17th June is Iceland's national day - this year marked the 70th anniversary of their independence from Denmark. I didn't realise it was so recent, but history has never been my strong point...

Anyway, we spent the day on another coach tour - the South Shore Adventure with Reykjavik Excursions.  It rained. I took far too many very similar photos, none of which are particularly spectacular.  But it was a really interesting day, with a lot of stuff crammed in.  Definitely recommended.

I've walked on/in glaciers in France and Austria, but mum had never seen one before.  This one is covered in... continue reading »

The first of two days sat on tour buses, and another Icelandic "must do" - the Golden Circle.  Loads of companies offer this tour, but we picked Iceland Excursions because it mentioned a tour of a geothermal power station.  Which did not occur - instead we went to a horse place.  But nevermind!

The first big stop of the day was Þingvellir, an interesting place for several reasons.  It's the location of Iceland's first parliament, and it's a rift valley between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.  So there's all sorts of fissures and big rocky walls and things, as... continue reading »