GayCities blogger and photographer Jeffrey James Keyes regularly checks in from his world travels with updates from his best and most unusual experiences.
Another volcano eruption screwed up air traffic this week. If your layover in Reykjavik went from two hours to two days because of Grimsvotn, Eyjafjallajokull, or any really un-pronounceable Icelandic volcano you’re luck because there’s still plenty to do in a country where the Prime Minister is an out lesbian and a new law provides all the sperm you could ask for. Here are five things I did to pass time in Iceland during the, er, eruption.
Volcanic Layover
GuyDads
A couple more great things to do in Iceland:
– Seeing dozens of geysers, including Geysir, from which the English word is derived, as well as the famous Strokkur geyser that erupts every 5-10 minutes.
– Visit Thingvellir (Parliament Plains). It was at Thingvellir that the Vikings formed the world’s oldest true parliament, in A.D. 930. Geographically it is also where European continental plate is pulling away from the American plate. We hiked along a chasm between the two continents.
More about our Iceland vacation: http://guydads.blogspot.com/2008/09/island-hopping.html
Lulu Buckwald
Honestly, you just don’t think of going Iceland, do you? It’s always Europe and some island somewhere. Boring! This article definitely piqued my interest. And I love the images. I like the style of this writer…..
ziggypop
I know the new Queerty is trying to find its voice, and I really like pieces like this. While not essentially gay-specific, its very timely and original.
oldgayvermonter
Iceland is a must-stopover – good for a day or two of a very different experience. Sooo bleak and barren (don’t go in September or winter – then it is also wet, cold, gray and windy).
The Golden Circle Tour at about $95 is a full day well worth taking. Also can recommend the Backpackers Hostel and the nearby Santa Maria Restaurant (yes – authentic Mexican in Iceland for about $13). I skipped the expensive “traditional” putrified shark!
Lemonz
@ No. 1 · GuyDads
Just a correction. 🙂 Thingvellir isn’t THE oldest true parliament in the world. The vikings places one that is almost a century older in the Faroe Islands, called Tinganes (which is still used today, by the way), in around year 825. 🙂
Mike UK
@Lemonz: the worlds oldest continuous parliament is the Tynwald on the Isle of Man, it’s over a thousand years old established in 979ad, although the Thingvellir is older it is not a continuous parliament.