Glósóli: Road Trip to seek the Glaciers
It was still dark, reluctantly we woke up from our dream at 6.30am. Simple breakfast and we left Vellir Farmhouse with our luggages and set out with the red Toyota Yaris from Hertz, under the snow storm.
During the 3 to 4 hours ride to Jökulsárlón, the weather turned even nastier but for the first time in my life, I experienced the beauty of whiteness. Snow storm transported me to the world of whites. We were driving in near-nothingness, tracking the reflectors lining along the Icelandic Ring Road. I winded down the window, the wind was whipping, silence was dominating.
Despite we tried to accelerate, the wheel skid and we moved at a steady speed of 40 km/h. Due to the short December daylight, we were losing out a lot of time driving. The white panic continued until a point, where suddenly yellow and the beautiful rugged Icelandic mountains and landscape came into view and we were able to accelerate again. Guess it must be the walls of mountain range that blocked the wind from the North. Despite tempted by views outside the car window, we did not stop, because we were running out of time.
The effort paid off, when we finally saw the sign, yes, the infamous Jökulsárlón! The lagoon was still covered in whites and rain. Not many visitors, only a Spanish couple that we exchanged a few words with before parting. No one would want to come here on such dreaded days.
Treading carefully along the thick snow and along the lagoon, we uncover the secret of Glaciers, up close. The surprises that we found here were the playful seals family submerged in the water and occasionally popped their heads to check on the visitors. They were a bit shy... a bit difficult to capture them.
The infamous Jökulsárlón, glacier lagoon of Iceland. This was where one of James Bond movie, Die Another Day was filmed.
It was fun stepping on the frozen ice and into the clear lagoon with a pair of waterproof shoes.
Reluctantly, we left Jökulsárlón with Jevon catching up after his crazy stunts of stripping on a block of glacier. We still had about 2 hours of sunlight.
The intention of having a break along the beautiful roadside scenery was put behind because light was fading fast... and after about an hour from Jökulsárlón headed back towards Vik... Glacier mountains loomed in the distance... the Skaftafell National Park and Svartifoss.
We had some fun at the Skaftafell National Park. Well, no one was there when we were there. I could imagine how beautiful and how well visited this beautiful national park is. I believe no one would be interested to come here in such deadly winter?
Finally... another Sigur Rós classic that resembles a bit of our experience of seeking glaciers in Iceland:
Sigur Rós - Glósóli from sigur-ros.co.uk on Vimeo.
Jökulsárlón
Skaftafell National Park
All travelogues on this amazing country: Icelands
During the 3 to 4 hours ride to Jökulsárlón, the weather turned even nastier but for the first time in my life, I experienced the beauty of whiteness. Snow storm transported me to the world of whites. We were driving in near-nothingness, tracking the reflectors lining along the Icelandic Ring Road. I winded down the window, the wind was whipping, silence was dominating.
Despite we tried to accelerate, the wheel skid and we moved at a steady speed of 40 km/h. Due to the short December daylight, we were losing out a lot of time driving. The white panic continued until a point, where suddenly yellow and the beautiful rugged Icelandic mountains and landscape came into view and we were able to accelerate again. Guess it must be the walls of mountain range that blocked the wind from the North. Despite tempted by views outside the car window, we did not stop, because we were running out of time.
The effort paid off, when we finally saw the sign, yes, the infamous Jökulsárlón! The lagoon was still covered in whites and rain. Not many visitors, only a Spanish couple that we exchanged a few words with before parting. No one would want to come here on such dreaded days.
Treading carefully along the thick snow and along the lagoon, we uncover the secret of Glaciers, up close. The surprises that we found here were the playful seals family submerged in the water and occasionally popped their heads to check on the visitors. They were a bit shy... a bit difficult to capture them.
The infamous Jökulsárlón, glacier lagoon of Iceland. This was where one of James Bond movie, Die Another Day was filmed.
It was fun stepping on the frozen ice and into the clear lagoon with a pair of waterproof shoes.
Reluctantly, we left Jökulsárlón with Jevon catching up after his crazy stunts of stripping on a block of glacier. We still had about 2 hours of sunlight.
The intention of having a break along the beautiful roadside scenery was put behind because light was fading fast... and after about an hour from Jökulsárlón headed back towards Vik... Glacier mountains loomed in the distance... the Skaftafell National Park and Svartifoss.
We had some fun at the Skaftafell National Park. Well, no one was there when we were there. I could imagine how beautiful and how well visited this beautiful national park is. I believe no one would be interested to come here in such deadly winter?
Finally... another Sigur Rós classic that resembles a bit of our experience of seeking glaciers in Iceland:
Sigur Rós - Glósóli from sigur-ros.co.uk on Vimeo.
Jökulsárlón
Skaftafell National Park
All travelogues on this amazing country: Icelands
Comments