A Drizzly Start

We woke to the sounds of sea birds outside our window. Looks like it will be drizzling most of the morning which isn’t too bad. Hoping for the skies to clear so we can see the mountains. 

View from our window

Breakfast

Part of the breakfast bar

A talking rock outside the hotel entrance. It is motion activated. The author, Thórbergur Thórdarson, is reading his book The Stones Speak, a mournful portrayal of his childhood and youth on the farm of Hali in Suðursveit, an isolated rural area of southeastern Iceland, in the late 19th century. It reveals his reverence for the beauty of the Suðursveit countryside and his enduring love of his family and neighbors and their language, history, and culture. It is sometimes witty and funny, sometimes wry and sad, sometimes contemplative and mystical, but always an affectionate portrait of a time, a place and a people, all of which have long since passed away. The Stones Speak is not only an enchanting work of art, but also a vitally important witness to the way of life on an Icelandic turf farmstead in the 1890s.

Hotel reception and museum. Notice the side of the building looks like book spines. 

The hotel

Original buildings on the property

Another view from our room

The socked-in mountain behind the hotel. I really wish you could see it.

Our room is in this building.

truck makes Kim look small

These truck pics are for Aaron.

Our first stop today, Jökulsárlón (Icelandic pronunciation: joe-cul sir-lon; literally "glacial river lagoon") is a large glacial lake in the southern part of Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. Situated at the head of the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier, it developed into a lake after the glacier started receding from the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. The lake has grown since then at varying rates because of melting of the glaciers. It is now about 8 km (5.0 mi) away from the ocean's edge and covers an area of about 18 km2 (6.9 sq mi). In 2009 it was reported to be the deepest lake in Iceland, at over 284 m (932 ft), as glacial retreat extended its boundaries. The size of the lake has increased fourfold since the 1970s. 

The icebergs that calve from the glacier edge move towards the river mouth and get entrenched at the bottom. The movement of the icebergs fluctuates with the tide currents, as well as being affected by wind. However, they start floating as icebergs when their size is small enough to drift to the sea. These icebergs are seen in two shades: milky white and bright blue, which depends on the air trapped within the ice and is an interplay of light and ice crystals.

Black sand beach as we walk out to the ocean. The following pics are all from the glacial lagoon.

looks like a duck

floating out to sea

And lest you think we were completely alone here, due to my extreme cropping of photos...we were not.

There was a lobster food truck in the parking lot selling lobster rolls (a favorite of mine). I asked if they could put mine in a cup instead of on a roll. I was pretty disappointed. The "special sauce" was so mustardy that you couldn't even taste the lobster.

Kim had the lobster soup. He said there might have been three pieces of lobster in there.

I know you are probably wondering what in the world this picture is. It is the spoon Kim was given to eat his soup. You can see it is completely flat. Not sure how you are supposed to scoop any soup.

As we drove to our next destination, I took some photos of other "tongues" of the glacier. Vatnajokull (pronounced vat-nuh-joe-cull) Glacier is Europe's largest glacier and covers 8% of Iceland. We can really only see the tip of the iceberg (no pun intended).

To give you an idea of the size of this glacier

a floating yurt

Fjallsárlón (fals-aur-lou-n) is a glacial lake on the southern side of Vatnajökull. We were driving by and decided to stop and take a look. So glad we did.

We met a couple from New Hampshire. I offered to take their picture and they reciprocated.

We continue on our drive along the southern coast of Iceland heading to our resting place tonight, Vik. This rainbow looked like I could just reach out and touch it. Of course the picture doesn't look like that but you can see it's in front of the mountain.

Another tongue of the glacier

If you put this picture just to the right of the one above it, you would have the complete picture. It was so odd the way it changed from green and full of color to so barren.

It was right about here that we had to fill up with gas at $8.99/gallon.

Another stop to see a couple of waterfalls. This was quite a hike; calf burning, oxygen depriving trekking.

This path is so much easier to walk on than all those rocks. I told Kim it looks like the lead in a stained glass window the way it's connected at the corners. He said it's HDPE (high density poly ethylene - petroleum based plastic). You can see the way our minds think.

In case the video below won't play, here's a still shot.

Ditto: in case the video above won't play, here's a still shot.

Notice the glacier between the clouds and the top of the mountain

Svartifoss waterfall is one of the unique waterfalls in SE-Iceland. It is situated in Skaftafell nature reserve, which has since 2008 belonged to Vatnajökull National park. It is a basalt column waterfall but you will have to zoom in on the picture to see the columns. Columnar jointed basalt is formed when lava or magma cools and contraction causes the new rock to split into six-sided (hexagonal)  columns. Columns always form at right angles to the cooling surface where heat loss is greatest, so they are horizontal in dykes and vertical in lava flows and silts. The sides of the columns are usually marked by 1-2 cm wide horizontal bands, each of which records a fracturing event when the face of the column advanced downward.

looking back down from whence we've come 

Eldhraun is the largest lava flow in the world. These moss covered lava fields located near Kirkjubæjarklaustur village were created during the Laki eruption in the late 18th century. The volcano which erupted between 1783 and 1784 released a total of 14.7 cubic km of lava from a 25-km-long fissure, now covers around 560 square kilometers of beautiful moss covered lava fields. All around thick woolly fringemoss forms a continuous layer. The moss is very sensitive. It has taken the moss more than 200 years to grow and one step on it will make a scar into the layer which can take a decade to grow back.

The fields go for miles and miles and are just incredible to see.

closeup showing the berries

Saw some fly-fishermen so had to stop and take some pics.

What an incredible place to go fishing. I think Kim was jealous.

And, yes, he caught one. We never could get a shot of the fish but it appeared to be a nice one.

a few pics of the sheep

The next pics are Fjaðrárgljúfur (pronounced Fyat-dar-ar-klyu-fur), "feather river canyon". The Fjaðrá river flows through it.

The canyon has steep walls, winding water and is somewhat serpentine and narrow. It is up to 100 m (330') deep and about 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) long. It is located near the Ring Road, not far from the village of Kirkjubæjarklaustur.

Its origins date back to the cold periods of the Ice Age. The canyon was created by progressive erosion by flowing water from glaciers through the rocks and palagonite over millennia. A waterfall flows down the western side of the canyon, visible from an observation platform at the end of a one-mile hike up the eastern edge.

In May 2019, authorities closed the canyon to visitors after it appeared in the music video for Justin Bieber's I'll Show You. The resulting stream of visitors threatened to damage the canyon's environment. It is currently open to visitors.

It is absolutely breathtaking.

"O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" Psalm 8

This picture is from the bottom of the canyon.

Hjorleifshofdi (pronounced cure-leafs-sudie) is a freestanding, 221 m high hyaloclastite headland on the outwash plain Myrdalssandur (pronounced mur-doll-zunder). A bay reached the foothills of this low mountain, but was filled up by the constant flood waves connected with the Katla eruptions. Tuya is a distinctive, flat-topped, steep-sided volcano formed when lava erupts through thick glaciers or ice sheets. It was probably an island in the sea in the past but has become landlocked. Today it's surrounded by black sands that have collected after repeated glacial runs from Katla volcano.

We took pics from both sides since the sun was glaring in the first pic.

This is the famous black beach with basalt columns and sea stacks. We will be closer to this in the morning so hopefully will have better pictures.

We went to The Soup Company for supper. I had the Icelandic Lamb Soup. It doesn't get more Icelandic than this. This soup has been around forever. You can find it on the menu of most gas stations in Iceland as well as almost all fine dining. It's simply delicious and since Iceland lamb meat is considered to be one of the best in the world I wasn't disappointed. It was full of tender lamb meat, Icelandic vegetables and herbs and a heartwarming broth.

Kim had the soup sampler, a choice of three soups. He chose the Icelandic Lamb, the Red Hot Lava soup, and the Indian Winter soup. The Red Hot Lava is a spicy meat soup with prime beef, black beans, red wine, onion, tomatoes, bay leaves, red lentils and more. It is seerved in a black bread bowl and to make sure you don't burn your tongue a small bowl of Icelandic yogurt on the side. Since he was having the sampler, he didn't get the bread bowl and yogurt. :( The Indian Winter soup is a creamy coconut and lentil soup with carrots, onions, red lentils and spices and a little kick. His favorite was the red hot lava.

This is Arsalir Guesthouse in Vik, our home for tonight.

We're in the "basement". It's really only half below ground. I sure was glad we weren't on the third floor.

We have been eating our way through the Nordic countries in chocolate. All the countries have their own gourmet chocolates so we thought we should test them out to see which was the best. That's my story anyway.

This one was super fancy with designs on the inside and also on the chocolate bar.

It's been an indescribable day with the most incredible scenery you could possibly imagine. 

Miles - 8.2

Steps - 16,589

Floors - 54

"This isn’t paradise. You can’t make it into paradise. Paradise is coming, and your place was secured for you on the cross of Jesus Christ. If you are God’s child, the final chapter of your story will take place in an eternal paradise beyond your wildest dreams."

PDT