geek – Page 40 – Geeky Girl Engineer

Reykjavik

Posted on May 30, 2014 by geek

Our trip around Iceland ended with a three night stay in Reykjavik. Reykjavik is the largest city by far in Iceland, but it is still a small town. It is a small town with charm though. Old and brightly colored houses mix with modern buildings. There are cute little churches that contrast with the famous and daring architecture of Hallgrímskirkja. The Harpa dominates the Old Harbor area while the lovely Tjörnin and all its waterfowl dominate the center of the city. The streets are narrow, walkable, and seemed designed to slow traffic, especially in places where the one lane street curves for no discernible reason. There are many parks and open spaces which give the city a relaxed feel. It is just a lovely town to visit.

Austurvöllur

Narrow streets with brightly colored buildings

Brightly colored houses

City Hall

Domkirkjan (Reykjavík Cathederal)

Alþingishúsið (Parliament House)

Ingolfstorg

Old Harbor with Harpa in the background

Perlan (it’s a restaurant on top of hot water tanks)

Hallgrimskirkja

Sun Voyager

City Hall across Tjörnin

Tjörnin with views of Fríkirkjan and Hallgrimskirkja

Reykjavik’s Harpa

Posted on May 27, 2014 by geek

Every so often I encounter something that as a photographer I become completely obsessed with and can’t stop taking photos of. Recently, it was a glacier that I hiked. Sometimes it has been a building of very unique design. Reykjavik’s Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre is one building I became obsessed with while in Iceland. While walking around Reykjavik, I took a few photos from the exterior, and then I went inside and took many, many more. It is a real interesting building of unique design, and it is a fantastic subject for photography.

Harpa

Harpa wall from exterior

Harpa wall from interior

Harpa wall and ceiling from interior

Harpa walls from interior

Harpa wall from interior

Harpa wall and ceiling from interior

Harpa wall from interior

Þingvellir

Posted on May 27, 2014 by geek

Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park is one of those places that you must go to if in Iceland for good reason. It is historically significant as the place where the original Iceland government met, and it is amazing and beautiful site to see. It is also geologically fascinating because it sits where two major tectonic plates are spreading apart. Also, if you watch Game of Thrones, you will evidently recognize it. The very tall rock wall you can walk along side is known as Almannagjá, and it is just one of things you need to do in person to really grasp the awe of it. I found this to be a good source of information on the geology of the area.

Þingvellir view from visitor’s center

Almannagjá

Top of Almannagjá

Drekkingarhylur

Þingvellir

Moss on Þingvellir wall

Þingvellir Church

Þingvallabær

Þingvallavatn

Westfjords

Posted on May 25, 2014 by geek

Between driving up to the Westfjords on Day 10 in Iceland, exploring on Day 11, and leaving on Day 12, we drove up and down numerous fjords, numerous times. The fjords are gorgeous, but driving up and down them can get quite tiring. We didn’t have the best weather while we were there, so we couldn’t really see the tops of the mountains. Of course, the low clouds sitting on top of the mountains did help to demonstrate their height.

View of Gilsfjordur

Low clouds falling down glacier valley

Vigur Island in foreground

View from Hnífsdalur

View of Onundarfjordur

Dynjandi

Posted on May 24, 2014 by geek

Day 11 in Iceland was spent in the Westfjords. We drove through the area enjoying the beauty and very much not enjoying the unpaved roads that go around mountainous curves and altitude changes and have far too many potholes. The area really is pretty, but it is probably prettier than I realize as it was raining most of the day with very low clouds, such that it was rather difficult to see much of the fjords. During our drive, we visited Dynjandi, which is a rather pretty series of waterfalls. The stream that flows over the waterfalls then exits to a fjord in an area with lots of waterfowl.

View of all of Dynjandi

Dynjandi’s lower falls

Grassy stream from Dynjandi

View from base of Dynjandi

Dynjandi’s mid falls

Upper and most spectacular portion of Dynjandi, with my sister on the far left side for size reference

Upper and most spectacular portion of Dynjandi

View from Dynjandi’s upper falls

Stream from Dynjandi exits to fjord

Flowers growing in a stream from outlet of Dynjandi

Akureyri

Posted on May 23, 2014 by geek

We stayed in Akureyri for three nights while visiting the northern area of Iceland. Akureyri is a cute little town. It doesn’t really look like it is little though. It looks like its population should be bigger than 17,000, but at times it felt like a ghost town. I am sure the hours differ during the summer, but when we were there, everything seemed to open late and close early, which made it difficult to do any shopping or see certain things. It is a nice town though, and it is certainly situated in a gorgeous location, in a fjord. It also has a really nice botanical garden, which features Cafe Bjork (of course).

View of Akureyri from across fjord

View of downtown, with the prominent church in foreground

Church near main shopping center

Downtown

The main shopping center

Old houses

Trolls on the main shopping street

The curry hut, of course

Botanical gardens

View of fjord from the city

Whales, Dolphins, and Puffins

Posted on May 23, 2014 by geek

On Day 9 in Iceland, we took a cruise out of Húsavík to try to see whales. We chose a cruise on a sailboat that took us by an island where we were pretty much guaranteed to see puffins. The puffins did not disappoint. We also lucked out and saw white-beaked dolphins and two blue whales. I have never seen blue whales before, so I was very excited about that. We were also visited by one friendly fulmar, and the cruise included spectacular views of the fjord.

Blue whale

Blue whales

Blue whale

White-beaked dolphin

White-beaked dolphins

Puffin

Puffin taking off

Puffin

Puffins on island

Fulmar

Fjord

Close up of fjord mountain top

Hverir

Posted on May 22, 2014 by geek

While exploring the Mývatn area of Iceland, we also visited Hverir. Hverir is a small area at the base of a mountain with steaming fumaroles and boiling mudpools and is totally cool. I am sure I have already described Iceland as cool, but this area is just so cool and fun to look at. Steam hisses out of fumaroles and mudpools just bubble up in front of you. In one of the mudpools, there was a less dense fluid on top of the bubbling mud, and it formed really interesting patterns as the liquid moved. There is caked mud and bubbling mud. There are sulfur and other mineral deposits on the ground. There is hissing steam. It is awesome.

Hverir landscape

Hverir mud pool

Hverir mud deposits

Hverir cracked dried mud

Hverir mud

Hverir mineral deposits

Hverir mud pool

Hverir mud patterns

Hverir fumarole

Dimmuborgir

Posted on May 22, 2014 by geek

Another site in the Mývatn region of Iceland that we explored is Dimmuborgir. It is an area of unusually shaped formations from volcanic activity. That is a boring way to describe it really. It is awesome, and it looks like hell, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. The formations are just bizarre really. Also the rocks vary in color and are quite pretty.

Dimmuborgir

Formation with clear layers of volcanic rock

Colorful volcanic rock

Grjótagjá

Posted on May 22, 2014 by geek

While exploring the Mývatn region of Iceland, we visited Grjótagjá. Grjótagjá is a small cave that has a geothermally heated natural pool inside it. It used to be used for bathing until volcanic activity in the 1970’s raised the temperature of water too high. It is still really cool though. The water is crystal clear, and steam can be seen rising from it. Above the cave, the landscape is fissured from the volcanic activity. It is just an incredibly interesting area.

Grjotagja

Grjotagja’s crystal clear water

Grjotagja cave entrance

Fissured landscape above the cave