Recently (June 21 to 29, 2024) we did a 9-day trip of Iceland with Gurjars, Karandikars, Beheres, Nerlekars, Satish Khole and Rohan for just two days. This is yet another trip with lifelong friends from the gym, whom we meet every morning! This was followed by a weeklong trip to Norway with Karandikars (June 29 to July 6, 2024). One of the best vacations that Meenal and I have had. For me, Iceland was by far the most exotic countries I have visited to date. In many places, I had to take a video because photographs do not do justice. This album is only for Iceland as Norway and Iceland are completely different in sights and they have to be seen separately. I really had to struggle to leave out many pictures/videos.
Iceland is one country where you need to drive around to be able to see the best. We were 14 of us, so had rented 3 cars. I drove one car for most of the time (and it was a pleasure because of the almost non-existent traffic). While driving was a pleasure, I also had to miss taking pictures of the places that we passed while driving. We did stop at a number of places to take pictures.
Here is one place that we stopped at on our way for a hike to Glymur falls, near Reykjavik (where we stayed for the initial 4 nights). The greenery, the sheer expanse of empty land was stunning.
It was cloudy and there was an occasional drizzle. Anjali and Meenal posing for a pic on the way to Glymur falls.
On the way to Glymur falls.
On the way to Glymur falls.
We went up to the point where there was a river crossing. One had to get one’s shoes wet and I had only one pair. At this point, I turned back, while some of them went ahead. Here is Shashank, crossing the river.
Next day, we did the tour of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula (about 200 KM from Reykjavik). We went to the iconic Kirkjufell mountain and waterfalls, which has gained fame as some part of ‘Game of Thrones’ was shot here. It was a bit cloudy, but the sun was out, off and on. In Icelandic mythology, Kirkjufell is sometimes referred to as the “Wizard’s Hat.” It is thought that the mountain is a gathering place for mystical beings, and its unique shape is said to be the result of a battle between two mighty trolls. The trolls, frozen by the first light of day, are said to have become Kirkjufell and the nearby mountain, Grundarfjall.
The Kirkjufellsfoss (Kirkjufell waterfall. Foss in Icelandic means waterfall) with the Kirkjufell mountain as the backdrop.
On the way to Djúpalónssandur. These Icelandic names are so difficult. Anish was my navigator in the car. While on the way to this place, I had asked Anish ‘आपण आता कुठे निघालो आहोत?’ and I remember he had replied ‘द्वापार युगात’. The landscape just before that was outlandish. Somewhat similar landscape was also seen on Mt. Kilimanjaro, near Lava Tower. The well paved road in the middle of this rocky terrain seemed so weird!
Here’s Meenal heading down to the beach through this weird landscape.
It is a black sand beach with an extremely turbulent ocean. What a wonderful sight!
We hardly get to see such an empty beach!
Another detour we took on our way back to Reykjavik. Meenal and Shrikant seen through this structure which is a collection of rocks kept on another without any cementing material.
Next day, we did the famous Golden Circle of Iceland (a 200 km round trip from Reykjavik). We first went to Þingvellir National Park (pronounced Thingvellir). Here is the only place on earth where you can walk between two continental plates – America and Europe. This is a UNESCO world heritage site
You can see the rift between the two tectonic plates. The tectonic plate of America and that of Eurasia are on both sides of this path – so they say.
From here, we went to a wonderful restaurant at a farm called Efstidalur (turned out to be an excellent one). The restaurant is attached to a farm and serves fresh stuff. Soups, sourdough bread and fresh ice cream were to die for. I had to take a picture of the toilet J.
We then visited the Brúarfoss. On several blogs we had read that it is a 7 km roundtrip hike, but apparently that was old info. We found the parking spot just next to the falls and it was hardly 100 metres from there.
One interesting thing to note in Iceland is that there is no fee for visiting a spot, but you have to pay a parking fee (around 1000 ISK – which translates to about Rs. 600 or sometimes even more) per car. These parking lots are unmanned but there is a camera that takes the picture of your car and if you don’t pay, then you end up paying double that when you return the car. We had been told about this by the rental car agency.
The water is icy blue (don’t know the reason) and it is very beautiful. पैसा वसूल!
The next on the golden circle route was the famous Geysir Hot Spring Area with boiling mud pits and geysers. This is the Strokkur geyser, which shoots up to 100 feet, every few minutes. Next best thing to the Old Faithful in the Yellowstone national park, apparently. But not so exactly timed like the Old Faithful.
Next on the route was the famous Gullfoss, which can surely be called as the most spectacular waterfall in Iceland. It is HUGE. For scale, you can see the people on the left side of the video. Truly eye-popping.
Gullfoss is a multi-tiered waterfall that finally crashes into a canyon from where the river proceeds further.
Next: Kerið (pronounced as Kerid) is a volcanic crater lake located in the Grímsnes area in south Iceland, along the Golden Circle. So, typically, once the magma explodes, the cone collapses into the empty magma chamber and leaves a large depression what is known as a Caldera. We walked all along the upper ridge.
Next day, on our way to the absolute southern tip of Iceland, we saw several beautiful waterfalls. Here we are at a place where there are multiple waterfalls – and the best thing is they just off the main road. Pic credits: Satish Khole
We visited this very famous waterfall – Seljalandsfoss. You can see that we can walk behind the waterfall!
Here is a picture from behind the Seljalandsfoss.
Just next to that is this hidden waterfall (inside a gorge) called Gljúfrabúi. If you don’t want to get your shoes wet, you have to step over strategically placed stones in the water to reach the waterfall.
Gljúfrabúi – in all its glory. We actually saw this couple, who probably had just come there after their wedding.
Meenal and I, just outside the previously mentioned waterfalls (मला माहिती आहे की पुन्हा नावांची उजळणी करून काही उपयोग नाही 😊). Pic credits: Satish Khole.
The famous Icelandic horse. Notice that the mane and the tail are full! Apparently, this breed of horse is distinctly different from the horse from any other country – as all other horses have 3 or 4 types of styles of walking or running (gaits) – while the Icelandic horse has one more, which no other horses have. Hence, it is forbidden to import any horse from anywhere in the world to this place, to keep this breed pure.
Yet another wonderful waterfall – The Skógafoss. Pic credits: Satish Khole.
A video of the Skógafoss.
You can climb up to the top of the falls (from the side). This is the view from the top, where our back is to the Skógafoss
Yet another stunning place to see is the Reynisfjara beach. Iceland is a heaven for Geologists, I must say. This is also a black sand beach. Here you can see hexagonal columns of Basalt rock rising from the beach. We could see such columnar basalt at two places we visited.
Meenal against the columnar basalt formation.
The sea is extremely turbulent at Reynisfjara – and the size of the waves is almost frightening.
Lovely long black beach
Different forms of basalt, behind and above Meenal.
On this night, we stayed at Kirkjubæjarklaustur. Probably the kids in the village also cannot say the name of the village till they’ve grown up quite a bit. On the way to Kirkjubæjarklaustur, we saw this amazing landscape (like being on some alien planet). The entire place is covered in a layer of moss – and on our flight on Iceland Air from Seattle, we were shown a film where it said that we should not step on this moss as it takes almost 70 years for the moss to grow. These are huge lava fields and nothing else but moss grows in this place.
We had booked 2 such cabins on AirBnB at Kirkjubæjarklaustur.
Next day was all glaciers. This is on the way to the Vatnajökull National Park. We are just not used to seeing such large open spaces. Here is everyone except the Nerlekars, who were in another car.
The skaftafell glacier from a distance.
The Skaftafell glacier in Vatnajökull National Park. We could walk all the way up to it.
The tongue of the skaftafell glacier.
From here we went on to see the Jökulsárlón glacier. On the way (as is the case in almost the entire south of Iceland in mid-summer), we saw the landscape full of the Lupine flower (Lúpína). Apparently, this flower is not native to Iceland. It was apparently brought to Iceland in 1945 in a suitcase, to see if it could survive the harsh climate and to dot the green landscape with some other colour. Looks like it did 😊
We went on a raft in the lagoon near the Diamond beach to see the Jökulsárlón glacier up close. All the rest of us fit in on one raft, while Shashank went on another.
While were close to some icerbergs, we saw two of them turn over completely. The first one caught us unawares, but we could catch the action the second time. It happened very close to us! What a sight and experience. Apparently, the icebergs which have freshly broken off from the glacier appear blue in colour but very shortly after, they turn white.
This is the tongue of the Jökulsárlón glacier and the black lines seen on the glacier tell its age as well (like the rings of a tree).
Some big icebergs. Pic credits: Shashank Nerlekar
The next day, on our way back from Kirkjubæjarklaustur to Reykjavik (via the town Vik, which is the southernmost tip), we went to see this place called Fjaðrárgljúfur (meaning feather river canyon). The Fjaðrá river flows through it. The canyon has steep walls and a winding waterway. It is very scenic.
We next went to Dyrhólaey view point, where we can see the black sand beach from the top of a hill, where there is also a lighthouse. What a sight!
One more picture on the other side of the light house. We came to Reykjavik that evening.
Everyone else went to the blue lagoon that evening (a hotspring, where you can take a dip), while I stayed back as I had some urgent work to get over with. On the way, they passed through areas where there have been eruptions lately and they could see smoke coming out of the ground as they passed. Pic credits: Satish Khole
Next morning, we went to Þríhnúkagígur (pronounced Thrihnukagigur, which can be broken into 3 words Thri hnuka gigur which literally means Three Peaks Crater). There are three craters (formed several thousand years apart), the youngest is seen on the right hand side, where we are going. It is a hike of about 4 kms to reach that place.
Just before this crater, there is a small building where we were given all the gear to wear, before we could descend into the crater by a lift that takes you down into the magma chamber.
Here we are into the magma chamber. Apparently, this is the only known place on earth where the magma chamber that spewed out the magma is intact and has not collapsed after the ejection of the magma. We elevator went down through a very narrow tube like chamber to the base. It is a slow elevator which takes about 7 mins to go down.
Once at the base, they let you walk inside along a marked path. You can see different minerals in bright colour and the sight is amazing.
Inside the volcano
Once outside, I took this picture of Reykjavik in the distance, as seen from the top of the volcano.
That evening, we went walking around Reykjavik. This is one interesting building – the prison. Apparently, there is no one there now. Apparently there was one person in the prison some years back and he too has left, so they have just painted pictures on the windows. The guide said that it is a very safe and honest country 😊
The Nerlekars and Satish
Rohan, who joined us for the last two days only, sitting on the Rainbow street 😊. All in all, Iceland was a fantastic place to visit. We did not see anything of the east and north side of Iceland. Hopefully, one of these years, life will bring me back to these parts. Fingers crossed.
