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pax_athenaI kind of feel strange - here I am, posting about Iceland while sitting in our airbnb in Naples and having written most of the text of this post in the train to Paris. I've never expected this to be my life and I am pretty sure I am not going to keep this pace for long (neither want not be able to), but for the moment ... Well.
Just a random shot along the road (it's all the ring road). Isn't the landscape just gorgeous?
Water everywhere. Here a tiny spring coming directly from a stone and the colorful sediments it produced over the year (moths? decades? who knows).
And more gorgeous coast impressions.
Waterfalls: small and big, left and right. All the mountains were full of waterfalls like the last picture shows - but they are hard to catch with my small camera and this kind of landscape does not really work in a small format.
We decided to take the Öxi pass to save time - this was one of the most amazing drives ever. It would have been beautiful if we'd be able to see, but it was all foggy and thus unreal with snowbanks suddenly appearing, water crossing the gravel road, and the bleating of sheep in the distance. (Also, this was where we got our flat tire. Not fun, I tell you. We also only realized once we left the pass.)
Typical Icelandic road signs :D
The flat tire did not stop us from driving to the Hengifoss for a hike. That bit on the last photo was scary - it does not look so bad, but the path was badly slanted and the current is strong and deep and leads directly into the next waterfall. (Also, I am simply freaking scared of hiking along water.)
The next hostel was over the mountain range - an extra ~hour drive that we would have normally not chosen but when we booked the trip (in early January for June!), everything closer to the main road was booked out already, at least if we did want a private room (and we did). And we went back the next morning, still with the spare tire (it will take us a few days to get a new one - there was literally nothing in the area and the rental car company was rather clueless, having sent us to a workshop in Egilsstaðir that was closed that day). Anyway, the landscape was just amazing (I know I am repeating myself but it was and there are only so many ways to express it!).
Endless, endless planes and hills.
Krafla thermal/volcanic area.
Just look at these unreal colors!
The area was still very active - steam was coming from everywhere and the ground felt warm in a ton of places.
You can't see red lava on Iceland (one of the reasons why we need to get to Hawaii at some point in the near future!), but here are some of the lava flows at Krafla.
Call this modern art on the way to Krafla :D (They also have a thermal power station there.) In the background: our little Fiat Panda with the spare tire.
Hike to Grjótagjá with some impressive fissures (yes, you could go down and there were even a few places where one could bathe down there!) along the way. This ended up being one of our favorites hikes in terms of the actual walking - it was easy but you still needed to think about every step because of the stony ground. Even with constant rain, we both totally went into the flow of it.
Did I show this pick already? I think the bird was pretty confused and tried to hide from the rain between ♥'s legs <3 I know that they look grey and muddy, but, but, but ...
I just like flowers growing in places where one would not expect them.
Grjótagjá, finally. (There is also a parking lot next to it, but oh well ...)
More lava-shaped landscape.
Traffic light in Akureyri (where we finally got our tire repaired - it was surprisingly painless and cheap).
Akureyri - the cruise ships look bigger than the town. And between of them probably have more people on board that the town has inhabitants.
Around Akureyri.
Hafragilsfoss
Isn't the landscape just incredible? Even - or rather: especially - when it is so empty.
Námafjall (it's close to Krafla but we did not do it the previous day because of the rain). ♥ did climb the hill; I did not feel comfortable with the trail to do so, even when it was dry.
Landscape impressions from the two following days. We picked a hitchiking couple the one evening on the way to Akureyri and man, did those first year students drive it home that we are old farts by now. (But they did speak cute Swiss German).
Vatnsnes peninsila. Did you see the mountain peeking out through the clouds in the third pic? Did you? Also, I am just eternally fascinated by the clouds in Iceland.
Our lunch on most days - "holger" with cheese and salami! I think we reached a point where we were bored enough by it to loose any hunger the moments we even thought about eating more "holger".
Reykhólar. From the distance, it totally looks like a normal meadow. But there are hot springs hidden in it!
To the Westfjords and back. We pretty much spent two days driving - it did not look that far on the maps but it was all serpentines and one had to drive super slow - but it was so worth it.
Hot pot! (Small natural hot pool.) We did go into it, but after the hike to the Ranagil gorge.
Ranagil gorge.
Random gorge along the road (there were tons like this one!).
Random hills along the road. I wish I knew more about geology - we did look up some basics but I really wish we could have booked a tour guide for a few days. Or taken part in some of the small tours that we run into.
Rauðfeldargjá Canyon.
The coast of Arnarstapi.
And some final impressions from the mountains - we met had an amazing dinner on our last day (the one where I tried the rotten shark and was not disgusted by it's taste ;)), met the wonderful Icelandic goats for the last time and headed towards the airport the next day, me going back to Boston in the afternoon, ♥, after spending another evening in Reykjavik on his own, in the very morning.
And in case you want more - previously in the Iceland holiday series: goats, surfaces/pattern/colors and Reykjavik to Höfn, counterclockwise.
Just a random shot along the road (it's all the ring road). Isn't the landscape just gorgeous?
Water everywhere. Here a tiny spring coming directly from a stone and the colorful sediments it produced over the year (moths? decades? who knows).
And more gorgeous coast impressions.
Waterfalls: small and big, left and right. All the mountains were full of waterfalls like the last picture shows - but they are hard to catch with my small camera and this kind of landscape does not really work in a small format.
We decided to take the Öxi pass to save time - this was one of the most amazing drives ever. It would have been beautiful if we'd be able to see, but it was all foggy and thus unreal with snowbanks suddenly appearing, water crossing the gravel road, and the bleating of sheep in the distance. (Also, this was where we got our flat tire. Not fun, I tell you. We also only realized once we left the pass.)
Typical Icelandic road signs :D
The flat tire did not stop us from driving to the Hengifoss for a hike. That bit on the last photo was scary - it does not look so bad, but the path was badly slanted and the current is strong and deep and leads directly into the next waterfall. (Also, I am simply freaking scared of hiking along water.)
The next hostel was over the mountain range - an extra ~hour drive that we would have normally not chosen but when we booked the trip (in early January for June!), everything closer to the main road was booked out already, at least if we did want a private room (and we did). And we went back the next morning, still with the spare tire (it will take us a few days to get a new one - there was literally nothing in the area and the rental car company was rather clueless, having sent us to a workshop in Egilsstaðir that was closed that day). Anyway, the landscape was just amazing (I know I am repeating myself but it was and there are only so many ways to express it!).
Endless, endless planes and hills.
Krafla thermal/volcanic area.
Just look at these unreal colors!
The area was still very active - steam was coming from everywhere and the ground felt warm in a ton of places.
You can't see red lava on Iceland (one of the reasons why we need to get to Hawaii at some point in the near future!), but here are some of the lava flows at Krafla.
Call this modern art on the way to Krafla :D (They also have a thermal power station there.) In the background: our little Fiat Panda with the spare tire.
Hike to Grjótagjá with some impressive fissures (yes, you could go down and there were even a few places where one could bathe down there!) along the way. This ended up being one of our favorites hikes in terms of the actual walking - it was easy but you still needed to think about every step because of the stony ground. Even with constant rain, we both totally went into the flow of it.
Did I show this pick already? I think the bird was pretty confused and tried to hide from the rain between ♥'s legs <3 I know that they look grey and muddy, but, but, but ...
I just like flowers growing in places where one would not expect them.
Grjótagjá, finally. (There is also a parking lot next to it, but oh well ...)
More lava-shaped landscape.
Traffic light in Akureyri (where we finally got our tire repaired - it was surprisingly painless and cheap).
Akureyri - the cruise ships look bigger than the town. And between of them probably have more people on board that the town has inhabitants.
Around Akureyri.
Hafragilsfoss
Isn't the landscape just incredible? Even - or rather: especially - when it is so empty.
Námafjall (it's close to Krafla but we did not do it the previous day because of the rain). ♥ did climb the hill; I did not feel comfortable with the trail to do so, even when it was dry.
Landscape impressions from the two following days. We picked a hitchiking couple the one evening on the way to Akureyri and man, did those first year students drive it home that we are old farts by now. (But they did speak cute Swiss German).
Vatnsnes peninsila. Did you see the mountain peeking out through the clouds in the third pic? Did you? Also, I am just eternally fascinated by the clouds in Iceland.
Our lunch on most days - "holger" with cheese and salami! I think we reached a point where we were bored enough by it to loose any hunger the moments we even thought about eating more "holger".
Reykhólar. From the distance, it totally looks like a normal meadow. But there are hot springs hidden in it!
To the Westfjords and back. We pretty much spent two days driving - it did not look that far on the maps but it was all serpentines and one had to drive super slow - but it was so worth it.
Hot pot! (Small natural hot pool.) We did go into it, but after the hike to the Ranagil gorge.
Ranagil gorge.
Random gorge along the road (there were tons like this one!).
Random hills along the road. I wish I knew more about geology - we did look up some basics but I really wish we could have booked a tour guide for a few days. Or taken part in some of the small tours that we run into.
Rauðfeldargjá Canyon.
The coast of Arnarstapi.
And some final impressions from the mountains - we met had an amazing dinner on our last day (the one where I tried the rotten shark and was not disgusted by it's taste ;)), met the wonderful Icelandic goats for the last time and headed towards the airport the next day, me going back to Boston in the afternoon, ♥, after spending another evening in Reykjavik on his own, in the very morning.
And in case you want more - previously in the Iceland holiday series: goats, surfaces/pattern/colors and Reykjavik to Höfn, counterclockwise.
