Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Day 1 - Iceland South Coast

and she wants to fly far away
to a bluer sky and sunny day
Oh I Miss Her So - Holy Hive

Day 1 was supposed to be the longest day trip, but it wasn't meant to be. It still started early enough at 7 AM. I decided to do this long day trip (more than 12 hours) on day 1 because based on previous experience with the time difference, I would be awake early and also I thought do the hard one first. Alas as with everything during my time in Iceland, the weather thwarted my plans - oh you plan, but God decides, right. It was actually a sunny day that Monday but apparently on previous days there had been snow and strong wind so there were roads being closed and we're unable to make it all the way to Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon which from the pictures that I saw is really beautiful. Do I feel like I am missing out? Of course, but what you're gonna do. Anyways, as mentioned the day had blue sky and with the snow still covering the plain, it looked beautiful. It was also a very windy day.

First stop was Skógafoss waterfall and looking at my picture, there's a rainbow on the day I was there. It was pretty cool, I guess. I have written much that I don't think much of waterfalls, so sorry for not being more enthusiastic, but it's cool being there I guess, seeing some parts of the waterfall being frozen.

With the road being blocked, I think the guide changed our tour to the shorter south coast tour and she took us to see a glacier tongue. I cannot remember the name, it could be the Sólheimajökull glacier. I haven't developed this habit of taking picture of the information board for later study. I wish I know for sure what glacier it was. It was very very windy to walk to the viewing point but I made it. Usually during windy time, I purposely walked behind someone else to shield me and I may have done that that day. I do recall upon reaching the viewing point, I just sat down on one of the bench because it was seriously very windy. I think this guide or maybe another guide may have mentioned that they do their own measurement on how far the glacier is receding each time they visit. I guess if it's been summer, it would have been like a lake or river by the glacier instead of it being frozen like when I was there. Sometimes I forgot that I have seen things, like I have seen glaciers in New Zealand and Switzerland, but I think it was my first time seeing the end part of a glacier, so that was quite interesting. In this trip I also learned that it takes a lot of snow and a long time to form glacier. So they are precious.

After that, our destination was the village of Vik. Looking back at the pictures, it was a pretty drive I have to say, blue sky with the snow covering pretty much everything in white and also all the different mountains in the distance.

First stop was actually the red church (Reyniskirkja Church) where we could look at the small village below and the beach and cliffs nearby. Then we broke for lunch in Vik and I was hungry so I sat down for fish and chip. I pretty much ate a lot of fish, almost every day, during my time in Iceland.

After that we went to the Reynisfjara beach with its black sand. We're warned to always keep an eye on the water and not turn out backs from it because the wave could just drag you real quick. When I was there the notice board had a yellow warning light. I don't know if this is the most common.

The most interesting thing on the beach is perhaps the Reynisdrangar sea stacks. I have seen pictures of these columns being black so they looked very striking, but when I was there on a day with the sun out, it's not wet and didn't look black at all. It's still very interesting though to see their formation and there's also a little cave nearby.

After that we made our way back to Reykjavik with one last stop to Seljalandsfoss waterfall. Apparently you can walk behind it but perhaps only in summer because when I was there, the path was cordonned of, but I also saw a rainbow here. What's interesting about this waterfall for me is actually there's many other smaller waterfalls nearby. I didn't walk all the way to see all of them though. I guess the most interesting part about seeing all the waterfalls that day is the fact they there's snow around them and some parts of them were frozen.

In the end we arrived back in Reykjavik not late at all, the sun hadn't set. I had ramen for dinner in this very small ramen place some walking distance from my hotel. The ramen was different than what I usually have in Singapore, the soup was thicker. It was okay, kinda salty for my taste. All and all about that day, there is that disappointment about not being able to see the ice lagoon, but I have to be okay about it right? For pictures from the south coast, you can go here.

:) eKa @ 10:56:00 PM •