Reykjavik

Reykjavik is the capital and largest city in Iceland.  Although the Royal Princess docked in Reykjavik, around half of the passengers went on the Grand Circle tour.  This takes in some of Iceland's best known sites - Gullfoss waterfall, Geysir and Thingvellir National Park - but left no time to see much of Reykjavik itself, apart from a few scenic views from the Pearl on the way back to the ship.

Gullfoss (‘Golden Falls’) is considered by many to be Iceland’s most beautiful waterfall.  It is a two-tier waterfall in a huge gorge carved out by the glacial River Hvítá.

The spouting Geysir – the original that gave its name to the world’s spouting geysers – ceased to erupt earlier this century but fortunately its faithful stand-in (the nearby Strokker) spouts and sprays approximately every five minutes. The site also includes hot springs that are coloured by mineral deposits, steaming vents and warm streams.  

The following series of pictures attempt to show Strokker erupting - each series of 3 pictures was taken in less than 1 second.

Thingvellir is the National Park where the Althing - an open-air assembly, which represented the whole of Iceland - was established in 930 and continued to meet until 1798. Over two weeks a year, the assembly set laws and settled disputes.

The Pearl is a remarkable building, built in 1988.  It is a glass structure which houses a revolving restaurant perched atop hot water tanks.  The fourth level has an outside viewing deck offering views of the city.  It also has a strange line in outdoor sculpture ...