Scandinavia Trip-Iceland 2

After spending the morning on the Southwest peninsula of Iceland, one of my son's friends suggested we had to see Gullfoss Falls. With Blaine's iPhone plugged in and Gullfoss entered, off we went following it's directions.  Thus began our total dependency on this Apple device.  That is until we started hitting all the tunnels in Norway.  That story comes later.

Gullfoss Falls is on the Hvita River.  It is a series of volcanic stair steps and is, as you will see, a Major tourist attraction.  Whoa were there a lot of people wandering around!

Path leading down to an observation platform.  Too much water spray for the camera so I
chose the elevated view.

The sun kept popping in and out of the clouds.  Some areas were in full sun others shade.

The stair stepping of the falls is it's main feature.

The river after the falls flows into a slot canyon accelerating and creating lots of mist.

A better view of the multiple stages of the falls.

The mist rising from the river gives a sense of steam coming up from a geyser or ???

After Gullfoss, it was time to check into our Hotel. So onto Reykjavik. Two hours or so later we were settled in. Too exhausted to do much, we went to sleep.  Blaine had been up around 36 hours straight and I about 28 hours.

Day Two in Iceland. 

We had set an itinerary that meant driving to Fjallsárlón Iceland and the glacier fed iceberg lake.  This is at least a 5 hour drive one way without stops.  So a quick church visit, then on our way along the South coast of Iceland.

Hallgrimskirkja is famous for the architectural form inspired by the Viking longboats.  Not the best light for this building but it was a must see.

Lief Ericsson statue commemorating his journey to North America

The unique church doors.

From here we headed East along Highway 1. The weather was cooperating with a partly cloudy mostly sunny day ahead or so we thought.

First stop was our introduction to Iceland South coast landscape and tourism.

If you double click to enlarge this image you will see the only problem trying to do landscape photos in Iceland.  Two legged sheep!
We decided not to participate as the light wasn't right. We planned on hitting it later in the day on our way back to Reykjavik.  Didn't happen.

Further down the road this volcanic monster loomed up.  Note the sheep in the lower left corner for size.

This is a panorama of the same location.  I like the clouds but the panorama tends to diminish the size of the singular mountain.

This panorama is from atop a bluff overlooking one of the many black sand beaches. You will find this exact same spot in the History's Channels Vikings Season 5 Episode 6 at 31 minutes 10 seconds.  Of course this was a much nicer day!

Generally panoramas of this size lose a lot unless viewed enlarged.  I guess the only thing here is the impressive Icelandic terrain.  Behind me is the ocean and in front an estuary and mountain range with glaciers.  Whoa!

Looking North from the same bluff as above.  Farm and estuary.

This is another black sand beach.  This the more famous and touted one.

Volcanic formations abound. Double click to get some idea of the varied textures in the stone.

The shear vastness and lack of trees make for these incredible vistas.  Note Blaine in the lower right corner.

Blaine texting a friend who was also in Iceland at the same time. Behind him is a major drop to the beach.  No selfies here.

Another version of this beautiful hamlet.

This represents the first "forest" we had seen in Iceland.  We thought maybe the trees grew further North. Guess not.

I was impressed with the weathered stone to the right of this waterfall.

Beginning to get into the glacier areas. And the weather began to change.  Sun gave way to clouds and what looked like rain.  The upside is the lighting improved with splashes of sun here and there.

There was a stream coming out from the bottom of this glacier.  This caused a collapse and an ice cave was formed.  Of course Blaine wanted to go inside but found the way blocked by huge chunks of ice.  The cave floor to ceiling is about 30 feet high.  Guided tours were being conducted all over this glacier.  Note the vehicle in the bottom right. 

What looks like dirt in front of the glacier is actual ice with wind blown dirt frozen onto it.

Enjoyed the sunlight coming and going on the peaks.

Trail up to the glacier

Again the light was great.

Note the fractures in the glacier form the sharp jagged spires.

This panorama shows the entire ice field as it is tucked into the valleys.

Fjallsárlón Glacier and lake.

Tourist wandering along the lake shore.

As we were walking back, Blaine heard an odd thunder like rumbling.  We turned around to see the face on the right side of the glacier calve into the lake.  The rumbling continued for sometime.  We hoped to see another but the glacier quieted down and that was that.  Amazing place.

As it was getting late and we still had a 5 hour drive back, we decide to do a straight through shot and forget about stopping at the sites we thought we would catch on our return.  Thus began the last leg of our longest driving day.

The sun was setting as we tried to make good time back.  But as the speed limit, I think, was only 80 km and the traffic was heavy we had a long ride.  Then we came around one of the many bends in the road and saw this developing. I could not believe how beautiful it was.  Perfect light ranging from the warm setting sun to the cold blue of rain falling on the mountains.  All of it was there for the taking and I did.  As the sun sank the cliff lite up and the mountains grew darker. Amazing!!!

This wonderful end to our day made the next hour and half drive seem worth it.  We got back to Reykjavik after the sun had set but were determined to see this sculpture. The last item on our list.

So ends our 2 days in Iceland.  We both decided we really need to come back and spend a lot more time exploring this amazing country.