Saturday, October 6, 2012

Roadtripping Icebergs, Volcanoes and Waterfalls (in Photos)

Remember the icy climax of Die Another Day? James Bond speeds across a frozen lagoon filled with icebergs, fighting off the baddies and saving the world. Welcome to Jökulsárlón, Iceland. A real-life glacial lagoon. You can reach it in about 5 hours from Reykjavik.

I was sold on Jökulsárlón even before hearing about the volcanoes, glaciers and waterfalls on the way!

Words couldn't possibly do Iceland's south coast justice, so instead here are some pictures...

Setting out: my brother Michael and I just outside Reykjavik.

The ring road is like this the entire way around the South Coast. It's like driving through Middle Earth.

Eyjafjallajökull - the volcano that cause continental mayhem a few years back by erupting.

Seljalandsfoss - water tumbling 60m over what used to be the Icelandic coastline.

Just 20 minutes up the road, the spray of Skógafoss creates a rainbow in the midday sun.

A glacier snaking down from Vatnajökull, the largest icecap in Europe.

First glimpse of Jökulsárlón Glacial Lagoon.

The icebergs of Jökulsárlón. The ice is 1,000 years old (and tastes delicious).

50 shades of blue.



We feasted on Arctic char after leaving Jökulsárlón. In the morning we awoke to this glorious sunrise, which took over an hour because of the angle of the Autumn sun.

Sunrise turns the icecaps pink (as seen from our hotel window).

We returned to Jökulsárlón at about 8am, to discover over a dozen seals playing in the lagoon.



One last goodbye to Jökulsárlón - one of the most indescribable and memorable places I've ever been.

The weather packed in on the drive home, but we didn't care. We still stopped to see these traditional Icelandic huts on the way.


2 comments:

  1. Nice scenery. At first, when I saw the first photo and didn't see the text I though it was the Antarctic. Didn't know Iceland is some beautiful. I'll go to Jökulsárlón one day, but unfortunately I didn't see this James Bond movie ;-(

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    1. Thanks, I'm so glad you liked it! I felt like we were in Antarctica a lot of the time. It was truly mindblowing!

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