On our last full day in Iceland, we decided to venture further east, but not before having a delicious, fresh breakfast spread prepared for us by our friendly host. Local cheeses, vegetables, fresh-baked bread, smoked trout, and eggs gave us the energy to head out on the road bright and early. Our first destination was Skaftafell National Park with our first sighting of Vatnajökull glacier.
We met up with our tour guide and got crampons and an ice ax. We were given some instruction on how to hike on the glacier and awkwardly stomped our way over to it. It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and the ice gleamed all around us.
We started out a little timid, quite sure that we were going to fall and bust our faces on the ice, but eventually, we got the hang of it and started climbing up and down steeper slopes. Our guide gave us some history on the glacier and information on how much it retreats. She took us around different crevices so that we could see blue ice and ice caves. We spent around two hours on the ice and had an amazing time. Hiking a glacier sounded awfully cold to us so we bundled up in multiply layers. By the end, we were melting under the sun with the ice.
We decided to continue hiking after that anyway though, this time up a large hill to Svartifoss waterfall, a waterfall set amidst basalt columns.
We had to stop to take off layers multiple times on the way up. By the time we got to the top, I was carrying half my clothes.
We finally got back to the car and devoured some bread and cheese and red bull. Since we have been searching for northern lights every night since we got here, we have not slept much.
We trod on, heading to Jökulsárlón, the glacier lagoon.
The area was full of photographers, and I could see why. The lagoon was magical, but unfortunately, our little camera couldn’t do it the same justice.
It was silent other than the creaking of ice on ice. We crossed the street to see the contrast of ice on black sand and watch the waves crash against them.
We stood there for awhile, taking it all in, realizing this was as far as we would go in Iceland. We turned back to the car and headed back to Vik for the evening, stopping to eat dinner at a charming restaurant overlooking the sea. The raw beauty of Iceland was really hitting us, and we prepared ourselves for our farewell the next day.