Blogs from Iceland, Europe - page 94

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HAal8pqE7s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg49khqfs2s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqglmwqeBls http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMAcyg55yYA The next day we were up around 5 to ensure that we had time to see all the sites on the journey from Reykjavik to Höfn, travelling from South West to South East Iceland. On the way we passed a number of gorgeous waterfalls at Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss, the former is popular as you can walk behind it, due to the time of the visit we had it all to ourselves. Sandwiched in between these fall was the infamous Eyjafjallajökull volcano which was the cause of the ash cloud over most of Europe in 2010. After nearly 5 hours of driving we arrived at the Vatnajokull glacier for our glacier walk. Due to lack of time we couldn’t do the longer 4 hour walk and ha... read more

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKBeHqST_g8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khw4x6ZDCKc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bukhf7Noz-c http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duy2yfr1cCc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2u3jTWrxco First of all let me say that Iceland is not the best destination if you are travelling solo or backpacking, it’s just too bloody expensive!! Thankfully I had some company with me this time so that made this trip possible. The reason is that to truly visit all the best sites you need to hire a car plus there are very few hostels outside the main cities. You could visit Reykjavik and do the Golden Circle on a tour but to see anything further afield is difficult using public transport and requires a lot of patience and reliance on hitchhiking. So if you are still interested then please read on:-) As previously stated a hire car was essential to see all the ma... read more

Day 7 – Today was a driving day. We were going from Akureyri to Reykjavik, which would be at least five hours of driving, without stops. We did plan a couple of stops in there, to visit a place with old farm house longhouses, a hot water spring where water is taken and used to heat homes up hundreds of kilometers away, a place where water pours out from under the lava rock, and another waterfall. It was a nice set of stops. When we got into Reykjavik, we checked into our hotel. We didn't really like it or the location too much. We were able to get a little money back on the cost, as the breakfast would be served later than stated and we would have to miss it to make our tour the ... read more

Day 4 – Today we woke up to good weather again. Such a treat. We were told that this area has had sun for weeks and was actually too dry for the crops to grow properly. This was hard to imagine as we have had so much rain in such a little time, but this part of the island has been unaffected by this weather. So our plan was to drive north around the ring road and get to Husavik in time for a whale watching trip. We did in fact get there, but when we did the weather was terrible. Rainy and cold again. It was actually quite dramatic to see the line where the sun ended and the clouds began. We were not sure if we should go on the whale trip in these ... read more

Day 2 – Monday started out cloudy, a common phenomenon here. We drove first to a place Jeroen wanted to see, with a rock arch in the ocean. That was cool to see, but even better was that from there we could actually walk quite close to where puffins were nesting. I had been wanting to see these birds for a long time, and it was so cool to see them so close. They are so cute and fun to watch. They have to flap their wings 300-400 times a minute to stay in the air, so they look quite clumsy, but they are great underwater “fliers”. From this site we went on to Skaftafell National Park. This park is famous for a glacier three times the size of Luxembourg. A lot of people go for ... read more