Southeast Iceland

David and I woke up in Höfn to sunshine and blue sky. The town looked completely different than when we arrived. The calm harbor and snowy mountains were now in view, and not hidden behind heavy rain and fog like the night before. After breakfast we backtracked, and returned to the Viking Café to explore Stokksnes, which I posted about here. We then continued our journey west towards Kirkjubæjarklaustur.

Our first stop was the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, where 1,000-year-old icebergs calve from an offshoot of Vatnajökull, and drift towards the Atlantic Ocean. Stepping out of the car, we were immediately hit by the crisp, icy air of the lagoon. Its water was so clear and so incredibly blue. We watched large icebergs float down the river, colliding into others that got stuck along the way. We then wandered down to a black sand beach where many of them washed ashore. There we were able to see just how massive the icebergs really were. It was such an unusual sight, standing next to giant chunks of ice on a beach, with more in the distance riding the waves of the ocean. 

The next section of the Ring Road traveled through Breiðamerkursandur, a large plain formed by glacier melt, where we visited three more glacier lagoons. It was a jaw-dropping sight just seeing them from the road, but hiking to the snout of Svínafellsjökull was absolutely breathtaking.  

We also made a brief stop in Hof to see the Hofskirkja Church, one of six remaining historic churches in Iceland with a turf-covered roof. It was so peaceful and quiet. We just stood, watching sheep graze in front of a farm with t-shirts drying on a clothesline. If there was one thing Iceland showed us, it was how much of our lives in the states are about size and excess, which in the grand scheme of things are incredibly unnecessary.

The popular Svartifoss Waterfall or “Black Falls” was next. Located in the Vatnajökull National Park, an extremely steep trail led to the waterfall that was perfectly framed by dark, hexagonal lava columns.

The next stretch of the Ring Road crossed a vast and desolate sandur. This area was formed by glacial silt, sand and gravel that was carried down by glacial rivers and dumped into a huge, desert-like plain. The Icelandic word sandur is actually used internationally to describe a glacial outwash plain like this one. Due to its unstable ground, the Ring Road was actually a large, one-lane bridge with small spaces every 100 feet or so for cars to pull over and let others pass.

Soon enough we started to see more vegetation and farmland. We had to pull over at one picturesque farm, sitting at the base of the cliffs with a beautiful waterfall cascading over it. All I could think of was the lucky people who lived here, and how they must feel about their home becoming somewhat of a tourist spot.

We made it to Kirkjubæjarklaustur, checked into our hotel, and walked a short path to a cluster of basalt columns in the ground. It was pretty cool to see these honeycomb lava formations in the middle of a meadow just outside of downtown. We ended up staying and watching the sunset with a few sheep grazing nearby.