Getting to Know Iceland Outside Reykjavík
On a clear and sunny (and cold) day in March the GRÓ GEST 2024 Cohort went on a Sunday outing to experience that Iceland is more than its capital and there is more to life than classes and assignments!
To break up the intensity of the GRÓ GEST academic programme, the 2024 cohort went on a day trip on Sunday 3 March. The trip was packed with amazing sights, all in the near vicinity of the capital – the so-called Golden Circle. The cohort left campus early in the morning and returned late afternoon, having visited the Geysir hot springs area, Gullfoss (e. Golden waterfall) one of Iceland‘s most picturesque waterfalls, and Þingvellir, the founding site of Iceland‘s parliament, Alþingi, back in year CE 930.
The group was led by the artist and experienced tour guide Ósk Vilhjálmsdóttir who used her extensive knowledge of Icelandic nature and history to teach the fellows about the geology that shapes Iceland such as in the intermittent eruptions of the geysir Strokkur and the visibility of the Mid Atlantic Ridge at Þingvellir, where the the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet. She also shared stories about the environmental activism of Sigríður of Brattholt who saved Gullfoss from being destroyed by hydroelectric power development in the early 20th century. While hydropower is a fully renewable “green“ energy source, it has become generally accepted that natural beauty and unique natural phenomena must also be protected – not every river should be dammed.
The group lunched at Friðheimar, a family farm producing tomatoes in an environmentally friendly and high-tech manner. The tomatoes grow year-round in greenhouses, lit with artificial lighting utilizing clean electricity from hydro- and geothermal power plants, and heated with hot water from a borehole on the farm itself.
The GRÓ GEST cohort certainly deserved this day of leisure after weeks of intense academic work and happily, the weather was in agreement: As the pictures show it was a beautiful, clear and sunny day in southern Iceland.
All photos by Ósk Vilhjálmsdóttir.
