Iceland is an island nation in the middle of the North Atlantic, just below the Arctic Circle. Exactly when Iceland was first discovered by humans is hard to say. As far back as the 4th century B.C. one can find references to an island called "Ultima Thule" that is six days' sailing north of Britain. When the Norse disovered the island in the 9th century A.D., it was already inhabited by a tiny number of Irish monks, who fled as more of the (then-pagan) Norse settled there.
Geologically, Iceland is part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge where the Earth's crust is spreading. This causes Iceland to grow about 3cm per year while half the island moves toward North America and the other half moves toward Europe!
Culturally, however, Iceland is European. Settlers started coming in numbers in the late 9th century A.D., when political turmoil in Norway caused many families to flee. The Icelanders speak a variation of Old Norse that is little changed from the Viking days, whereas Norwegian/Swedish/Danish have changed considerably since that time, having come into closer contact with other languages. Due to the frequent contacts between Scandinavia and the British Isles during the Viking Age, many people of Celtic background ended up moving to Iceland, giving modern-day Icelanders a mix of Scandinavian and Celtic blood.
In 1000 A.D., the growing popularity of Christianity pushed Iceland to the brink of civil war between the Christians and those who worshipped the old Norse gods (Thor, Odin, etc.). It was decided to make Christianity the official religion of Iceland (more on that at the end of this page). Today Lutheran Christianity is the official religion of Iceland.
In all, Iceland is a beautiful place, with varied terrain and agreeable people. The only real downside of Iceland is that it is one of the most expensive places in the world to live and travel. So if you want to visit Iceland and don't want to camp out, well, make sure you have some money saved up!
From Greenland I took a flight up to Akureyri on the north coast of Iceland. The next day I headed over to Husavik to go whale watching. Husavik is a delightful little town with a picturesque harbor and a reputation as Iceland's premier whale-watching venue. The water of Iceland's coast has a huge amount of plankton, fish, and other small creatures, making it a perfect place for cetaceans to spend their summer feeding season. Here's a picture of Husavik harbor:
We ventured out off Iceland's north coast and soon encountered a number of playful Artic dolphins:
After that we moved farther out and encountered several Minke whales. Minke whales are medium-sized cetaceans that don't pod together closely like dolphins do. The pattern you see is that they come up to the surface five times within a couple of minutes to gather up oxygen, and then they dive deep to feed, staying submerged for 10-15 minutes.
After returning to dry land, I drove from Husavik south to the My'vatn ("Midge Lake") area. Driving down to My'vatn was the only time I was really worried while in Iceland, because from pictures I'd seen My'vatn was supposed to be a wonderful lake environment, and I was out on a terrible gravel road in the most barren, lifeless, empty terrain I'd ever seen in my life. I stopped the car and took this shot:
Finally I did reach the lake called My'vatn, and it was indeed a sight for sore eyes, a veritable oasis in the barren wasteland I'd been travelling through. However, it was clear that My'vatn wasn't anything like the lakes back in Minnesota:
The next day I went out to explore the geothermal areas northeast of My'vatn. The geothermal vents at Namafjall are similar to those at Yellowstone Park, although Iceland's are definitely in a more alien-looking landscape. It was warm here, in the 70's and with bright sun. It really is a desert landscape here, incongruous as that may seem for a place so near the Arctic Circle.
The Krafla fissure system periodically spews lava over the landscape, the most recent eruptions being in 1975 and 1984. In the picture you can see some of the results. The black lava is from the 1984 flow, and covers a lot of territory. The lighter region closer to the camera is geothermally active. It's a little scary to be walking here amongst such a huge lava flow -- I knew that if an eruption of such magnitude started while I was there, it would be the end of my travels!
A bit to the northwest is another part of the Krafla complex, the Viti explosion crater. It is now considered inactive, and is filled with water, creating a pretty crater lake. To get an idea of the scale, look at the parking lot at upper left!
After having had my fill of things volcanic and geothermal, I went back to take a closer look at My'vatn itself. In the middle of the picture, left to right, are a series of craters. These were caused when lava flowed into the lake -- trapped water would turn into steam and explode, leaving a crater behind.
Another fascinating feature of My'vatn is the "pillars", caused by lava flows and subsequent erosion:
The next day I ventured up to Jokulsarglufur National Park, a beautiful place full of waterfalls, canyons, trails, and quiet spots to relax. At the north entrace to the park is Asbyrgi Canyon, which was carved out of the rock by a massive glacial flow caused when a volcano erupted underneath a glacier. The tops of the ridges used to be "the ground" until the flow -- it must have been an incredibly violent torrent of water and rock to carve such a canyon in a single shot.
The park's best-known attraction is probably Dettifoss, which has the largest volume of any waterfall in Europe's, at 500 cubic meters per second! It stands 44m high.
Another angle on Dettifoss, showing the perpetual rainbow that gleams in its mist.
The next day I left the My'vatn area, driving along the coast down to southwest Iceland. By chance I drove by Godafoss, and stopped by for a peek. In the year 1000 A.D., the increasing acceptance of Christianity led to religious clashes between the Christian converts and those who continued to worship the old Norse gods (Thor, Odinn, etc.). At the Althing, Iceland's parliament at Thingvellier in southwest Iceland (which we'll see on the next page), it was decided to make an official decision as to what Iceland's future religion would be. The Law-Speaker Thorgeir, himself a pagan, was charged with making the decision. After meditating for 24 hours, he decided that Christianity would be Iceland's new religion. On his way home from the Althing, Thorgeir is said to have stopped by this waterfall, pulled his idols of the Norse gods from his wagon, and tossed them into its raging waters. Thus the name Godafoss -- "waterfall of the Gods".
Northeast Iceland offered wonderful weather and a huge array of impressive sights. Now let's go for a drive and see what Southwest Iceland has to offer!
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All content copyright 1999 by Christopher A. Flaat.