Iceland Mini-review aboard Brilliance TA 2014

Welcome to Iceland!!

We docked in Iceland aboard the Brilliance of the Seas on Sept 7-8, 2014. We were doing a TA and this was our last stop. We considered the Faroe Islands and Iceland the “exotic” stops on this itinerary and were really excited to see the landscape in Iceland.

Both days we had lots of “liquid sunshine.”

We took tours with 2 different tour companies. This mini review is about Iceland—not our tour companies. However, I did reviews of our experiences and you can find the links listed below.

The first day was a Golden Circle tour with GTI—Gateway to Iceland tours. We did not like this company very much. I have done 26 reviews on Trip Advisor. This was my lowest rating ever. You can find my review here. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g189970-d1371532-Reviews-GTI_Gateway_to_Iceland-Reykjavik_Capital_Region.html

The second day we did a Reykjanes Peninsula Tour with GeoIceland. I highly recommend this company and my TripAdvisor review is here:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g189970-d3226664-r229333409-Geo_Iceland_Day_Tours-Reykjavik_Capital_Region.html

Both companies were willing to take GBP, Euros, USD and credit cards.

I paid for DH with our left over GBP and myself with our Euros. I found this to be the case in all of the tourist stops. It was a good way to use up the foreign currency before we headed home. FYI--in the restaurant where we ate lunch on the second day, we had to use Icelandic currency or credit cards [no chip and pin cards needed].

Reykjavik: We docked at the harbor in Reykjavik which is a short shuttle/taxi ride or a 30-40 minute walk from the center of the city.

The port:

You can see the city in the background. This gives you an idea about the distance.

Since we took a long tour each day we did not spend much time in the city itself. However, each of the tours hit some of the highlights on our way to and from other sites. I am putting them all together.

The most identifiable landmark in Iceland is the famous Hallgrimskirkja church. You can see it from almost anywhere in the city.

View of Reykjavik with the Church in the foreground:

Yes, it was a gray day. But, we still had excellent views of the countryside.

Another view:

Here is my favorite view of the church with the statue of Lief Erickson.

A close up of the statue:

We enjoyed our visit to the Hallgrimskirkja Church. Both tours took us there.

It has a unique, modern design:

Inside the church:

The church stands at the top of the main street. Our tablemates had a good time shopping in the stores in this area. However, they complained about the high prices. [FYI--At a couple of our stops we looked at the beautiful wool sweaters, hats, etc. Sweaters were $350 and hats over $100. I saw Icelandic wool socks for $22 in the Faroe Islands and one of the women said these will be higher in Iceland. She was correct I saw similar socks for $30+]

I know that I am pretty late posting this review. :rolleyes:

I promised myself I would do it right away. I began writing the 2nd day and never got around to the beginning. However, there was not a great deal of information about Iceland. So, I thought even a late review would be helpful.

The other place both tours took us was the Perlan:

The Perlan [the Pearl]-- It used to be a series of water tanks. They are no longer in use and have been converted to a gift shop, restaurants, etc.

It has great views [even in the rain].

Another view of Reykjavik:

Inside:

A statue outside the Perlan:

On our first day in Iceland We participated in a group tour in Reykjavik, Iceland from our cruise ship. Our tour included the “Golden Circle” and a mini-tour of Reykjavik. One of our Brilliance of the Seas passengers arranged this custom tour via Cruise Critic. I would not use this company again.

Iceland has incredible scenery and unique natural wonders. Even with a persistent cold rain/wind, we enjoyed our visit. I highly recommend the “Golden Circle” as the best way to see the most iconic Icelandic sites.

This map of the area west of Reykjavik gives you an idea of where we visited.

The majority of all the people living in Iceland live in the greater Reykjavik area.

As we drove through the countryside we saw frequent, random geothermal areas.

There is a great deal of moss [i forgot how many varieties], but very few trees.

One of our stops was near where the first parliament met. The location is along the fault line between the 2 tectonic plates. [more about that later] This walk way is located between the plates.

Notice the steep sides.

This is the THORNingvellirNationalPark:

This was the site of the first assembly meeting.

Some in our group walked along the walkway and met the van on the other end. We rode. LOL

Here is a map of the area.

and here is a description. Sorry--too lazy ot type it all in here nicely.

Our guide pointed this out as a “forest.” LOL

Next we visited the Hverasvaedi Geothermal area.

One person in our group decided to feel how warm the water was. [not recommended] He said it was very warm, but not hot.

I am enjoying the review of Iceland so far, I will be there in September so this is great background knowledge for me. Cheers.:D

I am enjoying the review of Iceland so far, I will be there in September so this is great background knowledge for me. Cheers.:D

I am glad it is helpful. Are you doing a land based vacation or going by cruise ship?

Thanks for the review and pictures. If I can get the time off, we are planning to do an Iceland/Norwegian fjords cruise in the summer. I'm trying not to get too excited until I know if I'm going but I can't resist looking in the meantime. :)

Thanks for the review and pictures. If I can get the time off, we are planning to do an Iceland/Norwegian fjords cruise in the summer. I'm trying not to get too excited until I know if I'm going but I can't resist looking in the meantime. :)

I want to do that cruise, too. :)

Since many cruises that include Iceland begin or stop in the UK and/or included countries that use Euros I decided I would post something I obsessed over before my trip. [i know this is only important to an Iceland cruise as a tangent] If not interested skip this post. I originally posted this on my mini review of London--so, I am merely copying it in here.

**************************************

"I worried a lot before we left over what was the best way to get the different types of money I needed for the trip/cruise. We would need GBP and euros mostly. We hoped to use our credit card for any purchases in the Faroe Islands and Iceland. There was a discussion on that thread whether it was better to use ATMs for cash or to exchange currency before we left. We decided to exchange before the trip.

I promised I would come back to tell you how I did exchanging currency at my bank. DH and I determined that any loss of value through a bank exchange rate was the “cost of travel. “

We got our currency from our Wells Fargo bank. They do not charge any fee other than $7 for the Priority mail postage.

I exchange $752.29 for £430. [bank exchange rate was 1.7405] I did not write down the open market exchange rate for last Thursday, but yesterday it was 1.6726 and would have given me ~ £449.

In addition I exchanged $252.99 for €180. [bank exchange rate was 1.4055] I have some euros left from our trip last fall. They will come in handy this trip. The exchange on the open market yesterday was 1.3387 and would have given me ~ €188—but, I remember the open market rate was closer to 1.4 on Thursday.

Thus, I lost about $28 [or less if the euro rate was better] on the bank conversion vs the open market. I addition, I learned my bank would charge me $5 each time I used an international ATM--even if the UK ATMs do not charge me any fee. When you figure in several [at least 3] ATM fees there is not much difference and there is a big “peace of mind” factor.

We will use our credit card for any big purchases and to buy our Oyster cards to use the London tube. We have one credit card that does not have a foreign transaction fee and one with a chip that does have a fee. I called the latter and they sent me a pin number to use in Europe. We will only use that when our old swipe and sign [no fee card] does not work.

********************************

So, how did this work out for me?

As you Brits would say--Brilliantly!

We used the swipe and sign credit card [no foreign transaction fee] to purchase Oyster cards [Heathrow Express desk, terminal 5], for our hotel bill, and at a souvenir store without any trouble.

I ran into a bit of trouble returning the Oyster cards for credit on the last evening. You had to present the same card for the ticket agent to credit the money back. The card I used to buy the cards at the airport would not register in her machine. So, I tried my DH card and it worked. [thank goodness].

We used the GBP for the admissions to the various attractions and meals. I used my left over GBP at our port stop in Portland with our tour to Stonehenge. My swipe and sign CC worked fine at the gift shop at Stonehenge, too.

[The only place I had to use the chip and pin CC was at a little store in the Faroe Islands. I was glad I had it our I would not have had any lunch until we returned to the ship from our 7 hr tour. ]

We were happy with our decision. However, I saw ATMs everywhere. There were several very close to the hotel and one in the hotel.

We had some GBP left and we were able to use these in Iceland to buy tours and some souvenirs at the port gift shop. FYI--they took pretty much any type of currency in the touristy places in Iceland. I even saw prices displayed in euros.]"

Thanks for posting the review with pictures. A great motivational tool for our September on the CB.....:):):)

Bob

I am glad it is helpful. Are you doing a land based vacation or going by cruise ship?

It is a Caribbean Princess TA cruise that stops at the main three ports, Rejkavik, Isjorfiordur and Akureyri.:D

It is a Caribbean Princess TA cruise that stops at the main three ports, Rejkavik, Isjorfiordur and Akureyri.:D

Oh. . . that sounds wonderful!

The Golden Circle –I should have posted a description before I began posting pictures of this route. Sorry!:o

The three primary stops on the route are:

1. the Pingvellir national park-- This includes the first Assembly site and the tectonic rift. [description and pics above]. You can walk down from the upper area or from the lower parking lot.

2. the Gullfoss waterfall [means golden falls]—a beautiful double waterfall. On sunny days it is said to create a rainbow. There is a paved walkway that leads to an overlook for the falls.

3. the Haukadalus valley [geothermal area] that includes Geysir and Strikkur. While Geysir [correct spelling] is the more famous, it has not erupted in years. Strikkur erupts every 5-8 minutes. We stayed for about 20 minutes and saw 4 eruptions.

Gullfoss was a unique sight. Although it was very rainy and foggy while we were there it was still spectacular. It is a double waterfall. Again—I am going to be lazy and let you read the signage.

You can see the pathway that overlooks the falls in this picture.

A long view:

A close up in the mist—

If you have mobility issues you can see the upper path is very easy.

Gullfoss was almost destroyed. Here is information copied for lonely planet. [with the link below]

The falls were almost destroyed during the 1920s, when a team of foreign investors wanted to dam the Hvítá river for a hydroelectric project. The landowner, Tómas Tómasson, refused to sell to them, but the developers went behind his back and obtained permission directly from the government. Tómasson’s daughter, Sigríður, walked (barefoot!) to Reykjavík to protest, even threatening to throw herself into the waterfall if the development went ahead. Thankfully, the investors failed to pay the lease, the agreement was nullified and the falls escaped destruction. Gullfoss was donated to the nation in 1975 and has been a nature reserve ever since.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/iceland/gullfoss#ixzz3OzldKmii

Cool pics and great background information for the waterfall. I am pretty sure this is the one they used for the opening scenes of Prometheus.:D

Our next stop was at Geysir and Strikkur. As you can see the walkways here are very even to walk on, also.

Geysir is on top of a hill and while it looks like it is warming up to blow its top, it has not erupted for years.

There is geothermal activity all over the area. They warn you that it is HOT!!

While we were at the top of the hill looking at Geysir we saw Strikkur erupt.

I am very glad to find your review, we will visit Iceland early August sailing on the Brilliance. Thank you for the time it takes to do a review l will be checking back to read more.

Bev

Sent from my KFJWI using Tapatalk 2

Thank you for the time it takes to do a review l will be checking back to read more.

Ditto.:D

This is cool. Brought back fond memories of our cruise to Iceland and Norway back in June 2014. Hmmm, I think I should post that segment of the review here, to facilitate search.

This is cool. Brought back fond memories of our cruise to Iceland and Norway back in June 2014. Hmmm, I think I should post that segment of the review here, to facilitate search.

Please add anything you like. I am all about sharing information. :)

PS-- I love reading your reviews. You do such a complete job of getting pictures of the ship.

We made another stop to see a waterfall that is not one of the big three attractions in the Golden Circle. While this waterfall was not as spectacular as Gulfloss-- it was beautiful in its own right. [note the fish ladder] It had stopped raining when we stopped here. That was something to cheer about.

Nearby we noticed a horse farm.

Icelandic horses:

Iceland is very protective of its horse breed. No horses are allowed to be imported and if a horse leaves it cannot come back. They are even careful about riding gear brought into the country. The horses are not immunized against diseases that strike other horse populations.

We saw this unique way to protect them from the wind.

However, be aware that these horses are also a food source. Our tour guides on both days talked about its fine flavor. [not being judgmental—just not for me]

This was the view from our balcony cabin while we were docked in Reykjavik. You can see the island is very close. There is a ferry that takes people to visit the site.

This is the location of the John Lennon-- Imagine Peace Light which is lit each year. Yoko Ono created to honor her husband after his death.

IMAGINE PEACE TOWER is lit annually

• 9th October – 8th December

• 21st – 31st December

• 18th February

• 20th – 27 March

It is lit from around 1 hour after sunset until midnight each night except on John & Yoko’s birthdays and on New Year’s Eve, when it remains lit until sunrise. On 9th October and 20th – 27th March it lights at 8pm. Here is a website that has a webcam to see the light. [source: http://imaginepeacetower.com/]

[the light is the white, round shaped item.--on left side of island]

This is the Peace light that is lit each year to honor John Lennon.

Here is a close up of the ferry at the site.

There is a cave near the light.

Here is a picture I captured from the site listed above from the light when it is on.