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Clouds
The view of the sky from the busYesterday, on the 4th of July, we spent all day on a tour titled "South Coast and Glaciers." We left Reykjavik and drove along the South Coast as far as the glacier tongue Solheimajökull. On the way, we stopped at Eyjafjallajökull, the glacial volcano that erupted in 2010, disrupting air traffic around the world. At Solheimajökull, we were able to walk up near the glacier and touch some of the ice! The ground and parts of the ice are covered in ash from volcanic eruptions. At the bottom of the glacier is a river, and the glacier is slowly melting and will evetually become an ice lake. We did not do the ice walk on the glacier (the tour was expensive enough already), so instead we went to black sand beaches near the town of Vik and a museum. At the first black sand beach, we saw caves and basalt columns. It was raining while we were there, so we did not spend much time walking around. We then went to another black sand beach where we had lunch before briefly walking down the sand. We learned that there is no port at this beach because the sand moves and is
Eyjafjallajökull
Eyjafjallajökull not stable enough. When boats from other places washed up on shore they were often destroyed because of the way the sand moves. The waves are also really rough at these beaches, so going in the water in dangerous. As we were leaving, it started to rain. After leaving Vik, we went to the Skògar Folk Museum where we learned about how people on the South Coast lived before the area was modernized in the mid-20th century. These areas were remote and isolated until bridges over the rivers were built in the mid to late 20th century. Therefore, the people who lived in this area lived the same way in the early 20th century as they did for 1000 years before, and they modernized over a period of 30 years. We saw items they made out of driftwood and other tools and clothing. We saw an old fishing boat, that had sails but generally was moved by rowing. We also saw buildings from the 19th and 20th century that showed how people lived before modernization. Our last two stops were at two waterfalls, Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss, both 60 meters long. We were able to walk all the way around Seljalandsfoss!
Max in front of Solheimajökull
Max in front of Solheimajökull We ended a long and tiring day by booking another tour for today.
Today, we went on a tour of the Golden Circle, which included stops at Faxi Waterfall, Gulfoss Waterfall, Geysir, and Þingvellir National Park. The waterfalls were beautiful, and Gulfoss is huge, composed of two separate waterfalls. Unfortunately, it was unusually cold and windy today, so being sprayed by water from Gulfoss was not enjoyable. At Geysir, the spouting hot spring from which the name "geyser" is derived, we were able to see several hot pools and the geyser Strokkur, Geysir's little brother. Geysir is now dormant, and it was so windy we chose to go back inside rather than see its pool, but we saw Strokkur spout several times, and I captured a video of it spouting in slow motion! (Here's the link: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8n-QA2pm26YOVZZTXU4MER3QkE/edit? ) usp=docslist_api After Geysir, we went to see Þingvellir National Park, the place where the Alþingi was founded around 930 C.E. and where it met every summer for several hundred years. Þingvellir is also the location of the rift between the North American and European tectonic plates, so we were at the easternmost end of the North American tectonic plate. To get
Rebecca in front of Solheimajökull
Rebecca in front of Solheimajökull to the National Park we crossed the rift through its no-mans land, so we crossed from Europe to North America, at least geologically. After leaving Þingvellir, we headed back to Reykjavik, where we've had a relaxing evening and plan to have a much quieter day tomorrow.
One thing we noticed on both tours is how green Iceland is. The land, mountains, and even volcanic rocks are covered in plants and moss. Iceland's countryside is beautiful.
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Magnus Magnusson
non-member comment
Nice pics
It looks like you choose the right tours to go on - you guys saw the main sights. Enjoy the rest of your trip and I hope it warms up a little for you.