Reykjavík, Iceland

Monday, July 30

From its stunning boiling thermal springs and lava fields to its notable ice fields, Reykjavík offers visitors some of the most spectacular scenery in the world.  As Iceland's capital, Reykjavík is also the most northernmost capital in the world.

Reykjavík is home to an array of stunningly powerful geysers.  The city's hot springs function as a remarkable heating system.  Interestingly Iceland is known for its lush green bare mountains where as Greenland is known for its ice and glaciers.

Region: Reykjavík is in the southwestern portion of Iceland on the southern shore of the Faxafloi Bay.  The Ellioaa River is Reykjavík's largest river and Mt Esja is the largest mountain.

Population: 325,671 (est. 2014)

Climate: A cool and mostly temperate climate characterised by a warm North Atlantic current.

Language:  Icelandic

Currency:  Icelandic Kronur (ISK)

We arrived into Reykjavík in cloud which looked like it could have been snow and it was cold in fact freezing!!  It was not raining but looked like it could at some stage throughout the day so we had our wet weather gear ready for our tour.

As we have been to Iceland before and have been on the Golden Circle tour (which is a must for first time visitors) we opted for a tour to the south coast.

Our tour was arranged through Iceland Horizon and our guide for the day was Wally.

From Reykjavík we headed to the south coast, passing over the mountain ranges of Hellisheidi and through the lava fields.

Our first photo stop was at Urrioafoss Falls.  The river was running fast with lots of rapids and a few fishermen sitting on the rocks very close to the water rushing by.

Our next stop was at the thunderous Skogafoss waterfall at Skogar.  We had about an hour of free time here to walk to the base of the waterfall or climb to the top.... we opted for a walk to the base as it had been raining and was starting to rain again so not so pleasant.  A very beautiful waterfall but lots of spray up close!

We carried on to the coast and the black beach, Iceland's most southerly point, where we had time for lunch.  Food is very expensive in Iceland with soup costing approximately $23 a bowl, a plate of hot chips around $10 and a small glass of beer around $12.  We opted for hot chips, a beer and a hot chocolate which cost over $30 and our ham and cheese rolls we made ourselves.  After lunch we had time to walk on the black sand surf beach to view the puffin colonies in the drizzling rain.

After our lunch break we headed further along the coast to visit the Solheimajokull Glacier which is part of the Myrdalsjokull ice cap.  The glacier face is about a 30 minute walk from the car park.  We managed to walk to the glacier and get our photos before the rain started again for our walk back to the car!  The glacier is 14km long and since regular measurements from 1930 shows the glacier has retreated a total of 977m.

Our last stop was to the Seljalandsfoss waterfall where most of the year it is possible to walk behind the falls.  Yes we did get to walk behind the falls and yes we did get wet!

From here we made our way back to Reykjavík which was about a 90 minute drive.  All in all we travelled about 375kms.  We had a mix of weather from rain, to wind to sunshine but always cold and sometimes wet!

It was a long but very enjoyable day.  Reykjavík is one of my favourite ports and a must see so put it on your bucket list!!

Two sea days to recharge before Greenland... a first for us.

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