Rumble, Rumble, Shake & Tremble…
There is starting to be a lot in the news about a possible volcanic eruption in Iceland, as being imminent. Maybe it's even a matter of a few hours...
It is a spectacular sight. We have experienced it before and would like to experience it again. Now it is also about to be the time of the year when there is a great opportunity to see the northern lights. The Northern Lights are high on our bucket list, so what are we waiting for?
Get started - pack your suitcase and go!
We fly to Keflavik and stay in a cozy B & B. Where is it good to photograph the northern lights? We set course for the south coast, away from the city lights and towards a lighthouse. Here it will be quite good to see the Northern Lights, if we are lucky enough...
Back in our room, we start unpacking a bit. Johnny is going straight out to get a bag from the car and comes in beaming with joy "There are northern lights above the house, hurry up and have a look". And sure enough, there is the most beautiful wave of northern lights above the house. First night in Iceland and we are so lucky. We rush into the car to drive out to the lighthouse. On the way away from the city, the northern lights become stronger and stronger. How beautiful and spectacular it is. Everything we've dreamed of. It rains green light from the sky.
We are the first out at the lighthouse and get some good photos. However, there are others who have also spotted the same location as a vantage point. So slowly more and more cars are added. After a good experience and good photos, we go back to Keflavik. It can be felt that we have traveled and driven a lot, and then all the fresh Icelandic air. Now it must be bed time.
In the middle of our beauty sleep, we wake up to the bed shaking. Gasp, there's an earthquake. Nothing violent, but you can feel it. There are more tremors during the night, wondering if the volcano is about to erupt?
All is peaceful in the morning. No volcanic eruptions. Today we will drive all the way to Vik i Mýrdal, which is a good distance down the south coast. The plan is to reach all the way to Jökulsárlón before we have to return to Denmark again. We go to Grindavik and further down to the coast. The beach road is quite deserted and reminds us a bit of The Bight in Australia. The climate is of course different, but the coastline has a certain similarity.
There is a good wind, so a photo break at the beach and the big waves is well spent.
In the car park there is a funny sign. The classic thing about how far it is to which cities out in the big world. But typical Icelandic humor, there is also a sign for "free WIFI 50 km" and a sign for "Thai massage 10,112 km" It's a good laugh out here in windy nowhere. On the way down to the beach, we cross a field with tall grass. We laugh and talk about how it's actually also very nice not to have to think about whether there are poisonous snakes lying in wait.
In Selfoss we stop for a bite to eat. The fresh weather can stimulate a healthy appetite. We find a cafe Lilly & Julia's. Actually, we just needed a quick little lunch. But you have to say that the café surprises us in the wildest way. It looks like an ordinary café, but a world-class 3-course menu is conjured up. How good it tastes. It wasn't quite the intention, but we were taken by the atmosphere and the good food. 6 stars from here, with an up arrow. Well fed, we continue to the waterfall Seljalandsfoss. It is the waterfall that you can walk behind. We won't take that trip, however, as it's still windy and we don't want to get wet. There are actually quite a few people considering it is low season.
It is getting dark when we get to Vik. But after settling in, we'll go straight out and look for the northern lights. Nothing to see, nor all the other times we go out and look during the evening.
Vik is located by the great Mýrdals glacier. It is great to see glaciers again and we are looking forward to seeing Vatnajökull, which is the largest glacier in Iceland.
Vatnajökull breaks off ice in a small fjord, where there are small icebergs that sail out into the sea. When we get here, we can see that the outlet is frozen over, so ice is piling up inside the fjord. But that just makes for even bigger icebergs to look at.
The area has become quite a bit more touristy since the last time we were here. Now you can no longer sit inside a café and eat cake and drink cocoa. It is now a souvenir shop and outside there are food trucks and paid parking. A little practice, but there are also a lot of people coming by now, so it probably has to be put into a system.
We drive back to Vik and scout for the northern lights again, but no luck this evening either.
There is something fascinating about ice and glaciers. Under Mýrdalsjökull there are ice caves where we can go on a guided tour. It is absolutely forbidden to go out on the glaciers alone, so a guided tour is ok with us. We will be driving a superjeep and our guide Sigúrd is full of fun and trouble, so it is quite an entertaining trip from Vik out to the ice caves.
What a sight meets us. It had snowed the day before in the mountains, so there is white all over. We get to put the crampons on our shoes. It's a kind of shoe cover with spikes so we can stand firmly on the ice. First we have to go a long way up the glacier and then we get to the beautiful caves. The meltwater forms holes and tunnels that we can walk in. In one place, a hole has become so large that it resembles a portal to another dimension. Sigúrd asks what era we want to go back to and we agree on the 80s and joke about big curly hair and 80s music. It is exceptionally beautiful. You can see the lines in the ice from when the volcano Katla, which lies under the glacier, has erupted. It is seen as black lines in the ice.
Due to the high risk of volcanic eruptions, Grindavik has been blocked off and we have to drive over the mountain and via Reykjavik back to Keflavik so we can get home. The residents of Grindavik have been evacuated after there were many earthquakes on Friday. There are cracks in the roads and there is no telling when or if there will be an eruption. Nobody seems to have expected that a city would be in danger - or their big attraction the blue lagoon, which has also been closed for safety reasons. We hope the best for everyone in Iceland and look forward to coming back again.
We have been coming to Iceland since 2008 and have seen a great development of the country and how it works. The first many times we were up there, there was no reliable mobile phone service when you got a little away from the cities and we had to use paper maps to find our way.
Today you can live stream to the family when you are standing on a glacier or watching the northern lights in a deserted corner of the coast. In a small town or in a deserted hotel, you can now have gastronomy on a level, so that even the most expectant leave with a big smile on their face.
It is a result of the money that comes into the country through tourism. Where there is a demand - there will be an answer to meet the need. It also means that we have seen some other changes up there. There have been large paid parking lots at many of the popular things and the freedom that we used to enjoy - must necessarily also be limited.
The days when you could sleep near the attractions on the south coast - are over, but we are happy to have had the experiences and the unlimited photo opportunities. Today, you have to do a little more legwork to find that unique picture angle without too many other people to disrupt the experience.
