From the photographic point view Iceland is a fantastic little Island with lots of sights, from the weather point of view it is usually 5 degrees and rain. So I was very surprised when we arrived that we had sunshine and blue sky. I went with Torben and Thomas who also like photography very much. At the airport we got the rental car – a Ford Kuga 4×4. Reykjavik has not really much to offer so we only spend the rest of the day there. The next morning the weather was still amazing. 18 degrees and sunshine. First stop was Thingvellir National Park where you can see the tetonic drift between the North American and European plate. Next stop was the famous Strokkur Geysir and after that the Gulfoss waterfall. In the evening I took some nice shots at Seljalandsfoss, my favourite waterfall on this trip. It was amazing how you could see the sun set from behind the waterfall. At the end of the day I had a little sunburn! In Iceland… I did expect everything but not that 😉
Sadly the next day the weather turned cloudy. Our hostel was directly at the waterfall called Skogafoss and we could even see it from the room. So directly after getting up I took my camera and ran out to do some pictures. After spending some time at the waterfall the plan was to search for the US Navy plane wreck that appears in some pictures and videos about Iceland. A little down the road from Skogafoss we turned into the countryside and followed a little path that lead to the plane wreck. The cloudy weather was perfect for some shots. Everything was grey, black sand, the old plane wreck. Nice (but quite cold) atmosphere and absolutely no people because this place is on no maps.
After some pictures here we drove a little further to the most southern place in Iceland close to Vik with some nice views over the coast.
The next day’s topic topic was ice and glaciers. The weather was good, no rain, good views on the big glaciers. We stopped a couple of times for a glacier and a glacier lake until arriving for todays destination, the glacier lagune Jökulsarlon. This lagoon is famous for a James Bond movie. They closed the connection to the sea and it took 2 weeks until the lake frozes and they could shoot the car scenes on the ice. Today the connection is open again, and the ice goes out on the sea and the waves bring them on the beach. So there are small ice formations on the black sandy beach. Really nice to view. It is also possible to go in little amphibic boats on the lake. A little touristy but nice. We stood very long until it felt we reached the same temperature than the ice on the lake but some great shots came out of that day.
With a 4×4 rental car it was possible to go into the highlands and drive on dirt roads with river crossings (that were not recommended for rental cars). From the South Coast there is a road to Landmannalaugar which we chose to go up into the highlands. The drive was nice, the countryside looked a lot different from what we have seen before. Weather was ok, no rain.What we did not know was, that the road was closed for the last part (too early in the year) so we could only reach the Ofaerufoss. This waterfall used to have a rock bridge over the last part of the waterfall but it collapsed some years ago. But still it looks nice and because of the bad roads there were no tourists around.
For the last day in Iceland we decided to drive at the coast and visit some of the costal towns which was a disappointment. Not worth it. Also the weather was icelandic. Rain rain rain… and 5 degrees… In the afternoon we ended up in the Blue Lagoon. 35€ entrance fee. Well it is nice to be in the hot water but in my eyes not worth the price. The pools where dirty. I am not talking about the water. But on the ground were a lot of plastic cups, and in the mud on the ground was so much hair. But yeah it was nice to lay in the hot water. The flight home to Stuttgart was at midnight and luckily I took the rainy bad icelandic weather back home 🙁