Today we would experience wet, very windy, Iceland. After all, it is important to get a real view of this country. Three days of sunshine were a true gift. While it was rainy to begin with, we had periods of no rain but wind. A good mix to help us feel the reality of Iceland.
Today would be spent in the Katla Geopark. I found a map and McKenna circled the areas we would visit. To get the map scanned, I had to do it in halves. Hope you can get the general idea. You can see Vik on the second picture at the bottom of the page.
Our first stop was Solheimajokull Glacier. It is on the first page of the map at the top left side. There was a nice uphill climb to get to the viewpoint. From there you could walk over rocks to the edge of the glacier. We stayed at the viewpoint. I was really enjoying Iceland's vegetation in their fall colors. Claude even made me a cairn by placing a small rock on a very large rock. He is so kind!It was at the glacier that Claude encountered his first pay toilet. Fortunately, it took a credit card for that meager fee. We had no Iceland Krona.
Our second stop was a Dyrholaey Overlook. The Atlantic Ocean is the water. There are arches in the rocks in the water and in the cliff overlooking the ocean. We were to walk to the overlook and then up the hill to the lighthouse. We had a couple tell us the day before that they took this hike to the lighthouse. It was arduous (they were much younger than us). From their description, Claude and I opted not to hike to the lighthouse. We found several places where we could view the arches in the rocks from our vantage point. We did hike over another hill and then down to a place where there was a hole in the rock form and blowhole as the waves crashed against that shore. Then, the rain started and we headed back to the coach. This site is on the first page of the map at the bottom of the page. 
Our third stop was Reynisfjara Beach. On the other side of this site a little ways is where Vik is. You can see the three columns of stone in the ocean from Vik. The site is located on the second page of the map at the bottom. We were told that, when the tide is right, you are not to turn your back to the ocean. It has sneaker waves that come up unexpectedly and will pull you right out into the ocean. Fortunately, we were not visiting at that time in the tides. The sign pointing us to the beach has a yellow sign on it warning you of this danger.This beach is one I really wanted to see. It has stones that have six sides to them. This is not at all common in nature. Yet there are two caves on this beach full of these six-sided stone columns. Remember our walking tour of Reykjavik. The Harpa Concert Hall is patterned after these stone columns.
Also, those three stone columns in the ocean that can be seen from this beach and from Vik have a story. The story is that trolls lived in the caves. They would come out and night and capture ships. Once, they decided to capture a ship during the daytime. They were turned into these three columns in the ocean.
We would walk to the first cave and then around the corner to the second cave. These are not deep caves. The cool thing is you can see Dyrholaey Overlook and the arched rocks from Reynisfjara Beach.
By the time we got back to the hotel, there was fog on the mountain behind the hotel. The coach dropped us off in Vik so we could find some lunch. We went to a little restaurant that had lamb stew. This is a big deal in Iceland and Claude really wanted to try some. We found the spot and he had his lamb stew. Then we hiked back to the hotel until time for our tour of Vik in the afternoon and evening.
Here is the map of Vik. Again, I had to scan it in two pieces.
Our first stop was the Church on the Hill. Most of these church has red roofs. From this spot you could get great views of this little town. Remember, its resident population is about 300 people. Our hotel, Hotel Kria, is in the picture below. It is the gray building on the left center. There is a campground in front of it. On the map, it is on page 2 with a number 25 on it.
Then we went to two sites right across the street from each other. We were asked to split into two groups and half visit one site and then cross the street to the other site.
Claude and I visited the Vik Visitor's Center first. It is in the building with the number 14 on it on the first map page. It is a very small museum. I found these interesting things to me. The first is a good story of the lava fields. The second is the glacier covered area we had been in all day. The third is an old picture of Vik. You can compare it to the third picture taken of Vik from the Church on the Hill for contrast as to how Vik has grown. The fourth picture I took because I loved the handwriting. I have no idea what it says. But the handwriting in Icelandic is gorgeous.
Our final tourist stop for this evening was the Icelandic Lava Show. This is on the map but right between the pages. You can see the building number 12 in the left center of the picture. The other half of the building is in the center right of the first map picture.
This was amazing. They actually take the black sand, which is lava granules, and melt them and extremely high heat in a furnace back state. The lave then pours down into a sand filled trough at the temperature of lava from an erupting volcano. The person narrating this event was trained in all then volcano. She did a masterful job of letting us know of the lava moves and what it is really like in all of its stages. You are given goggles to protect your eyes and the theater heats up quite a bit.
Lava insulates itself. The outside cools and hardens keeping the inside hot for a much longer time. She is showing us how the lava spins a thread just like when you are testing candy you are making a home.
Here she is putting ice into the lava flow. In Iceland there are mostly snow capped volcanos. Many with glaciers on top. The danger to people below is the flooding that comes when one of them erupts. Katla is the one they are most concerned about now. It had been a very active volcano over the years and is due to erupt again. Our narrator said they would like it to erupt sooner rather than later as the longer it waits, the worse it will be. The country takes measures to create places for the flooding waters to pool to try and save communities like Vik.
When she presses the ice into the lava, it forms a blister-like dome.
She could actually life the lava and fold it back over itself.
In the thin strip, she could pull the lava up and it would form an arch and stay that way.
Even though the narrow strip appeared cool and hardened on the top, when she reached under she found hot molten lava.
She could measure the temperature of the lave with this instrument. It was still over 1000 degrees in some spots and over 600 degrees in others.
She shattered the dried lava and explained the this lava was only 47% silica. It is glass. There are two other levels of silica in the grading of glass you get from lava. To get obsidian you must have at least 70% silica in the lava.
She put a piece of folded paper on the lava and it very quickly burst into flames.
She broke off a section to show us.
It clearly showed how lava insulates itself to keep the center hot. If you have walked in a lava tube, this is how that happens.
This was an excellent show about lava. Even the little children attending were asking her questions at the end.
Our coach would take us back to the shopping area in Vik where Black Crust Pizza was located. We got to enjoy that for our evening meal one more time. It has these ingredients on it: Red sauce, Mozzarella,
Cream cheese, Pesto, Pepperoni, Dates, Cherry tomatoes, and Basil. It was still good. Yum.
This time we sat in the back of the restaurant. It was the first time I noticed that horse statue has a lamp coming out of its head! I have seen a lot of things done with horses in Kentucky. Never saw full horse statue with a lamp coming out of its head.
We hiked back to our hotel in a drizzle. Once back we packed our bags and prepared for an early departure on Sunday.
No comments:
Post a Comment