Iceland South Coast

And here I am, on my way to the South coast and, first of all, to get the ferry to the Vestman islands, in order to have a good chance to see puffins

Looks like a good start...

And, yes, here they are, plenty of them flying from the cliffs, and fishing in the ocean :))))

Let's spend a minute talking about the geology of the small town Heimaey. It came to international attention in 1973 with the eruption of Eldfell volcano, which destroyed many buildings and forced a months-long evacuation of the entire population to mainland Iceland. Approximately one fifth of the town was destroyed before the lava flow was halted by application of 6.8 billion litres of cold sea water

Now you can walk 15 meters above the houses, where the lava was stopped:

 Back on the main island, on the road to the National Park Skaftafell

I looked for Batman, but couldn't find him (remember, "Batman begins"...)

Just in case you wanted to go to Iceland to have a swim in the ocean during summer, check the picture below, with a beach covered with melting icebergs, and you might reconsider your plans for your next holidays...

Below, a few pictures of the Jökulsarlon lagoon, covered with icebergs at the bottom of a glacier. Here, I could have looked for Lara Croft, James Bond (Roger Moore, not Daniel Craig as in Macao a couple of months ago) or Bollywood stars.

Another nice beach, Vik, with "sneaky waves" (that's what the Icelandic officially warn you about, in case you are still in for a swim).

Below, the impressive waterfalls in Skogar:

And the bloody Eyjafjallajökull which ruined my holidays in 2010, when it erupted and blocked the air traffic all over Europe during a week.

If you ever wondered what a waterfall looks like from the backstage, here is Seljalandsfoss from different angles:

One more hour off the road, crossing ice valleys

Here is the kind of vehicle you need when you travel around Iceland:

  

A few pictures, on the way back to Reykjavik:

For those ones who are always eager to know what I have eaten, here is a summary (the instant porridge is not something to be recommended, by the way...)

A few more sheep on the side of the road, a couple of hours enjoying the Reykjavik swimming pools heated naturally at 38°C, and it is already time to fly back home. This country is breathtaking, I will probably come back in the future, to see what it looks like during winter (and get a chance to see the northern lights!)

Golden circle

The first stop while visiting what the Icelandic call the Golden circle is Thingvellir, a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the boundary between the North American tectonic plate and the Eurasian. The national parliament of Iceland started gathering at the bottom of the site cliffs in 930 AD, and sessions were held there until 1798.

Is anyone in for a swim at Geysir? (yes, that's where the word geyser comes from)

Then, up to Gullfoss and its rainbow waterfalls:

More waterfalls at Haifoss, driving through desertic areas:

As you can see, so far, not a drop of rain to be seen anywhere, I am enjoying 21 hours of sun a day!

Reykjavik

Góðan daginn!

(yes, it is becoming more tricky, I will let you find out how to pronounce it)

Only one week in Iceland is definitely going to be short, there is no way I can visit the whole island. So it was supposed to be 6 nights in the capital city, and visiting the different places with buses from there. But actually, it does not seem to be such a great idea, as the local buses don't really have schedules which would be compliant with what I wanted to do.
Therefore it will be a few days of guided tours, but first let's start with Reykjavik.

It is a nice city, surrounded by the ocean, where everything can be done by foot.

Welcome to the land of Vikings!

None of the buildings is built in wood, because beasically there is no wood (almot not a single tree) on the island, but they did a great job with replacing wood with sheet metal.

One of the main attractions of Iceland are the puffins. For sure, you can see plenty of them in town, but the one million dollar question is: what I get a chance to see real ones by the end of the week?

 

The building below, Harpa, is their concert / exhibition / congress hall, with a very spectacular architecture: