To the Frozen North - A tour of Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula

We were taken to the peninsula South of Reykjavik, visited a lake in volcanic surroundings (the order of the afternoon) & some stinking fumaroles of bubbling mud & steam. This was a bit of a walk. This is all geologically young country but a matter of several hundred years, much older than Lanzarote, which we visited on the last cruise.

Lichen on broken-down lava

Stinking, boiling mud

Stinking, boiling mud close-up

The valley full of stinking, boiling mud

More boiling nastiness

A colourful volcanic mess

Then, to the Blue Lagoon, really a bathing area, where they let sea water into the volcanic hot water, with alleged therapeutic effects. The last call was a museum with a modern replica Viking ship which had sailed to Greenland, "Vinland" & New York successfully. At least they made it. The casualty rate for replica Viking ships is apparently the same as the originals, about 50%.