Reykjahlid, Skútustaðahreppur, Iceland - 06/28/17

Skutustadahreppur COA

A few miles away, we found another small village, which, as always, is packed with unique landscapes and natural formations, including the lake with the most migrating birds in the world.
We arrive in Reykjahlid, a village with approximately 300 inhabitants in the shores of lake Myvatin. The whole area itself is often called Myvatin.

Interesting Fact:

•  The name of the lake comes from Icelandic "my" (midge) and "vatn" (lake), thus "lake of the midges", due to the huge number of midges to be found there in the summer.
• The volcano dynamics present in Lake Myvatin is often used as an example in textbooks.

Lake Myvatn is the third largest in Iceland, with 37km²(14.28 sq mi). The presence of ducks in the lake can be explained by the abundance of aquatic insects and cladocera (small crustaceans commonly called 'water fleas') which are an attractive food supply for ducks.

The following race events are held in Lake Myvatn: Marathon, Half-Marathon, 10 Km and 3 Km.

The village is surrounded by volcanoes, craters, springs, mud pools and lava fields, including: Krafla volcano, last erupted in 1984 (and is currently being used for energy generation), Viti crater, with a blue lake at it's bottom, last erupted in 1976, the Hverfjal volcano and the pseudo-craters Skutusstadir and Dimmuborgir. The area is said to be a pocket Iceland, with almost all it's diversity in a vey small area.

Hverir

On the road the Myvatn we saw the first signs of it's high volcanic activity, anywhere you looked there was steam coming out of the earth.

Hverir is a geothermal area full of colorful sulphurous mud springs, steam vents, cracked mud and fumaroles. It will lead to Lake Myvatin.

We will be visiting a few sites in Myvatn, bare in mind that it is a very small percentage of what the place has to offer. Most of them are near the lake, but we will see one last place on the way to our

next destination.

Our first stop was Lake Myvatin and the surrounding landscapes and caves.
This region is packed with volcanoes, geothermal sites and craters, and we learned that it has been used as filming location in many productions, most notably in the HBO series Game of Thrones, with scenes in Detifoss(Godafoss), Grjótagjá cave, Hverarond and Dimmuborgir. Being such fans of the show and lucky to be here, we'll use this chance and try to retrace their steps and recreate the scenes from the series! (although it will be harder than it seems, the places never are exactly as we see on screen).

Myvatin Marathon

The following race events are held in Lake Myvatn: Marathon, Half-Marathon, 10 Km and 3 Km.

On our way we passed by Skútustaðir, on the southern shore of the lake. It is smaller than Reykjahlíð but offers most basic services for visitors; a restaurant and a supermarket, for instance.

Viti crater seem from Google Maps

Viti (Meaning 'Hell in Icelandic), is one of two Viti craters in Iceland. It was formed in 1724 by a massive eruption in the Krafla volcano (close by) that lasted for five years. The diameter of the crater is around 300 meters and it has an aqua blue lake inside it. We were surprised to see steam also coming from the crater itself, very unexpected. Also, there is a smaller lake beside Viti, and all you can see from civilization is a single small road, surrounded by cracked soil, hissing steam vents and boiling hot ground and mud spots.

Grjótagjá Cave

Ground above the cave

The next stop of our Game of Thrones tour in Myvatin was a little more difficult to find. There were many crevices on the floor, leading to questionable caves and such, but after a little walking around we came by IT, Grjótagjá cave. The blue burning hot thermal spring inside it gave it away instantly.

John Snow and Ygritte

It was here where John Snow broke his oath to the Watch by making love to the red-haired wildling Ygritte.

Hverfjall seen from Google Maps

From the cave we went straight to Hverfjall, a giant crater we saw on the horizon.
Turns out it is in fact a volcano which created a ring with the eruption material, called a "tuff ring". The last eruption occurred in 2500 BP and the crater is 1 km/0.62 mi in diameter.

Still in Myvatin, we went to a unique spot, replete of lava formations, Dimmuborgir (Dark castles), another filming location for Game of Thrones.
Dimmuborgir is the only of it's kind, the only similar structure on earth known to man is beneath the ocean, off the coast of mexico. It is theorized that it originated as remains of a lava reservoir which formed above a lake. As it began to cool, the reservoir was released, leaving only the bizarrely shaped remnants we see here today.

• Dimmuborgir was recently used for scenes in HBO’s Game of Thrones, as a location beyond the wall in season 3. It is also the name of a black metal band from Norway.

• Next to the structure is Dimmuborgir café, which cooks food in nearby geothermal vents.

After getting some sleep, we went for a morning hike, our last in Myvatin, to explore a place we left behind in our trip. Dettifoss, (or as some call it "Godafoss") a giant waterfall in Vatnajokull National Park (inside Reykjalid).

It is the largest waterfall in Iceland and is reputed to be the most powerful waterfall in Europe.The water comes from the nearby Vatnajökull glacier, and drops for more than 44 meters/144 ft, causing a massive crashing spray.

Reyd'arfjörd'ur and Neskaupstd'ur (Fjard'abyggd')

Fjardabbyggd Coat of Arms

Our third destination in Iceland was broader. In hopes to get to know more about the country,
we decided to visit a couple of towns in Fard'byggd' municipality in the Easter Region of Iceland.

The valley around Fjardabyggd

Our first stop was Reyd'arfjörd'ur, in a good harbor location at the bottom of the largest fjörd on the east coast, which gives the town it's name (fjord'ur refers to fjord)
As with most Icelandic towns, the landscape is surrounded by mountains, the largest being 972m (3.189 ft). It often has the highest temperatures in Iceland in the summer, although the climate is particularly rainy and foggy.

Reyd'arfjörd'ur is the second most populated village of Fjard'abyggd', with 1.182 inhabitants as of 2011.

From the early 20th century it was a trading and fishing post, and became the second largest Allied base in Iceland during WWII due to it's strategic location.

Alcoa Smelter (Fjardaal)

The town saw an economic revival in the early 2000's when the american aluminium company 'Alcoa' decided to build a smelter in the area. The smelting facility is called Fjardaál, meaning "Fjord's Aluminium" in Icelandic.
During it's construction, Fjardaál employed over 2.600 workers from various countries (most notably Poland), over 1.800 more than the town's total population. It now only employs 450 people.
The smelter required the construction of a Hydropower plant in Fijotsdalscherad', a neighbor municipality which is a good candidate for the next stop.

Interesting Fact:

• Reydt'arfjördt'ur was the filming location of Sky Atlantic's Fortitude series.

While hiking in a mountain next to the city, we sighted what looked like an airport in a relatively small town, so we changed plans and headed it's way.

Only within throwing distance did we discover that it in fact was a museum, rather than an airport.
By chance, we visited the town's War Memorial Museum, occupying the old barracks used by British Forces during WW2. Interestingly enough, Iceland was never at war.

Djupivogur, Djúpavogshreppur, Iceland - 06/16/17

Djúpavogshreppur COA

 Our second stop in Iceland is a small town formed in 1992, by the merging of three rural communities; Berunes, Buland and Geithellur.
 As we expected from one of the less dense countries on earth, the population is tiny, 456 inhabitants, which makes us an amazing 5% of the entire population.
Iceland is all about natural beauty; on the hands of the lucky 456 inhabitants is a diverse landscape , with lagoons, mountains, fjords and beaches, all within the 1.133 km²(437 sq mi) area of the city.

Interesting fact:

• Hans Jonatan, known for being the first person of color to live in Iceland, fled from Denmark as a slave to Djupivogur in 1820 and worked at a trading post. He married and had three children, of which two survived. His descendants now number over nine hundred.

As we observed, most of the attractions here in Iceland are going to be landscapes and geological formations, because of the nature of the land.

The landscape in Djupivogur is dominated by a pyramid shaped mountain; Bulandstindur, at 1069m (3507 ft), which according to legend, can make make wishes come true in the summer solstice.

Walking around, we discovered some sort of museum in the city, by the name of Langabud' cultural center, said to be the oldest house in Djupivogur, built in 1790.
It houses works by sculptor Rikard'ur Jonsson, a heritage museum and a coffee shop. Very surprising, even the small cities in Iceland are bringing us something new.




Just outside of the museum is a sculpture by world famous Icelandic artist Sigurd'ur Gud'mundsson, consisted of bird nests and 34 stone eggs.

Just after leaving, we went to Bulandsnes, a bird sanctuary, to do some bird watching.
The sanctuary is renowned among bird lovers and contains most Icelandic birds.
There were also bird and seal watching boat tours available, but after the hike in Bulandstindur we couldn't seem to make it.

Iceland, Höfn, Hornafjörður - 06/12/17

Our epic journey across the globe continues in Iceland. Our restless feet took us from Castlebar, Ireland, all the way to Höfn, Iceland, 836 miles away, a fishing city in the southeastern part of the country.
 Our love for nature, cold places and foreign culture lead us to one of the most exotic places on earth with an extraordinary biome diversity, which is explored in many productions (including HBO's Game of Thrones and the movie Interstellar) as filming location. Not only the scenery is exotic, but also their names, as the Icelandic language is one of the hardest to learn because of it's consonant use. Luckily for us, we have been preparing for that on the way.
Of the natural scenery and formations to see here is Vatnajökull, the largest icecap by volume in Europe, the Geysers 'Geysir', from which the word 'Geyser' is derived and Strokkur, which erupts every 8-10 minutes, and many active volcanoes and open lava fields, caves, forests, waterfalls, geothermal sites and much more.

We arrived in Iceland by the Höfn harbor (which is interesting, since Höfn means Harbor in Icelandic).

Höfn is a fishing town, the main economic activities are fishing and tourism.

Most of the sights in the city are actually the nature around Höfn itself. It's few visitor attractions include: Iceland Glacier Exhibition and Vatnajokull National Park (which expands well over 13.900 km²/5.36 sq mi, approximately 14% of Iceland), Europe's second largest national park, after Yugyd Va in Russia.
Vatnajökul park comprises great natural formations, including mountains, valleys, plateaus and volcanoes. The two greatest volcanic eruptions of historical times happened here in 934 and 1983.
Höfn is by far the largest settlement with over 2000 inhabitants, more precisely, 2400, according to the 2011 census.

Many, (too) Many, interesting facts:

• 55% of the population of Iceland has internet access, the highest proportion in the world. (per capita)

• The show Lazy town was created by Magnus Scheving in Iceland.

• The Sugar Cubes, Of monsters and Men, Mezzoforte, Björk, Emiliana Torrini and Rigur Ros are famous Icelandic Artists.

• The Movies: James Bond (Die Another Day and A View to a Kill), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and Batman Begins use Höfn as a filming location.

• Though geographically as big as England, Iceland’s population is tiny – at barely 323,000, it’s no bigger than many towns in other countries. Two out of three Icelanders live in and around the capital, Reykjavík.

• There are no surnames or family names in Iceland, instead, Icelanders carry their parents' name (father or mother) followed by a suffix: - dottir (daughter) or -son.

• Iceland sits atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the fault line where two of the Earth’s tectonic plates are slowly drifting apart. It is one of only TWO places in the entire world where you can see two of the earth's tectonic plates meeting above the earth's surface (the other is in Africa). The North American and Eurasian plates jut up out of the ground in Þingvellir, moving apart roughly 2 cm per year, as a result, Iceland is getting wider at a rate of roughly 1cm per year. Either side of this ridge, from the northeast to the southwest, earthquakes and volcanic activity are commonplace.

• There are over 125 volcanic mountains in the country, with expectancy of one eruption every four years. Though recently there has been at least 1 per year.

• There are no motorways or railways in Iceland. The country’s only main road, the Ringroad which circumnavigates the island, was completed in the 1970s following several unsuccessful attempts to bridge treacherous glacial rivers on the south coast.

• Iceland is home to the third-biggest glacier in the world, Vatnajökull, covering an area equal to that of the English county of Yorkshire. One of the country’s greatest sources of geothermal energy, the Grímsvötn caldera, sits directly beneath the ice cap.

• Thanks to the existence of countless medieval documents, many Icelanders can trace their ancestors back to the time of the Viking settlement, around 800 AD. Low immigration over the centuries means that today’s Icelanders have one of the purest gene pools in the world, providing an invaluable research opportunity for scientists.

Vatnajokull National Park

The views and places to see are just too unique and the travel experience too overwhelming to summarize. We can't decide if we speak of the trails and the atmosphere of the place or the actual tourist attractions. 

For some, the best experience is just getting to these points, and the fulfilling sense of exploration they get, others rather enjoy the felling of accomplishment from doing as expected and getting where they want to be, others may seem like they don't pay attention to their experiences as they are happening, but take great joy out of reliving and retelling their travelling stories. The guild encompasses each one of these traits and more, and from the vivacity of our experiences we could write a whole book of all the things we saw on the way here. - We shall remember that this is nothing more than a wonder created by our collective efforts, a gathering of thoughts retracing our path mentally. -  Suddenly a flashback of a documentary played in our mind palace.

Egilsstad'ir, Fijotsdalscherad', Iceland - 06/20/17

Fijotsdalscherad, Coat of Arms

After a tour around an entire Icelandic municipality (Fjard'abyggd'), we got over our anxiety and became accustomed to the land's diversity. There are just too many natural formations for us to see, and to much memorable natural beauty. At this moment it all started sinking in, and suddenly it wasn't necessary to experience everything personally anymore.

Our trip continues in Egilsstadir in Fijotsdalscherad', probably the biggest town we visited in Iceland so far, with 2.306 inhabitants in 2016 and 2.706 in the metropolitan area. It is the largest of the Eastern Region.
Egilsstadir is a very young town even by Icelandic standards, where urbanization is fairly recent, being established in 1947 due to it's regional importance.

Today the town is the main service, transportation, and administration center of east Iceland, having an airport, college and a hospital. The town also benefited with the construction of the Alcoa smelter and the Hydropower plant.
The landscape is particularly characterized by woods, with Iceland's biggest forest, Hallormsstad'ur, waterfalls, lakes and rivers, varied flora and fauna.

Our plan was to get lost in the forest, to create an adventure, but the entire 740 hectares (1828 acres or 2.85 sq mi) were marked with hiking trails... Of the beautiful things we saw in the forest, Hengifoss waterfall stood out. 

After finding our way back from the forest and eating some nice fresh fish with sauce, we followed a tip we got in Reyd'arjford'tur about the Hydropower plant used to power the Fjardaál smelter, called 'Karahnjukastifla'

Only upon getting here did we realized that it isn't just an average Hydroplant, but in fact a huge project, with the largest dam of it's kind in Europe. The Dam and the Haslón reservoir are part of Iceland's most extensive construction project to date, and the view is otherworldly.

A brief but interesting visit overall, just on the way to our next (kinda far away) destination in Iceland.

We heard that it is a small village, but with plenty to see. The place is also often called Myvatin, after it's central lake.

Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland - 04/28/17

Motto: Ar Aghaidh
"Forward"

We've just arrived in Castlebar, the County town of County Mayo, after hearing about one of it's festivals, The Four Days' Walk.
Castlebar grew up as a settlement around the De Bary castle in 1235, and was given the right to be made a city in 1613 by King James I. The city's name derives from the castle,

We observed during our walk that Castlebar has a much smaller population than the last cities we visited. Castlebar experienced a population boom only in the late 20th century, currently standing with over 11.000 inhabitants according to the 2011 census, from 4.256 in 1926.

Castlebar is mainly a market town, being the second largest retail centre in Connacht, after Galway, and the 7th largest retail centre in Ireland.

Interesting Facts:

• Inventor, watchmaker, and mechanical engineer Louis Brennan(1852-1932), whose most popular inventions were; a steerable torpedo, a gyroscopically-balanced monorail system and an early helicopter, was born in Castlebar.

• Ulick Bourke, founder of the Gaelic Union, was born in Castlebar.

After asking around a bit, we discovered that the "Four Day's Walk" festival had nothing to do with walking after all, it is a blues music festival.

Close to the city center is County Mayo Peace Park and Remembrance garden, a park honoring people

from County Mayo who lost their lives in both world wars.

Along the names, we saw a dedication to Michael Fenney, the creator of the project, and Mary Mc Alesse, the President of Ireland, who inaugurated the park in October 2008.

Although we were pleased and impressed with the amount of people from the region who fought in the war, we couldn't help but notice that, for some of the population, it seems more turned to the British side of the story, as it doesn't feature important Irish conflicts, such as the Irish War of Independence.

We realized that we wouldn't have many places to visit as soon as we observed the city's density, though something special is located here. The Country Life part of the National Museum of Ireland (which we visited in Dublin) is located here, and it's the only part of the Museum outside of Dublin.

We made a quick turnaround and walked more 6 miles, reaching the Museum in Turlough Vilage in less than 1.5 hours.

The Country Life Museum opened in 2001 and exhibits the way of life of rural Irish people between 1850 and 1950. The exhibitions we saw varied from religious and sacred artifacts such as a piece of the True Cross, believed to be a piece from the cross upon which Jesus was crucified, a collection of photographs showing the lives of the noble and their servants, biography collections and jewelry.

Galway, Ireland, Capital of Connacht - 04/25/17

Motto: Laudatio Ejus Manet In Secula Seculorum
 "His Praise Remains unto Ages of Ages"

On the 104th day of our journey outside the US, we arrived in Galway, Ireland, Capital of Connacht, and the sixth most populous city in Ireland and fourth most populous urban area in the ROI (Republic of Ireland, which we learned is separate from Northern Ireland).
Galway city had a population of 79,504 according to the 2016 Irish census, without counting the rural population, which is far bigger.
The city got it's name from a fort which was based in the region.
Constructed by Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobar, King of the Connacht, in 1124,, Dún Bhun na Gaillimhe was a small fort which later grew into a small settlement, the name Galway is derived from it's name.
The settlement grew into a walled city and was later conquered by Hiberno-Normans in the 1230s. As the invaders became Gaelicised (accustomed with Irish costumes), the merchants of the town pushed for control over the city.
The merchants became known as the Tribes of Galway, 14 merchant families which gained complete control over the walled city and were granted mayoral status by the English crown.
The city thrived on international trade and was the principal Irish port for trade with Spain and France in the Middle Ages.
Only two of those families were claimed to be of Irish origin, thus there were complications with Irish neighbors. The city remained loyal to the English crown until 1642, by allying itself with the Catholic Confederation of Kilkenny during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (against Catholicism in Ireland).
After this event, the city was recaptured in the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, after a nine-month siege, destroying the Tribes and the city's economy, causing great famine.
The city has experience rapid growth due to the Celtic Tiger economic boom. It was only in the 20th century that the city recovered from the Great Famine and now thrives with local economy, including manufacturing, tourism, retail and distribution.

Interesting facts:

• Galway will be European Capital of Culture in 2020, alongside Rijeka in Croatia

• Galway is known as Ireland's Cultural Heart and it's renowned for it's vibrant lifestyle and numerous festivals

• On 1 December 2014, the Director General of UNESCO announced the official designation of Galway as a UNESCO City of Film, for it's film related festivals, such as Galway Film Fleadh and Super8 Shots.

• In 2007, Galway was named as one of the eight "sexiest cities" in the world

• It is sometimes referred to as the 'Bilingual Capital of Ireland'

• Galway Airport, located 6 km (3.73 mi) east of the city at Carnmore, ceased to have scheduled passenger flights on 1 November 2011 because the runway is too short to take modern passenger jet aircraft.

Important Event: Siege of Galway

We arrived by the Eyre Square, a reference to Ireland (Eire Land), at the city center.

Eyre Square is also known as John F. Kennedy Memorial Park, due to a speech Kennedy made in the square in 1963. The square is an inner-city public park, adjacent to the Galway station, William Street and Shop Street, on the route to our next stop.

Interesting fact: Eyre Square hosted the third longest Occupy Camp in the world, that ran for 216 days consecutively in 2011.

Shop Street is Galway's main shopping street and contains old brick buildings, bright storefronts, numerous pubs and an array of street performers.

We visited Galway City Museum, which checked two stops at once. 

Galway Museum is currently beside the Spanish Arch, an extension of the old city walls, and was founded in the mid 1970s. The museum, which at this point was at a different location within the city, began as a collection of medieval stones from the city, and then built up a general folklife, industrial and militia collection, but was was closed in 2004.

The new building, which is by the Arch, was built in 2007 and hosts a variety of permanent and touring exhibitions. 

In the museum we had an inside view of the city in different historical times; Pre-historic Galway, Galway in Medieval times, We saw many objects relating to Archaeology, Art, Geology, Natural, Historical, Political, Social and Industrial History and Folklife, as well as the old stone collection.

Next we headed to St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church, the place where the triennal elections of the mayor and city council were held. Only male members of the fourteen Galway Tribes had suffrage. The church was founded in 1320, dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Myra, the patron saint of seafarers, in recognition of Galway's status as a port.

Interesting Facts : 

• Local legend states that Christopher Columbus worshiped there when he visited the city in 1477.
• In September 2002 the Collegiate Church attracted controversy when it was the scene of the first public blessing for a same-sex couple in an Irish church. The Avowing Friendship service for a lesbian couple, it was reported, was conducted by the rector, the Reverend Patrick Towers, in September 2002. The Bishop of Tuam, Richard Henderson, prohibited any further services of this kind, and Towers agreed to abide by this ruling.
• The monumental work of Irish genealogy, the Leabhar na nGenealach was produced here in 1650 by Duḃaltaċ MacḞirḃisiġ.

This was a quick and interesting visit, just out of curiosity, for a place so iconic for the city's history.

Our last stop in Galway is less than a mile away (as with all other stops) at the National University of Ireland.

NUI is a tertiary-level educational institution ranked among the top 2% of universities in the world. The University is ranked #249 in the 2016 QS World University Rankings and has been also been awarded the full five QS stars for excellence.

National University of Ireland Galway was founded in 1845 as Queen's College, Galway and has graduated many relevant alumni, including Michael D. Higgins, president of Ireland.

The University's quality schools include: 

• School of Business and Economics
• School of Chemistry
• School of Education
• School of Geography and Archaeology
• School of Health Science
• School of Humanities
• School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
• School of Law
• School of Mathematics, Statistics and Applied Mathematics
• School of Medicine
• School of Natural Sciences
• School of Nursing
• School of Physics
• School of Political Science and Sociology, and School of Psychology

Interesting facts: 

• - NUI Galway has more than 110 active societies and more than 50 sports clubs. Five constituent society types exist: Debating & Political; Artistic & Performing; Social & Gaming; Religious & Socially Conscious; Academic.

• International students make up 12 per cent of the student population at NUI Galway.