6am alarm again – I tried to convince Iest to just stay a day in Höfn and sleep but he unmercifully ordered to get up, so it was. Fortunately it was quite warm and even sunny, so I made my peace with it and went to make us oatmeal for breakfast.
Our bus with Sterna had a wifi and a chatty driver, who was talking almost non-stop along the way, showing us all kinds of interesting stuff and explaining about Icelandic history.
We stopped over at Jökulsárlón lagoon, where we had over an hour to admire the beautiful floaty iceberg sculptures in the sun, and despite it being quite a touristy spot, it was rather an amazing experience.
Jökulsárlón lagoon
Gina at Jökulsárlón
Us at Jökulsárlón
Jökulsárlón
Jökulsárlón
Snow Bunting
Random, epic viewpoint
We were in Skaftafell, our gateway to the Vatnajökull National Park, by midday. We decided to have a relaxing afternoon with a few short hikes/walks and some sketching. First, we went on a short stroll to the face of the Skaftafelljökull glacier tongue, together with geological info spots on the way, which explained a lot about the volcanic rocks, glacier moraines, dikes, tuffs and all that. We sat for a quick sketch on the glacier lagoon, where I got me my first fans/admirers of my art.
Skaftafell campsite
Iest, the tour guide
Iest and the glacier tongue
Gina and the glacier tongue
Gina skeching
A 50mm beard
Afterwards, we headed to the other direction via a tourist highway frankly, to the Svartifoss waterfall, famous for its setting within a wall of black basalt columns. I did another quick sketch while Iest played around with his camera to take some nice pics.
Don’t look down!
Svartifoss waterfall
Gina and the vast views
Our last destination for the day was Sel, a traditional turf-roofed farmhouse turned to a museum, and a spot for our last sketch of the day.
Sel – turfed roof houses
Sel – turfed roof houses
Sketching at Sell
Nice filling dinner of mushroom soup ramen, and a quick sit in the warm café to charge our phones and write the journal. What a beautiful setting this place is! We got an email back from the people over at Landmannalaugar trek saying that it is doable, if snowy, so we will probably give it a go once we’re down there.