Chapter 15 - Trip to the south east

Birna and I took a trip away to South East Iceland over the weekend. We drove on the ring road along the coast. We saw some amazing things... and together with good food and good wine... we had a wonderful time! We visited places including Vik (the southernmost town in Iceland), Skogar (where we saw the spectacular 60m high Skógarfoss waterfall), and Skaftafell (where we did some hiking and saw the Svatifoss waterfall, which is also a beautiful waterfall – this one flanked by basalt columns).

One of the highlights of the trip however, was definitely visiting Jökulsárlón, a glacier lagoon located at the bottom of Vatnajökull (which is the biggest glacier in Europe). Here we went on a small boat in amongst the icebergs, and we even saw seals bathing in the sun. This was an awesome experience!


The other highlight of the trip was when we visited Fjallsjökull, which is one of the hundreds of glaciers that run off Vatnajökull. Here we were totally alone... No tourists... and in the complete silence, we listened and watched as the glacier cracked and huge chunks of ice broke off and shattered the calm water. When this happened the first time, we got the shock of our lives as we were not expecting to see this and the sound was incredibly loud! It was truly a breath-taking experience!

It was really interesting to learn about some of the history of the places we visited too. The most intriguing being that in 1996 there was a massive volcanic eruption that started underneath Vatnajökull glacier. The hot lava that erupted melted a part of the 1km thick icecap and caused massive floods – the greatest flood ever witnessed in Iceland. Large sections of the ring road that linked the south and east of the country were swept away and transport was cut for many weeks. It was amazing to see the effects of the flood still today… We drove for nearly 100km and all we saw were flat barren plains from where the water had washed away everything in its path, with the occasional remains of twisted metal from the old bridges that had been destroyed during the flood.

Our trip away made me realise that Iceland really is the land of “fire and ice.” Whenever we venture out of the city, I immediately get the feeling of being overwhelmed by the raw wilderness of this place. There are few tourists... and you are surrounded by snow-capped mountains, glaciers, and the countless rivers and lakes. It just feels like you´re a million miles from anywhere. It´s hard to describe... But its very humbling. (Check out more pics...)