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

Hítarvatn

A couple of weeks ago, we went with some friends for a trip on a Saturday. We drove up to a lake named Hítarvatn (aka "hot lake", but don't let the name fool you). The lake is nice though not particularly remarkable. However, the rocks on the road to get there have some of the most amazing colors I've seen. They're volcanic and very light, and come in colors varying from ochre to orange to red to purple, and even some blue and gray.

The day was rather cloudy, so we continued to a "secret" natural hot pot. You basically have to know where it is to find it, and the water in the tiny pool (about 1 meter in diameter) is at a very nice temperature, perhaps 40-42 degrees. We managed to cram in there, all five of us :).

Now that's a mountain with character

Our little car fording a creek

Road cut through the moss-covered lava

Colors of volcanic rock

Typical Icelandic scenery

Mingling

Cool erosion on this mountain

Peaks

A small dam, by the lake

Tracks

A very well defended post

The edge of the lake... and of a small pond to the right

Layers

Ominous duck

Lots of small lambs at this time of year

Running of the sheep (it's fun to honk at them)

The view from the secret hot pot

Earthquake!

So we had an earthquake today. 6.1 on the Richter scale, with the epicenter 50 km East of here. There's some minor damage around the epicenter area, and a few light injuries, but it's certainly not that bad. I was in the office when it happened, and it took me a few seconds to realize what was going on.. Then it ended!

Hopefully there won't be any bad aftershocks. But so far, the most interesting part is seeing the Earthquake plastered all over the international news. Yet all the pictures they have are of broken dishes and a tear in one road.. Somewhat anticlimactic.

Now, I wonder if this is a prelude to some volcanic activity. Wouldn't that be cool? Assuming it's a little bit out of the town, of course...

Nice day in town

Last Sunday, the weather was pretty nice, so we decide to hike... All the way from our house to downtown! :). Ok, so that was not a very long trip, but it was a good way of enjoying the pleasant day. We ended up going to the Sandholt bakery on Laugavegur, which is probably the best bakery in town. They make bread, sandwiches, pastries, cakes, ice cream, and chocolate!

Here are some pics from our walk and from the bakery itself.

The catholic church, hiding behind the bushes...

Summer is coming! People are laying down in Austurvöllur again

The bakery

Some of their chocolates

A nice sandwich

Our desserts (I took the picture one minute too late, apparently)

A cat under a car

A duck crossing the road

Jó in the Reykjavík sun :)

A house in the pond (it's part of the art festival)

This bird kept flying into the wind, and managed to stay stationary for a bit while doing so

Tulips

One of my favorite houses, Túngata 20