Iceland Day I.

9-18-17 SELFOSS, ICELAND: We flew Icelandair from EWR to Keflavik International Airport [KEF] arriving early in the AM and connecting with our Smithsonian Journeys group and getting on our bus to begin the tour. We drove to Reykjavik from the airport to pick up a few other travelers, and then went to a Radisson Hotel for breakfast.

The city houses two-thirds of the country’s total population, about 350,000. Most of the construction we saw is new, box-like concrete structures with nearly flat roofs and running to four or five stories. Older houses have pitched roofs and are of wood construction or with metal siding and roofing. The whole city is heated with geothermal hot water supplied to the town by a geothermal plant 16 miles outside of the city.

It was about 40° and raining and windy all day. We visited that geothermal plant, Hellisheidi Power Station, for a tour with an engineer. The plant generates electricity mostly used for aluminum smelting and hot water for heating and washing to almost all of Reykjavik. The smell of sulfur permeates the whole area.

Next we went to Ion Luxury Hotel in a fairly isolated spot where we are spending a few nights. We started with lunch and I did a hike after lunch climbing a small mountain behind the hotel with our guides and about a dozen of the group. We climbed the lava formations, pretty much overgrown with grassy vegetation and a mix of blueberries and lupin and other plants. The rain, clouds and fog stole away some of the views, and the wind was brisk at the top. It was about an hour up and down. There was not a bird or bug to be seen on the hike, probably due to the weather.

All of Iceland is of volcanic origin, mostly basaltic lava. New eruptions happen every few years. In most of the places we have seen so far the lava is well on the way to being soil. Iceland has no native trees, but many trees have been planted including spruce, pines, aspen and a few mountain ash that I noticed in the city. Originally the island was forested, but the initial settlers used all the wood for shelter and heat.


Greylag geese are everywhere in Reykjavik, especially the traffic islands. They are about to migrate after a breeding season here.

Hellisheidi Power Station with explanation of geology supplying steam for the turbines to generate electricity and hot water to heat almost of all of Reykjavik.

This is what most of Iceland looks like, lava fields covered with moss and grasses.

Lava vent on the hike.

Our hotel on the left from the mountain top. You can see the extent of the last lava flows into the valley.

Wild lupin grow on the mountain, acres and acres of it.

More lupin.

We saw lots of red, mostly blueberry in fall color.