Iceland: Lost in the Right Direction
Iceland, 10-18 October 2016.
I mentioned in my last year’s post that we would be coming back, so we did. Unlike our last trip in 2014, no bikes this time. A week of traveling and exploring Iceland by car was a completely different experience for us. We were able to drive on gravel roads to explore the interior. This time we travelled around the Ring Road in a counter-clockwise route. I have talked about how ridiculously beautiful Iceland is in my post here. So let’s cut to the chase - the photographs. Please scroll responsibly :D
Touchdown! Heathrow Airport.
Got ourselves some latte at the airport during the layover. Nice combo with the chicken puffs that was given extra by one of the flight attendants in Qatar Airways flight.
The old Garðskagi Lighthouse that was built in 1897. This photo was taken early in the morning, the day after we landed at Keflavík airport.
Waiting for the sun to come up...
...so we can take selfie together -.-" haha. The wind was very strong I could barely open my eyes.
Viking World museum in Njarðvík, Reykjanesbær.
Grótta Lighthouse, Reykjavík from afar.
After watching Grótta Lighthouse from afar, we drove towards the city and stopped by this tiny open air hot spring foot soak. Nice feeling to soak your feet and enjoying the sea view at the same time.
And soak your whole body, because why not? haha
Next... Öxarárfoss waterfall in Þingvellir National Park. The temperature and the wind, it was freezing here.
Gullfoss (translated as "Golden Falls") is one of the most popular waterfalls in Iceland. As you can see it's actually two separate waterfalls. I googled and found out that the upper waterfall has a drop of 11 meters and the lower one 21 meters.
We were approached by a group of family asking us to take a photo of them and one lady said "melayu ke?" Apparently they are all Singaporeans. After taking a family photo, she offered to snap a photo of us. Thanks kak!
Behind this hut lies a secret.
Gamla Laugin - The Secret Lagoon in Flúðir. Originally built in 1891.
Don't want to get out this water
According to Icelandic Times: "A natural hot spring feeds the lagoon with 38-39°C water that bubbles up from deep within the earth at a rate of 10 litres per second, constantly replenishing itself so that there is a steady supply of fresh clean water in the pool at any given time."
After freshening up, back on the road. With Maggi Tom Yam "Kaw".
Some history lesson for you: Hjálparfoss (translated as "waterfall of help) got its name from the old days when Icelanders found grass and water for their horses when travelling from the Northern Region to the Southern Region over the Highland. The waterfall by the grass field that HELPED feed the horses after a few days journey over the sandy and rocky Highland.
Back on the road. A love-hate relationSHEEP.
Good-looking Icelandic horses near the Búrfell Hydroelectric Power Station.
Heading to some magical place.
Parked our car somewhere and went on a 3km hike.
The view was just getting better and better.
This is it. The magical land of Gjáin, with its small waterfalls, ponds and volcanic structures.
Looks like a place for mythical creatures to live at.
Another 3km hike back to where we parked the car.
Enjoying Maggie, white coffee and Serunding with bread.
And cookies baked with love by bae. Sila muntah.
Seljalandsfoss. This is where we spent our night before.
Back on the road. Heading to Seljavallalaug pool which involved a few km hike.
This is it. The path to another hidden pool.
Someone left his/her touring bike here and went on a hike to the pool.
The hidden pool of Seljavallalaug is a protected 25m geothermal pool in southern Iceland. Built in 1923.
Quit wasting time and jump in.
Surrounded by beautiful mountains.
Done swimming. Heading back to our car and drove to another popular waterfall, Skógafoss.
Nice to meet you again, Skógafoss.
We spent one night here on our last trip in 2014.
Planet Iceland. Walking 4km to Sólheimasandur black sand beach to check out the famous plane wreckage.
In November 1973, the US Navy airplane DC-3 was forced to crash land on this beach. All survived the impact.
Bye plane. Till we meet again. It's time to walk another 4km back to our car.
Back on the road to Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon. We had to hike up 3km from the parking area to the top. A magnificent and massive canyon, about 100m deep and 2km long.
Next is Svínafellsjökull. We drove on gravel road and walked about 5-10 minutes to reach here. Svínafellsjökull is a breathtaking outlet glacier of the Vatnajökull glacier. This is by far the best view I have witnessed in my entire life.
Luckily we reached here during sunset.
A location seen in the movie Interstellar.
One more before leaving. By the time we got on the road, it was already dark. We stopped by at Jökulsárlón for a while after that we continued driving towards Dettifoss. We stopped somewhere along the Ring Road to get some sleep. Early that morning we continued our journey.
Following the path to Dettifoss.
Dettifoss - the most powerful waterfall in Europe, Dettifoss is 45 m high and 100m wide with 500 cubic meters of water per second plunges over the edge.
Continued driving towards Mývatn. Stopped at Námafjall, about 40km from Dettifoss.
Námafjall is a high-temperature geothermal area with fumaroles and mud pots. At a depth of 1000m, the temperature is above 200°C. Along with the steam comes fumarole gas, such as hydrogen sulfide which is responsible for the characteristic hot spring smell in this areas. The hot spring produce considerable sulphur deposits. In previous centuries, sulphur was mined in Iceland to produce gun powder.
This can also be considered my favourite view.
Grjótagjá.4km drive from Námafjall. Grjótagjá is a small lava cave with a thermal spring inside.
Grjótagjá was a popular bathing place for several decades until the 1975-1984 volcanic eruptions at Krafla brought magma streams under the area resulting in a sharp rise in water temperature to nearly 60°C. Today the water is in the range of 43-46°C.
Next destination, Goðafoss. Nice to see this waterfall again after 2 years.
Akureyri. Spent our night here. Later that night we booked the Into the Glacier: Ice Cave Tours in Langjökull. The meeting point was in Húsafell, about 340km from Akureyri and we needed to be there by the following afternoon.
Early in the morning, we got back on the road and drove to Húsafell. On our way there, we stoppped at Hraunfossar (translated as Lava Waterfalls) - a stunning series of small waterfalls flowing out of the lava field which flowed from an eruption of one of the volcanoes lying under the Langjökull glacier.
Near the Hraunfossar is Barnafoss (translated as "Children's waterfall"). The Visit West Iceland's website describes there was a saga explaining how it got this name. The saga said that there were two children in the Hraunsás household who were supposed to stay home while the parents went to church for Christmas Mass. When the parents returned from mass, they discovered that the children had disappeared (possibly because the children got bored and decided to go out). They then followed the children's tracks to this waterfall at the stone natural bridge where the tracks disappeared. The mother concluded that the children must have fallen into the river and drowned.
That's a really big bird right there
Continue to Húsafell where we got on this bus to the Langjökull glacier meeting point.
From Langjökull glacier meeting point, we got on this truck and headed to the entrance of the tunnel that leads to the ice cave.
Before entering the tunnel.
11% of Iceland is glaciers. What that basically means is that if I was to take them all together, put it in a blender and spill them all over Iceland so they spread evenly over the whole country with 35 meters of height.
After the 1-hour tour, we got on the truck again and headed to the glacier meeting point earlier.
Birdie at Langjökull glacier meeting point.
Shahrul at Langjökull glacier meeting point. Got on the bus to Húsafell where we parked our car and headed to city of Reykjavík.
Tjörnin - small lake in Reykjavík
Our turn to feed ourselves. Had a lunch in a Halal restaurant called Mandi.
Eating with our eyes closed. We ordered Lamb Mandi, Hummus and Arayes.
Thanks for the great food.
Smekkleysa Bad Taste Record Store.
In search of souvenir from Iceland.
Passed by here again later the evening.
That feeling when you see the northern lights for the first time.
Last night in Iceland before flying back to Kuala Lumpur via London and Doha.
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