Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Just a bit of confusion here for the blog to get out of the way. It must be about one in the morning at home, we have had no sleep, but here it's about nine in the morning and there is stuff to see and do! Since this is really a new day, I guess this is where we will start day two even though it feels like a continuation of day one. No sleep for the weary, let’s get this show on the road!
At this point, I should introduce our group of ten adventurers. We have our Chief in charge, Arnold Faber who put this whole thing together. Arnold is from Canada and owns an Icelandic horse farm with about one hundred horses. Tammy found out about this Iceland trip at his farm when she and her friend Charlotte went there to ride the horses for a few days. Leo, who goes by Lee is Arnold’s son, he is a younger guy in his early thirties. Lee lives on the same farm as Arnold and has a wife and a couple of really young kids. Arnold and Lee will be our chief guides while we are here in Iceland. Also, along with us, is Monica, from Canada who owns a Fiord/Morgan cross named Harley and a 25 yr. old Appy. Nancy is from Bellingham, WA and owns 8 horses; most are Icelandic and an Icelandic mule which I hear is pretty rare. Nancy’s good friend, Geri, is also from Bellingham, WA and owns a quarterhorse. Elaine is from England and owns two horses she bought from Arnold, Sara, a mare and a gelding, both Icelandics. Tim and Dar who are from Alberta, Canada own 4 Icelandic horses and a Quarter Horse. Dar is pretty excited because she will be taking her mare to Arnold's this summer to get bred. Then there’s us, Fred and Tammy Chavarria straight out of Ketchikan, AK. We own no horses! Tammy has plenty of riding experience and owned a horse when she was growing up. That makes me, the least experienced rider on the tour. I have ridden before and feel fairly confident but I haven’t ridden enough to consider it anywhere near experienced. Last time I rode was a few years ago on a tour through a winery we did in California.
Introductions aside, our first order of business is a trip to the swimming pools after a small breakfast at a coffee shop. Other than the orange juice, I have no idea what I have consumed in the funny looking sandwich. Originally this was going to be a trip to the Blue Lagoon, which is a hot springs area where we could swim and enjoy the hot spring water. Well, we heard that the Blue Lagoon has become too touristy and is now crowded, dirty, and you actually need reservations months in advance to get in. The pools we went to, on the other hand are also fed by hot springs, are clean, convenient, and have several pools of varying temperature to enjoy including a hot seawater pool. The weather was cloudy, but mostly sunny and cool.
We had fun at the pools moving between the different temperature pools. They have strict rules and have people walking around to make sure you obey them including in the locker room where you change! For one, you must wear a real bathing suit, no cutoffs here! They even post posters telling you that you have to shower before going to the pools and the picture even tells you what areas of the body to get extra clean! Yes, shocking, I know. This was a great stop as we were all beat and the pools helped rejuvenate us. We swam for a while, soaked for a while, and enjoyed watching a bunch of kids go down a huge slide. There was one pool no one in our group had the guts to go into. I walked by this pool and stuck my hand in to test and the water was ice cold! Some younger people went in it for a while every now and then. Arnold told us you are supposed to use the hot water pools and then get in the cold; no thanks! Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the pools. They had signs all over the place telling you that cameras are not allowed without a license to film. The Icelandic signs, I of course could not read, said something about YouTube so I am guessing they don’t want that either. So, we do the pool thing, come out refreshed and we are ready for the day!
Cleaned up and anxious to start sightseeing, Arnold starts us off with a great lunch at the Perlan restaurant. This place is the highest spot in the city and is the old water towers (four) for the city. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to convert the old water towers into this neat building that has art in it, a small geyser, and a restaurant. The restaurant is on the fourth floor and looks pretty nice. I decide to go local and order the snitzel (their spelling, not mine) for lunch, which my travelling companions describe as mystery meat since none of us know what the heck it is. Arnold explains during lunch that electricity here is not very expensive since there is an overabundance of geothermal power available. Basically, we are sitting on a group of volcanoes, some of which are still active as recently as 2010! Iceland is the newest inhabited body of land in the world.
After lunch, we went up on the roof of the building and took some pictures since you can see pretty far from up here. They have some nice art inside and these fascinating sculptures outside. I couldn’t decide if this was supposed to look like a band or a bunch of people screaming in horror. They also had a tiny geyser outside that emitted steam the whole time but I think its days of erupting were over. They had signs saying to stay back but of course tourists, not us, left a trail as you can see in the picture.
Our next stop is a place called Fakasel Horse Park where we will be able to see a show on Icelandic horses and have dinner. This was quite the bumpy ride and I have to say that you should avoid the back of the van whenever possible. You know how on a whip, the end of the whip is the part that snaps and goes fastest? Well, the same applies to the back seat of the van! I had my head bounce of the ceiling a couple of times and I am sure I left a head print you can see from the outside! Tragic, but funny. We laughed quite a bit about the ride in the back. Once I learned to keep my head low, the ride got better!
So after a bumpy, winding journey, we reach Fakasel. This is a pretty neat place where we were able to go in and do a bit of shopping and have some great ice-cream coated in chocolate and caramel! They had some cool Icelandic stuff like sweaters and souvenirs for sale. We even spent some time outside admiring some horses and walking around a bit. Everywhere you look around here you see piles of volcanic rocks. They literally litter the fields! They gather them and even use some to build structures or fences and such.
Arnold got our tickets and off we went into the auditorium to watch the show. The show consisted of several horses demonstrating the five gaits. The gaits are the normal walk, trot, and canter/gallop all horses do but the Icelandic horse has two additional gaits. They do something called a tolt and the fast paced tolt which are basically trotting but much smoother which is much more pleasant for the rider. I know this is a gait I must learn how to get from the horse if I am to save my dignity and well, my bottom. Other horses may be capable of these additional gaits but it seems to have been bred out of them throughout history.
I guess this is where I should give a little lesson on Icelandic horses that I learned. The Icelandic horse actually originated as a Mongolian horse when the Vikings brought them to Iceland and were always a working horse. They have no exposure to horses of any other kind since none are allowed into the country. Once an Icelandic horse leaves the country it can never return. That’s right, banishment! The horses here have no diseases so they are not vaccinated. All horses in Iceland are 100% pure Icelandic horses. They are smaller and stouter then our horses here in the US but DON’T EVER CALL THEM PONIES! These are horses in every way and quite strong since they have always been working horses. In some ways, they are superior to our horses because they eat off the land without getting colic or anything like that. They also walk on land that would most definitely hurt other horses. This place has rough terrain and no shortage of rocks for them to walk on. Arnold says that walking on the rocky ground is actually good for their feet and improves their hooves by spreading them out. They eat off the land and most of the hay here is used either for sheep or winter food for the horses.
The show continues with demonstrations of the different gaits and gives us history on the connection people have with these horses both as working animals and for friendship. The horses are very gentle and very friendly. After the show, they invited the crowd down to meet the riders and the horses, which was a treat for all of us. The horses were very patient with everyone wanting to get close enough to touch them and get a good look.
After the show, we had dinner there, at Fakasel. Dinner consisted of smoked lamb and beets followed by a thick fish soup and bread. This of course had to be followed by cheesecake and coffee! It was all different and most definitely delicious! I have never had lamb that tastes this good, no gaminess or anything!
Given the length of this day/days, we were all ready to go back to our rooms for the night. This is when I learned of the uniqueness of our accommodations. I have never stayed in a hostel, which I am assuming this is modeled after so I did not know what to expect. There is no restroom in our room! I found a small sink in the corner but that’s it. I guess this place has communal restrooms and showers, one per floor. Its first come first served here! So, off to the restroom I go and I encounter a guy going down the hall in nothing but underwear! He obviously is not the least bit bothered by his lack of clothing and slowly makes his way to the restroom. I later heard from someone in our group that they ran into him on his way back to his room as well.
Off to bed with visions of our adventures to come!
Details on the photos:
Pic 1 - Arrival at the Hostel
This is the place we are staying at for our first night.
Pic 2 -Capital Inn
My first experience with a Hostel!
Pic 3 - Unloading
The gangs all here and it's time to settle in for day one! No sleep so not much motivation moving those suitcases!
Pic 4 - A Quick Bite
Not sure what I just ate!
Pic 5 - The Only Pool Picture
No photography allowed so this is the only shot of the pool I have. It's just a breakdown of all the different pools in the place.
Pic 6 - The Water Towers
This used to be the water towers for the city.
Pic 7 - The Perlan Awaits
Time for some lunch after all that swimming and soaking.
Pic 8 - The Perlan Menu Offerings
Time to go local with the cuisine.
Pic 9 - The Winding Staircase
Four floors to climb for lunch.
Pic 10 - Views from the Roof
This is the highest spot in the city.
Pic 11 - Views from the Roof
Pic 12 - Views of the Roof
Can't get any higher!
Pic 13 - Views from the Roof
Pic 14 - Views from the Roof
Pic 15 - Views from the Roof
Pic 16 - Views from the Roof
Tammy and I on the roof.
Pic 17 - Views from the Roof
Pic 18 - Views from the Roof
Pic 19 - Views from the Roof
Pic 20 - Views from the Roof
Pic 21 - Views from the Roof
Tammy
Pic 22 - Bronze Statues
I still can't decide if this is a band jamming or a bunch of people screaming in horror.
Pic 23 - The Close up
Pic 24 - The Mini Geyser
Nothing but steam and danger here! No eruption, so sad.
Pic 25 - Fakasel Horse Show
Pic 26 - Fakasel
Horses running free.
Pic 27 - Fakasel
More horses.
Pic 28 - Lava Rocks
So many rocks all over the place, you can build with them!
Pic 29 - Yummy
Caramel covered and chocolate covered cones. Arnold, stressed to us how good the ice cream was at this gas station so we just had to try it. You know, this guy know his ice cream! These were tasty!
Pic 30 - I'm Keeping an eye on you.
Ready for my close up my DeMilo!
Pic 31 - Friendly Horses
At Fakasel walking around admiring the horses.
Pic 32 - A Kiss is Just a Kiss
Just like the song! A kiss is just a kiss but when it's from a horse, it's something special!
Pic 33 - Howdy Pardner!
Pic 34 - Waiting for the show
The Icelandic Horse Show at Fakasel. Wandering about aimlessly taking in the sites.
Pic 35 - The Lava Rock Fence
They have so many Lava rocks here, you can build anything you want with them including fences.
Pic 36 - Restroom Art
Wish the flash didn't bounce back in this picture, darn.
Pic 37 - Restroom Stalls
Tammy shot this in the ladies' room. Our restroom was not fancy like this. I should complain!
Pic 38 - Time to Start the Show
The whole show is a tribute to the Icelandic horse.
Pic 39 - Elves Hiding in the Rocks
Half the people in Iceland genuinely believe in elves and trolls!
Pic 40 - All Wheel Drive
These horses can go places vehicles can't!
Pic 41 - The Elves Emerge
Pic 42 - The Cast
Wish more pictures of the show turned out but it was too dark.
Pic 43 - A Girl and her Best Friend
A demonstration of the friendship folks here have with their horses.
Pic 44 - Odin's Horse
The horse of legend was named Sleipnir and had eight legs!
Pic 45 - Ta-Da
End of the show and an invitation to come on down.
Pic 46 - Meet the Actors
A little meet and greet with the actors (horses).
Pic 47 - Patient Horse
The horse just stood there and let everyone get their pictures with him and pet him.
Pic 48 - A Working dog
He came out at the end to chase horses back to the corral.
Pic 49 - Feed Me!
Dinner at Fakasel.
Pic 50 - Yummy
Dinner of smoked lamb, salad, and beets. All delicious!
Pic 51 - More Yummy
A think fish soup with bread. These people know how to eat.
Pic 52 - Dessert
Cheesecake with chocolate! Need I say more?
Pic 53 - Nighttime
Finally, a bed and sleep.
- comments