We arrived at the Toronto airport at 5:30 PM for our 8 o’clock flight to Montreal, and thence a 11:30 PM departure to Iceland. After a dark and sleepless 5 hours we arrived bright and early at Keflavik airport, 40 km west of Reykjavik. We got a rented car and a SIM card and a cup of strong coffee without any trouble, and were off.
Naturally it was raining – not hard, but consistantly. Since we couldn’t check into the hotel until 3, we went sightseeing, no matter how tired we were.
We drove east past Reykjavik to Thingvellir National Park, a place of some importance for a number of reasons. (Incidentaly, that is spelled with a couple Icelandic characters that don’t render well in this font. My apologies to the Icelanders.)
First, it has a public toilet, one of very few in the area, not to be missed.
Next there is a large rift in the scenery, a canyon which becomes a cliff further along, This is said to be the place where the North American tectonic plate meets the Eurasian plate, forming the Mid Atlantic Rift, with Iceland having parts on each plate. They are gradually separating, to make Iceland into two islands, given enough time.
Further this is the area where the first Icelandic parliament met and was formed in 930 AD. They have sat there many times since.
And even further, it is on the wall of the church here that there is engraved the official length for all of Iceland of the ‘el’, the unit of measure of cloth. All other reference el lengths engraved on other churches are all referenced back to this one.
The scenery, in this part of Iceland anyway, is gently rolling plains, much like the Alberta prarie. However it is evident that it is not as fertile and that the rock is near the surface. There are substantial rounded hills in the distance.
By now it was getting late and we headed to the hotel in Hella. That is pronounced Het-la, by the way. Not a great hotel, but clean and dry. We checked out the local resturant (quite possibly the only one in town – it has a population of 300, after all) for supper. The first three items on the menu involved parts of horse.
Incidentally much has been said about the high cost of things in Iceland, particularly food. A plate of five generous lamb chops, some french fries and a trace of salad clocked in at just under 50 bucks Canadian. The horse tenderloin is closer to 60.
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