April 11th: Water(falls), water(falls) everywhere!

This series of posts will chronicle, as faithfully as possible, our recent trip to Iceland and Andalusia. Comments and thoughts are most welcome! Photos from Iceland are courtesy Gireesh, Anchal and Janani and the ones from Andalusia courtesy Gireesh. :)

It was an early start from Hella today as we headed eastwards towards the glacial wonderland of Vatnajökull, Iceland’s largest ice cap and one of the biggest in the world. By now, we had become quite accustomed to rain, sun and snow playing hide and seek with us, so rapid changes in conditions were no longer greeted with dismay or exhilaration. There is a saying in Islenska: ‘If you don’t like the weather, just wait five minutes’. Our trip so far had more than validated it!

Along the way, we had a chance sighting of Seljalandfoss (foss = waterfall) – we mistook it for elder brother Skogafoss, but were soon corrected. The falls are majestic, enticing us from quite a distance on route 1, and the sun gods brightened it up for us just as we reached the base. I think the falls are fed from the Eyjafjallajökull  (Eyaf-yat-la-yo-ku-ttl, yeah the famous Mr. E who shut down air traffic over Europe last year) ice cap, so even more reason to cheer for them! :)

Seljalandfoss

Today’s drive showcased even more geological diversity than other days – we had tall buttes covered with brown grass on one end and black flatlands carpeted with bright green lichens rolling down to a choppy dull gray sea on the other. And closer to the road, there were low lying brown green rocks in weird shapes, as if thousands of Gollums were struggling to get out of earth – with each passing day,  the LOTR comparison was just getting more and more substantial!  

Green Gollums!

Our next pit stop was at Skogafoss – tall, powerful and very very beautiful, again sourced by Mr E. It started snowing really hard while we were there, adding a tinge of white to the desolation of the entire area. Gireesh and I tromped up to the top of the falls as it got windier and sleetier, hoping to get a good view of the mouth, but the trail didn’t really wind up all the way and it got really slippery, so we didn’t have much luck there. The views of the valley below through the blinding snow more than made up for it though! And soon, true to form, the sun came up nice and bright within a few minutes and all was well again with the world.

Skogafoss

It’s amazing how the land smiles when the sun shines down, the warmth and energy of the relationship is so tangible. Never was it more evident than in the drive from Skogafoss to Vik. We took a couple of detours towards Dyrhólaey to look down on to cliffs, sea arches and apostle like stacks standing bereft in the middle of the sea (Reynisdrangar as we found out later). It was super, super windy, almost as if the wind was rudely asking us to get off from its domain. But what an experience to be standing almost at the edge of the country, looking down at a very animated ocean pounding black volcanic cliffs with a gut-wrenching crash – we thought we were the only ones alive in the entire world! And the interplay of light and clouds on the entire scenery was surreal – if there ever existed a bridge from this world to the next, it would have to be here. None of us had ever experienced violence, anger and raw beauty like this before – I think I would never ever want to spend a night here alone!

Dyrhólaey 

The road led us on to cute little Vik – a tiny fishing village with black sand beaches and the first semblance of habitation after many many miles. And it has one of the most picturesque churches in Iceland (I think); the little red roofed building overlooking the town and the marine apostles is one of my favorite places so far.

Vik

The drive from Vik to the Vatnajökull area is also a big favorite (and I am glad we repeated it the next day on our way back). The buttes and Golums joined us again and almost every house we passed had its own private waterfall! We lost count of how many falls (or fosses rather) we crossed, and apparently so did the good folks at Iceland’s waterfall naming department. There were falls named Foss 1, Foss 2 etc (unless we read the blue board below wrong) – I think they had probably exhausted their imagination (and vocabulary) trying to name each one of them! All of us had our favorite fosses along the way(mine is shown below:)) but, by the end of it, we were so used to water falls (and rises) that we took them as a matter of fact and were no longer oohing and aahing away!

Foss 1, Foss 2 :)

My favorite foss

Another thing that we saw plenty of and could never get enough of was a plethora of rainbows! With the sun behind us and a light drizzle in front, we crossed many iridescent arches, some very bright and distinct, some more transient, but all of them lovely. They added a lot of color to the landscape which had become increasingly lava black as we drove next to various glacial tongues leaping out from Vatnajokull. We actually mistook the first glacier we saw as a huge snow field, it had crept up on us so casually and unannounced, right next to the road. We had seen glaciers in our trip to New Zealand last year, but it was always after a walk or a hike, never so accessible, and definitely not at this scale. They just lay there like sleeping giants, three or four them, if not more, watching the world go by.. or maybe just biding their time before doing something unprecedented. The entire area seemed like it was work in progress, as if nature was not done yet, it was just taking a short break before starting off again. And here we were, right in the middle of it all, four tiny human beings (and car) trying to make sense of it all. Wow!

One of the many tongues from Vatnajokull

The drive led us on to Joksularon, the biggest glacier lagoon in the world – our final stop before we headed to the hotel and a befitting end to an eventful day. By now, we had gotten used to letting our jaws drop, but they still dropped down hard when we first sighted this beautiful iceberg filled lake. It was bright blue everywhere, with the ice glistening and gleaming like little crystals. We had so much fun making up shapes off bergs, a swan here, a frog there, even an inappropriately raised finger somewhere :).

Jokulsarlon

Again, what amazing accessibility, route 1 just led us onto this place? From our experiences in other countries so far, the best places always require a little bit of effort –a 5km hike, a dodgy ferry ride or maybe a few side lanes off the main freeway – but here we were, exulting like kids over places that seemed to have been shown to us on a platter. I can’t even begin to imagine how many natural wonders lie in store for us if we go off the beaten track in Iceland. I think this was the first time I realized I will have to come back here again, put in that extra effort and check for myself if there is an upper limit to how amazed and awed a person can be.