Iceland.Jökulsárlón

  Jökulsárlón - the most famous glacial lake in southern Iceland, formed as a result of glacier melting... Although Icelanders themselves speak rather coldly about this place, like 'there's nothing left to see... not as many glaciers as before... just for tourists...' Yet for us, seeing icebergs for the first time was amazing... Especially since we had covered nearly 400 kilometers hitchhiking in a day and also visited the island's most famous canyon...

Route map...

 After completing our Fimmvörðuháls trek, we hitchhiked to a campground in the Vik settlement, where we spent the night...

 I secured our 'home' using all storm guy lines, as the winds here were very strong...

 In the morning of the next day, the weather in the settlement was very bad - strong winds with light rain... According to the forecast, it was supposed to be like this all day... However, about 200 kilometers east of Vik, where Jökulsárlón glacial lake is located, the forecast promised even some sunshine... Therefore, on this day we decided to go there... Exiting onto the main road at 9:30, within 20 minutes we hitchhiked a ride with two tourists from Italy heading east towards Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon... We also decided to visit this place...

    This canyon was formed during the glacial period about two million years ago and is considered one of the most beautiful on the island... But after the trek, it seemed quite 'touristy' to us... Many tourists, even railings built along the trail... Approaches to the edges are fenced off, entering beyond is prohibited... But that's the price of accessibility...   

  Walking along the canyon from the parking lot and back, including admiring the beauty, took less than an hour. The canyon is 3.5 kilometers from the main road, and after finishing our visit, we walked from the parking lot and hitchhiked passing vehicles... And then an old Dutchman in his old mobile home stopped for us... We leisurely reached the main road and learned a bit about the Dutchman's life...

  It was over 130 kilometers to the glacial lake... After waiting another 20 minutes, an Icelandic woman stopped for us, who was driving past Jökulsárlón towards her home, and gladly took us aboard her 'ship'... During these 130 kilometers, we learned a lot about her life... She is studying agriculture courses as she owns a farm in the eastern part of the island... And she was just returning after Sunday classes... She's around forty and has 8 children... Since the road was quite long for her, she was happy to spend some time in company... She talked a lot about her farm and interesting places in Iceland... When asked if she had gone to see the eruption of the latest volcano, the Icelander ironically replied that she would go to the next eruption... As this eruption is being broadcast live on television all the time... Regarding the glacial lake, she noted that she didn't understand what was so good left there, and also said that there are much nicer places with glaciers, and this one is just very overrated... But she still admitted that seeing it once more wouldn't hurt...

  In short, the interesting and very pleasant Icelander drove us all the way to the parking lot near the lake, although she could have just let us off from the main road without diverting...

 Arriving at the glacial lake, we did not regret a single moment of our efforts spent... Perhaps for local residents, these landscapes are quite ordinary, but for us they were very interesting and unusual...     

  Crossing to the other side of the main road, we found ourselves on the so-called Diamond Beach... Where on black volcanic sand, it seemed like scattered ice chips...

  Spending over two hours among the 'cold' landscapes, we were already a bit chilled... It was already past four in the afternoon, and we decided to head back to the Vik settlement... This time we were lucky to hitch a ride with a young Austrian solo tourist who was heading far beyond our destination... The guy turned out to be quite curious and searching for meanings... So while Diana rested in the back seat, I had a conversation with him for the whole 200 kilometers about our participation in this 'game'...

 We arrived at the Vik settlement campground almost at seven in the evening... Why did we decide to go back to Vik and not, say, go around the entire Iceland? Primarily because most of the most interesting places for us were concentrated in the southern part of the island, plus we really wanted to walk around Vik, which also boasts one of the world's most beautiful beaches, and a large group of puffins nest on the coastal cliffs...