Northern Europe 2019, day 3

Our first stop was at a geothermal power station, but we found out they weren’t giving tours that day. Casey had another one on his list, so we weren’t too distressed. Iceland is a huge producer of natural energy; they use mostly hydropower and geothermal energy.

allison: Great picture. Casey always look happiest when he is traveling and exploring!

This place was open for visitors. It was a pretty awesome interactive exhibit.

I thought this window was striking, and very Scandinavian. It looks like it belongs in a church.

This exhibit demonstrated how electricity is created with copper wire and magnets. Anna was spinning the center of the circle until it lit up the lightbulbs on either side.

This is the water flowing under the plant.

Next we stopped at the Kerid Crater, which was definitely a tourist attraction as there were tons of people. These pictures don’t quite convey the beauty of the water and how it sparkled; it was really gorgeous!

allison: Wow! So stunning.

We walked the trail around the lake and then hightailed it out of there before the tour buses started unloading. Those tourists! 🙄

Elsine: beautiful blue water

We stopped along the way to get something for lunch. It was a bit of a serendipitous find; we didn’t plan on eating there but we saw a sign on the side of the road and we took a chance. It felt so old-fashioned and wacky to eat in a place that hasn’t been yelp‘d yet.

Anne: Lovely picture! Looks like you are having fun.

Elsine: great picture of the two of you,,,

There were some people smoking on the patio, hence the face…or maybe it was the sunshine?

Allison, I thought of you when I got this! It was a Danish cider—someone told me they don’t make cider in Iceland—and this one was a bit too sweet. Sarah Cole still rules!!🍏

allison: Did you like the cider as much as the one in Montreal?

Elsine: sweet picture

Cheryl: Iceland is known for its thermal baths. It’s a big thing here and people go all the time. The water is naturally hot and a bit sulfurous. The most famous one is the Blue Lagoon, but that one is super expensive and pretty much filled with tourists (!). So we stopped at the Secret Lagoon, which also had tourists but wasn’t as expensive. It was lovely! This is a picture of us after the soak…just chillin’ with a cider and Appelsin.

We went to the bath but this particular picture is of the hot water in the land the surrounds the bath. This water is too hot to bathe in; in fact, I think someone said something about losing some fingers if we tested it out! 🥵

allison: Did you guys go In?

Cheryl: The bath is surrounded by land that has little pools of scaldingly hot water. There is a wooden pathway that circles around the bathing area but there are many signs ordering walkers to stay on the path.

It’s a lovely 38 degrees Celsius…I don’t know that is in Fahrenheit but it’s like really, really warm bath water that doesn’t cool down. We stayed in for about 20 minutes and then got out because Anna was feeling too hot. (I was getting close!)