Trip to the Glacier Lagoon

Last week I went on a tour to the east coast of the island to visit the glacier lagoon. The lagoon is formed because the glacier (Vatnajokull, the largest glacier in Europe) is quickly melting away. This formed a lagoon where chunks of the glacier float until they disappear into the sea.

 We started the tour off by heading down to the south coast. I have already done this a couple times, but this time the lighting was really nice for photos.This is one of my favorite spots I have visited in Iceland. It is right underneath Ejafjallajokull and is really stunning!

The trip was really long and we spent about 10 hours in the car. We got to see a lot, but we didnt stop many times. The drive was amazing though. We passed through a giant lava field that is about 200km2. Hundreds of years ago, 130 craters opened up and spewed lava thousands of feet into the air. This destroyed a lot of Iceland and many Icelanders died, and many moved to Canada to escape. The ash caused a winter in Iceland for three years. This eruption didnt only effect Iceland though. If you read newspapers or books from France in this time period, they talk about a three year long winter and black clouds that covered the country. Back then many people didnt know Iceland existed and this caused a lot of confusion for them. This three year long winter in France greatly reduced the amount of food produced and this initiated the French Revolution. The effect of this eruption went just as far as Egypt where many people died from the aftermath.

Then Vatnajokull appeared with the highest peak in Iceland that broke the horizon.

We stopped at a little hotel in the middle of a lava field for lunch. Many people just went in and ate, but I decided to do a little hike through the lava field. It was pretty cool because there was still a lot of ash on the ground from the recent volcano. Its really easy to get lost in the lava fields so I was thankful for the ash because there were times I had to retrace my steps.

As we approached the glacier lagoon we had a really nice view of the glacier from the road.

After  a very very long drive we finally reached the glacier lagoon! It was absolutely amazing and its constantly changing. Our tour guide said he was there a month prior and there were no ice bergs. So I was very happy to see that the lagoon was full of them!

Many ice burgs were still covered in ash from the recent volcano

We even had the opportunity to take a boat ride through the lagoon. It wasnt anything special, but it was cool to see the ice bergs up close.

1,000 year old ice kinda tastes like a couple hour old ice

After our boat ride I ran across the street to the beach where the ice burgs leave the lagoon and enter the ocean. Its pretty cool to see a beach covered in glacial ice.

Glacier lagoon

 On our way home from the lagoon we passed through a desert on the east shore. The wind picked up and the ash that was covering the ground flew up into the air. At times you couldnt even see the road ahead from all the ash.

 

 We headed back through the south coast on our way home and made a stop in Vik. Its a very small town in the south, but it is very beautiful and they have a black beach from volcanic rock.

 Our last stop was at the second waterfall in the south. I have already shown pictures of it, so here are some more.

And that was my trip to the glacier lagoon!