On our first day we went from the airport to a restaurant with a buffet English breakfast, and large picture windows overlooking a geothermal plant. It seemed a little wierd to choose this man-made vista, rather than a sight of natural beauty. But I thought it was kind of cool.
Evidently a couple of years ago, the restaurant was closed because a volcano was erupting nearby, and threatening it with molten lava. This is an actual picture from the event. The restaurant is the building in the foreground.
In areas where lava flows occur, the Icelanders build huge earthen dikes to try to redirect the flows away from human habitation. There is one in this photo below, like a huge straight-backed ridge on the horizon beyond the yellow trucks.
We drove through a vacant town that was recently condemned and the residents were relocated by the government due to threats from flowing lava. Sort of like Centralia.
After that we stopped an the nearby “Blue Lagoon” hot springs, which is very famous. We snuck in to view the bathing guests, and then we slunk away without paying an entry fee. Our hosts know all the tricks. They claim they know of another hot spring that is better, but less crowded,
One of our fellow travelers is a retired Chemist. He purchased a bottle of blue Gin that becomes pink when mixed with tonic.
