Get hyped, this is finally the last blog post that I will write about Iceland! Yay! There were just so many pictures taken, and well yeah, we are on blog post number 4, and I'm sorry that I'm not sorry. Anywho, you can go and learn a little bit of new Icelandic music for this post, thanks Katherine for introducing me to Amiina, but yeah these babes are from Iceland, go turn that on your spotify, you won't regret it! Or Múm, if you get down like that.
Day 5
So we woke up on the morning of Day 5 with one of the most insane views of my entire life. I have never woken up to a view of a glacier, and it's honestly something that I will never forget. So naturally we are all in awe a bit, and took our time getting our act together to finally venture over to the national park. But anyways, we arrive to Skaftafell National Park, and we are all stoked on our first national park visit of the trip. And with, Dave, having spent some time in the park before, he suggested one hike that includes the famous basalt column waterfall, Svartifoss. The looped hike took us about 6 hours, and we saw so many beautiful things (whenever the weather was cooperating), and hopefully pictures can try and do this hike justice. Oh, and yeah we remembered to bring our lunch with us on this hike, no worries! Ultimately it was about 900 meters up to the peak of the hike, and then back down to our little orange car. Check it outtttt...
Our tents look minuscule when you look at the whole landscape.
A little bit closer for more perspective.
This is seriously what we woke up to, good god!
I couldn't believe my eyes sometimes.
Easily the prettiest place I've ever brushed my teeth. But don't be fooled, it's brackish water since it's constantly feeding out to sea ;-)
The famous Svartifoss; mother nature is pretty cool!
Friends hanging out at a waterfall, so of course we're smiling!
Two stepping on top of a cliff.
Going up!
There was loads of fog almost the whole hike, but it wasn't a big deal, see all smiles!
And it makes the moss an electric shade of green!
Hi mom and dad!
Once we got to the top it was too foggy to see the ocean, so this is what it looked like. Pretty eerie, but super awesome.
Only on the way back down did we got some epic views of the glacier.
After the hike was over we decided to drive a little ways closer to our next destination, which are the cliffs that the puffins nest in! On the drive we stopped in Vik to take in the view of the 'Three Trolls', you can see them trollin' in the background of the next two pictures. We put up our tents shortly after this pit stop and called it a night.
These two, trollin' the beach.
The trolls themselves.
Day 6 Next in the adventures of the four amigos was puffin viewing.. and no one was more stoked on this then Mel, it was really awesome how excited she was, which naturally got the whole group really hyped on these little dudes. But we had put the tents up right near Dyrhólaey,http://goo.gl/maps/3ojQP and we woke up in the morning with another incredible view. Then we got the day going with a hike up to the cliffs in Dyrhólaey where the puffins are known to dive in and out of. Basically they nest in these cliffs and zoom around, and it's incredible. Admittedly they look like tiny black dots darting across the sky with bright orange beaks, but holy cow, it was still amazing. Also, the weather was just brilliant, so sunny and dry, and it was just good fun to sit on some cliffs with my favorite people watching puffins zip across the ocean. So here are some pictures...
Tent tucked in the rocks, so perfect!
And this was the view when you unzipped the tent.. Gooood morning!!!
We started exploring all over looking for puffins, but in the distance here you can see the 'Three Trolls'
Dave doing some exploring.
I told you the weather was perfect this day!
Taking it all in.
Still trollin'
Rocky beaches, with sunshine, yes please!
More of the same.
Pretty lighthouse.
And me with the pretty lighthouse.
Z is out on the edge there, exploring.
Excited about the puffins!!!
Puffin watching!
There's a little dude down there soaring about it, if you squint you can see him! :)
So these are the cliffs we sat on to watch the puffins dive in and out to the beach.
And one more panorama for good measure.
So after getting our fill of puffins, and ocean, and sunshine we carried onwards to check out two stunning waterfalls in the area, Skogafoss and Seljalandsfoss http://goo.gl/maps/uJSkV They were both epic and beautiful, check it!
Matt and I in awe of Skogafoss.
They should probably frame this one, eh?
You could go behind Seljalandsfoss, it was super cool.
They were digging it.
And then we carried on to go see Geysir http://goo.gl/maps/1THuh This geysir, or geyser, is supposedly the 'first geyser described in a printed source and the first known to modern Europeans.' So in other words, it's kind of a big deal. I also learned that geysir is one of the only Icelandic words that has creeped its way into the English language. Matt, Mel and I were super excited about this because none of us had seen a geyser before, so there were lots of wide eyes and screaming on some of our parts! :)
Sadly you can't get right up to it, because otherwise hoodlums like myself might go putting couches on top so that they could watch them blow!
Bubbling, bubbling, bubbling!
And lots of steam!
The water was sooo blue, it was incredible.
She's getting ready!
And here we go!
And then after Geysir, we decided to carry on to go see the continental divide, Þingvellir, this is where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates are slipping away from each other http://goo.gl/maps/OqYbK This was super interesting to see, and pretty crazy when you think about. "It is the site of a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge." It is also the site of the first parliament of Iceland.
Continental divide.
And some more.
A more interesting perspective on it all.
And another one.
After Þingvellir we headed towards Reykjavik, where we set up at the campground, and then called it a night.
Day 7
The next day, technically the last full day, we woke up in Reykjavik, and hit the streets! Dave and I had a flight to Spain at 1am, so we needed to already be at the airport around 11pm, so we just explored Reykjavik with Matt and Mel until it was time to part ways. Reykjavik is a really pretty city, with a lot of character and a really vibrant art/music scene. I would have loved to have had more time to explore this place, but there is always next time! :)
So this is a thing, and sadly we didn't go in.
This is also a thing, and sadly we did go in.
Look how stoked he is...
But we got fries at the Lebowski bar, and everyone was way into it!
This is a house to mimic the one based around the story of the Icelander who was told by his mother to never leave the village, and then he didn't.. soo weird.
They have creepy space pod toilets in the middle of the street, and so Dave and I attempted a panorama inside of one..
Reykjavik Opera House.
Reykjavik street art.
I was well into it.
This little guy was super cute.
Just in case you need some last minute guidance.
Oh just some things that people have tried to sneak into their luggage at the Reykjavik airport.
I was really sad to leave Mel and Matt, and to admit that our trip was coming to a close, but it is something that I will forever be grateful for, because it was truly one of the best experiences of my life. I am so glad to have friends like these two, and to be able to adventure with them in such amazing places. I can't wait for our next rendezvous together, wherever it may be. Ps. thanks again Mel and Matt for the photos I used, and to Dave to for his gorgeous ones from Jökulsárlón. Þakka þér fyrir frábæra ferð, Íslandi.
No comments:
Post a Comment