Iceland: Nature's majesty

Iceland reminds us that nature is magnificently fascinating! This blogpost, I shall be writing as I experience it rather than after the trip because I realise that sometimes we need to capture our immediate responses to nature. (After writing the entire blogpost, now I have a word to describe Iceland - otherworldly.)

I always thought of chasing the sun westwards. For example, my London to Seattle flight would only seem 2 hours long due to timezones, or my Amsterdam to London flight may even travel a few mins back in time. But I never even considered that it is possible to chase the sun northwards. Our flight took off around 9.30pm. Ordinarily, my tropical childhood would suggest that 9.30pm is night. But in June, in London, the sun was nearing the horizon with a 30min journey left before darkness descends. It had taken me a few summers to adjust to that. Our flight continued to chase this setting sun, not allowing it to touch the horizon. We landed in Iceland at 11pm (midnight in London) with the sun still another 30mins away from setting.

We reached our airport hotel, which was the only hotel that I booked with not much thought going into it except trying to keep the costs low. After all, we just need a place to crash for the night before we pick up our car. Turns out, our "room" was actually a studio cottage on absolutely flat land. Here is a picture. Taken at midnight, you see the daylight. I imagine the daylight persisted through the night so really there wasn't any night at all.

Day 1: KEF airport to Jökulsárlón and retreated towards Kirkjubæjarklaustur for the night (570km of driving)

We found that our first day in Iceland was bound to be rainy, and very rainy for the plans we had. So a little adjustment meant that we had 400+ km or over 5 hours of driving east to Jökulsárlón which would be the furthest point of our trip. This is an iceberg lagoon. We saw the massive glacier hanging over us and the tongue of the glacier collapsing into this lagoon which is filled with varying sizes of icebergs. These icebergs, most of them powder blue in colour and few black with volcanic ash, float around melting fast under the near constant sun.
We jumped on an amphibious boat which took us around the lagoon passing by some impressive icebergs. Our guide got a piece of the iceberg and we tasted fresh mountain water. After the tour, we walked up a little hill for better views.

So impressed we were by this iceberg lagoon that we went in search of a smaller one on our way back from Jökulsárlón, called Fjallsárlón. This is much smaller hence quieter and pleasant to sit by the pond filled with small icebergs. The glacier tongue was also much closer and almost feels like you can walk up to it.

We were all ready to explore a glacier next but  realised that while the daylight stays all night, restaurants shut at some point and glacier tours are anyway closed for the day. We found a nice sit down restaurant for dinner in the village of
Kirkjubæjarklaustur after which we headed to our Airbnb close by. We had a found a cosy little place by the banks of Tungufljot River, literally in the middle of nowhere.

Day 2: From Kirkjubæjarklaustur to Hvolsvöllur (only 200km of driving but we walked 18km)

Our Airbnb host, a Kiwi who moved to the other end of the world for love, was helpful with suggests on glacier hikes. We called Arctic Adventures in the morning and booked a guided hike and then headed out to Sólheimajökull glacier parking lot. There we met the Arctic Adventures guys who sorted us out with a helmet, harness, icepick and crampons, and additionally hiking boots (for me) and waterproof trousers (we only had jackets). Then, we set out around 11.30 with our guide Jeff up on to Sólheimajökull glacier which sits snugly on top of the Katla volcano. This glacier is much smaller than the one that flows into Jökulsárlón. The volcano underneath is also a smallish one, yet it's bigger than the nearby Eyjafjallajökull which when it erupted in August 2010, caused flights to be cancelled across all of Europe, if you remember.

We were pretty much on the glacier within 15mins, but at the bottom. We began climbing it with the help of our crampons that dig into the ice and our guide who helped us navigate the terrain. He called himself a drill master and we followed him to the t, which meant we could see a lot more. Ice is constantly melting, forming little rivulets and flowing down along some ridges. The glacier, because it sits on a volcano, had volcanic ash mixed with ice. As the ice melts away, it leaves black mounds of volcanic ash. So closer to the tongue (at the glacier lagoon), the terrain is otherworldly, with ice and volcanic mounds.

As make our way up to the plateau, we see more ice and less ash. And finally at the plateau, the terrain is also otherworldly, but in a different way: hard ice everywhere with volcanic mounds in the distance and on either sides in the far distance is the glacial gorge where nothing grows (where the glacier used to be some 20 years ago). The ice up here had been crushed under the weight of all the ice that has melted away before it and so it is very densely packed and without any impurities, even air. Hence, it is blue, clear and hard. After hiking up for about 2 hours, we took some pictures and checked out the ice, and the hike back was only some 30mins.

Having done this exciting thing, we were back to regular sightseeing. The closest sight to the glacier is a plane wreck (famously features in the hindi song, Gerua). We went up to the parking lot and were told that it's about 7kms to get to and back from the wreckage. We went anyway. Bad call? May be. It's a good 50min walk on black gravel with a bleak surrounding of black gravel as far as the eyes can see. One may call it otherworldly too although not in the pretty way. On trip advisor, you see people say it's only about 30mins to get to the wreckage while others say it's an hour. We figured that it's possibly because the location of the parking lot may differ from season to season. In any case, we walked all the way to see a tiny plane with people crawling all over it and names scratched into it. It was just about ok but we lost about 2 hours and exhausted ourselves with the walk (after the glacier hike). This was bad because the next stop was Skogafoss, a beautiful waterfall.

Skogafoss is fed by the Eyjafjallajökull. It's really pretty and you can get quite close to where the water crashes into a lake and then the river Skoga continues. Next to the falls, there are about 400 steps to get to the top of the waterfall for wonderful views of the numerous cascades ahead of the falls and the meandering river after the falls. On any given day we wouldn't have thought twice about 400 steps but we really struggled through it, after our 4.5 hours of hiking for the day. I'm glad we did. The views were definitely worth it. Beyond that there are hiking trails that take to the various other cascades the river goes through before the falls. We only walked for about 10mins but it's the start of a 25km hike if you are willing and able.

The final stop was Seljalandfoss. This waterfall, also fed by the glacier on Eyjafjallajökull, is famous for being able to walk behind it. Even with our rain jackets on, we didn't have rain trousers so we didn't venture all the way in but we did get a peak for how it is from behind. Also for some reason the winds were strong, the water spray was wide and I was freezing. There is a pathway in front of the falls to see two smaller falls, although far less impressive. We then made our way to a lovely little farm with horses and sheep, south of the falls for our night stay.

Day 3: From Hvolsvöllur to Leidarendi and then to Laugarás (2/3 of the golden circle)

We started the day off by driving towards the Rekjadalur thermal river while also debating which activity to do next. In the end, exploring lava tunnels won and since we liked the Arctic Adventures, we called them and booked a tour. They only had a pick up tour operating from Rekjavik but were happy for us to join at the location. We reached the parking lot of the Rekjadalur thermal river only to find out that it takes about an hour's hike to get to the river where people bathe in and we didn't have enough time. Nevertheless, all the little streams around us were warm and we also saw a bubbling mud pool on the way. We then turned around and left to find the lava caves.

Driving towards the GPS coordinates of the lava tunnel, we couldn't see anything anywhere as far as the eye can see, except lava fields. Lava fields are large expanses of land where the lava flowed and now we have rocks the look like bubbles, completely covered in moss. Some of the moss is many inches thick and hence these "rocks" are very soft. They reminded me of Kristoff's troll family in Frozen. Finally, after 11km on a gravel road, near the coordinates, we saw a small flattened area and one car alongside a tiny board that said "Leidarendi". If not for that car, we might have be searching for a while. We had about half hour for some sandwiches before the tour arrived.

We were a small group and our guide had some British humour to him. He got us helmets with tiny flashlights on them, and I also rented hiking boots. He took us to the entrance of the caves which seemed like a pit that had caved in. We navigated large rocks and jumped into the tunnel. I had been to caves before. They usually contain some lighting, smell musty, some have stalactites and stalagmites, and possibly have bats. This was completely different. For starters, it's pitch dark; as in as dark as it can get. It takes some time for the eyes to adjust and when ten tiny flashlights and our guides' handheld beam look into the same direction, we see a lot more. But then you turn around to see where you are coming from and it's nothingness.

The sun has never touched these places. The only thing that grows here is a type of bacteria that gives a silver glow to the rocks (when the flash falls on them). The surface can be uneven but most of the way it's actually pretty flat, where the lava flowed. These tunnels or tubes are formed when as the lava cooled from the surface and solidified as rock while the lava underneath flowed out. Some of the rocks have beautiful colours due to trapped minerals. Mostly it's all greyish basalt but occasionally you see reddish hues from iron, some blues and some greens. 

The most fascinating are the seemingly silver coloured stalactites or stalagmites. Actually, they are just basalt rock that melted and squeezed out of the ceiling or the floor as the lava cooled and expanded into place. The rock also solidified after. So they are actually rock. Everything in the cave was formed in a very short period of time about 2000 years ago and nothing has changed ever since, except for the silver bacteria. The ceiling is fascinating. It looks like it's melting, especially because it was raining for the past few days, so we see the rain water seeping in and dripping. But basically the ceiling is frozen rock that was melting. And it is now the bacteria gives it a beautiful shine. This indeed is truly otherworldly in the truest sense of the word, and as our guide pointed out, looks very much like the egg laying alien in the movie Alien.

The lava tubes are about 900 metres long and are longish with a circular loop at the bottom. We entered through one side of the circle, went up the tube and came back the other side of the circle to exit at the same point. You would think that it should all look the same but all the sections show different aspects. The other side of the circular area, for example, saw some lava flow in few other eruptions in the 1950s. The new lava smoothed out the walls which almost look manmade now, like a proper tunnel. To get into the various sections, you sometimes need to get on all fours and through some tight spaces but only for very short lengths. I've never used a helmet as much, bumping my head to the ceiling many times. We probably spent an hour and a half in total in the lava tubes. Our subterranean adventure would be my highlight of the trip!

After the tour we are back on the tourist circuit to do part of the famous Golden Circle. First, as a starter, we had a pitstop at Kerid to see a smallish volcanic crater that was most likely formed by a collapse rather than an explosion. The water is blueish green but towards the bank you can see yellow and red hues. The inverted cone itself is reddish sand with the green grass in places. The crater is a nice oval shape and looks pretty but I can image it looks really interesting if the sun shines strong and the colours are evident (it was cloudy when we went). Interestingly, on the lee side of the crater, I saw a large grove of trees which would be the most trees I ever saw in Iceland. We walked the rim in some 15mins.

Next, we went to Geysir. It is a geothermal area in Iceland where the biggest geyser is called Geysir and it lends its name to all geysers in the world. However, it's currently inactive. The entire area is just fuming everywhere. Even before entering the park, the little stream on the side was at least 50 deg Celsius. As we were walking in park, the star attraction, a small geyser caused Strokkur that erupts every 5-10mins, erupted. It was a tiny eruption. We were a little underwhelmed but as we continued on our path we saw a really high eruption. Eventually we ended at Strokkur, watching four more before leaving. It was more fun watching the surface to predict when it would erupt. You can spend 20mins here or hours, just watching Strokkur. No pics unfortunately; I only have videos. Here is a picture of Geysir.

Our final stop for the day was Gullfoss or golden falls. It's enormous, pushing out many gallons of water, first in a step and then off an oblique cliff which makes the falls look like a triangle, and then it flows as river Hvita in the gorge. Many say it compares to the Niagara falls. This is really pretty but also not much to do. I believe there are some hikes which take you to different view points but can't be better than the two that you can reach easily. We sat down for dinner soon after and then reached the lovely house of our Airbnb guest which overlooks a river, where we had some homemade bread and fresh tomato jam or breakfast.

Day 4: From Laugarás to the airport, via Þingvellir National park (1/3 of the golden circle)

With our flight in the afternoon, we only had time for one place after breakfast. We thought we should complete the golden circle and headed to Þingvellir National park. This is usually the first stop on the golden circle if you start from Rekjavik. It's a really large park and you can spend hours hiking it. We obviously did not have the time so we picked the highlights.

Þingvellir is most famous for being part of the mid Atlantic fault line between the North American tectonic plate and the Eurasian tectonic plate. The continental drift can be observed here with many fissures and rifts. The Almannagja fault is more than 7km long and the rift valley could 60m wide. The only other place in the world where you can see continents drifting and walk between them is the Great Rift Valley of Eastern Africa.

If you, like us, wondered why there are so many flights to North America than to Europe from Iceland, you know now. Iceland is half North American! And so we walked between the two continents. We walked for about 15min from Hakid visitor centre to Silfra. Silfra is a lake of crystal clear water with the fissure in it. The rain water seeps through the volcanic rock for about 2-4 months before it reaches the lake and hence is devoid of any impurities. The clarity of this water lends itself to a wonderful snorkelling and diving experience to observe the fissure between the two continents. There wasn't much for us to see from the surface though.

Back on the track along the North American fissure wall, we come to Lögberg or Law Rock which is the place where Icelandic parliament first met in 930 AD, making it the oldest parliament in the world. However, because the rift is drifting, the exact position is unknown. Continuing along the fissure, we come to Oxararfoss where the river Oxarar falls off the fissure wall creating a waterfall. The wall itself is pretty imposing. 

And soon enough, we had to head back to car and to the airport, bidding adieu to mesmerising Iceland! On the flight I met this lady who works on whale watching tours who tells me winter is equally mesmerising. There is still so much to do, although we are very proud of ourselves having driven 1200km on our first driving trip by ourselves!

Other itinerary suggestions which we didn't do:
There is indeed a lot more to do in Iceland. You can encircle the island if you have a week or more, and the North East has a lot to offer. Even in the South West, we haven't covered a lot many activities. There are many thermal lagoons. The most popular ones are the Blue Lagoon which is right next to Rekjavik (it's really a spa resort) and the Secret Lagoon near Gullfoss on the golden circle.Horse riding on Icelandic horses is also very popular. They are meant to be very very docile but sturdy. Whale watching from Rekjavik or the North East (near Dalvik/Hossuvik) is specially popular in summer. The lady on my flight back who worked in both places and told me that the whale watching opportunities in North East in the summer are excellent compared to Rekjavik at any time. Puffins watching tours are also on offer from Rekjavik or Vik. Some companies offer snowmobile tours where they you on a glacier and give you a snowmobile to drive around. There are some manmade ice caves which are nice to see as the ice which is very hard, clear and densely packed, and hence allows you to see through it for a considerable distance. And of course there are volcano tours.