Videy Island

 After our Hotel Breakfast, which is very nice, we headed out to take a bus to a stop as close as we could get to the Videy Island ferry terminal. Prob a good mile from the bus stop. Closer bus routes not run on the weekend.

We arrived at the ferry terminal and bought our tickets, and in a bit boarded for the ride to Videy.

The Ferry was a nice 5 minute ride over to Videy Island as the skies were clear and the sea was calm.

The island covers 0.7 square miles; its highest point is 105 feet above Sea Level. The island is divided by a narrow piece of land creating the West Island, East Island and the largest Home Island. The island has a rich bird life with about 30 species breeding here. The well-vegetated island has areas of bog, grey basalt on the West Island and eastern shore and at least 156 species of plants.

 

 

During the Winter the ferry only operates on Saturday and Sunday.

The island has archaeological remains dating back to the early 10th century and was the site where the "father of Reykjavík" Skuli Magnusson constructed his home and a church in the 12th century.  Now there is a coffee shop inside the house. From 1225 to 1539, an Augustine Monastery was established on the island. There is a deserted village on the island, as the island's last inhabitants left in 1943.

The Imagine Peace Tower is located on the island. It is a "Tower of Light" envisioned and built by Yoko Ono. "The tower is a beam of light, radiating from a wishing well bearing the words "imagine peace" in 24 languages. The plan is for it to be lit each year between John Lennon’s birthday, October 9, and the anniversary of his death December 8.”  In addition the Imagine Peace Tower is lit on the winter solstice, New Year’s Eve, and during the first week of spring.

Charles Lindbergh visited the island when he was planning his flight across the Atlantic.

Videy is a great place for a summer picnic, and some excellent birding.  

We took the ferry back to the terminal and decided we would just walk to the pool, 1.2 miles away. Seemed closer than walking back to the bus and doing a transfer.

From all our hiking this morn, we were ready for our daily hot dog before a swim. When checking in at the pool the young lady at the front desk said I remember you. Here are your bands. Getting known LOL, hope that is a good thing. 

 

 

After a nice warm soaking swim we took the bus back to the the old town center to visit the Flea Market. The local Flea Market “Kolaportid” is only open on the weekends. It is a good place to buy sweaters, antiques, toys and jewelry.  Lynn got a lava bracelet.

From there we needed more bus tickets and went to the 10-11 store. The clerk politely asked “are you after 65?” Well yes we are, so we got Senior Rate Bus tickets, well there are some advantages to this getting old.

Back at our hotel we visited the bar, and learned happy hour has great beer prices of 450 ISK a pint, only from 1600-1800.

Time to chill and rest our feet and think about what we want to do tomorrow. 

Thank you for following along. 
 

 

 

LAVA COME DOWN SOFT AND HOT!!!!!

 LAVA COME DOWN SOFT AND HOT!!!

We were not early breakfast and the hotel breakfast area was just a bit calmer. 

We are excited as I have been checking the Iceland Fagradalsfjall Geldingadalir (DON’T EVEN ASK HOW IT IS PRONOUNCED) Volcano forecast and web cams. IT IS ACTIVE!!!! LETS GO.

We have our backpacks filled with water, food, extra clothes, 1st aid kits, camera gear and more. The intrepid volcano searchers head out to find lunch before the 1300hrs meeting time. I figure a hot dog is the way to go for fortitude. 



We had arranged a volcano tour with Reykjavik Excursions. I was a bit worried it would be a large group which had to stick together. It was not, it was a bus ride with a guide to the volcano parking lot. The ride out and back were narrated with info on the sights we were seeing along the route. 

Once at the parking lot it was time to hit the trail.  

 There were trails A and B until a recent lava flow closed  one of them. Currently the view of the cone is best from Trail C. Suggested times for the various sections of Trail C were as follows - 40 minutes will get you to end of the current lava fields. It is abut 1:45 min to the observation ridge where you can see the crater. The first part to the lava field terminal is relatively flat. The hike up the ridge to the observation points will take 1:30. 

Yes, it is steep and there is a lot of loose rock on the trail. Limited switchbacks.  On the way down I slipped onto my butt twice and Lynn did the same once. Hiking poles are advised. 

We had plenty of supplies and clothes etc. We could have consumed more water but were OK. The wind did pick up and I would say was blowing at 35-45 MPH. (Hey we are from Wyoming and we know our wind speeds)



When we reached the observation ridge, the volcano was tossing out lava, stopping for an occasional 5 min break before starting up again. Yes you can hear and smell the eruption. 

We pulled out our wind gear and warm hats before we started to click pictures. Glad we had that gear for sure. 

During our time there observing, the clouds started to lower and the wind picked up. Smoke started to fill the higher areas of activity. 

We had not stopped at the lava field terminal so made our way there. Really interesting Lava is. 

There was a SAR vehicle there ready to go rescue the fools who were walking on the lava fields. Ugh, as bad as petting a buffalo. O Well. 



At the parking lot there is a food trailer offering Lamb Stew, Fish and Chips, and yes, hot dogs. We had a couple of hot dogs before getting to our bus for the return trip.

Back in town we made our way back to the hotel to clean up and plan a bit of tomorrow. 

It was an amazing experience to see the lava erupting, here are just a few pictures of the route, eruption, lava field, etc etc.  Lynn gets the photo credit for the video and better trail picture.  Sorry for now the video Lynn took is to large to upload. 

By far the most abundant volcanic gas is water vapor, which is harmless. However, significant amounts of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen halides can also be emitted from volcanoes.

The Rangers and SAR folks continuously monitor the gas levels. Should the wind direction be unfavorable they will close the trail. 

 

Day 2 in Reykjavik Nice Museum Visit and Swim

 Reykjavik Day 2 - Here We Go!

The Center Hotel Plaza is located in the Old Town area of Reykjavik, on the Ingólfur Square where the steam pillars are located. This is also the Old Main Street of Reykjavik and the oldest house in Reykjavik is located just 1/2 a block away on main street.

Amazingly we slept to 0600, much longer than expected.

We are up early and have coffee in the room and then off to breakfast. A very nice breakfast was had with eggs, fruit, meats and cheese, coffee and much more, It was nicely done. The breakfast area was rather active but the buffet service was smooth.

We thought about rebooking our volcano hike but given weather forecast etc etc we will go with the original plan. The weather forecast  10/7/2021 is for clearing skies and warmer temperatures. The volcanic activity has picked up a bit. We will see what we will see.

We headed to the Open Air Museum known as Árbæjarsafn. This is the historical museum of the city of Reykjavik. Its purpose is to give the public an insight into the living conditions, work and recreational activities of the people of Reykjavík in earlier times. This is very well done as the have houses displays depicting various times and social levels. 

I very much enjoyed the farm house.

A fun and interesting museum for sure, worth a visit to get a feel for life in early Reykjavik.


After visiting the museum we walked about 1.5K to the Árbæjarlaug city swimming pool, where we had a nice swim. 

We then took the bus back to the city and had a hot dog, at the famous stand.

We decided to just walkabout Reykjavik and revisit some of the more popular sites. 


 

                                        SOLFAR

                             Videy Island, will visit later

                                Rescue  Boat Playing

               WORLDS LARGEST HOP SCOTCH GAME

 

We ended at the Drunk Rabbit Irish Pub for happy hour and ended up chatting with some other visitors who are now in love with Iceland.

We then called it a day and did some preparation for the volcano hike tomorrow.













Hot Dog, Swim and try and Stay AWAKE

 Day 1 - Flight and Arrival Day

 

As I mentioned we flew UAL to KEF and all went relatively well. The route took us via ORD to KEF from DEN. We plan our flights with plenty of wiggle room when it comes to layovers.

Before we boarded I spoke the the First Officer on our flight. One thing I asked was if he thought UAL would keep KEF as a destination. We both agreed they would if they were making a profit. He felt once the initial newness of the route wears off and Newark (EWR) gets construction done the flights to KEF will be via EWR. Icelandic Airways serves DEN with nonstop flights. 

We both felt the nonstop flight was less tiring. Yet, the UAL Club Room at ORD was nice, will have to see what future fares will be. The First Officer thought the fares would be going up on UAL.

Arriving at KEF our gate was on the tarmac and we were bussed into the terminal. They crammed us in like any Asian metro system at rush hour.

Entry into Iceland was efficient. First is passport control, the baggage claim, then your passport, vaccine record, and entry form are checked. Baggage claim and out through Customs with nothing to declare. 

The airport was very very busy, as several flights must have arrived at about the same time. The rental car counters were jammed with people in long lines. 

Out the door and onto the fly bus with many visitors having questions about how to get into Reykjavik. We knew the drill and all went smoothly. 

When arriving the KEF, we usually use the Fly Bus for transport. We book and pre pay on line, show the nice lady your voucher and off we go.  

Here is what confuses first time visitors who use Fly Bus.  The Fly Bus route takes you from KEF to the main bus station called BSI. At BSI you transfer to a smaller bus which can navigate the narrow city streets. You have to transfer your own luggage to the smaller bus. The small bus may take you directly to your lodging, or drop you off at a nearby city bus stop. Today we were dropped at Bus Stop #1 City Hall, then we had a two block walk to our hotel. 

Our hotel on this trip is Center Hotel Plaza. We were very happy to learn our room was ready. Center Hotel Plaza is located in the Old Town area of Reykjavik, on the Ingólfur Square where the steam pillars are located.  Yes, located in Ingólfur Square is a place where one can get a hot dog. LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION!!!

By European Standards our room is large, very large. Bed and sitting area with lots of room to spread out. We like it. 

 

 

We unpack and head out to get a hot dog. The young man working the nearby stand was not busy and we chatted a bit. He was surprised to hear we had visited Iceland so many times. He was also very glad to see people returning to Iceland. 

We then made our way to the 10-11 store (think Mini Mart) to get a book of bus tickets and an Appelsin drink, Iceland orange soda. 

Next stop was a bookshop for a post card, and then to the What’s On Iceland tourist info location at Laugavegur 5, 101 Reykjavík. Here we get some additional information for our stay. 

While much is the same from our previous visits, there have been some changes. One change is the downtown post office has been closed. The book shop does sell postage.  

Next we head to the City Pool at Laugardalslaug. This is our favorite city pool. The hot pools are very relaxing and at Laugardalslaug there is a salt water pool, here ocean water is mixed with the natural thermal waters. 

We decide we better keep moving so we do not fall asleep and gab another hot dog at the stand outside of the pool near the bus stop.

 

 

 

  

We then take the Bus to the Bonus Store in the Old Marina Area of Reykjavik. Here we pick up some supplies for meals. Local bread, cookies, cheese, and licorice. Licorice is very popular and they have some interesting varieties. We like the chocolate covered licorice. 

Back at the room we plan our days and are overcome with the need for sleep, so we did crash.  




 

 

 

 

 I DON’T KNOW…..I DON’T KNOW
WHERE I’ma GONNA GO, WHEN THE VOLCANO BLOWS!!

Well Yes I do!!…. ICELAND 

 Photo credit R. L. Hopkins, Nat Geo, sorry we missed seeing you there.

Strong seismic events began in the area near Fagradalsfjall since late Feb 2021, interpreted as intrusion of magma at shallow depth. This led to the first historic eruption of the volcano on 19 March 2021.

In an effort to jump start their tourism business, Iceland is safely open and COVID entry requirements are easy for those with full vaccinations. WTG ICELAND!!

There are several good hotel rates available. We found a most excellent rate at  Center Hotel Plaza with breakfast included.  Center Hotel Plaza is located in the Old Town area of Reykjavik, on the Ingólfur Square where the steam pillars are located.  Yes, located in Ingólfur Square is a place where one can get a hot dog. LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION!!!

Have I ever mentioned how good the hot dogs are in Iceland?

Also, United Airlines started service to KEF. This gives us loyalty rewards and club access. Bummer, not a direct flight from DEN so we will go through ORD. The airfare was very reasonable. Flying via ORD means a #2 hotdog and some Garrett's Pop Corn.

Recently, the volcanic activity has been intermittent to steady and as such no one knows when the activity might stop. 

The current eruption is located on the Reykjanes Peninsula.  The Reykjanes Peninsula is the peninsula west of Reykjavik,  If you have flown into KEF and driven to Reykjavik you have been on the Reykjanes Peninsula.

The lava has been flowing to the south and SSW,  and there are hiking trail to observation locations. These have changed due to lava flow. We will see what it will be when we get there. There are SAR teams in the area monitoring the gasses from the eruption. 

 

So trip goals are as follows:
 1. To experience and photo the volcano
 2, Visit the Arbaer Open Air Museum
 3. A day of hiking and birding on Videy Island.
 4. Maybe a Volcano Flight
 5. Maybe a whale watching trip.
 6. Eat lots of the best hot dogs in the WORLD!
 7. Get in several swims and soaks in the Public Pools.
 8. Who know what else.

Should be a fun trip.

Will be posting so you can tag along.