Category: UK/Iceland, Summer 2023

Our last day in Rekjavik was spent mostly shopping around, and then walking down to the waterfront to see the famous sculpture “The Sun Voyager”.  The sculpture, placed here in 1990, is built to resemble a Viking long-ship.

We then walked down the waterfront to the Harpa Conference Center.  I wasn’t sure we could even walk into the center, but we found the front doors and discovered it has a shopping center, a cafe, and a box office for upcoming concerts.  The interior is very cool!  If you are a fan of the “Black Mirror” series on Netflix, there is an episode called “Crocodile” that features this building.  Be warned though, it’s a very dark episode.

We also discovered a tour of the center was about to start, and there were exactly two tickets left.  Perfect!  The below photo is in the performance theater named after the Northern Lights, Nordurljos.

The walls of the concert hall have a very unique design to allow for acoustic changes via the openings in the walls, and curtains behind those openings.  As an audio junkie, I loved this sort of detail.

Our tour guide showed us why it’s named after the Northern Lights, as the walls are designed to light up during performances.

I loved the reflections on the floor of the last set of colors!

Our guide showed us a setup for a free concert later that afternoon.  It’s a beautiful spot, but we came back for the concert later and it was a major snoozefest, despite the setting.

This is the gorgeous interior just outside the main performance hall.

Inside the main performance hall, called Eldborg, with seating for up to 1600 guests.

There are two reverberation chambers on either side of the Eldborg hall, and our tour guide, who just so happens to be a classically trained vocalist, gave us an impromptu performance!  Listen to the echos after she finishes each line!  Amazing, particularly for an audio geek like me!

Another shot of the interior.  I took a bunch to see if I could find the exact set of stairs used in Black Mirror.  I’m a sucker for film based locations!

Our last stop was a room designed for small conferences and parties with a view over Reykjavik.  It would be an incredible wine tasting venue!

We saw a boat pulling in and we knew Tony and Julie were on a Puffin tour, so I snapped a shot with my 10x zoom lens.  Sure enough, Tony and Julie were on the bow of the boat!  Too funny!

That evening we had a long awaited helicopter trip to see the current Litli-Hrutur volcano eruption.  We had originally booked a tour to hike to the site, but we decided the helicopter made a lot more sense than hiking over 11 miles.  Dont’ we look dapper in our headsets!

The view of Reykjavik as we take off.  This is a big damned city!

Our pilot pointed out that this was Iceland’s version of the White House.  Putting it on an island keeps the press away…surprised they haven’t tried this back home!

Here we are nearing the volcano.  It was really churning away!  The smoke you see is from ground fires caused by flowing lava.

We then did several fly-bys of the volcano.  I’m disappointed in the clarity of these videos, but I think it was due to shooting through the glass of the helicopter.

The next video is my favorite.  Please note the hillside in the first part of the video, with dozens of people on top of the hill who have hiked the 18km to see this once in a lifetime experience.

The pilot also flew over the eruption area from last year, which was interesting.  The lava flows are very pronounced based on the older lava from eruptions thousands of years ago.

We then did another fly-by for one last video shot.  I have to be honest, video just doesn’t do the experience justice….it was an absolutely amazing site seeing it up close and personal!  So amazing I’m still trying to convince Kim to do it again before we fly home!

One last still shot.  This was an incredible experience!  The helicopter pilot from “Nordurflug Helicopter Tours” was excellent!  If you are going to be here anytime soon, just book it!

A lost shot of Reykjavik as we flew back into the airport.  That’s the Perla Museum in the left foreground.

We had to get the traditional shot in front of the helicopter!  My hair is rocking!

Tomorrow we rent our car, and head east, where great things await!

While planning this trip I ran across a very cool website for this tour,  “Inside the Volcano”.  I was initially hesitant as it was pretty expensive, but our friend Tony said “I’m a sucker for a good web presentation”, so we booked it.  We were picked up in Reykjavik and taken a half hour away…in the middle of nowhere….where they actually have a ski resort.  Ok, “resort” is a strong word, this place is basically a bunny hill for beginners.

The sign in their office indicates what lays ahead.  It’s not scary, but the fricking name of the place certainly is!  What’s with the lower case “p” at the front of the word…and the little accent dashes seemingly everywhere!  Is this the land of the Lilliputians?  Apparently pronouncing this word is Iceland’s drunk test!  The Statue of Liberty and the ugly hotel from North Korea will both fit inside the volcano.  If you are confused by the North Korean comment, then you didn’t read the last post, so why are you jumping ahead!

After getting over the name of the volcano, we connected with our guide and began the 2 mile hike.  There is evidence of lava tubes along the way.  Maybe I’m just drunk, but if you squint your eyes it looks like a deranged Cookie Monster.  Ok, yeah, I’m tipsy…sue me.

The hike crosses the rift between the North American and European tectonic plates.  Not quite as evident as it is on the Golden Circle tour, but cool nevertheless.

You can even see snow down in the tectonic rift.  Don’t tell Hunter!

This is the volcano we are heading towards.  Doesn’t look all that big, right?  Wait until you see the inside!

Tony making his way to the lift.  He was a champ…he had hurt himself riding a horse a few days prior, and was having a hard time walking….but he made it the two miles out!  Nobody dared tell him he had to hike two miles back.

Julie is happy Tony made it.  Hell, Julie is always happy!  What is your secret Julie?

We are now heading down into the volcano.  This lift bangs into the side of the opening at one point…they did this by design, right?  Right?  The guy on the right driving the lift doesn’t seem to be alarmed…maybe bored, but not alarmed…so we’re good.

The view down into the blackness.

Here is a short video of us as we descend.  It takes 6 minutes to get to the bottom.

Looking back up after landing on the bottom.  That exterior shot doesn’t do the volcano justice…we are 700 feet down from the top!

The colors in the interior of this 4,000 year old “dormant” volcano are just amazing!  You can see the lift on the way back up.  Kinda puts things in perspective!

There is a rather dangerous walkway on the bottom that would NOT pass muster with OSHA, but we did it anyway.  Again, the colors of all the different elements are unreal!  The platform in the below photo is where the lift lands.

You want to make sure you bring your warm jacket.  Despite this being a volcano, the temperature inside is a constant 37 degrees Fahrenheit!

Kim is checking the colors out!  We got to spend about 40 minutes inside, and despite the cold, we were mesmerized.

I think I took about 60 photos.  Even though some of these show the same things, they looked so different from differing angles and perspectives.

Tony, Julie and Kim all checking out the perspectives.  I told them to all look up in awe.  These people can act!!  I think Julie just saw God!

We had our guide get a shot of all of us.  Don’t I look good in a helmet!

After finishing the tour the base camp area provides you with really good bowl of soup, and you have the opportunity to take a photo on the special bench before you walk back.  These guys even spent the extra cash to put the accents in their metal sign…that’s some serious shit!

The group walking back towards our ride home.  Such a beautiful desert wasteland.  This has become a common scene in Iceland.

With the exception of some really beautiful flowers here and there.

We had another dinner for 10 of us that night, this time at Reykjavik Kitchen.  I didn’t take a picture of the table or the food, but I did like the artwork they had on the wall.  The food was pretty good, but nothing will beat the food we had at Kopar!

Up next, we visit the Harpa Conference Center, and take a helicopter ride to see a live volcano!