Almost Live Viking Venus - Iceland’s Majestic Landscapes - August 7-19, 2024

[Hanoj]

39 minutes ago, deec said:

enjoy you vacation...post when it is not frustrating!

Don’t go so easy on him. How else do we get our cruise fix without cruising? 😉

[Hanoj]

On 8/11/2024 at 10:06 AM, OneSixtyToOne said:

 

Day 2 - Part 2 

“Will the Circle be Unbroken”

 

After breakfast we took the short walk to the bus stop to start our Golden Circle Tour. Seems like there are a dozen companies doing tours so multiple busses stopped and loaded passengers. Each had a passenger list so while at first it looked confusing, it was in fact well organized. 

 

While waiting at the bus stop we met a lovely couple from  Alabama, Ralph and Cathy,  who are also on the extension and cruise. Ralph is a retired marine biologist and an avid bird watcher. He has been a wealth of information on this cruise, pointing out all kinds of bird species. 

 

The bus to the bus arrived right on time and shuttled us to the location of the actual tour bus. We then boarded our coach and headed to our first stop on the Golden Circle, Thingvellir. 

 

Thingvellir is the site of the first parliament in the world, the Allthing. Our guide was very informative and told us the history of how Iceland was settled. Fleeing the wars in Norway, settlers were looking for a place to farm and live without being subject to a king. The settlers selected chieftains and every year the villages sent their leaders to this unique site to create laws and settle disputes that could not be decided locally. If they still could not decide, the Law Speaker was the final arbiter. Since there was no written language, he has to memorize all the laws and procedures. This is the origin of the modern speaker of the house and speaker of parliament.

 

The site is located at the rift where the plates of North America and Eurasia are separating at about 3 cm a year. There is an underwater area where divers can touch both continents simultaneously. The water in the lake is very clear. The main supply of water is from groundwater percolating through volcanic rock. This removes the nitrogen and the only algae in the water is a specific species that is found nowhere else. Iceland is very proud of its clean water. You can drink from nearly every stream, waterfall, and tap. It’s most refreshing.

 

 

 

Our next stop on the Golden Circle was a visit to the namesake of all geysers, Geysir. The area is a geothermal hot spot and we pass a valley full of venting steam. The town has no cemetery because if you dig down six feet it is hot enough to boil water. No one wants to boil their dearly departed. Such hot spots are used as a resource all over the country. Iceland is self sufficient in fruits and vegetables thanks to geothermal heated greenhouses and grow lights powered by cheap electricity. Our tour guide said that almost all homes are heated with piped in hot water and her heating bill is about 5€ a month. The streets of Reykjavik have heated sidewalks to keep ice from forming. They even pump hot water into the lake near city hall to help the local waterfowl survive the winter. 

 

 

The old Geysir is no longer active, but next to it is the Old Faithful of Iceland, erupting every few minutes. We manage to see a double eruption when we were there. Very cool 

 

 

 

 

Our final stop was the highlight of the tour, Gullfoss waterfall. This awe inspiring waterfall is where Iceland’s environmental movement started. A local woman threatened to throw herself over the waterfall if a planned dam was built. After the incident, laws were passed preventing foreign ownership of any energy related resource in the country. The waterfall is impressive. The sound of the falling water is overwhelming. Be sure to wear rainproof gear because you will get wet.

 

 

 

We had great weather for the day but on our return, the skies opened and it started pouring rain. We were still in our rain gear so it was a quick walk back to the hotel to rest and make dinner plans.

Ah yes, exactly as I remember our Golden Circle extension tour with Viking in 2018. Same weather, different year.

 

Great photos. Thanks for posting!

[island lady]

22 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

We just docked in Alesund. I’m several days behind and internet access is slow. Photo uploads are painful. I may have to complete this after we return. Oslo might offer an opportunity for an update. 
Stay tuned.

 

We were right behind you.  A nice picture of your "aft end".  😉  

 

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

22 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

We were right behind you.  A nice picture of your "aft end".  😉  

 

 

Right back at you…

[island lady]

1 hour ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Right back at you…

 

Thanks!  We were at dinner when you guys pulled out of the harbor.  Missed getting your sail away shot.  

 

Looking forward to being on Venus in January.  🙂 

 

We were supposed to be in Bergen today, but instead are ripping along to make Amsterdam a day early...due to environmental protests going on at the lock into Amsterdam on Monday (which was supposed to be our arrival day).  

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 17 by island lady

[deec]

that is sad!  But Amsterdam always offers lots of good walks no matter how often you have been there.  At least Viking is aware of the potential problem.  Is this about restricting ships in Amsterdam or another environmental issue

[island lady]

10 hours ago, deec said:

that is sad!  But Amsterdam always offers lots of good walks no matter how often you have been there.  At least Viking is aware of the potential problem.  Is this about restricting ships in Amsterdam or another environmental issue

 

We are outside the ocean lock right now, with another cruise ship.  Waiting to see what happens next.  RCI made the decision to come in a day early, as the protests are scheduled for tomorrow (which would have been our original arrival day).  

 

Yes, it's the environmentalists.  They want to get rid of cruise ship visits.  River ships are OK with them.  They will be limiting them soon...and from what I gather, will totally eliminate their visits in a few years.  

[tarhoosier]

This, from The Economist, is a list of world cities and visitors/resident. This is not all cities but from the names on the list it appears to be those with the highest numbers. Cruise ports that have a small resident population would have higher per resident proportion. Those smaller locations are not where the major issues reside.

[OneSixtyToOne]

Getting ready to go to the Oslo airport for our return home. It’s been a marvelous trip. Will be completing this post when we return home. Until then enjoy some photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 21 by OneSixtyToOne

[deec]

thanks for taking us along...looking forward to more when you have good signal at home 🙂  Safe travels

 

See you in Tokyo in 2025!

Edited August 21 by deec

[Hanoj]

Another cruise done too soon. Thanks @OneSixtyToOne for the excellent commentary and wonderful photos!

[OneSixtyToOne]

Day 6 - Part 1 “The Energy Vampire”

 

Yesterday, in ísafjördður I commented on how an unassuming tour can be fantastic when you have an amazing tour guide. Today we encountered the antithesis of this.

 

We arrived in Akureyri with high hopes, as we were scheduled to take the Northern Iceland’s Natural Treasures excursion, the literal poster picture for this itinerary. 

 

After boarding our hopes were soon deflated when our tour guide started to talk. In what can best be described as low energy and at worst what DW insightfully described as the personification of Colin Robertson from “What We Do in the Shadows,” we knew we were in for a long boring day on the bus. 

 

For those unfamiliar with the sitcom WWDITS, the show is about vampires taking up residence in Satin Island with orders to conquer North America. However, one of the vampires is not like the others. Colin is an “energy vampire” that drains your life force not your blood. He bores people to death by talking in a slow monotonous tone for hours on end. Meet our tour guide, Colin. 

 

On our numerous excursions we occasionally have had a tour guide that we felt could have been better, but this was next level bad. He talked so slow we often were miles pass the point of reference he was talking about and then would say something like “Oh, that volcano is back there now.”

 

He provided absolutely no commentary when we left the bus and had no interest in using the quite vox. The one time we used them was in a park containing lava formations. He led us on a hike on a trail and said almost nothing. All he did was breathe heavily into his mic for 20 minutes. At one point I asked if he was going to describe what we were witnessing and he said “We need to be quiet to see the trolls.” At the midway point he stop to show us a hole in a rock formation which he explained was the remnants of a cave that had eroded from both sides. Ok, more of this, please. But no, another ten minutes of Darth Vader like breathing. At the end of the hike we stopped at some information placards and he literally said “If you like more information, you can read this” and immediately left and went back to the bus. Huh?

 

At our last stop, we visited a formation of pseudo craters and Colin stayed at the bus and told us we had 20 minutes to look around. Coincidentally the other Viking bus on the same tour arrived at the same time. Their guide was leading a hike to the observation point so I tuned my quite vox to his channel. He was fantastic, giving an energetic presentation on the geology of the region, how the craters formed when lava flow created ice explosions under the ice cap instead of volcanic eruptions. It was an energetic, informative, and professional presentation, everything I had hoped for at the beginning of the day. At this stop we ran into our newfound friends from Alabama and compared notes on our respective tour guides. They commented on how their guide has a background in geology and gave a very informative tour. 

 

As I returned to my bus my frustration turned to sadness. The ride back to the ship became soul crushingly depressing. Colin had succeeded is draining my life force. 

 

In Part 2, I’ll provide details of the excursion along with photos. I need to do some research to provide a narrative. What we saw was breathtakingly beautiful, I’m just not sure what we saw. This could have been a home run of an excursion. Instead it was a boring bus ride peppered with moments of stopping at the most incredible scenery on earth. Tour guides can make or break a tour.

 

Stay tuned for a more upbeat Part 2.

 

[Planning to cruise]

51 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Yesterday, in ísafjördður I commented on how an unassuming tour can be fantastic when you have an amazing tour guide. Today we encountered the antithesis of this.

You should report your feelings to the ship tour staff.  They give feedback to the tour company, on another cruise line they definitely do.  

[OneSixtyToOne]

Day 6 - Part 2 “The fire from the ice”

 

The “Northern Iceland’s Natural Treasures” excursion is an all day trip to some of the most awesome geologic features in the country. 

 

Our our way out of Akureyri, we noticed three cruise ships in port. 

 

Our first stop was Goðafoss Waterfall. Legend says in 999 AD the Lawspeaker threw his Norse idols into the waterfall and adopted Christianity. It a nice story but historians agree that while the Lawspeaker was instrumental in the adoption of Christianity, there is no evidence that this ever happened. This appears to be a 19th century fabrication.

The waterfall is spectacular. While not as tall as some others, it’s one of the widest in the country and has multiple cascades. There are several observation points and a pedestrian bridge across the gorge connecting both sides. There is also a very slippery, rocky, muddy path to the base. After taking photos from the top, we descended. Aided by a rope and non-OSHA approved steps, we made our way into the gorge to optimize our views at the base of the cataract. It was a treacherous experience and well worth it. To come close enough hear the sound and feel the power of the massive amount of kinetic energy from the falling water is something we’ll always remember.

 

 

 

On our return to the bus I ran into our Alabama friend and marine biologist., Ralph. He is an avid birdwatcher and told me he was there to spot the Harlequin Duck. I was aware of the species from my many visits to the San Diego Zoo. It’s the most colorful of ducks and lives in rapids under waterfalls where they feed. They spend their lives constantly swimming against the powerful current. Ralph informed me that this waterfall is one the few places on earth you can spot them in the wild and is considered the easiest. They also can be found in Greenland .

More about the ducks:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Harlequin_Duck/overview

 

The ducks can be found here at the lower falls:

 

We now headed into an area of geothermal activity. We passed several volcanic domes on our way to our lunch break. 

 

We stopped at a modern hotel where the dining room overlooked a lake created by volcanism.

 

The menu was limited to one selection, fish. If you are vegan or don’t eat fish, you are out of luck. Unlike our Southern Iceland all day excursion, there was no alternative dishes available. Several people on the excursion did not eat. I only ate bread and DW said the sauce ruined the fish. IMO this is a major fail. I specifically stated on my pre  cruise dietary requirements that I do not eat seafood and there was no attempt to provide a protein alternative. If I’m paying hundreds of dollars for an all day cruise, I expect to be properly fed. If you go on this excursion and don’t eat fish, pack some food from the ship’s breakfast buffet. You’ll be glad you did.

 

Next stop was an area of geothermal vents and bubbling mud pots. This reminded us of a mini version of Yellowstone: stream pouring out of rock formations, bubbling cauldrons of mud, the noxious smell of sulfur dioxide. There are no geysers here but plenty of other amazing geothermal sights.

 

 

 

 

 

Our next stop was an ancient lava field and the site of the aforementioned hike with Colin doing his Darth Vader impression. 

 

The trolls myth is that they have turned to stone when they encountered sunlight and you can see their faces in the rock. We finally had a great explanation of the troll, elf, and dwarf mythology on tomorrow’s tour so be sure to read about it in my next post.

 

Troll face in the rock:

 

Here is the circular opening and the rock that is a cave that has eroded from both sides:

 

Our final stop was at the pseudo craters on the opposite shore of the lake we had viewed at lunch. The craters are not caused by a volcanic eruption. Instead lava flowed under the icecap and in some areas there were steam explosions creating crater like indentations in the ground.

 

Back on board it was eclair night. One of my favorite desserts!

 

We also chalked up our first trivia victory and a round of mimosas.

 

On our way back to our stateroom, we ran into the resident wildlife photographer, Richard Lovelock. He told us that 24 whales have been spotted so far on the cruise. This morning he hosted a wildlife watch from 5-7 AM on the deck outside the explorer’s lounge. I’ll talk more about that on our upcoming sea day.

 

Tomorrow is our final stop in Iceland. 

Edited August 23 by OneSixtyToOne

[CCWineLover]

Thanks again Joe, for taking the time to post these wonderful narratives and pictures.  It brings back lots of memories from our two trips to Iceland.  It also reminded me how packed one can make the trip (with tours, etc), but glad we did it!  I did make it up that 18 story cliff but Pam didn't.  Reminded me of climbing the cathedral in Cologne.  Might be my last climb like that.  Incredible views though.

Looking forward to hearing about your crossing to Norway as well as Bergen and Oslo.

Glad you are home safe and sound.

Kent

 

Edited August 23 by CCWineLover

[island lady]

Beautiful pictures!!  We did an overnight in Reykjavik on Thursday...doing the circle tour until 6 pm.  The earthquake happened at 8:30 pm, in the same area we were at just two hours prior.  Then the huge fissure volcano erupted at 9:30.  Did not get to see it...drats.  But lucky we were  off and away before it hit.  

[OneSixtyToOne]

6 hours ago, island lady said:

Beautiful pictures!!  We did an overnight in Reykjavik on Thursday...doing the circle tour until 6 pm.  The earthquake happened at 8:30 pm, in the same area we were at just two hours prior.  Then the huge fissure volcano erupted at 9:30.  Did not get to see it...drats.  But lucky we were  off and away before it hit.  

We were told several times that they expected an eruption any day. Through various means they can measure the content of the magna chamber and it was almost full when we were there.

Here is some video from NBC

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/volcano-erupts-on-iceland-s-reykjanes-peninsula-217830981702

[OneSixtyToOne]

Day 7 - “Trolls and Elves and Dwarves, Oh My”

 

 

Today we arrived in our last port of call in Iceland, the sleepy town of Seydisfjördur in the remote eastern part of the country.

 

We had originally booked an all day excursion “Iceland’s Pristine Panorama” but we were notified when we boarded that it was cancelled due to lack of interest. Instead we were able to book an afternoon excursion to Skálanes Nature and Heritage Center. This worked out well as it allowed us to take a leisurely walk throughout the town in the morning before our afternoon excursion. 

We had a lovely sail in this morning,

 

 

The town is very picturesque, with an amazing waterfall and trail a few hundred yards from where the ship docked. It provided some amazing views. Note that the trail goes up both sides of the stream and there is a bridge that crosses over about half way up the mountain. Make sure you take the right side path as it serpentines up the hillside. The left side has a very steep path that is more difficult to climb.

Right side trail

View from the waterfall trail bridge

 

Steep trail on the left side 

 

After we completed our circuit of the trail, we found an information kiosk that contained pictures of a massive landslide that devastated the town in 2021. A torrential downpour cut off the town from the rest of the country for almost 2 weeks. The remnants of the landslide can still be seen to the left of the falls.

 

 

Landslide area today. Notice the crater above and the land below.

 

We then proceeded to walk into town and to the famous Blue Church. Along the way we passed quaint homes and gardens. 

 

 

 

The most iconic scene in town is the rainbow road leading to the Blue Church. We learned later of a tale of a stone magically placed next to the church by dwarves. If your tour guide told you the stone was placed elves or trolls we were emphatically told that they are misinformed. I’ll talk more on the mythology of the region later in this posting. 

 

 

After lunch back onboard, we gathered for our excursion to Skálanes, a privately owned nature preserve at the tip of the fjord. The bus to get to the preserve is a 4 wheel drive Mercedes bus. It crosses three rivers and travels along a very bumpy single lane dirt road. When I say bumpy I mean it. It was bone rattling. This is the only excursion we’ve been on where the bus ride should be classified as demanding!

 

Our first stop was at what our tour guide called the smallest archeological dig in Iceland. Farmers found human remains here and after the site was explored it was determined to be a church graveyard and the foundations of what is considered the first church built by the original settlers. We had an excellent tour guide for this excursion, proving once again that the guide can turn a mundane site visit into an entertaining and informative experience. Here she explained how the church has been moved over the centuries as the settlement moved. First it moved to the other side of the fjord, then further into the fjord, then across the fjord once again, where it now resides. That’s right, the Blue Church is the direct descendant of the first church built on this site, along with the magic stone.

 

As far as the stone found in the churchyard is concerned, legend has it that it was magically moved by the dwarves who live in the rocks of the foundation of the church. They want to stay near the rocks of the church so they move it at night to be nearby. This is when we received the definitive explanation of the mythology. Dwarves live in the small stones. Elves live in castles, the tall stone pillar formations that are caused by vulcanism. Trolls live in caves in the mountains in the darkness. The story goes that the trolls come out at night, party too long and fall asleep outside, and when the sun comes up, they are turned to stone. Thus the faces of the trolls high up on the rock cliffs. 

 

Elven castles and trolls high above

 

We were told that this part of Iceland is the most remote part of the country so it is the region where to old Norse folklore has lingered. With the introduction of Christianity, the old legends never really died but became incorporated into the fabric of the new religion. Hence the stone magically follows the church. This belief in folklore is still very real. When a highway was being constructed there was problems with equipment breaking down. An expert was brought in to determine the cause. He said that one particular large rock was the issue and it needed to be moved to the side of the construction site and persevered. Today that rock is still there to enjoy and the project was completed without additional problems. 

 

After the stop at the archeological site, we continued our journey to the research center. Here they students and researchers collect various data throughout the spring and summer months. 

 

From the Heritage Center we took to the hiking trail to the mouth of the fjord. Along the way we stopped to observe the flora. We learned that all the lupine in the country was introduced from an Alaskan variety in an attempt to prevent soil erosion. 

 

After a brief lecture in a clearing, we continued along to the observation deck at the sea cliff. The was an amazing experience and gave us our best puffin viewing of the entire cruise. We highly recommend this excursion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back on the ship, our sail away commenced. It was one of the rare times when the clouds broke and we actually saw blue skies.

 

 

No trivia tonight, as the assistant cruise director and trivia host is performing his one man show.

 

Tomorrow is a sea day, as we sail towards the Faroe Islands. Farewell Iceland, we hardly knew you.

Edited August 24 by OneSixtyToOne

[CCWineLover]

Joe - thanks again - "Farewell Iceland, we hardly knew you."

You'll just have to go back and spend some time!  That's what we plan to do.

[dd57]

That quaint red house and garden in town is where the tour guide for our walking tour lived.  As I recall, she lives with her husband, 2 children, and her parents in that little house.  It was fascinating learning about the town's history and what current life is like.

[SteelCity Cruiser]

That was one of my favorite stops on our Iceland cruise.  Darling town, and the nature preserve excursion was really fantastic.  We were there in August 2021, less than a year after the landslide you mention.  This is a photo of the area from when we were there and really doesn't fully show the magnitude of the slide.  What is incredible about that event is that NO lives were lost despite there being quite a few residences and businesses in the vicinity of the slide. 

[island lady]

18 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

We were told several times that they expected an eruption any day. Through various means they can measure the content of the magna chamber and it was almost full when we were there.

Here is some video from NBC

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/volcano-erupts-on-iceland-s-reykjanes-peninsula-217830981702

 

Our tour guide told us "any minute".  😉   She was right!   They had been monitoring the magma flow underground...which had stopped.  Sure sign of getting all that pent up energy to blow it's top.  😮 

[OneSixtyToOne]

Day 8 - “Where does the time go?”

 

Today is a sea day so we took the opportunity to sleep in and rest after a hectic 6 days. It’s also a time change day as we lose an hour. 

 

Our plan was to sleep in, have lunch at 11:00 AM and attend trivia in Star Theater at noon. On this cruise, trivia relocates from the Explorers’ Lounge on sea days. Our plan was thwarted however when we discovered breakfast and lunch times had changed for sea days. We had reset our clocks but neglected to notice to schedule change.   I mentioned this previously in the “tips” thread but I’ll add something here. For some reason the daily times for dining, pool, spa, etc. that appear on the back page of the Viking Daily are found only on the paper copy. They do not appear in the app. Even the video information screens on the ship do not have the schedules. Instead they say “refer to the Viking daily.” So make sure you take a photo of the page or carry the paper copy with you. There is nowhere else to find this information. Viking needs to add this information to the app.

After trivia (our worst performance of the cruise) we had lunch at the pool grill. At 3:00 PM we attended a lecture on the North Atlantic and why Iceland and the Faroe Islands look so different. The islands were once on the same hot spot as Iceland but has drifted southeast with the Eurasian plate and are no longer volcanic. After millions of years of erosion and glacial activity, they have formed more soil and support trees and various other wildlife. We’ll see the results of this tomorrow.

 

At 4:30 we had another excellent port talk, given by our fantastic cruise director Andre. He is hands down the best cruise director we have had on any Viking Ocean, River, or Expedition cruise. We were pleased to learn that the Faroe Islands accepts the Danish Krone. We have some left over from our 2019 trip to Copenhagen so tomorrow will include shopping with some mad money. 

 

The nightly lecture was given by the dynamic cruise photographer, Richard Lovelock. Richard is a delight to listen to and talk to. His lecture was on “The Secrets of Smartphone Photography” and was very informative. I picked up a few pointers and discovered that panoramic mode with work in both horizontal and vertical directions. Using it vertically by turning the camera to the landscape orientation and moving from down to up will allow you to take a much better photo of things like the facade of churches and other tall structures. We failed to watch Richard’s first lecture on the wildlife we expected to see so we used the rest of the evening to watch the replay. We’ll see more of Richard on our 2nd sea day.

 

Tomorrow we arrive at the Faroe Islands.

P.S.

View from our Manfredi’s table from the previous night. DW saw a dolphin go by while we were eating. Food has much improved from our last voyage. I learned to avoid the lasagna. The steak and the ravioli were excellent.

Edited August 25 by OneSixtyToOne

[deec]

great information and photos...I hope there is a lecture on Iphone photography...I know it can do so much more than point and shoot! 

[millybess]

14 minutes ago, deec said:

I hope there is a lecture on Iphone photography...I know it can do so much more than point and shoot! 

I agree!  Both @uktog and @OneSixtyToOne have been so helpful in the area of iphone photography.  I'm still struggling to be as good as they are.