Jökulsárlón

Jökulsárlón is a glacial lagoon, where icebergs break from a glacier and hang around for a few months before making it to sea. Since it has a mix of salt- and freshwater (from the melting glacier) it does not freeze in winter. Except, apparently, when they temporarily shut down its outlet in order to freeze it for a James Bond film.

We took a trip in an amphibious boat that went around the lagoon for half an hour or so, and got to admire all the different shapes.

Bunch of tourists :)

That's ash from past volcanic eruptions, apparently

A bird pecking a mushroom

A left hand

Framing

Tilted mushroom

A narwhal chasing a pig

Zoidberg from Futurama, on the left

A glacial tongue

A nicely eroded mountain

A lot of the south coast is like this.. The melting glaciers erode everything in their paths

Close up of the glacier

Animals

And here are some animals we saw along the way :). A lot of sheep, of course, since it's Iceland, but there are a few more animals...

Grazing

Reflecting

So, when lambs are suckling, their tiny tails start wagging extremely fast... It's very cute

A seal, in Jökulsárlón (the glacial lagoon)

A couple of ducks, also in Jökulsárlón

Langoustines! Not so cuddly, but very tasty...

Waterfalls

Here are some of the waterfalls we saw along the way. I am not including the ones in Skaftafell since I just posted them the other day. The top picture is from a waterfall by Kirkjubæjarklaustur; there were several more waterfalls there but I didn't take pictures of them.

Regarding the rainbow picture, it was taken by Skógafoss. When I got very close to the waterfall (and quite wet!), I could see this very strong rainbow, in a full circle all around me (with a diameter of a few meters). And whenever I moved the circle would move with me! Pretty cool for an optical illusion :).

Skógafoss...

And its rainbow

Seljalandsfoss, from the front...

And from the back! (you can walk behind it)

Gullfoss, from the front...

And from the side, a clearer view of the lower falls

Reykjavík midnight run

Well, I seem to be making up for lost time by posting a lot these days :). There is more stuff to go from the trip we took, however I want to post some pictures from last night. We went for a "Midnight run" - it's a once a year run (3k, 5k and 10k) that happens late at night around the solstice (the summer solstice, in case you needed to ask).

Jó ran in the 5k, and I walked the 3k since my knee won't allow me to run. I must've been the only person there in jeans :).

The run actually started at 10:10. However I took some pictures after that, by the Viking ship statue, and later at sunset (at 12.03am).

Jó after the run

3k race winner - Jeans and iPod division

Viking ship

The sun, around that time

A very angular sunset

Snæfellsjökull, in the distance

Skaftafell and Svartifoss

Continuing on the previous post, our trip took us to the Skaftafell national park, in South-Eastern Iceland. Apparently it's the largest national park in Europe, though we only stopped there to see the lovely Svartifoss waterfall. It's visible after a short hike up the mountains.

I found the hike to be disorienting at first, and even a bit claustrophobic, because I was not used to such amounts of vegetation and trees any more! You'd think you were in Europe while climbing, and not on this barren rock. But from time to time there are views of the sandur (a black sand desert formed by the melting of the glaciers and the erosion that they bring), so then it feels like Iceland again :).

The waterfall we saw is surrounded by black basaltic columns and is quite beautiful. The name Svartifoss means "black waterfall".

Trees!

More trees!

A cute waterfall

Boundaries

Very green...

At least the sandur is still there

Another waterfall

Finally, Svartifoss appears

Columns on the side

Jó by the water

This is what happens when you drop the camera lens cover

Vík

My parents, sister and aunt visited us last week :). We took a 4-day trip to the South of Iceland (where we had amazing weather), from which I will show pictures in this post and the next few ones.

This set is from the Vík area, with its basaltic columns and black sand beach. Unfortunately the Dyrhólaey area was closed because of the birds' nesting season, so there were no puffins on this trip. Apart from the one on my plate at Lækjarbrekka later that week, I guess.

Field of rocks

The lovely basalt columns

If it's climbable, she will be there :)

It almost looks like a Rosetta stone

Fallen basalt

Sharp

The usual arm-length self picture

A cedar tree...

And a pseudo Baalbeck. I guess I was feeling patriotic!

My mom and aunt, lost in an Icelandic forest

My dad, looking very wise and spiritual (I think he was looking at some rocks)

Jó running up on a pile of small rocks

Tracks on the beach

Dyrhólaey (the Icelandic Raouche) across the beach

Water moving in and out