continued… The bus dropped us off in front of the greenhouse and we went inside. The greenhouse was enormous. It seemed to go on forever with row after row of tomatoes.

Some of the rows had tables set up in between them for dining.

There was a short presentation on growing tomatoes in the green house. The greenhouse was heated via a thermal hot spring on the property. This was only one of nine greenhouses on this farm.

They grew the majority of tomatoes in the country. Most were consumed domestically — they only exported 2% of the tomatoes, mostly to Greenland. They started the plants in an incubation tray, then once the plants germinated, moved them to the main greenhouse.

The tomatoes were grown via hydroponics, not in soil. The plants were hung and grew from the top down. They removed the leaves from the bottom of the plants to ensures better quality fruit. They kept hives of bees in the greenhouse to pollinate the plants and showed us one of their man-made hives. The special full spectrum lights were on every day that it wasn’t naturally sunny… so the lights were on nearly every day.

After the presentation, we were shown to our tables. We found out that the meal that had been included in our tour package was unlimited bread and soup. They also had a menu we could order additional food from with some very unique and interesting tomato based dishes.

When Christi asked if the soup had peppercorn, the guide offered to substitute tomatoes and burrata instead. The burrata was incredibly creamy and delicious, with a softer texture than the one we’d had at Verde.

We had a long time until we needed to board the bus again, so we had a leisurely meal with plenty of time to talk to the people at our table. After eating, Christi wandered around the greenhouse and saw there were sections where other types of produce was grown.

Outside, while waiting for the busses to pull up to pick up our group, we stopped by their equestrian area where they raised competitive horses and snapped a couple of photos. 

The last stop was at Kerið, a volcanic crater lake. This was another stop that hadn’t been on the itinerary, and it was another pleasant surprise. This was the scenery on the way.

The bus turned off onto a small side street that led to the parking lot for the visitor’s center, which was a small trailer.

It was steps from the trailer to the crater. Given how big the landscape was, we were surprised at how small the crater was. We’d expected it to be huge, like in Santorini and Caleta Parida. Per the internet, it was 270 metres wide and over 55 metres deep.

There was a path down to the bottom, which was covered in water, and a path up to the top. This was a short stop, so we didn’t have time for either. You can see both paths in this photo — excuse the odd color palette, Keith took the photo and was experimenting with different settings.

It was cold, so we quickly retreated back to the warm bus. Here was a shot of the hills across the road from where the bus had parked. Given the proximity to the crater, we believe that they were both probably shield volcanos.

After the crater, we piled in the bus and headed back to the Harpa. On the drive, the guide had a contest where he asked everyone questions to see what information we’d retained. Everyone who got a correct answer was given a Sambó – Þristur mini candy bar as a prize, which made locally and Iceland’s best selling sweet. It sounded disgusting — soft caramel, toffee, black licorice and milk chocolate. Keith did not like them. Christi found them not bad — and the more she ate, the more they grew on her.

Eric was waiting for us at the Harpa bus stop. However, it was a quick greeting, as he was heading off to a special evening convention activity. Keith and Christi walked to a Visitor’s Center in downtown to buy tickets for the Raufarhólshellir Lava Tube tour that Eric had gone on yesterday. It was located a few short blocks away from Baka Baka, in an area they hadn’t seen yet. This section of downtown was even more adorable than the parts they’d seen the last couple of days.

After purchasing our tickets, we walked back to the hotel, taking a slightly different route. Here were a few buildings that we hadn’t seen before.

Back at the hotel, we rested for a bit. At dinner time, neither of us wanted to put our cold weather gear back on, so we at in the hotel’s restaurant. Eric returned home after we’d gone to bed.