The land of fire and ice

My Iceland trip was so much fun!!! Okay, so it was over two weeks ago, but I've been busy with college and all, so I haven't had time to write about it. We spent two weeks, staying in places like Þingvellir National Park, Borgarnes, the Blue Lagoon (Bláa Lónið) and visiting such sights as Geysír, Snæfells, Vatnajökull, Jökulsárlón, and Skogafoss.


The Blue Lagoon is one of the main tourist sights in Iceland. The water is superheated from a nearby lava flow and then pooled into a bathing area for spa services. It gets its blue colouring from a unique algae and sulphur and silica minerals.

silica mineral rocks along the edges; lava fields surround it

at night

The house we rented at Þingvellir was right on Þingvallavatn. Some people go scuba diving here and it has an average of 100 meter visibility. The first parliament was established in the national park in 930 A.D.

windows on 3/4 of the walls

view from the porch

Nearby is the famous Geysír, the original geyser, and several other geysers.

Geysír, no longer active

Strokkur, active every five to ten minutes

Blessi, crazy blue coloured hot water

warning about the hot water

The next town we rented a house in was called Borgarnes, a small town on the edge of a fjord in West Iceland. It felt like we were on the edge of the world....

view from the house at sunrise

walking through the town

skipping stones by the shore

Then we tried to drive to Snæfellsjökull, where Jules Verne set his novel Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Unfortunately it was swathed in thick clouds and we were unable to see the glacier, despite being pretty much right next to it. So we checked out some spooky old "whispering" caves instead.

inside the cave

we had to climb up through the top of this one

so foggy!

catching water dripping off the cave

sign to Snæfellsjökull

After Borgarnes, we drove south to see waterfalls and more (visible) glaciers, including Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Europe (11% of Iceland's area).

Svartifoss

you can walk behind this one

Skogafoss, usually there is a rainbow you can see

there are cows and sheep pretty much everywhere

legendary rock formations in Vík

black sand beach from volcanic rock

approaching Vatnajökull

this used to be a bridge until the glacier ate it

Jökulsárlón, the glacial lagoon

The very last thing we did on the trip was to go ice climbing at Vatnajökull. Our guide was really fun and cool and showed us lots of unique glacier things, too. I have completely fallen in love with ice climbing and I can't wait to try it again!

my gear

the edge of the glacier where it meets the dirt

weird little ice cave in the side of the glacier

last look back

The last time we were in Iceland was five years ago. I hope it's not another five years before we return again, but if it is, I will be waiting anxiously! Until then, I hope I get to travel to a million other new places.

xxo, S