Iceland V: Rainy Hike and the Ice Lagoon

Glaciers, waterfalls, volcanos, beaches--the countryside of Iceland is simply gorgeous, and so varied.  We traveled, on August 15, 2022, across the portion of southeast Iceland which has been one of the most isolated areas of the country.  We drove across the narrow band of land between the huge glaciers and volcanoes of Vatnajokull National Park and the sea.  When the volcanoes erupt under the ice, or when the calderas overflow, there are huge glacial floods which inundate the flood plain.  Until the 1970s, there were few bridges, and even now, there are few towns or farms.  

As shown at the bottom of this map, we drove from east of Vik to Hofn.  We were finally in the part of the country where the crowds who take day trips from Reykyavik can't reach. 

The landscape was beautiful but austere, with glaciers off the side of the road.

It was the kind of place where a small plane which crashed ten years ago still lies on the plain, covered with graffiti and noted in the guidebooks!

Our first stop was Skaftafell, where we tried to hike to the Svartifoss waterfall.  “It’s only a mile each way—a two hour hike.  We can do this,” Mike assured us.  Mike carried Calder straight uphill, through the light rain.  Dave began strong, up the steep incline, but then began falling behind.  Heidi and I hung back with Audrey, who, despite all entreaties, finally refused to move any further without being carried.  We made it almost halfway to Svartifoss, past a bridge over a roaring creek, many wildflowers, and up to a viewing platform over the valley. There was a rushing waterfall beside the viewing platform, although it wasn’t Svartifoss.  As our wet, bedraggled group assembled on the viewing platform, Mike agreed that Svartifoss would have to await another day.  “Sometimes you just have to know when to declare victory,” I told Heidi.  “We saw a beautiful creek, bridge, view over the valley, and waterfall, and that was wonderful and enough.”  Mike reminded himself that he had just finished two weeks of gorgeous, difficult hikes in Norway.  This was a family vacation, with different goals.

We were glad, anyway, that we weren't riding motorcycles!

We drove on to the Fjallsarion Ice Lagoon.  Heidi hiked up to the lagoon to take a look and then generously stayed with Audrey and Calder Burke while Dave, Mike, and I suited up and took a boat ride among the floating icebergs.

“This will be a highlight of the whole trip, I’m sure,” I said, as we rode, in heavy, inflatable coats, for 45 minutes around the glacial lake, next to icebergs of all sizes and shapes.  Some were blue and slick, others were snowy and matte, and still others were covered in black ash, from rolling through lava fields.  We sailed up to the foot of the glacier, from which the icebergs calved. 

 

Our next stop was Jokulsarion Glacial Lagoon, which was even more beautiful than Fjalisarion because its water was a deep blue, against the white icebergs, rather than brown, as at Fjalisarion. 

We hiked to an overlook, where Audrey industriously gathered rocks and put them into Mike’s jacket pocket.  Mike said that she has quite a collection, now, in the bottom of the car!    

We could see boats launching out into the frigid lagoon, as well as kayaks. 

We then crossed the road and hiked out to the Atlantic beach, where the icebergs from the glacial lagoon had sailed.  It was an incredible sight—dozens of icebergs on the black sand beach and floating in the ocean. “We have never seen anything like this before, and we will never see anything like it again,” Dave commented.

We had one more treat for the day.  Holn, where we stayed the night, is both a charming seaport and the langoustine capital of Iceland.  

Mike and I each ordered an expensive but luscious platter of langoustines, those small, lobster lookalikes at the best restaurant in town. They came simmering in a large metal bowl in a cream and butter sauce.  I must have eaten eight or ten of the langoustines—a feast!  Dave’s cod was also exceptional—moist and flaky, in a cream sauce.  Heidi is not a fish lover, and she was pleased with her vegetarian pie, covered with phyllo dough.  When dessert was rolled out, Audrey wandered from parent to grandparent, seeking spoonfuls of our chocolate/caramel/vanilla gooeyness.

Iceland IV: Fire and Water

I bought a uniform in Reykyavik and wore it for the whole trip.  Dave treated me to a hand-knitted Icelandic sweater from the Reykyavik knitters cooperative.  It felt just right during the chilly but mostly sunny days.  Dressed in my sweater, my black sneakers, and a pair of stretch pants, I was ready to roll.  August 14, 2022 was filled with fire and water--one of Iceland's most spectacular waterfalls and lots of volcano experiences, from the Lava Museum to a black sand beach, made of pulverized lava.

Dave and I stopped at the Lava Museum, on our way to meet Mike and Heidi at the Seljalandsfoss waterfall.  We watched a movie with footage of the most recent volcanic eruptions near the Lava Center—just 34, 55, 100, and 200 kilometers away.  The movie showed policemen monitoring cars moving in and out of the volcanic area, as layers of ash settled on the police cars and farmers quieted their horses and sheep, as the burning gases hurt the sheep’s eyes.  We then walked through an interactive area, dark with bright red lights showing the statistics of the volcanoes as a huge, red volcanic “core” rose up in the center of one room. Another room had “footprints” where we could stand and feel a simulated earthquake.

At Seljalandsfoss, four waterfalls cascaded down the side of the mountain.  

I eased my way up the slippery walkway and rocks along the trail behind the first waterfall, as gallons of spray settled on all the pilgrims feeling their way along the rocks.

I met Audrey and Mike on the far side of the first waterfall, and we walked together past the second, third, and fourth waterfalls.  The fourth waterfall was “Gljufrabui,” or “Hidden Waterfall.”  Mike, Audrey, and I climbed down a ramp to peer through a black rock opening at a waterfall cascading within.  Audrey and I held back while Mike leapt across stones in the stream exiting the cavern through which the waterfall fell.

Glaciers were next.  We stopped at Solheimajokull Glacier and walked all the way to the ‘outlet glacier” where recently a small glacial lagoon had formed, giving a breathtaking view up the glacier.

We drove on past the beautiful Eyjafjoll mountain range to the black sand beach of Reynisfjara, near the village of Vik.  We walked down to the beach, where we saw the Halsanefshellir sea cave and the Gardar cliff, composed of dark basalt columns that some say resemble a pyramid or organ pipes. Groups of tourists took photos, arranged on the “steps” of the basalt columns.  We later heard from a woman who visited the cave just a few hours before we did and found thousands of puffins.  They were gone by the time we arrived.  We want to find some puffins for Audrey to see, since she loves her stuffed puffin.

Our Magma Hotel was charming.  The rooms were built within separate, gray wooden boxes, with two rooms to a box.  Our box had two twin beds with thick, white comforters, fluffy pillows, and a wall of full-length window/doors leading to our own porch and a green-fringed lake just outside our door.

Iceland III: The Golden Circle

August 13, 2022, was our first day out of Reykyavik and on the road.  We stopped first at Viking World, on the Rekjanes Peninsula just south of Reykyavik, before exploring sites on The Golden Circle.  The Golden Circle is the scenic south shore of Iceland where tourists go when they have only a day or two to sightsee.  Here is a link to the Google Maps map of our trip:  https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1xAdAOPoM2nF769olKYo5lprCwbRhpmU&usp=sharing  Roughly, we followed the Ring Road shown on the map below, but we also veered further north on the east and west ends of the island, to see the wilder, less traveled fjord country.

The heart of Viking World was a renovated Viking ship.  As I wandered through the museum section of Viking World, with its maps and Viking helmets and swords, I heard a woman singing.

She had a beautiful voice, and sang Viking ballads.  She also told of riding a Viking ship from Norway to settle Iceland in the 870s, when political strife on the Scandinavian mainland caused many to flee.  The Greek explorer Pytheas wrote, in 330 B.C., about the island of Ultima Thule, six days north of Britain by ship, and then Irish monks began settling Iceland about 700 A.D.   The Vikings then followed and made permanent settlements.  Icelanders still speak a variation of Old Norse, closer to the Viking language than that now spoken in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.

There were life-size statues in the Viking ship, representing other travelers.

Unfortunately, hats with horns are not authentic Viking dress, but the ancient helmets looked fierce, even without the horns.

We traveled on to Pingvellir, which  is the birthplace of Icelandic democracy.  Iceland's first parliament assembled on the plains South Coast in 930, one of the first parliaments in the world.  Each year, representatives of the towns gathered to hear the annual reading of the laws and enact additional laws.

Pingvelllir is also a national park where we saw the rift between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates.

We visited an old Icelandic church with crosses marking the cemetery plots surrounding it.

This style of church dots Iceland, from one end to the other.  Icelanders are now predominantly Lutheran, as are the Danes, who ruled Iceland for so long.

Our next stop was Geysir, from which geysers all over the world take their name.  We watched the Strokkur geyser erupt twice, since it blows every few minutes.  Iceland is a volcanic island, with dormant volcanos in the center of the island and geothermal areas around the edges.  Much of the energy in Iceland is geothermal.  As we stood waiting for the geyser to go off, Mike interviewed Audrey for his next segment of videos about her.  “Audrey, do you have a friend?” Mike asked, and Audrey showed the stuffed puffin that she carries with her everywhere.  

Sulfur smoke oozed from the ground near the Geysir boardwalks.

Our last tourist stop of the day was Gullfoss, an enormously wide, powerful waterfall.  We watched it from two different viewing points.

Audrey sorted through rocks on the path and carefully brought a handful back to the car.  She identified the rocks as “big” or “little” and then compared them to “boulders.”  It has been very fun to talk with Audrey and to see all she knows.  Audrey identified letters from A to K, as Mike showed them to her on his iPhone, and she knows sizes.  “Is Grandpa big or little?” we asked.  “Big,” Audrey said.  “Is Audrey big or little?” “Little.”  “Is Calder big or little?” “Tiny.”

All our dinners in Iceland were delicious, but some meals were particularly memorable.  On August 13, 2022, we ate dinner at the Heradsskolinn Guesthouse in the small town of Laugarvatn.  We stayed at B'n'Bs elsewhere, but this inn had the best restaurant, according to our online directories.  It appeared to be so deserted when we arrived, that Calder Burke got his diaper changed on the floor of the empty, cavernous lobby.  There was a most unusual note taped in the guesthouse restroom:

Dear guest, Please do not put anything but toilet paper into our toilets.  Please do not wash your shoes/clothes in our sinks.  Please enjoy your stay on our toilet.  We love you.  Love & Peace

The clerk was hesitant to serve us in her empty dining room, since, "We have another party coming soon."  She reluctantly agreed to share her food, and it was delicious.  Dave and I made a point of eating fish virtually every night of our vacation, since it was so fresh and so good.  Heidi, who is not so excited about fish, discovered other pork, beef, and lamb delights.