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When
I audited the NEX at the Naval Communications Station at Keflavík,
we stayed at a hotel in the capital city of Reykjavík. Every
day we had to make the round-trip drive past scenery such as seen in
this photo—BARREN except for a few...
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...isolated
houses. Iceland was formed from volcanos and it still experiences a
great deal of volcanic activity. Homes are built with very steep roofs
because of the heavy snowfall during the winters.
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The
landscape is quite rocky with little vegetation; there are no trees
to be scene anywhere except in the cities. Icelanders, however, use
many brilliant COLORS in the construction of their homes.
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Some
areas of Iceland are covered with volcanic ash and the US Space Agency
(NASA) actually used Iceland to test its prototype vehicles intended
for use on the MOON!
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Early
one morning I had gone up in a tower near our hotel and taken some photos
of the city of Reykjavík. The city, when viewed through the camera
lens, appeared almost like a miniature city laid out on a tabletop.
There were no cars moving on the...
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...streets
or people to be seen anywhere. And, the COLORS of the roofs and homes
were simply spectacular! Needless to say, I was very happy I was there
in SUMMER and did not have to experience the cold and snow of Iceland
in winter.
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Even
back in the late 1970’s when I visited Iceland, prices for EVERYTHING
(like hotels, meals, food, and BOOZE) were incredibly high by American
standards. Even a simple meal in a local buffet ran as much as $35-$40.
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Since
most Icelandic entertainment was too expensive for my budget, I went
out sight-seeing during the weekend with some of the civilian auditors
on my team. Fortunately, there were NOT many main roads...
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...and
we were able to successfully navigate our way to some scenic waterfalls
as well as to one of the local geyser areas. Unfortunately, a storm
moved in and the sky was not very pretty for taking photos.
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Needless
to say, there were NOT many tourists (or even local Icelanders) blocking
our view of this scenic spot—we had it almost entirely to ourselves!
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“Geysir”
is the name of a hot spring in southwest Iceland from which we get our
word “geyser.” The word refers to “a natural hot spring
that intermittently ejects a column of water and steam into the air.”
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As
at the waterfalls, my audit team members (the people standing in the
photo) and I did not have to stand in line for a better view of the
geyser’s eruption. [Note: I actually took no photos aboard the
Keflavík Navy base itself.]
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