From Dr. Fenster's Blog:
Today we began the day with another terrific breakfast at Hotel Keflavik before heading to the Blue Lagoon, the outfall from the geothermal energy plant. Our guide, Edward, picked us up in a four-wheel-drive converted Ford van that had huge tires on it, stood about 3-4 feet off the ground, and required a step ladder to get into. He said we would need it to get to some of the places we plant to go later in the week—like the volcano Hekla.
Barb Tewksbury, a structural geologist from Hamilton College who happened to meet up with us on the Reykjanes Peninsula yesterday, told me that she has used the vehicle to drive across a 3 foot deep river in northern Iceland. We plan to use it to drive off the road to reach a volcano named Hekla. Today, while in the Settlement Exhibit (more later), the museum director told us that he had heard on the news that Hekla erupts every 10 years and that the government has issued a warning about the possibility of another one soon. That’s bad news given that we plan to hike up its flanks this weekend. Thankfully, volcanoes usually issue warnings... but I'm jumping ahead.
After breakfast, we spent the day pretty much relaxing in a big steamy hot bath at the Blue Lagoon. We had pushed ourselves hard for two days, so slowing down felt nice. Although touristy (it is the #1 destination for tourists in Iceland), it was fun. It reminded me a bit of the bath houses in Austria because of the hot water you could relax in and the waterfalls that you could stand under… except this was a BIG one, and you could put natural white paste—which is really silica mud—on your face and skin. It’s supposed to heal blemishes on your skin.
Edward went with us and I enjoyed getting to talk to him in the “lagoon.” I learned, for example, that Edward also volunteers for a search and rescue team that rescues people from mountains and glaciers when they get lost or caught in pickles. He told me that technology has improved rescue operations dramatically. For example, in the “old” days, people weren’t reported missing until they didn’t show up at home some time after their adventures were supposed to end and families got worried. Now, with communication and GPS devices, they know right when people get in trouble and right where they are, so they can go and pick them up much faster. He drives a Ski Doo on the snow and ice and takes part in about three missions every year.
After the Blue Lagoon, we took off for the capital city of Reykjavik, where we checked into our hotel and then headed to the old part of town. After a brief driving tour by Edward (he wears a headphone set with a microphone while driving us around), including driving by a church with a columnar basalt facade, and the building on Reykjavik Harbor where Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev held their famous Reykjavik Summit and considered banning all ballistic missiles, we went straightaway to the Settlement Exhibit.
Barb Tewksbury was right: It was amazing. We had a personalized tour from the director of the exhibit of one of the first Viking houses on the island. The Viking house and artifacts from this period are preserved in the lower level of a hotel next to the harbor. With the help of geologists, the archeologists dated the site accurately to 871 +/- 2 years because geologists know the year (871) that an ash layer from a volcano about 400 kilometers to the east fell from the atmosphere and landed onto a stone fence that surrounded one of the Viking’s houses. Fortunately, the ash layer also landed on the Greenland ice sheet and geologists dated the ash layer (really tephra) that got incorporated into the ice there. After the eruption and after the Vikings left the site, the tephra layer—and the village—got preserved under about two meters of wind-blown sediment and organic matter. More than 1100 years later, construction workers discovered the village in 2001 when new construction began on this site.
Unlike America (as I was told), construction crews who locate potentially important archeological findings stop to study and preserve them. In this case, the findings represent the earliest (oldest) Viking village on Iceland. Sadly, the findings debunked the Icelandic legend that Ingólfur Arnarson, the first settler on Iceland, established the site for the settlement (now the city of Reykjavik) by allowing pillars to float in the ocean and taking their landing spot on shore as an omen of where to build the first settlement site. The archeologists can learn a lot about the Vikings by studying the buildings and the materials found around the site—like metal, glass and wood objects. That reminds me, we also drove by a new museum between Keflavik and Reykjavik that houses a replica Viking ship. The museum had only been open for one week and has huge glass windows that allowed us to see the whole ship without going into the museum. And, speaking of Vikings, a few of us stopped to have our pictures taken with Vikings who were guarding the Reykjavik government center. Apparently, the Canadian Ambassador threw a party for locals to celebrate Canada Day and used the Vikings as "bouncers"—and we weren't on the invitation list!
After lunch…and by the way I had mink whale for lunch…our group split up and had a few hours to poke around Reykjavik. I didn’t feel great about eating whale because I don’t want to support whale hunting, but Edward assured me that the Icelanders practice excellent conservation. In fact, the Iceland government removed a ban on whaling a couple of years ago that they had established in 1986. My group assured me that it was best to use the meat that way since the whalers had already claimed the whale. In any case, it was only a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and it was delicious! It tasted a lot like a “regular” steak.
After lunch, we split up for some "free time" in Reykjavik where we all did a little shopping and a few of us went to a café for chocolate cake and coffee. It really hit the spot!
After a long walk along the harbor back to the hotel and a shower, we walked back to town for dinner at the Carusa. Now back in the hotel room, I’m planning tomorrow’s adventures that consist of a tour of a geothermal energy power plant and a 2.5 hour ferry boat ride (I was told the ferry holds 200-300 cars!) to the Westmann Islands. We plan to hike straight up the newly formed volcano whose lava flow in 1973 claimed about one-third of the town of Heiemaey on the Westmann Island. Barb told us that if you dig down a bit at the top, you can still feel the heat of the lava from this eruption. We’ll spend the next day on the island as well, then head back. Believe it or not, my students want to make it a priority to have puffin for one of our meals. I’ll let you know how it goes.
As they say in Iceland for “goodbye"
Bless,
Michael Fenster
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