Iceland 2013: five days of heaven
Almost exactly a year ago, I was invited to teach at a school in Reykjavik. I took the time and the opportunity to travel around the country. It was only five days. There was not enough time. That place is simply amazing.
There were the persistent white nights, so bright that you wouldn't need to turn on the car lights to drive.
There was a trip up a glacier - my first.
There was the absolutely best burger at a gas station in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night...
There were incredible, stunning views all over.
There was the off-road drive towards the glacier...
And best hot-dogs ever.
There were many more things.
In truth, I should have written an account of my trip right away. But shortly after I had to move, in-between I organized a conference, in short, I didn't do that. Sadly, I simply do not remember things day by day any more, and any reconstruction would be somewhat imprecise.
Anyway, here goes.
Mode of transportation:
It actually is a 4x4. Similar model to the one we owned (my family owned) for many years.
I wouldn't start crossing flowing rivers in it, but it served quite well on and off-road. I nearly killed the suspension... on a speed bump on the way to return the car to the rental agency. Don't laugh.
First, the goal was to drive through the highlands. The trip started really well but quickly came to an abrupt halt:
It turns out that the highland roads were not yet open, and the only option was to turn back and continue along the ring road, Hwy 1. Argh, back to the asphalt and civilization. It was definitely worth the drive though.
Iceland is a country of waterfalls. I lost count of how many I've seen along the way. Here is one:
One can walk to and behind.
These photos were taken on the beach near Vijk:
Such landscapes inspire me far greater than the sunny, sandy beaches of Spain or Greece.
Cold. Dark. Somber. Beautiful. Matches my personality perfectly.
This is a map of Iceland with two places pointed out. In red is the Ice Lagoon, Jokulsarlon. In blue... In blue is a place the name of which I do not know, but I did do some enjoyable off-road driving there. The photos from there follow.
This is what this blue area looks like from the satellite:
The dotted lines indicate off-road forays towards the glacier. On the left almost all the way to the dry riverbed, on the right very close to where the glacier ended. A magnified view of the satellite image:
And this is an actual photo:
And these are the tracks of that green car of mine. I was here!
Here is the proof: :)
The car is perched on a rise above the stream carrying the glacial run-of. This stream is behind me as I am taking the photo of the car, and is shown on the photo below. The bridge on Hwy 1 over this stream is visible in the distance. Standing on that bridge one can see the ocean in the distance.
This photo is taken from the same spot as the photo above, the rock formation is to the right of the bridge.
And this is the view of the car from the river:
This track is actually not mine, it was there before and I followed it:
And that is the view of the glacier from the track:
A funny thing happened when I was driving there the second time (the dotted line located on the right side of the satellite photo above). It was nice and sunny. So I kept driving to the glacier. And then I looked up in the sky and saw... clouds. Heavy. Dark. Ominous rain clouds. At that point I was driving across quite low ground and realized that whatever water came down from the sky would be flowing through this very field, cris-crossed with dry river beds. I turned around and drove like a bat out of hell. Hence no photos from that foray.
The photos below are taken at the Ice Lagoon. This has got to be the most peaceful and beautiful spot on this entire planet. Certainly it is the most beautiful spot I've seen, and I've been around. The photos taken with my phone do not do the actual colors justice.
The glacier that gave off these pieces of ice is visible in the distance on the photos above.
The power line visible in the distance on the photo above is around Hwy1.
Ice Shark:
A beaver? Or a squirrel... :)
Who might have guessed, that on the other side of Hwy 1 from this ice paradise is... a beach!
I guess it's not really swimming weather. Because that bright spot a bit to the left off center is an ice block!
And, of course, the geysers. No visit of Iceland can be complete without the geysers.
Here is the little one:
And the big one:
For some strange reason I can't find the photo of it erupting.
That's it for this post.
I can't wait to go there again.
There were the persistent white nights, so bright that you wouldn't need to turn on the car lights to drive.
There was a trip up a glacier - my first.
There was the absolutely best burger at a gas station in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night...
There were incredible, stunning views all over.
There was the off-road drive towards the glacier...
And best hot-dogs ever.
There were many more things.
In truth, I should have written an account of my trip right away. But shortly after I had to move, in-between I organized a conference, in short, I didn't do that. Sadly, I simply do not remember things day by day any more, and any reconstruction would be somewhat imprecise.
Anyway, here goes.
Mode of transportation:
It actually is a 4x4. Similar model to the one we owned (my family owned) for many years.
I wouldn't start crossing flowing rivers in it, but it served quite well on and off-road. I nearly killed the suspension... on a speed bump on the way to return the car to the rental agency. Don't laugh.
First, the goal was to drive through the highlands. The trip started really well but quickly came to an abrupt halt:
It turns out that the highland roads were not yet open, and the only option was to turn back and continue along the ring road, Hwy 1. Argh, back to the asphalt and civilization. It was definitely worth the drive though.
Iceland is a country of waterfalls. I lost count of how many I've seen along the way. Here is one:
One can walk to and behind.
These photos were taken on the beach near Vijk:
Such landscapes inspire me far greater than the sunny, sandy beaches of Spain or Greece.
Cold. Dark. Somber. Beautiful. Matches my personality perfectly.
This is a map of Iceland with two places pointed out. In red is the Ice Lagoon, Jokulsarlon. In blue... In blue is a place the name of which I do not know, but I did do some enjoyable off-road driving there. The photos from there follow.
This is what this blue area looks like from the satellite:
The dotted lines indicate off-road forays towards the glacier. On the left almost all the way to the dry riverbed, on the right very close to where the glacier ended. A magnified view of the satellite image:
And this is an actual photo:
And these are the tracks of that green car of mine. I was here!
Here is the proof: :)
The car is perched on a rise above the stream carrying the glacial run-of. This stream is behind me as I am taking the photo of the car, and is shown on the photo below. The bridge on Hwy 1 over this stream is visible in the distance. Standing on that bridge one can see the ocean in the distance.
This photo is taken from the same spot as the photo above, the rock formation is to the right of the bridge.
And this is the view of the car from the river:
This track is actually not mine, it was there before and I followed it:
And that is the view of the glacier from the track:
A funny thing happened when I was driving there the second time (the dotted line located on the right side of the satellite photo above). It was nice and sunny. So I kept driving to the glacier. And then I looked up in the sky and saw... clouds. Heavy. Dark. Ominous rain clouds. At that point I was driving across quite low ground and realized that whatever water came down from the sky would be flowing through this very field, cris-crossed with dry river beds. I turned around and drove like a bat out of hell. Hence no photos from that foray.
The photos below are taken at the Ice Lagoon. This has got to be the most peaceful and beautiful spot on this entire planet. Certainly it is the most beautiful spot I've seen, and I've been around. The photos taken with my phone do not do the actual colors justice.
The glacier that gave off these pieces of ice is visible in the distance on the photos above.
The power line visible in the distance on the photo above is around Hwy1.
Ice Shark:
A beaver? Or a squirrel... :)
Who might have guessed, that on the other side of Hwy 1 from this ice paradise is... a beach!
I guess it's not really swimming weather. Because that bright spot a bit to the left off center is an ice block!
And, of course, the geysers. No visit of Iceland can be complete without the geysers.
Here is the little one:
And the big one:
For some strange reason I can't find the photo of it erupting.
That's it for this post.
I can't wait to go there again.