The day started with more roadside waterfalls, which from
this point on are so numerous, only the extraordinary will be featured. Frequent
quick stops provide the photo opportunities and selfie moments. The topography
in the summer is beautiful and with a short growing season, the green mosses,
grass, and flowers are bright and vibrant making for great scenery. We could
not help ourselves, driving only a few Km’s at a time before stopping for more
photos. Interestingly, this landscape would be interrupted along the way with
large lava fields and a desolate area only of rock.
We drove today to an area where we heard it was possible to
walk to a glacier. Really, I cant remember if we heard about it, read about it,
or just saw a glacier and decided to try to walk to it. Whichever way, we found
a trail and hiked to a glacier where we saw a small glacier pond (compared to some much larger ones) with many
icebergs that had calved off the face of the glacier. Unfortunately, we were not
able to hike onto the glacier as the trail was too dangerous for the remote
location. After much metal debate, I decided any accidents at this point would take hours to rescue and would be a major inconvenience.
It was really nice to be able to hike, this glacier trail just the two of us,
avoiding crowds. Along the way back we saw the usual sheep grazing the area and even saw some geese flying by in front of the glaciers providing for a honking good
photo. Annemarie's favorite purple flowers were lining the fields.
Driving further down the road we ran into an old turf church in the
countryside named Hofskirikja. Built in 1884 it is one of the few remaining in
the country. I could really imagine how the turf would provide the necessary insulation for the residents.
This day continued to be packed with great experiences and
memories. Our next stops took us to 2 different glacier ponds, the first of
which Annemarie was able to hold her first glacier. Her excitement is contagious,
so I had to take a lick. While
impressive, the next was the mother of Iceland glacier ponds, at least where we
could get to. Called Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon we saw huge icebergs that had recently calved off the glacier
and were on their way out to sea. Impressive in size and some a beautiful color
blue, we watched as they slowly made their way into an inlet and out to sea. We
were even treated by a seal hunting between da bergs.
Once the icebergs make it out of the inlet and into the ocean,
they are subject to the tides, currents and winds. This sometimes causes them
to wash ashore on what is called Diamond Beach as the melting ice can look like
diamonds on the black sand. The imagery is difficult for my amateur camera skills
to capture, but we will forever remember this beach.
We ended the day at a camp where they was a Viking movie set
built, but Hollywood never came.
Note: you are not allowed to stand on the toilets according to a sign at this
camp.
2025-02-14