Tuesday in Reykjavik, Iceland

The ship spent a very long day in Reykjavik, Iceland.  We didn’t set said until 10:30 pm.  I had a very long day of visiting sites in and around the capital of Iceland.

Reykjavik is a modern city of around 133,000 people.  

Here's one of the lighthouses in the bay upon entering the port of Iceland.

...and another lighthouse as the ship docked in port.

Here you can see the largest church in Iceland:  Hallgrímskirkja.  It is one of the tallest buildings in all of Iceland. It is part of the Church of Iceland (Lutheran Church).

Oh well, one more lighthouse.  This couple was waving as we entered the port.

The first stop was Thingvellir National Park, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  This is the primary site of Iceland's geological and historic heritage. The groups from out ship walked through the massive geological fault to the place where Europe's oldest national legislative assembly, the Icelandic Althing, was established in AD 930. Astonishingly, it convened here in grandiose surroundings every summer for nearly eight centuries.

The main reason we visited was because it is a rift valley zone (western active rift zone) and is surrounded by four active volcanic systems.  Iceland is growing because two plates are pulling apart in this rift valley.  The Eurasian plate is pulling towards Europe and the North American plate is pulling in the opposite direction.  Hence, Iceland grows bigger with volcanic activity from the interior of the earth.

The park lies in a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. To its south lies the largest natural lake in Iceland.

We continued over the Lyngdalsheidi Heath into the fertile farmlands of the south.  We did this to view two things for which the “land of fire and ice” is known:  Iceland's most beautiful waterfall called Gullfoss, and the nearby Geysir Geothermal Area with its multitude of hot springs. The most active geyser spouts every few minutes.

Everyone was waiting to get a phtograph of the large geyser of the park.

I missed the first eruption, but I got the next one.  

This guy was called the "little geyser," but it was more like a bubbling cauldron.

This is a view of the second largest glacier in Iceland.  It is called Langjökull.

The falls of Gullfoss.  We heard the story of Sigríður Tómasdóttir, the daughter of Tómas Tómasson, was determined to preserve the waterfall's condition and even threatened to throw herself down the falls if hydroelectricity was generated from these wateralls.

Before walking to the falls, the group had a lunch of tomato soup, salmon filets, and vegetables. The salmon was delicious.

The last stop of the day was at a geothermal powerplant.  They are taking the hot water and using it to produce electricity and warm water to heat homes.  The plant takes the carbon dioxide that is released in the process to create minerals (fool’s gold) that is placed by in the earth.  There’s no CO2 released to contribute to climate change.  There is, however, a strong sulfur odor and some believe this has been harmful to the local citizens near the plants.

A geothermal plant in Iceland uses the hot water to generate power and provide water to heat homes.  CO2 is buried as a mineral so that it doesn't cause global warning.