August 2 Preparing to depart

"We take photos as a return ticket to moments otherwise gone"  (Photographer, Katie Thurmes). And indeed that is exactly what I did on this circumnavigation of Iceland. So please enjoy this journey through my images, through my eyes.

Food is a good place to start, this is breakfast

Architecture that makes a statement.

Today, the first day of this voyage, we were all champing on the bit to be aboard but as first days of most trips tend to be it was really a fill-in day waiting to board the ship. We were taken on a guided bus tour of Reykjavik ('Bay of Smokes' which was probably steam). That included a visit to Perlan (Pearl) which is surrounded by forests and perched on the top of a hill which afforded us amazing panoramic views across Reykjavik and beyond. Today it's a museum with a glass dome which sits on top of 6 hot water tanks each containing 4 million litres of geothermal hot water.  

There's a restaurant under that glass dome and an 'ice cave' down below

Gay pride was everywhere - I love it

A couple of other landmarks were as impressive - Hallgrímskirkja and Harpa.  Hallgrímskirkja straddles another hilltop near the centre of Reykjavík and is visible throughout the city; it is one of the city's best-known landmarks. Although it is a parish church rather than a cathedral, it is the largest church in Iceland; the Church of Iceland is Lutheran. The church is simply spectacular and while we were there the organist was practicing or entertaining, I'm not sure which but I was transported up through the lofty arching ceiling to another place entirely. It is quite magnificent.

L:Hallgrímskirkja's stunning facade R: Leifr Eiricsson gazing skyward in front of the spire

Embracing steps leading to the alter in Hallgrímskirkja 

Leifr Eiricsson, whose statue stands in front of Hallgrímskirkja, is a precious 'son of Iceland'. He discovered and named Vinland, the 'land of wild grapes' in North America around the year 1000 CE (a long time before Columbus 'discovered' America). The name 'Vinland' came from the 'grape' they found and harvested to make wine. Its exact location is a little uncertain, but it was most likely Newfoundland.  Our Newfoundland guide when we visited there in 2019 said the 'wild grapes' were most likely either Elderberries or the young fruit of the Alder trees which grow in the area rather than 'grapes'. What's in a name? However I digress .... 

From Hallgrímskirkja we walked down hill towards the harbour through the delightful shopping and cafe streets of Reykjavik picking up lots of little treasures of information as we went. Most of those I have forgotten but one I remember is about the corrugated iron cladding on some houses. Once houses where made of turf which made them fairly damp in this damp climate so they started to clad the exterior with tar. When the city experienced a major fire in 1915, however the city passed a law, requiring a corrugated coating for all new houses built close together. That no longer applies but Iceland’s capital has the largest cluster of metal-clad buildings in the world it seems.

This street had been freshly paint for gay pride week which is huge in Iceland

Baejarins beztu pylsur

We were tempted to visit the hot dog stand which claims to be the best hot dog in town 'Baejarins beztu pylsur' although the Icelanders say it's the best in the world. Fortunately or unfortunately the line was too long and we had a ship to catch!

Sun Voyager

There's a lot of pain and frustration in this sculpture.
Beside it is Gudrun Icelandic guide

Hofdi Lighthouse 

Along the waterfront as we walked towards where our ship was docked, we passed a number of fascinating pieces of art. One a gleaming steel sculpture that resembles a Viking long-ship, is the Solfar (Sun Voyager). The artist intended it to convey the promise of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope and freedom. And the beautiful yellow Hofdi Lighthouses. These mark the entrance to the harbour and are recent additions (2019) as the waterfront has become progressively build out/up in Reykjavík hiding original channel markers. Next we visited the upbeat Council offices to have a look at a huge 3D contour map of Iceland. It was quite impressive. 

Middle panel shows the gnarled hand of Westfjords + Snaefellsness stretching right
Bottom: a birds eye view of the vastness of the Vatnjokull ice cape

And finally we come to Harpa. This is Reykjavik's concert hall and conference centre and it is quite sensational. It's most breathtaking feature is its geometrically shaped glass walls which include inserts of different colours.  Some say that from the outside the geometric shapes are reminiscent of the basalt columns common around Iceland and indeed they do. Inside looking up however is like looking into a shimmering honeycomb - quite glorious! I could have stayed there for much longer but we were whisked away to the next 'sight'.  

The structure and construction of these glass walls is quite innovative

Finally we were allowed on board our ship, the Greg Mortimer, which had not long arrived in port and disgorged it's happy passengers after a visit to Svalbard  -  a place I really love.  

The ship was twice the size of our old stalwart tubs (106 passengers) and comparatively lavish.

To start with it was a little overwhelming given the two wee sister ships we had journeyed aboard over the last 6 years from north to south polar regions. It felt quite foreign to us.   

This is Howard Whelan our Expedition Leader

As soon as we had settled ourselves in our cabins, we were whisked upstairs to the bar and lecture theatre for welcome drinks, briefing and to meeting the expedition staff. While that was happening the ship quietly left port so we didn't get to see much of that but we managed to capture some pink clouds after dinner from our the balcony. 

I love the excitement of being out on the ocean

I'm going to finish the day how I started - with food! I had the New York Sirloin steak - it was very good. For the foodies among you, I hope to post a photo of the menu each day for you to enjoy.