12 Stops in South Iceland

 

#8

April 6, 2018 Friday

On the way to breakfast the next morning, the family was greeted by the Hrifunes Guesthouse dog, a small, whitish, long-haired canine. As they ate breakfast, from the warmth of the dining room, they watched the sweet pooch jog here and there across the icy property. 

#1

1)  The first stop that morning was at a wide, snowy, icy waterfall pouring out from between two mountains. Freezing water flowed over ice and rock, and though it was a sunny morning, the water fall was still very much in shadow. As she walked, Astrid cleaned off the mud from her boots on the snow that covered the plain in front of it.

#2

2) On the Þjóðvegur Highway 1, running along the south of Iceland,  there were many photographic opportunities, with places to pull off, and Bjorn took full advantage of them. The second stop of the day was at a pull-off by a picturesque stream, with a little building beside it. 

Now Astrid and Snorri could have just as well stayed at the bed and breakfast and been just as content and useful, but part of this trip was to see and experience new things, albeit, even if from the relative safety of the car-seat warmers. So, Astrid and Snorri spent some of these stops in the Viking Toe 5 watching as Bjorn patiently took pictures.

#3 The Ice Explorers "Van"

 3) Bjorn insisted in driving up the lane to Fjallsárlón Boat Tours building, which was situated in front of a large glacial lagoon, in order to ascertain its photographic potential. 

4) 1 1/2 mile drive east down the road to a barren, flat, wide plain of volcanic rock covered with moss, and glaciers in the distance. 

#4

 5) Mountains with a little bridge and a glacier in the background.

6) Random, nondescript pull-off to decide where to go next.

#5

7) Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon looking for Fish & Chips for lunch. This was the third time in the whole trip they stopped there, it was the place they were greenlighted while waiting for the no-show Northern Lights. Bjorn got out, walked to the visitor center, brought back negative news. 

8) Drove back to Fjallsárlón Boat Tours location and actually walked into the cafe there to eat. As they were paying, the cashier, in very good English asked Snorri, “Do you know who Kurt Cobain is?”  

“Huh?”  (Obviously not.)

“Kurt Cobain, he was the singer in Nirvana, a grunge band.”

“Oh, he wouldn’t know Kurt Cobain,” Astrid jumped in, feeling a little neglectful of her son's very limited alternative music education. 

“Well, you look like him, a little,” the man said. 

#8 Big Glacier, Small Boat

As the family munched their lunch–Bjorn chicken, Snorri, ham and cheese, and Astrid mushroom soup–Bjorn and Astrid schooled their son a little on Kurt Cobain and the grunge music era. They overheard the cashier telling other tourists that he lived on a sheep farm a few miles from the place. 

Outside, they walked to the glacial lagoon and watched as a few men launched an inflated boat into the water. There was an option to take a boat ride to the edge of the glacier, but the family didn’t. 

#9 "You only survive few minutes" -the upside of drowning in a glacial lagoon.

9) Jökulsárlón Glacial Lagoon was next, this time with lots of warning signs and icebergs. The sun was shining bright, it was 2 degrees Celsius. Astrid and Snorri followed Bjorn as he took floating ice pics, walking along the black sand lagoon and finding cold, hard stone seats when they could. 

10) They stopped a few miles along the road at the same glacial lagoon (it is a very big lagoon). This time Snorri and Astrid stayed in the car, but Bjorn soon came back. 

#10 Marge Simpson Ducks

“There are seals in the water,” he said. 

That was enough to get Astrid and Snorri out of the warm car. 

Along with the seals, there was a flock of black and white ducks-their markings strange to Astrid’s eyes, but she still recognized them as ducks–that went to great pains to climb up on a large piece of ice which was floating in the water. The ducks didn’t “quack” so much as grunt, much like a put-out Marge Simpson. 

#10 A Seal

As the sheet of ice moved down the fjord, the ducks groaned and grunted and eventually moved off of it, because apparently, it was going the wrong way. 

The family sat on rocks on the shore, taking in the sun, watching the ducks and counting the seals as they surfaced and dived. There were about six or eight seals swimming around. 

11) Next was a short drive across Þjóðvegur Highway 1 to a black sand beach called Diamond Beach. This beach was was no longer fronted by the lagoon, but was an ocean beach. Astrid and Snorri, frozen by then, stayed in the car watching people from the parking lot as Bjorn combed the beach for shots of “diamonds,” risking camera malfunction from the leaping white waves that licked the shore.  The diamonds were crystal clear pieces of ice dotting the black sand. 

#11

One pair of beach-goers that caught Astrid's eye was a bride and groom in full wedding attire posing for a photographer. Astrid was sure they were the same pair she saw at the Víkurskáli Restaurant/Gas Station, in one of the many photographic stops on her honeymoon. It seemed a bit excessive to Astrid, but if the bride wanted to get pictures at every beach in Iceland while wearing her wedding dress, and her groom agreed, then all the power to her. 

As the sun went down and the chill grew colder, Astrid started to worry. 

#11

“Didn’t I see that you packed a pair of binoculars?” Astrid asked Snorri. 

“Yeah.”

“Could I use them?” 

She watched as he rifled through his bag to bring out a small plastic pair. She combed the beach through the tiny binoculars for a few minutes before spotting a shapeless blotch that moved like Bjorn. As the spot grew, stopped, then grew again in the field of vision, she knew it was him. 

When he reached the car, he opened the hatch and pulled off his soaking boots and socks. The ocean had got to him, but not to the camera. 

12) They drove back along Þjóðvegur Highway 1, to their bed and breakfast in the dark, but there was one more stop. Along the coastal plain in southern Iceland were many farms, often situated near the bottom of a high bluff. Bjorn stopped the car for a particularly picturesque homestead, a waterfall at the back of the property lit up from the bottom.  The wind caught the waterfall mid-way down the ledge, blowing it sideways. 

#12