TRAVELS: ICELAND (Part 2 - SOUTH COAST)
19:08:00
When I told some friends that we were going to Iceland in winter, we received several 'what?!' and 'why?' reactions, like 'wouldn't it be extremely cold in winter?' and all those sorts of questions. Well, of course, I did my research on what to expect in Iceland during winter and apparently, it wasn't really cold as you would expect. It was in fact, not far off from the winter weather in the UK - so that's a relief.
I really love winter trips because, 1) the scenery seemed much more magical with added bonus of snowy landscapes; and 2) activities offered in winter holidays are the best! I always search for activities to do when planning a trip and I much prefer it rather than just city strolling. So my main reasons for going to Iceland in winter was to explore the ice caves, as they are said to be the most beautiful, blue-ish, crystal caves in the world! And of course, to witness the mystical natural phenomenon of the Aurora Borealis, or the northern lights.
We booked our tour online prior to the trip with Extreme Iceland for a 2D1N package tour (Jokulsarlon and Ice Caving - Package Tour to the South Coast). We were picked up by the team at 9.00 in the morning from our Airbnb house in Hafnarfjörður and met with the other tourists from our group in a minivan. There were 19 of us altogether with the same interest and anticipation. Our tour guide is called Asgeir and he was a very nice and humorous guy, which made our tour much more fun!
Hobbiton? hehe.
The rain finally came to a stop just at the right moment when we finally reached our first destination in the list; the Seljalandsfoss Waterfall. This is one of the most magnificent and famous waterfalls in Iceland. My first impression was just wow - I'm truly amazed. At first, I was actually more looking forward to see the Skógafoss Waterfall, but when I witnessed His beautiful creation of the Seljalandsfoss right before my eyes, it really took my breaths away. Its hugeeeee, falling from the height of 60 crazy meters from the ground!
We had to use our crampons to walk on this icy pathway to go behind the waterfall as it can get very slippery. You don't wanna risk falling into the freezing cold water.
The stepped-pathway just beside the waterfall.
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Not far from Seljalandsfoss Waterfall (about 10 minutes drive) is another landmark of Iceland's impressive landscape; the Skógafoss Waterfall. This waterfall is as remarkable, or maybe even better. You can actually get really close to the bottom of the gushing waterfall that also falls from about 60m - if you don't mind getting wet, that is. haha.
Vast sea of moss - we couldn't even see the end of it. It would have looked more amazing if it was earlier during the day and the weather wasn't so bad. So the photos really could not do any justice to the real thing we saw.
Some facts: The ice caves are formed by melting ice in the summer, which resulted in the beautiful wavy structures of ice in the glaciers in autumn. So in winter, experts will go into the glaciers in search for new caves each year that is safe for tourists like us to visit.
In addition to that frustration, we also learnt that we cannot go out for aurora hunting that night because the weather does not allow us to do so as it was raining and was a very cloudy night. Sigh. two most important things we all joined the tour for got cancelled. So we just stayed in that night for some rest before heading back out early morning tomorrow.
I really love winter trips because, 1) the scenery seemed much more magical with added bonus of snowy landscapes; and 2) activities offered in winter holidays are the best! I always search for activities to do when planning a trip and I much prefer it rather than just city strolling. So my main reasons for going to Iceland in winter was to explore the ice caves, as they are said to be the most beautiful, blue-ish, crystal caves in the world! And of course, to witness the mystical natural phenomenon of the Aurora Borealis, or the northern lights.
We booked our tour online prior to the trip with Extreme Iceland for a 2D1N package tour (Jokulsarlon and Ice Caving - Package Tour to the South Coast). We were picked up by the team at 9.00 in the morning from our Airbnb house in Hafnarfjörður and met with the other tourists from our group in a minivan. There were 19 of us altogether with the same interest and anticipation. Our tour guide is called Asgeir and he was a very nice and humorous guy, which made our tour much more fun!
Our trip itinerary: Reykjavik-Seljalandsfoss Waterfall-Skógafoss Waterfall-Black Sand Beach (Reynisfjara)-Hali Country Hotel-Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon-Ice Caving at Vatnajökull glacier/Glacier hiking at Svínafellsjökull glacier.
(Map source: Extreme Iceland)
We departed from Reykjavik after Asgeir had gathered everybody that morning. It was raining during the first hour of our drive from Reykjavik and I kept praying in my heart so that it would stop raining so we would be able to really enjoy the Icelandic landscapes around us. Asgeir told us some interesting facts and myths about Iceland's geology, history and its people throughout our journey. He made a few stops along the way to show us some of the places where historical events took place (i.e. massive flooding events and volcanic eruptions).
Pretty much the landscape throughout our journey to the east coast of Iceland.
The rain finally came to a stop just at the right moment when we finally reached our first destination in the list; the Seljalandsfoss Waterfall. This is one of the most magnificent and famous waterfalls in Iceland. My first impression was just wow - I'm truly amazed. At first, I was actually more looking forward to see the Skógafoss Waterfall, but when I witnessed His beautiful creation of the Seljalandsfoss right before my eyes, it really took my breaths away. Its hugeeeee, falling from the height of 60 crazy meters from the ground!
This is the waterfall that you can climb up and go behind the fall. There is a stepped-path that you can take just beside the waterfall. Bear in mind, the force of the waterfall is so strong so the mist and splash of the water will soak you. Make sure your camera is fully covered and you wear waterproof jackets and boots!
The stunning view from beside the waterfall.
The path you can walk on behind the fall - and the mist coming from the waterfall on the left.
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Not far from Seljalandsfoss Waterfall (about 10 minutes drive) is another landmark of Iceland's impressive landscape; the Skógafoss Waterfall. This waterfall is as remarkable, or maybe even better. You can actually get really close to the bottom of the gushing waterfall that also falls from about 60m - if you don't mind getting wet, that is. haha.
Sneak peek - almost there...
And there it is.
You can tell how strong and big it is judging by the splash and mist impacted from the fall.
Two very excited and very happy couple!
Alhamdulillah. Blessed for this opportunity. We are tiny tiny creatures compared to His other creations.
There is also a path that you can actually climb to view the waterfall from above.
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We then continued our journey to the most southern part of Iceland and passed through the small town of Vík. We stopped at the famous Black Sand Beach, and had our lunch break at the Black Beach Restaurant. The Black Sand Beach is said to be among the most unique beaches in the world due to it having black coloured sand - believed to be residues from past volcanic activities?
When we arrived, the wind was so strong and it was so cold. We didn't stay out that long, just took some photos, walked a little bit to see the basalt columns at one end of the beach, and went back into the restaurant to warm ourselves. haha. We were warned to never turn our backs against the sea as the waves can be unpredictably vicious. There have been cases of deaths and people caught by waves because they were trying to take photos and not facing/noticing the waves of the sea.
The basalt columns jutting out into the sea.
There was even a little cave in between the cliffs facing the sea.
Looks can be deceiving - the sea looks so calm in here when in actual fact, it really wasn't!
After a nice hot soup and some deliciously soft bread, we headed back out again. This time, it was a longer journey heading straight to east coast to our country hotel. It started to rain again and the day was starting to get dark.
Asgeir made a surprise stop for us to see the moss-covered lava that's covering a large portion of land along the road to the east. It was raining pretty heavily but we just braced ourselves and went to check this beauty out!
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The day got really dark (there were no street lights) and we were reaching towards our hotel for the night, before Asgeir made another stop (he's very generous with stops this guy is, haha). We actually stopped at the Jökulsárlón Lagoon after dark. The lagoon is said to be beautiful in low light or at dusk because the clear ice pieces reflects the colour of the sunset. Some of us didn't want to come out of our minivan and just couldn't wait to hop into a nice cosy bed after an early start that day. I went out anyway just so see what there was to see there in the blackness. What reflection? what lowlight? haha.
Since Asgeir insisted for us to have a look, we did. It was very foggy, the minivan's headlights were the only lights that were there. We stared into the blackness, in the cruel coldness of the atmosphere, into nothing. Yeah , thanks Asgeir, low light indeed. haha. Because the van's light shone into pitch black of emptiness, it somehow looked scary and had an eerie feeling to it - we all agreed upon that. haha. So we went back to the van to end our journey for the day at Hali Country Hotel, our accommodation for that night - included in the tour package.
We reached the hotel just in time for dinner (dinner not included though). Fizal and I brought some packed meals from Reykjavik because dinner provided by the hotel was expensive (as is most things in Iceland). So we had dinner and had another group meeting that night where Asgeir briefed us about tomorrow's plans and activities. According to Asgeir, it has been raining in the area for a couple of days, and the ice caves were experiencing some flooding inside the cave. So we finally heard what we were all most afraid of this whole journey - the ice caving activity had to be cancelled. Everybody was so devastated but there was really nothing we can do.
Some facts: The ice caves are formed by melting ice in the summer, which resulted in the beautiful wavy structures of ice in the glaciers in autumn. So in winter, experts will go into the glaciers in search for new caves each year that is safe for tourists like us to visit.
In addition to that frustration, we also learnt that we cannot go out for aurora hunting that night because the weather does not allow us to do so as it was raining and was a very cloudy night. Sigh. two most important things we all joined the tour for got cancelled. So we just stayed in that night for some rest before heading back out early morning tomorrow.
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