was much more successful. Even before the bus had arrived in the designated viewing area, the glowing white band of "cloud" was visible. Though it was cold, it wasn't windy so the conditions were perfect for view. There were two distinct bands of light stretching across the sky that shimmered and rolled to the awe of the hundreds of people that had gathered to watch. It was so bright and clear, and I got some amazing pictures of my phone, though I think I left the exposure on for too long. It was certainly a night to remember. The thing that surprised me the most was that the Kp index was at 1.00 that night, which really goes to show how unpredictable the aurora are.
Posted by Jeremy at 3:20pm on Saturday March 30, 2024 :: 0 comments ::
Akureyri
Tuesday March 26, 2024
It was a little bit of a logistical inconvenience to get here. Reykjavik domestic airport is an hour’s drive away from the international airport in Keflavik, and I basically arrived right on 30 minutes before departure to drop my luggage off for my connecting flight. On arriving in Akureyri in the north, the arrivals hall was empty of staff so I had to go outside, lugging my giant suitcase in the snow and wind, to go to the departure hall to find someone to call a taxi for me. I made it to the hostel though, and luckily check in was smooth.
On Saturday, I had a free day to do grocery shopping because I knew food here is super expensive and I wanted to pack my own lunch for the day trips I had booked. I also wandered around town, but it’s a very small city so that didn’t take long at all. I ended up chilling in the mall for a while because they had free wifi and it was warm and there were heaps of people around. My driver for the aurora tour that I had booked said the weather was not good at all, and postponed the excursion for Sunday.
On Sunday, I covered most of the major sights in North Iceland. Our tour group was me, two Brits and four Australians, who said my Kiwi accent had been a bit diluted from being in Canada. We started off by going through Hvalfjarðargöng Tunnel, which connects Akureyri with the eastern side of the eponymous mountain range, and the interior of the tunnel reaches temperatures of 16C because of the hot springs that the tunnel passes through. We stopped at Goðafoss, the waterfall of the gods, and Skútustaðagígar, false craters created by exploding lava and steam bubbles. That area overlooks Lake Mývatn, frozen over on the southern side, where they filmed Fast and the Furious 8. We continued to Lavator Dimmuborgir, columns of rock formed from lava, which the locals have many myths about, since the formations resemble trolls. It turns out Icelanders really love mentally scarring their kids. After visiting the geothermal activity at Hverir, we spent the next couple of hours at the Nature Baths. One of the Australians on the trip had prebooked a ticket for the spa but had injured his foot, so he let me have it for free, and in return I have to stop saying mean things about Australia. For a bit. The spa was really nice though, but not worth the $70 for an hour.
There had been an epic double sunspot solar flare - they call this a sympathetic solar flare - that had produced a strong CME that hit the earth around 2pm Icelandic time, which meant, ironically, that New Zealand was in prime position to view some magnificent auroral displays. It was so overcast in Akureyri that night, that we saw nothing on the drive, so I got booked in for the next night as well.
On Monday, our tour group was me, two Danish and two Germans, and though we covered most of the sights I did on Sunday, we also covered the main reason I had come to Akureyri - Dettifoss. The road to Dettifoss is closed during winter and the government doesn’t plough it because they want to discourage tourists from visiting during this time. Sure enough, the road was a metre deep in snow, and it is only thanks to the skill or outright insanity of our driver that our chunky jeep made it through, sliding and slipping along the way. The entire one hour journey felt like constant turbulence in an airplane. We still had to walk 20 minutes in knee deep snow to see the waterfall, but after all that work, it seemed like a rewarding experience. That ice and snow aesthetic is magnificent.
As we were driving back to Akureyri, gaps of blue in the cloud began to break through, giving me hope for a solid auroral display that night. Our group this time was a French marine biologist from Lyon called Alex, and two Singaporeans, one of whom was also called Jeremy. We started off in the south just after 9pm, and we managed to see a thin band of green activity hovering over the mountains. As twilight gave way to darkness and the moon started to rise over the clouds, we relocated to the north, near the tunnel. All of a sudden, I started to see some ghostly clouds, waving about in the sky, moving suspiciously quickly over the stars and fading in and out. We stopped by a lookout point and took out our cameras for some beautiful pictures showing that brilliant green so clearly visible on the long exposure pictures, yet so dull to the naked eye. Though I only had my iPhone 12, I managed to snap some fantastic shots that I’ll treasure forever. Finally, after all the bad luck I’d been having, it was nice to have this moment of beauty to appreciate on my last night in Akureyri.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:35am on Tuesday March 26, 2024 :: 0 comments ::
The Road Home
Friday March 22, 2024
It’s finally time to leave Barcelona. Despite all the ups and downs of the last few months, I have enjoyed my day to day here, the city remains one of my favourite in the world to visit. It is getting more expensive and the drought is pretty bad, but there’s charm and character and very good food. This time I’ve had an opportunity to try other cuisines as well, like Korean, Japanese, Indian, Lebanese and Italian.
Several people visited. Loïc came in from France, which was really lovely because he visited specifically to see me. Sarah Jane and Hannah came in from Toronto with two others for a whirlwind tour of the city, which contained about of shopping and Instagramming and TikToking (this is making me sound old, but I am, so there). Within the two groups, I did a lot of walking - Montserrat, Tibidabo and of course, from shop to shop in the Gothic Quarter. Also went on a bike ride from Barceloneta to Port Forum and then back through Diagonal and Arc de Triomf. The weather has been fantastic, save for a single day of rain.
I got to see Castellers as well, which I found super exciting. These are the towers constructed by people standing on top of each other, reaching several storeys high. They even have kids - I’m talking four or five years old - climbing to the top to add that extra height to the tower. What results is an impressive display of strength and balance, and I’m so happy to have witnessed this first hand.
My next destination is Iceland. I’m spending a few days in Akureyri and then the rest of the week in Reykjavik. Hopefully the volcanic activity won’t disrupt anything, and additionally I hope there will be some fantastic aurora sightings. This excursion has already had a huge problem - a few days ago, Booking.com messaged me to say my Reykjavik hotel had cancelled my reservation and I had to panic book an alternative at $200 extra. I later found out that the hotel owner had been arrested by police on suspicion of money laundering and human trafficking…and I can’t help but think I might have dodged a huge bullet.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:10am on Friday March 22, 2024 :: 0 comments ::
Iceland
Friday February 24, 2017
There's something in the ice in Iceland that makes it much more serene than in Canada. Certainly at this time of year, the soft covering of pristine white snow around the city makes it more picturesque, and even more so in the countryside.
Upon arriving in Reykjavik, I had some time to kill before checking in, so I wandered around town for a bit. I'm staying on a hill near a massive church, with a tower that overlooks the whole city. The view from the top is the highest point in Reykjavik and seeing the city come alive as the sun rose was magical. Afterwards, I walked into the CBD and visited a volcano museum, which happened to be staffed by a guy who studied at Victoria University in Wellington, so that was a good yarn indeed. I continued on to various locations around town, stopping for lunch (I got grilled plaice and lobster!) and for shelter during the snow storm. I wanted to go to this highly rated Icelandic restaurant for dinner but they didn't have space available, so I went to a steakhouse and got some steak.
Yesterday I went on a tour around Iceland's southern coast. It was jam packed with sightseeing, we visited Skogafoss Waterfall, which has water from the infamous volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, then the Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach for lunchtime where I got some expensive fish and chips. The tour continued to the Solheimajokull Glacier, where we hiked for a few hours onto the glacier itself, admiring (and avoiding) some large crevasses all over the terrain. There was the opportunity to go down and explore one of them, but unfortunately we didn't have time. There were a lot of groups on the glacier and we opted to hike further up to watch the sunset colours light up the white snow and blue ice.
We stopped by the Seljalandsfoss Waterfall on the way back, which we missed that morning as there were too many people around it. You can walk behind it, but at that time of night it would have been suicidal, so we took a few photos and then I got dropped off for the aurora hunting tour.
Four minibuses scoured the southwestern coast of Iceland for a dark spot with no light pollution and clear skies. We found the Strandarkirkja church and waited for a bit but to no luck. A snowstorm started picking up so we bundled back onto the buses. Unexpectedly, about an hour later on the way back to Reykjavik, we found a large campfire by the side of the road and all four buses pulled over - "we have lights!!" came the excited call over the intercom. We all rushed out to gawk at the night sky and sure enough, overhead, visible but faint, were these curtains and pillars of green light, moving slowly and fading in and out of view.
The shots you see on Google image search are all taken with long exposures on fancy cameras so completely not representative of what you see in real life. What the cameras don't capture is the movement, the ghostly shimmering of the aurora borealis as it dances across the sky. It was a very memorable experience for me, it's definitely one that I can check off on the bucket list. Of course I'd like to take every opportunity to see more aurora, especially in different colours.
I was back at the hostel close to 2am and today it's completely whited out with snow. They cancelled the whale watching trip I was supposed to go on and it does look quite miserable outside, so it might just be a quiet rest day today.
Posted by Jeremy at 1:01pm on Friday February 24, 2017 :: 0 comments ::
Waterloo to Reykjavik
Wednesday February 22, 2017
A high school friend of mine met me at Niagara Falls and took me for lunch at a nearby winery before heading back to the falls for an Escape Room. Themed around science in one room and art in the other, we worked effectively as a team of five and a half to solve all the puzzles with 25 minutes to go - this room had an 18% success rate! Feeling pleased with ourselves, we walked down the river path towards the actual waterfall.
It's hard to put into words or even pictures how magnificent the Niagara Falls are. The view from the Canadian side is definitely superior, as you get a better angle of both sets of falls. Furthermore, it was such a sunny day that the spray from the river produced a fine pair of rainbows, making the sight truly memorable.
We went home to Waterloo and played some games before retiring for the night. The next day was pretty relaxed, and as it was a public holiday, my friend had the day off too. We went to the next town over to visit a VR Arcade called Ctrl V. It's exactly what you think it is - a set of cubicles with the HTC Vive wired up for you to play in for an hour. There were some really fun games in there - no Into the Dead though. My favourites were a simple shooter where you shot flying pods and dodged their bullets in turn, and a stand-your-ground zombie shooter that provided some fantastic shock and scare moments!
We ended up playing board games again that night, one called Tales of the Arabian Night, which is a controlled, shortened version of Dungeons and Dragons. My character had a horrible time, but the game was kinda fun.
Today I swam for a bit, but struggled with my sore shoulder, and also walked around Waterloo. My friend works at the University of Waterloo, so I met him for lunch, then detoured to an amazing board games and collectibles shop on the way home.
And now, I'm on the plane to Iceland. Forecast is partially cloudy with a 40% chance of aurora, increasing to 60% on Thursday - the exact date I am going aurora hunting!!
Posted by Jeremy at 12:51am on Wednesday February 22, 2017 :: 0 comments ::