It’s already past my bedtime for an early start tomorrow, but the trip has been action packed so far. Day 1, we visited the studio of a crafter who hand dyes Icelandic wool with natural dyes. You can imagine how much I ate that up. 😄 Then a trip to Thingvellir national park, a visit to Gulfoss waterfall, and finally a stop at an active geothermal location to see the Strokkur geyser.
Today we visited Seljalandsfoss waterfall, which spills over a cliff overhang so you can walk behind the waterfall. Then a stop at the southernmost point in Iceland, which was quite an adventure. I haven’t experienced winds like that since I was in Patagonia. 50 mph maybe? It was difficult to even maintain my footing so the event was not captured on video haha.
We had a delicious lunch at a cute little hotel, then drove to the little town of Vik and met up with Ingo, who does tours in a giant truck with huge tires that can go off road. We took gravel roads and eventually ended up on a giant plain of black lava soil. Our destination, a glacier that lies on top of a volcano. Crazy right? It hasn’t erupted for quite some time but apparently what happens when it does is that the bottom layer of ice melts, there is catastrophic flooding with icebergs floating for miles, etc. It is a very violent land here!
When we got out, it was an otherworldly landscape with the blackened glacier on one side and chartreuse hills opposite us. We walked close to the glacier and Ingo hacked out a piece of ice to show us that while it was black ice on the surface, there was clear ice underneath.
Then he found a cleaner chunk of ice and broke it up to make cocktails for us with 600 year old ice. I had to snicker a bit because when I went on the glacier cruise in Patagonia, they served us whiskey with glacier ice. Apparently it’s a common gimmick. Fun though, and everyone enjoyed it.
I threw together a little iMovie of today’s adventures. If I have time, I’ll backtrack and do one for yesterday.
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19 comments
Very interesting, thanks for posting it.
Wonderful pics and vids. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome. 😊
Aren't you just the incredible on-the-fly video producer! Looks very cool, in several ways.
Thanks! It may have been a one time success? I made another one today and YouTube keeps aborting when trying to process it. Might have to wait until I’m home with a laptop and a reliable internet connection.
That looks incredible! Iceland is definitely on my bucket list!
A lot of tour companies come here, and it seems to be pretty doable to visit on your own as well (as long as you’re comfortable driving in strong winds ðŸ˜&bdquo
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Now THAT looks like a lot of fun and a wonderful adventure.
I shouldn't have to remind you, but don't forget to try the national dish – "Hákarl" – it's fermented shark. And, you'll need to acquire an authentic "lopapeysur," or at least knit one and get the natives to bless it.
Góða skemmtun.🤗
I’ve been following the Visiting Iceland redd*t group for a few months and consensus seems to be that the fermented shark is a tourist gimmick. Our trip leader swears up and down that he eats it occasionally and likes it, but I kinda wonder if he’s having us on (he’s that kind of guy).
I did go shopping for an Icelandic sweater at a store that carried legit hand knit sweaters. Each item unique in the color selections, etc. Unfortunately I require an XL and the store didn’t have any, so I went up the street and bought Lettlopi yarn to knit a sweater when I get home. I could get it at home actually, but it’s surprisingly cheaper to get it here.
@smartasswoman
Good for you about that yarn; it makes sense.ðŸ‘
And about "Hákarl" ? Individuals with health conditions, like high blood pressure or heart disease, should refrain from consuming this dish due to the high sodium content. (Go on, give it a crack.)
It's an acquired taste — you might not have the time to acquire. 😂
It must have been quite an experience, albeit a very wet experience, walking under that waterfall.
Definitely a full rain gear situation, and it was interesting to see how that was carried out in varying ways by the different tourists.
Waterfalls are so awesome! It's cool that you got to walk behind one. The scenery is breathtaking! Looks like you had a wonderful time ðŸ˜
It’s been really fun so far. Tomorrow we visit a herring industry museum which I’m not quite so enthused about. 😂
Looks great. You're much better at "reporting out" than I was with my Scotland trip...which as we notice I haven't done at all. I had an amazing time, and it looks to be that you are already having a great time. Enjoy.
Aw, it’s not like it’s required. 😊 I just enjoy doing it because if I document it now I can go back and re-read later. Often there are things that I forgot about!
@smartasswoman I did that to an extent in a "Highlight" text group that wanted to see pictures knowing I'd never traveled like that before. So I at least do have a bit of chronicling. Plus if they don't shut down the app, I'll have that as well. The app we were given from the travel agency was the first time they'd ever used it. It allowed everyone in the group to post pictures. So if you weren't all doing the same thing, you could still see what others were doing. It also had summary and details about each day. It was super cool. It just didn't say that I would meet the best group of people ever. 😊
@MyNameIsKay we are using a photo sharing app on this trip, the first time this travel company has encouraged that. It’s fantastic! And the trip leader can do things like post the next day’s schedule. Really useful.
So jealous! Have a wonderful journey!
Thank you.
Looks like a great trip!
Come to West Mich ... we get 50 mph winds quite often. I'm also wondering, how do you know some Frost Giant didn't pee on that glacial ice?
The only peeing that happening was from me , heehee. After the bumpy ride to the glacier I was in considerable discomfort and knew that it would be excruciating on the way back unless I took care of the situation. So I returned to the truck a bit ahead of everyone else , hid behind it and aaaaaaah, relief.