Iceland – The Land of Ice and Fire

Guest Article by Daniel Arenas Pintado.

Last summer my wife and I spent 11 days in a gorgeous and spectacular trip around Iceland and I want to share with all of you my experience.

Iceland is a European island situated in the North Atlantic Ocean under the Arctic Circle. It has three hundred and sixteen thousand inhabitants and it’s classified as the most developed country in the world by the United Nations. Its population is called Icelanders and they speak not only Icelandic but also English.

We spent thirteen days on a tour around the island with a four wheels drive car (4WD or 4×4) on our own. We drove for three thousand kilometers on main roads, roads with loose surface, paths and also we crossed some rivers without bridges (we had to ford them). In the last river the water covered almost the wheels and I thought we wouldn’t achieve to cross but fortunately we did.

There were gorgeous landscapes and natural places for hiking, sightseeing and of course for taking a lot of pictures of geysers, volcanoes, glaciers, great colored mountains due to its mineral composition… All the country is a huge Natural Reserve and I strongly recommend it to you.

We, my wife Gemma and I, landed at Keflavik International Airport, close to Reykjavik, with a direct Icelandair flight (Boeing 757) from Barcelona – Spain- at 2:30 am and picked a hire car up, a Suzuki Jimny (4×4). Then we went to sleep.

First day

We slept very few hours because we were extremely excited of starting our particular new adventure, on our own, around Iceland.

We visited Almannagjá, a fault caused by the separation of American and Eurasian tectonic plates, and Þingvellir Natural Park.

Then we went to the Kerið, a volcanic cone filled with water.

After that, we enjoyed the nature spectacle of the geyser Strokkur in the Geysir zone.

Before going back to the hotel we went to Gullfoss, a huge waterfall. It was my first fall in this precious country and was very special for me. Many feelings came to my mind in that time.

Second Day

We got up early in the morning to seize the day. We went from Fluðir to Landmannalaugar driving along a forest trail called F208 (loose surface).

Landmannalaugar is a volcanic area situated in the Fjallabak Nature Reserve.

Be careful if you return to the main road (ring road) using the forest trail F208 (loose surface, again) to Kirkjubæjarklaustur because there are several rivers and streams that raise their water level when rain. We had to ford them and in one case the river was very large. It took us two hours and a half to travel by car 50 Km.

After that kind of adventure we arrived to Skógafoss, another great waterfall (Iceland is very rich in water).

And then we went to Dyrhólaey near to the city of Vik. Here we observed some rocky formations. Legend tells that these rocks were three trolls which were turned into stone when touched by sunlight.

Third Day

That day was dedicated to visiting the desert of black sand, the Skeiðarársandur, and the glacier Vatnajökull and its surroundings.

Close to that point we can visit another famous waterfall, Svartifoss.

Our last stop was the Jökulsárlón lagoon. The water of that lake comes a half from the sea (salt water) and a half from the Vatnajökull glacier (sweet water), so there are plenty of little icebergs. Here we saw some seals near the sea entry and a wide range of birds.

Fourth Day

We spent this day travelling along the ring road in the eastern fjords. The weather was foggy with some rains. The forecast in Iceland is surprisingly exact, and very difficult to do because each part of the island has his own micro clime due to the differences of winds, water flows in the ocean, proximity to the Arctic Circle…

Fifth Day

Our fifth day was exciting and we visited Dettifoss, Hafragilfoss and Selfoss waterfalls and we spent the night in the precious town of Húsavik.

These three waterfalls are from the same river, the Jökulsá, and the orogeny crated by erosion is named the Jökulsárgljúrfur Canyon.

Sixth day

In Húsavik we enrolled to a sail boat to sail a bit and try to watch whales. But we just saw only one whale and very few times. It was a pity.

After that, in the afternoon, we went to Mývatn-lake surroundings, to the zone of Hverarönð, close to the Namafjall volcano.

Later we went to Krafla a high seismic activity area. Last eruption was in 1984 and it was the ninth since 1975.

In the same area of Krafla we can find one of the most famous volcanic cones in Iceland called Viti. Viti means hell and it’s one of the first’s cone explosive formed by the geological and volcanic activity of Krafla.

Seventh day

We left the hotel situated in Reykjahlíð and went to Grjótagjá, a crack where caves, with hot water lakes, had been formed underneath.

From the cone of the Hverfjall volcano we could see different views from the Iceland-northern landscape.

Later was time to visit Höfdi, a small peninsula that juts into the lake Mývatn and whose best locations are the southern edge repopulated with a forest of birch and fir trees and in front of Kálfastronð shore where we can see the pillars of lava (quite famous) called also Klasa.

Then we continued around the lake Mývatn (all the time is on the main road No.1, the Ring Road) till Skútustaðir where we could see the pseudocraters (and a small lake called Stakhólstjörn).

These pseudocraters are not real craters produced by volcanic eruptions but molten lava which came into the lake and trapped water inside. These amount of water evaporated violently producing a big pressure of water steam inside the lava which became to inflate like a bubble. Then this bubble burst due to the high pressure and the molten lava cooled and acquired its characteristic shape.

After enjoying those breathtaking views, and before retiring to rest in Akureyri, we visited another famous waterfall, Godafoss.

Eighth and ninth day

The eighth day was just spent travelling from Akureyri to Borgarnes in where we had a hotel for two nights in order to be able to get up early in the ninth day and visit the Snaefellness peninsula.

The first place where we stopped, in the ninth day, was Buðir a very astonishing and calmed place. There was only an old wooden hotel, a little church with a cemetery and an awesome and paradisiacal beach. Jules Verne, in his book – Journey to the center of the earth- referred to this location.

Then we went to a pretty beautiful fisherman town called Arnarstapi.

After having enjoyed Arnarstapi we went to the Snæefellsjökull glacier in where there is the Snæefells volcano. Here, supposedly, according to Jules Verne in his book – Journey to the Center of the Earth – was the gateway to a virgin and prehistoric underworld.

Tenth and eleventh day

We spent these two days (our lasts days in Iceland) to visit Reykjavik and take some relaxing bath in the famous SPA, with natural hot water, the Blue Lagoon (Bláa Lonid).

Useful information:

Daniel Arenas’ blog (Nature Shots) : http://danielarenas.wordpress.com

Visit Iceland (official site) : http://www.icetourist.is/

Icelandic forecast: http://www.mbl.is/mm/frettir/vedur/index.html?en=1

Icelandic roads condition: http://www.vegagerdin.is/english/road-conditions-and-weather/the-entire-country/island1e.html