Blogs from Vík, South, Iceland, Europe

We started our 2nd day going back to the Black Sand Beach. We were able to climb some rocks and go into the famous basalt sea cave, which is only accessible at low tide, and see loads of rock nesting birds. The scenery here was stunning. The Legend of the Trolls, the two tall standing rocks, arrived in Iceland as stowaways on Viking Ships and made their homes in caves and cliffs. They stay in the dark to avoid being turned into stone from the sunlight. These two didn't listen. Interesting! Next we stopped at a couple of churches in Vik on our way to the Vatnajokull National Park and a day of Glacier hiking at Skaftafell. There were Glaciers everywhere in the area. After getting our Crampons, Helmet, Safety Harness and Ice Axe we headed ... read more

Bei unserer Ankunft im Süden wurden wir stürmisch begrüßt: es waren Windgeschwindigkeiten von 75 km/h, in Böen bis 100 km/h angesagt, und die hat es auch gegeben. Weil wir bei diesem Sturm mit unserer rollenden Schrankwand nicht rumfahren wollten, sind wir 2 Nächte in Höfn geblieben. Und das war gut so: auch ohne zu fahren hat das Wohnmobil geschaukelt wie ein Schiff bei ordentlich Seegang in Kombination mit kabbeliger See, und die Wände haben auch genauso geknackt. Im Zelt wäre das echt ungemütlich gewesen. Das nächste Highlight waren die Gletscherlagunen Jökulsarlon und Fjallsarlon, in denen abgebrochene Teile der darüberliegenden Gletscher als Eisberge treiben. Teile davon wiederum werden als glänzende Eisskulpturen am Diamond Beach angeschwemmt. Was uns in Island echt auffällt, sind die Farben. Die Gegenden heben sich farblich stark voneinander ab. Die Gletscher sind (überwiege... read more

Our hotel in Vik was on a former farm. Dinner at Hotel Katla was served in a grand buffet. There was a soup and salad bar to start. Then there were the hot dishes, including fish, pasta and reindeer meatballs. There were cold sides. Cod Liver Oil is always available on every breakfast or dinner buffet in Iceland. A range of dessert pastries completed the dinner service. Today would be only a half-day's coach drive as we would be retuning to Reykjavik around 11:00. But there were still more of Iceland's wonders to see. A landmark in Vik is the Three Trolls rock formation (Reynisdrangar). They are in the sea and and are said to represent trolls who froze. The rocks are an extension of the Reynisdrangar basalt cliffs. Basalt block similar to those seen at ... read more

We had alot to do today - and all of it in cold, windy, driving rain. After all the participants of the tour with Arctic Adventures were picked up, we were on our way. Our guide is Sindri, and he is the driver and guide for this trip. He is a wealth of information and he talks the whole time he is driving through this horrible rain. My cousin said all the photos are not coming through. I don't know why, maybe the wi-fi connection? Sorry about that. I killed you with iceberg photos, now I'm going to kill you with waterfall photos. First stop: Thingvellir. From Wikipedia: Þingvellir (Icelandic: (img=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/... read more

Notre première journée d'excursion s'est déroulée en 241 km de route... et les nombreuses visites que vous aurez déjà pu observer dans les deux derniers blogs... Aujourd'hui nous reprenons la route avec notre brave chauffeur qui met tout en œuvre pour que nous ne devions pas porter nos valises jusqu'à la réception... et nous nous préparons aussi à découvrir d'autres lieux parfois impressionnants... Il m'arrive aussi d'avoir l'impression de traverser la Patagonie... des terres et des terres sans rien ni personne... des fermes, petites et grandes ci et là... quelques moutons dans les prairies que nous longeons, de toutes petites églises parfois attachées à un mini groupe de maisons ou tout simplement à une ferme et tant d'autres choses.... Pour aujourd’hui notre programme nous mènera direction la côte sud avec un premier arrêt à la cascade ... read more