We’ve finally arrived in the port of Reykjavik in Iceland!!! Let’s have a look around just around the harbor and along the nearest shore!
Our second stop is going to the Blue Lagoon spa with geothermal seawater from wells 2000 m (6000 feet) deep and a temperature of 36-39°C (100-110°F) filled with silica, minerals salts and blue green algae. Oh, so refreshing to float around there!
Next off to the nationalpark Thingvellir and Þingvallavatn (pronounced like th) which is a lake with a surface of 84 km² – the biggest (natural) lake of the island. Its greatest depth is 114 m and the large quantity of sulfur and salt, makes the lake extremely light and the water seems to be in less weight than other lakes. At the northern shore of the lake the parliament of Iceland, Alþingi, which was founded in the year of 930 – one of the oldest parliamentary institutions of the world!
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge runs through Iceland there too and it’s clearly visible.
The geothermal power plant Nesjavellir provides Reykjavik with 25% of all their hot water through pipelines down to the city. An incredible installation, to see those pipelines drawn all over the countryside!
Then we have the spectacular waterfall Gullfoss which falls 32 meters in two steps. The water comes from the glacial river Hvítá which source is from underneath the glacier Langjökull and floats after about 133 kilometers right into the Atlantic Ocean.
And not to forget: the Geyser-area, to get real close to them and actually see the hole in the ground and the boiling water and then, slowly it builds up this one big bubble just before it have an outburst way up in the sky as a surprise!
The volcano Hekla is the most active volcano there, the last eruption were in 2000, but we just passed that one which I’m glad for… They have many small earthquakes every day, so I hope we can avoid it!
We will go on an excursions by jeep into the area of Þórsmörk (Thors wood), which is a valley who is difficult to reach beacuse it’s placed between three glaciers, named Myrdalsjökull, Eyjafjallajökull and Tindafjallajökull. They emit a lot of melting water in the area, creating glacial rivers, so it’s difficult to go there without a jeep. Some days the crossing is quite challenging. An innocent stream can change in a matter of hours to a thunderous torrent.
Ooops, we barely made it over back again! It was also in there the jeep had a flat tire…. But they were prepared to that, when they started the car engine it started to blow up the tire again! Phew!
On the way to the area there is another smaller waterfall Seljalandfoss where we went behind all the falling water, quite a wet experience 
Wait! The adventure is not over yet! We have to go into the narrow gorge of Stakkholts, a magnificent and breathtaking canyon, which we were taking a walk through. The walk included a difficult passage on rocks in the water, so we were lucky that we were well prepared with waterproof boots!
We have to go out on the sea for some whale- and birdwatching. Let’s se if we can spot more than a dolphin and a lot of puffins nesting on a small island outside Reykjavik. According to them, we’re almost bound to see at least dolphins or a whale. If we don’t they’ll give us free tickets for the next time we visit, that’s nice hah?
Of course, if we now is on Iceland, we MUST to take a ride on the Icelandic horse over the lava fields! It is very special with their special walk, the tölt. Very comfy, sitting almost still in the saddle. Though there were a bit of problems when one of the leaders got thrown off her young and lively horse, but all went well, luckily. Phew.
The nature in Iceland is very special – it’s like another planet. All those volcanoes and lava fields makes it somehow unreal, but it’s amazingly beautiful. The southern part of Iceland do have green fields and plants, so it’s not just bare lava fields. They have also been planting a lot of Alaskan lupines, so there is beautiful blue fields.
Now we’re going to the Skalholt church with excavations and ruins from 1784 and then to see the volcano crater called Kerið. The young (!) crater Kerið was formed about 6500 (they even had different opinions on the age) years ago in Icelands Western Volcanic Zone. It is 270 m long, 170 m wide and 55 m deep. Depth of water varies between 7-14 m.
Please avoid stepping to close to the edge!!!
The Icelandic language is extremely difficult. The names and words are just not understandable. Kinda cool I think!
They’ve closed down their biggest Disco, which was said to be Europes biggest! I’m not up to go out dancing in the nightlife – I’ll leave that up to you, we’re having a romantic evening by ourselves 
I’ll show you some scenes from the inner city – shaped by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions once upon a time.
It’s a must to go to Kaffi Reykjavik, an icebar in Reykjavik – totally built up with ice and holds 6°c (42°F) where they serve cocktails and Icelandic Brennivín. See their photos of the icebar. You must at least have a look at Kaffi Reykjaviks menu too.
They hosts a different band every night – rock, pop or disco – be aware of though that it can get pretty wild! For those who want the more civilized alternative, live jazz and blues can be found alternating with rock and pop at Kringlukrain, in the Kringlan shopping mall, with their popular sing-alongs.
Butt be prepared to take a lot of money with you, because it’s very expensive both at the icebar and in Iceland overall!
See all Lifecruiser Iceland photo slideshow.
Lifecruiser ♥ Iceland
What a wonderful trip you had made there (and a lot of work to show it to us !) I didn’t know at all that Iceland was so beautiful ! I have seen nearly the same landscape in Yellowstone Park with the gysirs but Iceland is much closer. So another spot of the world to see which I have to add to my travel list. I never saw or maybe I never payed attention that there are offers from travel agencies for that destination. I love wild landscapes very much and would even sit on a horse although I am a little afraid of them.
Thanks very much for this great travel !
Lifecruiser: Thanks – even though I’m not really satiesfied with it myself, I was under time pressure as always these days. I wanted to put in more humor, but it will have to do as it is
There should be package deals, flight+hotel+some excursions at the travel agencys, but they’re expensive ones. You also can take just flight+hotel and then book the excursions yourself with some help from the hotel reception. It’s wise to not drive out alone with these kind of excursions to the glaciers and things like that, but the geysirs could be done alone.
It’s the excursions that makes the experience so wonderful, we weren’t that fond of the Reykjavik city actually. It’s also very small.
Even The Blue Lagoon alone can make me go back there! It was that wonderful! A healing experience even. We were bathing for hours, never wanted to go up from there! If we ever go to the US again, we’ll make a stop over in Iceland – many airlines have that offer.
BTW I think Melli earns also a price because finally she had the hat idea and came with 20 hats on board, so I shared my price with her and gave her a price for the hat IDEA ! Otherwise it wouldn’t be right.
Lifecruiser: That’s a very nice gesture Gattina – i’d have done the same myself
Niceland indeed!
Hey Capn LC ~ I have to get to werk so I’ll be back tonight to read this post in detail! Wouldn’t want to miss any of those fabulous smooch details! LOL
Lifecruiser: Good
Ooooooooooooooh! I’ll have to tell my father about this – he’s a diehard volcano chaser and especially loves to visit the seriously active ones, usually in Indonesia/Malaysia. The geothermal baths are devine. It reminds me of Pamukkale in Turkey. My workload is through the roof atm, so thanks for the delightful break away from home for a while!
Lifecruiser: Oh, yes , there should be plenty of them I guess
How wexciting interest. A bit to exciting for me I think, though I never thought about it when we were on Iceland!
Thanks so much for this fant-ice-tic tour, Captain Icebar Lifecruiser. The nature is just stunning. You know I love waterfalls… Gullfoss is breathtaking! Love your photos!
I´ll put my bikini on again and have another refreshing bath in the Blue Lagoon spa now =)
Lifecruiser: i promise you, you want to stay there ofr so long that you will become wrinkled like a raisin!!!
What a wonderful round trip Captain Icebar!! Seeing Niceland through your eyes was just hilariously good. Before this I’ve only been to Reykjavik airport, but now I feel I’ve been all around thanks to your wonderful slide shows. No wonder you wanted to stay forever in the Blue Laguna as everything was floating so nicely;-)
To offer this and also the spa was just what I wanted right now as I just came back from a 27 hole golf round and was exhausted – Perfect timing! I’ll post about it later on tonight – so stay tuned!
Btw: there is one thing else I would love to try in Iceland, and that is Smalahove
but then again I’m a Viking too you know:-)
Lifecruiser: Oh, I really don’t know about that smalahove…. YUK….
I visited Iceland a few years ago and I loved it. It was October, after tourist season, and we had every kind of weather imaginable.
Lifecruiser: It truly is MAGICAL
Lovely Niceland!
Blue lagon spa, geyser, volcano, horses, geothermal, icebar, different music! another paradize! So we altern warm and cold lands! How cool is our life in this cruisetrip!!!
Lifecruiser: Yes, it has really been a lot of different ports to ENJOY
Hi Lifecruisers! Since I mentioned it; My opening of golf season (and in Sweden!) post is up and of course also an invitation to all my readers to join our cruise:grin:
Lifecruiser: I’ll have to check it up – and so does Mr Ltoo, since he is a golfer since 20 year
Wow…..I’m late, I’m late….for a very important date!! I’ve been gone most of the day, and I wanted to stop by before I shut down the computer….this was THE MOST fabulous adventure yet. Amazing….and since I’m really late, I’m gonna stay up til dawn in hopes of catching some norther lights activity!!!
*rumbling* —-oh, oh….I think we just had a small earth tremor!!!
Happy day everyone.
Tomorrow, here at home, we’re going to have someone come out and put in a new ceiling light fixture —a huge one….4 light tubes with a wooden frame around the ceiling and such….so, I may not be online much after they show up!!! So, if I’m not here—-Happy Tuesday to all.
Lifecruiser: Are you sure that it wasn’t just the drink mixer (it’s a very BIG one for this cruisers!) causing that earth tremor??? *lol*
Happy Tuesday to you to!
I’m baaaaack!
Capn Icebar – you photos really give us a true appreciation for ICELAND. I’m lovin’ the Blue Lagoon and seeing the geysers blow!!
Oh and the ice bar is really COOL!!! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist!
Now I dink I gebbing a widdle cold so I may hab to turn in early tonite Acccchooooooo!
Lifecruiser: OJ! You really need that relaxing time in the spa to take care of that cold! Here have some hot chocolate too.
Take care
Oh WOW! I had no idea how beautiful Iceland is! Nor did I have any idea how many wonderful waterfalls there are…. wow! Is the water in the geysers REALLY that blue? I sure am ready for a dip in that Blue Lagoon! I hope we have NO earth quakes while I am here…. especially while we’re at the glaciers! That Church of Hallgrimur is really SOMETHING! I am just in awe of this whole place! And YOU my dear are beautiful too!
Lifecruiser: Thanks Melli
Neither did I, but it was truly beautiful and very magical, like being on another planet! Yes, in that gesyir it was that blue, not in all, some of them seemed to be more greenish, but still very interesting! Especially when they burts out into a bubble first and then the whole spirt!
[...] Iceland brrrrr! Freezing, but [...]
Lifecruiser: But verrry niiice in the Blue Lagoon!!! lol*
I went wild in Thor’s Forest. What more to expect. The Alves came to rescue. What a treatment.Wow. May be that’s the reason for my painful back?
I do not think it could have been the horseriding, nor the Hekla climbing nor the Geysir watching – og stop a moment – must have been the Geysir: following the water that fast when suddenly bending back…. hm. May be. Or the Blue lagoon, did I see something there that caught my immediate attention…
Sitting here, looking like a Z. Zuuper.hehehe.
Lifecruiser: So, you’re actually Zorro….? *LMAO*
[...] Iceland going to the Blue Lagoon [...]
I’m surprised how beatiful Iceland is. It is very green. Are there any geothermal power plants in Iceland? This is certainly taken in summer, I always hat the idea Iceland is a rough, cold island.
Yes, there are several geothermal power plants, one of them is mentioned in the post: Nesjavellir.
We also have some biogas in Sweden, there is some mention of it here with a link to Swedish biogas:
Mark green approach to travel
Oh lucky woman, it sound fantastic! Dream of one day going there..
As you know, I really really want to go to Iceland. And your pictures only make me want to go more!
Very beautiful pictures of Iceland! I hope to visit there next summer.