Travel: Iceland

A few weeks ago, just as the travel season was past its peak, a friend and I decided to go meet up in Iceland.  We haven't seen each other since Japan and quite frankly neither of us do much phone calling these days.  We do keep in touch through lengthy e-mails, but every now and then it's good to just sit down face to face and chat, so that's what we did.  Before she proposed this trip, I'd never looked into traveling to Iceland.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that I didn't have to make a million and a half connections to get there--just one.  My ticket was reasonable and the flight was overnight and fairly comfortable, although the return trip was much harder to bear.

First stop was Vatnajokull to see the glaciers breaking away and slowly drifting to the sea.  My friend was saddened by the fact that much of the glaciers have receded now and the landscape is barer than the last time she was here.

Beautiful overlook of a stunning waterfall and river.  Yes, I took this photo.

Fat little Icelandic horses--don't call them ponies, they get very offended--are necessary for rounding up the sheep that spend the better part of their year grazing on public lands.

Told ya.  Sheep

Another roadside waterfall.  There were almost as many waterfalls as there were rainbows in the sky.  Sadly, I've forgotten the names of many of them.

On one of our nights in Iceland, we stayed at a little raodside hotel.  The food was amazing, and the room was comfortable.  The next morning, we walked down the road to view this waterfall and decided to see if we could find its source.  We hiked up a very steep sheep trail on the side of this mountain and.........

Were rewarded with this spectacular lake and mountain top view.

Of course, since I was so out of breath from the steep hike, I paused to remove my coat--for the one and only time during the whole trip--and took a few pics of these pretty pink flowers growing in the meadow here.

Eldhraun Lava fields.  Covered in moss and extremely difficult to walk across, they are nevertheless quite lovely.

The lovely city of Reykjavik at sunset photographed from the top of Hallgrímur church.

Hallgrímur Church is one of the tallest structures in the country which is why it was such a great place to get a panoramic view of Reykjavik.  

Reynisfjara black volcano beach on Iceland's South Coast was lovely and unique.  A place we paused to sit on the beach and watch the world for a while.  The cafe nearby served delicious fish and chips as well as a hearty stew and fresh bread.

For the rest of the trip, I found black sand falling out of my shoes, but it was worth it to see the basalt rock formations on the cliff side.

Signs were posted about sneaker waves and they do mean business.  Never turn your back on the sea here.  In spite of our caution, we were nearly drenched by a strong, icy sneaker wave.

Our roadside attractions came mainly in the form of natural beauty and public lands that we were free to park alongside the road and roam.

Although waterfalls abound, like these quaint "little" guys, Iceland is home to one of the world's most magnificent waterfalls, Gullfoss.  Fed by the Langjökull glacier, Gullfoss is Iceland's most iconic waterfall and is quite easy to find by traveling Iceland's Golden Circle.

Another stop on our driving tour of the Golden Circle was 

Þingvellir National Park - Where You Walk Between Two Continents.  The park is positioned around a fissure in the tectonic plates separating the continents of North America and Europe.  The plates were impressive, but what truly struck me was the colorful landscape.

I don't have any amazing photos of the geyser, I don't want to close this post without mentioning my favorite hotel which was Hotel Geysir.   It had just opened the month before and it was a bit of a splurge to stay there, but the room was wonderful and the breakfast buffet was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten.  From salmon and fruit to the fresh baked geysir bread that they bake in the ground near the geyser for 24 hours before serving it, everything was exquisite.

It was an absolutely amazing country, the experience of a lifetime, and I'm so glad I got to have this friendship renaissance, a frenaissance if you will, with my very dear friend whom I have missed.  That in itself was worth all the trouble it takes to put a stop to our schedules and get out of our own little spheres.