Arabian Delights

With the weather far more pleasant in Dubai than on our previous visits, we decided to head off to the coast to check out the coastline and especially the Palm Jumeirah.

From our hotel, we caught the metro down to Palm Deira to see the beachfront from a vantage point in the Hyatt Hotel. It was somewhat disappointing so we caught the metro all the way down to the mall at Ibn Battuta. This was named after a famous traveller from over 1000 years ago and the areas of the mall reflect the places he visited. We found some great shops we may revisit at the end of our holiday.

Our next stop was Palm Jumeirah. We travelled there by metro and taxi and managed to talk our way in to the Hotel Atlantis. It is strictly for the well heeled guests. It is simply fantastic. Palm Jumeirah is a man made island in the shape of a palm tree that extends out from the coast into the Arabian Sea. The Atlantis Hotel is its crowning glory and is simply spectacular with incredible pools, a private beach and its own aquarium. We were able to walk through the hotel to the adjacent adventure water park.  This is the size of a small city with every concievable water related feature.  It is the world's largest water park with fantastic rides and even dolphin interaction.

We returned to the metro via monorail with spectacular views over this unique development.  By the time we returned to the hotel, we were totally exhausted and we didn't even get wet!

 Gail in the Ibn. Battuta Mall. Just like being in the Alhambra

 Gail trying shoes!

 The spectacular waterpark.

Gail in the foyer of The Atlantis Hotel.

Last day in Iceland : City and Blue Lagoon

We spent the last day in Iceland in Reykjavik looking around the city. The stand out site was the Lutheran Cathedral especially as we happened on an organ practice. Lots of historic buildings and modern structures like the National Concert Hall.

In the afternoon we did the local thing and stopped on the way to the airport or at least to return the car, and swam in the blue lagoon.

We are now in New York and back from a steak dinner ( We would need to rob a bank for that in Iceland ) and with the 4 hours time adjustment it is 4am and not midnight

We fly to Sydney tomorrow evening.

The organ pipes

Gail in the Blue Lagoon

A sea monster in the Blue Lagoon

Waterfalls and Geysers

Driving from the Western peninsula we went up to the famous Lava falls. The water flows out under the lava and makes a magical little waterfall. Size doesn't always matter. Adjacent was another waterfall, the Barnar or Children's falls where the is a natural stone bridge. Several young children lost their life at this spot.

We couldn't cross the mountain due to snow so had to retrace our steps and go almost into Reykjavik to join the Golden Ring to visit a series of places. We saw Pingvellir where the tectonic plates of Europe and America clash. All was quiet during our visit. It is also the home of the first democratic parliament. One of the special sites was seeing giant brown trout swimming upstream to spawn.

WE went on to Geyser the one that gave us the word. It is quiet thesedays but a short walk away is Strokkur that blows its top regularly. A good nickname! Can you suggest anyone?

The Lava Falls

Too icy to sit

Gail at the Children's Falls. Step carefully on those icy boards!

Strokkur blowing its top

Gail and Rob at Gulfoss top of falls

Ice above and below from the frozen spray

The power of Gulfoss

Around the rugged coast the ragged rascals ran.

We have spent the last few days driving around the North and West coasts of Iceland. The road hugs the coast with the mountains looming above and the Arctic Ocean below. The scenery is extreme with old lava flows in the weirdest shapes. You can understand why they are often mistaken for goblins . At times the coastal strip is wide enough for farming and there are lots of sheep, horses and fodder crops.

It is slow progress with the road going up one side of a fiord and then down the other. It took half an hour to scrape the ice off the windscreen before we could start the day and then a slow trip until the ice on the road melted.

Among the many places that we visited on this leg have been Snaefellsjokull Ice cap and Snaefell Volcano which was made famous by Jules Verne as his setting for " Journey to the Centre of the Earth."  We couldn't find the secret entrance to the earth's centre but the road to the crater was closed and the entire caldera is filled with ice.

Mostly this part of the trip has been scenic coastline, beautiful fiords and narrow winding roads. Our overnight stops have been in picturesque coastal towns. We selected the ones that didn't smell of herrings.

The harbor at Stykkisholmir our Friday stopover. We climbed to the top of the island that protects the town

Sunset from our apartment that night

Sugar loaf peaks dominate the fishing town of Grundarfjordur

Turf roof on the buildings at Hellissandur. This is at the tip of the Snaefellsnes peninsula

Icelandic Adventures

Myvatn is the gem of the north east.  It is starkly beautiful and we spent the morning visiting diverse places in the vicinity of the lake.  We visited the hot springs, similar to the blue lagoon and also Grjotagia, a swimming hole in a cave under the lava - one was commercial, one was not.

We drove out to Hverfell, a symmetrical crater rising above the lava fields.  From here we went across to the jagged lava fields of Dimmuborgir and hiked through some of the fascinating shapes.  After this we went back down to the lake at Hofdi where wild flowers, birch and spruce cover a similar landscape in a coastal setting.  At Kalfastrond the shapes rise in dramatic clusters from the water.

We left the Myvatn area and drove up to the northern coast of the island where we went around the shores of a huge fiord and then through a series of small fishing towns along the coast.  This included the most northerly town in Iceland but we travelled on to Saudarkrokur where we stayed the night.  We had travelled the longer coastal route rather than over the mountain on a narrow winding road squeezed in between the mountains and the Arctic Ocean.  This route included 4 major tunnels, one of 11 km and another one lane tunnel of 3.4 km - about 20 km of tunnels in all.

A wonderful day of great variety and absolute scenic beauty.  The most stunning was driving around the fiords with the snow capped mountains above - chocolate box scenery.

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Rob on a lava flow

Rob descending into Griotagi

Swimming hole under the lava at Griotagi

Gail at the Myvatn nature baths

The crater at Hverfell

Rob on a trail at Dimmuborgir. The moisture on the track is frozen

The beautiful scenery at Kalfastrond

Wild horses by Lake Myvatn. Not sur if they were tame wild horses or wild tame horses.

The falls at Godafoss. One of Icelands best known but not as high as many others

Driving around the fiords

Coasal town on the North Coast

Tunnel ahead! This one was easy it was two lanes.

Steam, Sulphur and Snow

After the wonderful day yesterday it would be easy to dismiss our travels today but in their own way they were just as spectacular.

We left Hofn with its spectacular location and drove around the side of fiords and up the East coast. The coast is beautiful in a rugged way with the road just fitting between the mountains and the sea.On the way we saw the Icelandic ponies, reindeer and lots of birds. We then traversed the mountain range crossing from the East coast to the North across the rugged mountains. It was steep, the road was poor gravel and there were sheer drops often on both sides of the road. As we continued across the high interior there was snow right up to the road but not on the road. Roadside ponds were frozen and there was constant drizzle or rain.

The change from this came in the form of steam and sulphur with bubbling ponds so hot that with one slip you would be cooked in seconds. The air was sulphurous and there was a roar of escaping steam . Goblins abounded!

Finally we were across and found refuge for the night a a beautiful hotel on the banks of the lake at Myvatn. Our only concern is that we are told a fierce water monster lives in its deep waters but we went down to the shore and are at peace with the local goblins so we will be safe for the night.

A brief roadside stop

Gail went ahead to take this photo..hope she turns up in a later shot

Steam, sulphur and Rob

Here she is. Gail at a bubbling brook

                                    

At Lake Myvatn. We saw birds but not Nessie

Rob with the Goblins. If you don't believe you won't see them

Gail at our hotel. Last night a view of four glaciers. Tonight not a view of the lake but of the carpark

A few of the locals. Can you see them?

Iceland, Land of Fire and Ice

I think I frightened the geese

These were on the menu last night!

At the waterfall

Two waterfalls

Vik Black beach, white surf and frozen goblins

Iceburgs calving

Sun still on the high peaks

Wonderful light
Now on with the story

We picked up our car at the airport and after overnight in Reykjavik, we headed out to circumnavigate the island.  Highway 1 goes all the way around the coast which we eventually managed to find.  We saw so much in that one day, the trip to Iceland is already a great success.

We stopped at the thermal geographic fields at Hyeragerdi which is also the centre of a huge glasshouse industry.  A good trivia question.  What country produces the most cut flowers for the European market?  Yes it is Iceland, not the Netherlands.

We visited 2 major ice fields and as we drove along, the glacial tongues were heading towards the coast and on the other side, the braided streams flowed through the terminal murrain.  The larger, Myrdalsjokull, is three times the size of Luxemburg and the largest outside the polar caps.

We stopped at the village of Vik for lunch but did not meet up with Vik the Viking.  We did see its black sand beach with the contrasting white of the breakers and a series of sea stacks believed to be trolls who were caught at sunlight.  Over 40% of the Icelandic population believe in elves, goblins and trolls.

The scenery was magical as we drove on changing from the earlier type lunar landscape to basalt boulders fused together with moss and sedges - just like you would imagine a green cheese lunar landscape.

At Jokulsarlon, we saw the famous glacial lake where the glaciers from Vatnajokull calve icebergs into the lake.  Eventually these float out to sea.  You have seen this is you watched James Bond's ' Die Another Day, Batman the Beginning or Lara Croft Tomb Raider.

From our hotel in Hofn, as we type this, we can see 4 glaciers descending.  It can't get any better than this.

Power to the people