Iceland & British Isles Explorer

The south of England boasts a dramatic coastline that encloses some of the most beautiful countryside in Britain. The landscape of hills and heaths, downs and forests, valleys and dales, is without rival. Southampton serves as your gateway to the countryside – and to a wide variety of historic sites, national landmarks and charming. And of course, London is a two-hour drive by modern highway.

The United Kingdom’s premier passenger ship port, Southampton was home for many years to the great transatlantic liners of yesteryear.

Glasgow was Scotland’s great industrial center during the 19th century. Today, the city remains the commercial and cultural capital of the Lowlands. Lying on the banks of the River Clyde, Glasgow boasts some of the finest Victorian architecture in the entire United Kingdom, including the stately City Chambers. Elegant Princes Square offers excellent shopping, and among the host of museums and galleries, the Burrell Collection features a superb treasure trove of paintings and art objects.

The town is your gateway to the famous “Land of Fire and Ice” – Iceland’s dramatic landscape of volcanic craters, extinct lava lakes and majestic waterfalls.

Visitors to Akureyri have a hard time grasping the fact that the town lies just below the Arctic Circle. The climate here is temperate: flower boxes fill the windows of houses, and trees line the neat, well-tended avenues. Thanks to that mild climate, Akureyri’s Botanical Gardens provide a home for over 2,000 species of flora from around the world – all surviving without greenhouses. No wonder Icelanders refer to Akureyri as the most pleasant town on the entire island.

The town of Ísafjördur is the municipal centre of the West Fjords peninsula. The West Fjords are Iceland’s least populated region, with 9,600 inhabitants in the area of 9,520 km. Isafjördur (population 3,500) formerly one of Iceland’s main trading posts, was granted municipal status in 1886. Some of Iceland’s oldest and best-preserved buildings, dating from the 18th century, are located in Ísafjördur. The town is still predominantly a fishing centre. A vigorous and varied cultural and artistic scene flourishes in the town as well. Mountains surround Ísafjördur on the three sides and the sea on the other. The ancient settlement site of Eyri downtown is enclosed by the narrow Skutulsfjördur fjord, which shelters the harbour in all weathers.

The patron saints of Reykjavik are fire and ice. Iceland is a land of volcanoes and glaciers, lava fields and green pastures, boiling thermal springs and ice-cold rivers teeming with salmon. This unspoiled demi-paradise is also home to a very old and sophisticated culture. The northernmost capital in the world, Reykjavik was founded in 874 when Ingolfur Arnarson threw wood pillars into the sea, vowing to settle where the pillars washed ashore. Today, Iceland is an international center of commerce and home to one of the most technologically sophisticated societies in the world.

Reykjavik is the gateway to Iceland’s natural wonders, which range from ice fields to thermal pools. The island is in a continual process of transformation much like its society, which blends Nordic tradition with sophisticated technology.

As Canada’s most easterly province, the island of Newfoundland is situated on the North Atlantic, with St. John’s as its provincial capital. The city of St. John’s is on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula, and is the oldest city in North America. It has always been a busy fishing port with a good natural harbor bounded by hills. Its history and cultural spirit show strong Irish and Scottish influences evident in its pubs and music. The surrounding land is rugged, with a dramatic coastline heavily indented with bays and inlets, which give way to an interior terrain of wild mountains, hills, lakes and rivers.

The capital of Nova Scotia and the largest city in Canada’s Atlantic Provinces, Halifax was once Great Britain’s major military bastion in North America. The beautifully restored waterfront buildings of Halifax’s Historic Properties recall the city’s centuries-old maritime heritage. Stroll the waterfront, and you may find Nova Scotia’s floating ambassador, the schooner Bluenose II, tied up to Privateer’s Wharf, just as old sailing ships have done for over 200 years. Halifax is also the gateway to Nova Scotia’s stunning scenery, including famous Peggy’s Cove, where surf-pounded granite cliffs and a solitary lighthouse create an unsurpassed scene of rugged natural beauty.

Hailed as the “Cradle of American Independence,” Boston is filled with historic sites. Boston was America’s first great city. In the 19th century, Boston was rightly described as the “Athens of America.” Today this city of 800,000 retains its vitality, combining historic districts with revitalized urban centers while remaining faithful to its venerable roots. It is a city every American should visit at least once. Follow the Freedom Trail along three of the most historic miles in the country. See the site of the Boston Tea Party, trace the route of Paul Revere’s famous ride, and stand on the bridge where Minutemen fired “the shot heard ’round the world.” In the old Charleston Navy Yard you can see the USS Constitution, the nation’s oldest commissioned warship.