Iceland pics
I promised I would post this quite a while ago, mostly to @stulot and @beautifulhusbands, and while it took me more than I thought it would, I do try to come through when I promise things. So, here’s a bunch of pics from the Iceland trip.
Summarizing image: hardened lava fields, the waters that flow to the Blue Lagoon (hot water pools filled with minerals) and the steam rising from geo-thermal activity in the background.
The airplane that took us to the Netherlands. One of my fave things is actually when you don’t go through a ‘sleeve’ and get to experience the airport a bit.
First waterfall. There’s an insane amount of those in Iceland. Also, note that the island is so much greener than you would anticipate. Not just given its name, but also when you consider that it was formed through volcanic activity.
Second waterfall... of the day. No seriously, crazy amount. This one is actually made up of two levels of waterfalls.
First sighting of ponies... I mean Icelandic horses! Totally not ponies, not at all, not even a little bit! Just, you know. By definition of everyone living outside of Iceland. What’s nice is that quite a few live free in the wild. Sad thing? If you take an Icelandic pony, damnit horse out of Iceland, which they do for international competitions, they’re not allowed to return, they have to be sold to someone that will raise them outside of their native lands.
Arriving at an area of geyser activity:
And the geyser itself (note the people for height reference):
Third waterfall of the day:
( again, for comparison, note the people on the right: )
(don’t worry, skipping the 4th waterfall of the day) Next up, the Black Beach, where the sand is black because it’s volcanic stone that’s been eroded with the years. In the sea you can glimpse black rocks protruding out of the water and there’s also this mini-cave on the beach and you can see in its walls volcanic rock formulations:
The biggest hardened lava field in Iceland, created in the deadliest volcanic eruption the island has known, killing about a third of its population:
Casually driving by the tip of Europe’s biggest iceberg:
Same iceberg, up close and personal, along with the lake created by the edges of it melting... (who said ‘global warming’ and didn’t get any?) Where the iceberg is black, that’s volcanic ashes (very close to the sand on the Black Beach). Where it’s blue, that’s where the ice is older and more condensed.
Continuation of the lake and a boat ride through it...
Like a bird on an iceberg... (can you spot it?)
Bluest of the pieces of iceberg floating on the lake on their drifty way to the sea -
On their way to the sea, a lot of these shards of iceberg end up stranded on a shore now known as Diamond Beach, possibly one of my favorite spots in Iceland (a black sand beach again made the contrast dazzling):
The piece of iceberg and volcanic sand became one -
The black cliff shores of Iceland -
This portion is dedicated to @letthebluerain (as if the volcanic nature of Iceland didn’t make me think of you enough as I was choosing my pics), this is the house of the world’s biggest privately owned rock collection. Appropriately, started by a woman named Petra (today run by her descendants):
My sis, two of our hotel’s Icelandic horses and a rainbow...
A rest stop in a café that's built in the more traditional Icelandic way (disappointingly, most buildings we saw were very modern and quite boring):
Spared you the 5th waterfall, a sand storm and sights that look like the moon’s surface, where NASA astronauts actually trained for their mission, to bring you the 6th waterfall, because I captured it with a double rainbow:
Another area of geothermal activity, stinks from Sulphur so badly that I wanted to throw up physically from the smell... Still cool.
Crater lake created by volcanic activity at the top of a mountain (with 2 ducks swimming in it):
Hardened lava formations that inspired troll tales:
Pseudo craters (formed not by volcanic eruptions, but rather by lava cooling off speedily in water) and the sheep that love them:
Northern lights! Not the best display we saw that night, but it took me a while to figure out how to take pictures of this with my smart phone:
Hey, guess what? Another waterfall!
A museum dedicated to traditional Icelandic construction:
Another highlight, whale watching. I loved how the whales were not even a little bit impressed by the humans, they just ignored us and enjoyed their swim...
Aaaand I hope I haven’t bored you too much. Thanks for having a look!
