For such a small country, Iceland is crammed with waterfalls, volcanoes, lava fields, tectonic plates, fjords, mountains, canyons and glaciers. There’s too much to see and a one week visit would not even touch the tip of the iceberg. (ha!) I wouldn’t even be able to fulfill my dream of driving route 1 all around the country. Not this visit. But I would at least get to experience canyons and glaciers this time around.
After going on a China tour with my mom, I swore I’d never sign up for another tour. It’s just not my jam. But I forsaked that promise in Iceland. But only because I found a pretty good deal with Extreme Iceland‘s 2 day South Coast and Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon tour.
Not only was the tour limited to a maximum of 20 people, but it included transportation, English speaking guide, a private room with private bath, including breakfast (a PLUS!) at Guesthouse Gerði, glacier hike and stops at Seljalandsfoss, Skogafoss, Vik, Reynisdrangar sea stacks, a taste of Skaftafell Nature Reserve, Jokulsarlon Lagoon, optional glacier boat ride among the glaciers and an hour long glacier hike.
The thing is that traveling solo can get pretty expensive and even though the tour was $500 CDN, as a solo traveler, I would’ve payed way more on my own for all those things.
But again, as with any type of tour, they adhere to a set time at each attraction, which is a huge bummer. That may have been why – not to sound entitled – I may have rebelled once or twice by lagging behind and being the last one to arrive back at the bus every single stop. I’m sure a few of my seat mates must have been thinking, ‘Why is she so excited about waterfalls and glaciers that she has to dilly-dally?’, to which I would humourously retort, ‘Why are YOU not more excited about waterfalls and glaciers?!’
Our first stop was at one of Iceland’s most famous waterfalls, Seljalandsfoss, where its cascade of water drops a whopping 200 feet into a pool below. Its most unique feature is that the rock behind the falls has been eroded to such an extent, that you can walk behind it. The grounds were lush and green and dotted with tents and camper vans. What a grand idea! Now that’s what I want to do the next time I visit – picnic, hiking, sleeping over and taking it all in at my leisure.
Note to self: next time bring a waterproof camera as waterfalls gives off a fine spray. A few shots aside, I all but gave up on using my camera and constantly wiping the moisture from the lens.
Next stop was waterfall #2: the nearby Skogafoss, meaning forest falls. This photogenic waterfall falls 197 ft from a cliff. To the right, there are steps – 183 to be exact – that you can climb in order to get a top down view.
We also drove by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano. The last time this stratovolcano blew its top in 2010, it grounded air travel over Europe for 6 days. One couldn’t help but look at it in awe. (and wondering when will be the next time it goes off?)
We stopped off at Vik for lunch and then walked around Reynisfjara Beach, with its black sand, pebbly rocks and basalt columns, resembling a pyramid, which can you climb. Out in the Atlantic Ocean are the spectacularly shaped basalt sea stacks called Reynisdrangar. The whole beach gave me serious Game of Thrones vibes.
After not nearly enough time, we drove to the foot of Mt. Hvannadalshnúku, the highest mountain in Iceland, and got a peek at what a glacier looks like, in this case, the Öræfajökull Glacier.
The pièce de résistance of the day was our last stop — Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. Jökulsárlón is one of the most beautiful places that I’ve seen in all my years of travel. In my opinion, it may be the #1 must-see spot in Iceland. I never thought I’d get so excited at seeing ICEBERGS.
And us arriving at the golden hour could not have been more purr-fect. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Although our guide assured us that we’d have more time to explore in the morning, I could not bear the thought of leaving.
Do they not know that the lagoon would look totally different at the butt crack of dawn? In fact, I toyed with the idea of telling her to just leave me there and I’ll find my own way to the guesthouse and had it not been 13 kms away, I think I would’ve gone through with it.
Seriously, how could you not want to stay when it looks like this?
View more photos of my trip on my Flickr album.
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