Iceland 5. Walking on a glacier

We woke up on our fifth morning in Iceland at -8ºC! We booked a glacier walk at Sólheimajökull, so we were a little bit worried about the conditions. Surprisingly, once we arrived there it was not so cold, and we could even fly @tropicalbert’s drone! 

We started to hike the glacier and I have to say that I know that this excursion was not a difficult one, I thought walking with crampons would be more complicated, but it was not! The previous night the snow started to fall again over the country. The glacier had a tiny snow cover so our guide headed us to an ice cave, so we could experience the famous blue color of these ice formations from up close.

Although the morning started pretty sunny, and even during a moment it was actually warm, the clouds were darker every time and finally, it started to snow again. We left the glacier during a snowstorm, so we were very lucky to see it without bad weather. We spent almost 3 hours on the glacier, so it was time to say goodbye to this ice formation and continue our journey through the south coast.

We saw a beautiful house near a secondary road, so we decided to drove through this new path and discover new places. After a while, we realized we arrived at the world-famous Reynisfjara: the black sand beach.

After a moment, a few buses arrived and the beach started to be a little crowded. After that, we decided to move on and we went to our next destination: Vik and its surroundings.

I think that this was that moment of our trip when I realized I was obsessed with Icelandic horses. Believe me, if I say that you can’t imagine how many pictures of horses I took during those days. But I couldn’t stop doing that! They are so perfect and seemed to be posing for a photo all the time… that it was impossible not to immortalize them!. I needed to stop to take a picture of almost every horse I saw, so @tropicalbert, if you are reading that, thank you so much for being so patient with me and caring about the fact that I loved those animals.

Returning home, we decided to stop at Skógafoss. It was the waterfall I wanted to see the most, and it didn’t disappoint me at all. At the time we visited it, there was almost no one, so we could say that half of the waterfall was entirely for us!

Another thing that you should know about this trip, is that I also became obsessed with houses and farms. Although I didn’t upload as many images of this kind, I needed to stop whenever we saw a house to take a picture (or maybe more than just one). I didn't care about the cold or the snow when it came to immortalizing a moment. This obsession with houses and horses continued in the next days, so stay tuned!

Iceland 4. Icebergs and Northern Lights

As I said in the previous post, the weather conditions forced us to change our original plans. We checked the weather forecast everyday and it seemed pretty normal (in winter conditions, of course). But one day it changed. It seemed that the snow finally arrived to this country, and I couldn’t be happier.

Due to these weather conditions, we only had one opportunity to visit Jökulsárlón, and we wanted to visit it so badly that we woke up at 05:00 to drive from Hella to the glacier lake; a 3 and a half hour drive there turned into a 7 hour journey due to the weather conditions.

As you may see in the title of this post, you can imagine that this day was pretty intense. And I think that this was one of the most filling days of my life. Before explaining our adventures at Jökulsárlón, I wanted to tell you one of the reasons why this day was a bit extreme for me.

I’ll explain you the situation. @tropicalbert and I were in a gas station eating a hot dog early in the morning (yes, hot dogs were the 80% of our feeding during the trip), and talking about the Northern Lights. We wanted so hard to see them, but the aurora forecast was extremely bad during our stay. We went out at nights and tried to chase them but we failed. He told me that the night we were supposed to fly to Barcelona, the forecast was actually really good. So, he had the idea to skip our flight and catch another one two days later, to have more chances of seeing the lights. I thought he was crazy, because I couldn't afford that new plan, but he proposes to help me with the costs. You can imagine the romantic situation while eating a hot dog and him trying to convince me. But finally… I said yes! So, we decided to extend our adventure in this country!

After saying that, it’s time for Jökulsárlón! We arrived there almost at midday. I have to say that the weather and road conditions were difficult, and we drove with a lot of caution. But, I also have to say that we stopped so many times along the road because we were fascinated by the landscape.

We were amazed by the floating icebergs in the water. We observed them for a while and walked on the snow to see them from many points of view. While enjoying the views and taking pictures, we noticed that the water was full of seals, playing around as if we weren’t there. I’ve seen a lot of images of Jökulsárlón, and normally the pictures are without snow. So, I’m happy to have seen this place covered with snow, with a different point of view that the one I expected.

After spending a bit of time in the lake, we decided to go to the beach to observe the ice remains from the broken icebergs on the sand. The beach was half covered in snow and half covered in ice. It was an interesting contrast between the black and white tones and it gave for a great view.

We had a long journey returning home (in this case, we slept in Hvolsvollur). We arrived at night, after spending a nice road trip observing the snow and the beautiful colors of that afternoon.

If you’ve read the title, you’ll notice that there is another reason why this day was a bit extreme. After trying almost every night, we finally saw them: the Northern Lights. We stayed in a guesthouse, and we spent a nice time talking to the owner about this country. After telling him that we didn’t see the Northern lights, we checked the forecast and, although it was not good, it was not too bad. So, with his recommendation, we drove along a dark road towards Þórsmörk.

We stayed in the car quite a long time looking at the sky without blinking. @tropicalbert spent this time saying: there are lights in that direction, and I spent the night saying: it is light pollution, keep calm. But actually, he was right. We were seeing the lights!

The Northern Lights were getting brighter and brighter, and seeing them dancing in the night sky was a dream come true. We changed our flights to have more opportunities to see the auroras, and it was a gift to see them in a night that was not expected. Like this country, the Northern Lights are magic. And I couldn't think in anything else than: Will I have more chances to see them during the trip? I guess you'll need to continue reading if you want to know the answer.

Iceland 3. Water

I was trying to think of a fitting name for this post until I found the best one. Everything we visited this day, and everything we did was related to water. We visited a geyser, two waterfalls and a hot pool. So, I hope you liked this decision!

This morning we completed the remaining part of the Golden Circle. We started by visiting Geysir, and with that, the first geyser I’ve seen in my life. The weather started to be colder this morning, and sometimes it was a bit complicated to stay outdoors for a long time.

Later on we went to Gullfoss. I’ve always seen a lot of images of this waterfall, and I don’t know why, I’ve always imagined this waterfall from a different point of view. We visited this waterfall in Winter, so I assume some viewpoints are closed during this season. While visiting this waterfall, we experienced one of the worst moments of cold during this trip. Our hands were completely frozen and we needed to stay for a while in a warm space and then, continue the journey.

After visiting Gullfoss we realized that we had visited all the landmarks of the Golden Circle that interested us. So, we decided to change our plans a little, move to the south coast of Iceland and explored this beautiful area. Visiting the south of Iceland was one of the major reasons we wanted to visit this country. It was our first time in Iceland and we wanted, of course, to visit the Golden Circle area. But, I felt that from the moment we moved south, is where our journey really started.

First of all we visited the well-known Seljalandsfoss waterfall. We didn’t walk behind the waterfall, because it was really cold and we didn’t want to catch a cold. But instead of that, we enjoyed the views from the front of the waterfall. The combination of the afternoon sun and the drizzle of the moment created tiny rainbows on the little waterfall that is next to Seljalandsfoss, and it was really beautiful to see that contrast.

Although it was getting dark and it was snowing quite a bit, we decided to do an express visit to Seljavallalaug. During the walk, the snow stopped, so we could enjoy the views. The top of the mountains were covered with snow, and it was really interesting and sharpened the contrast between the white and green colors. Once we arrived, the temperature of the water was not too hot. Instead of having a swim, we enjoyed the views as it was getting darker every minute.

After that, we said goodbye to an another extraordinary day in Iceland. We went to sleep because we wanted to wake up really early. Due to the weather conditions, our original plan was forced to be changed. So, keep reading if you want to know where we went on the next day. I promise it will not disappoint you!