Iceland 2010
In middle of May 2010, we stayed for 10 days in Iceland. The flight went over Copenhagen where we were stuck for several hours due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland and we had almost overslept our flight. We were very lucky that the flight was not canceled completely and had a first look at the active volcano Eyjafjallajökull from the plane. We landed at 4 o'clock in the morning at Keflavik and have then directly get our rental car, a Chevrolet Aveo. Our first targets were Thingvellir, Gullfoss and the geysers. The geysers were really interesting, especially the geyser Strokkur, there was every five minutes a 25 -meter-high water fountain. From the strong Gullfoss Waterfall we went to Hjalparfoss and then to Seljaland. You could see the about 9 km high ash cloud from the volcano from almost anywhere. We were a few kilometers from the volcano crater and had a great view of the action. You could really see how huge boulders were thrown up into the air and how lightning is created in the wild ash cloud. That was quite an experience!
The next day we were at the waterfalls Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss and wanted to go on to Dyrholaey where the access road was still blocked to bird protection. We went on to Vik where we were just below the ash cloud, which was a bit depressing and all the fallen ash was seen. Then we wanted to try to drive towards the highlands, but this ended after a short time because the roads were passable only with four-wheel drive vehicles. In the evening we were on glacial Jökulsarlon, with a lot of fantasy you could see sculptures in the ice blocks and we have also seen a seal.
The next targets were the Skaftafell National Park with the waterfall Svartifoss, the glacial lakes Fjällsarlon and Jökulsarlon and the town Höfn. Since the road to the waterfalls Selfoss and Dettifoss were closed due to flooding, we could not achieve this unfortunately. Then we were at the volcano and Krafla power plant and have visited the sulfur fields Hverir. Over Husavik, we went to Asbyrgi. The next day we were at Lake Myvatn, drove on to the huge waterfall Godafoss and then on to the town of Akureyri.
In the western of Iceland, we were at the big waterfall Dynjandifoss and on the cliffs Latrabjarg. There we wanted to see puffins and have also found some after a little bit of searching. Watch this cute little creatures was a great experience, we were barely 50cm away from them. Then we went on to the Snaefellsnes peninsula, we have been at Budir and have made an iceland horse riding.
Since we did the ring road so quickly, we spent a few days more in Seljaland and wanted to see the volcano a little more. But we were not lucky with the weather and could not see therefore to much. During a volcano tour we were only about 2 kilometers away from the crater, but had not got a good view and the small ash particles had been afterwards really everywhere. The volcano has been buzzing here and all the earth was a little on the quake, which was very interesting.
After a few days we went to Reykjavik, back to civilization. There we have gone a little through the city, did a little bit of shopped and were still on the hot water storage Perlan. A small detour we have then made to the southwest and were at the sulfur fields Seltun, the bird cliffs Krysuvikurberg and at the Blue Lagoon.
Iceland is a really interesting country. The scenery, of course influenced by the many volcanic eruptions, and the many very different waterfalls are absolutely fascinating. Road surfaces change frequently between asphalt and gravel, where you can drive sometimes only max. 20 km per hour. Outside of the few cities everything is very deserted, a map with gas stations markers can already be useful. Since we had not booked accommodation, we had to search them by ourselves, but that was no problem at all. From simple rooms to fully furnished holiday house, everything was there. The people were all very nice and open-minded. It was another great holiday with many happy memories.
