Vatnajökull is the big white patch which lies slightly off center in every map of iceland. This 'Glacier of Rivers' is Europe's largest ice cap by volume. There are 2 major volcanic centers under the surface of Vatnajökull. When the volcanoes erupt, they cause massive ice melt, and the subsequent flood is called a jokulhlaup. Frequent eruptions made it really hard to farm the land around Skaftafell, and the 2 farms in existence today are mostly for tourism. Interestingly, since sheep stopped grazing at Skaftafell, vegetation is starting to colonize the glacial deposits. (refs: iceland on the web, wikipedia)Jan 2: We drive on the Ring road from Kirk to Skaftafell, and the first sight of the 3 outlet glaciers is, quite simply, stunning. The glacier tongues unfurl from jagged mountains, marching inexorably down towards the coast.
Soundtrack: anything from Lord of the Rings, or Italian tenors.
Our ice caving expedition was somewhat underwhelming. The 'cave' wasn't very deep, more like a hole, really. Still, fun to walk a little on the glacier, admire the blueness of the ice. (Water preferentially absorbs all the wavelengths of visible light, except blue. But bubbles or cracks in the ice make it appear white due to the internal reflections.) Ice caves are unstable structures: the roof is liable to collapse, and the entire cave moves as the glacier advances. Some nice pics here. Basically, the bluer the ice, the thicker and stronger the structure.
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Jan 3: Next morning, we set off at 6am to the Jökulsárlón (glacial lagoon), in hope of seeing the Aurora Borealis. The sky was clear, but solar activity low (1). Managed to see shooting stars! And another beautiful sunrise. But no luck with the Lights. FYI: Jökulsárlón visitor center only opens at 10am... We spent about 1.5 hours in near complete darkness at the parking lot, staring at the Christmas lights adorning the roof of the center...The glacial lagoon is at the end of Breiðamerkurjökull glacier, which breaks off as a series of icebergs as it caves into the lagoon. The icebergs supposedly float in the lagoon for 5 years, before melting, or exiting in a stately procession out to the ocean. A bunch of movies have been filmed there, notably Tomb Raider and Die Another Day. The black sand beach at the outlet of the lagoon is festooned with stranded icebergs of all shapes and sizes. We spent many happy moments trying to capture these photogenic crystals. SQ declared at one point that he never wanted to leave =).
Jan 4: stormy, so we had another lazy at-home day. Managed to work the DVD player. Watched 'Milk'. Did not watch the other available DVD, by the makers of 'The Urethral Diaries'. Attempted to dine in kirk, but NOTHING was open except the gas station. Dinner was a comforting though somewhat... awkward... combination of herbal chicken, herbal corn and herbal spinach.
Entertaining post-dinner session of scattergories. Note to self: 'bottle' is a very useful word.
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Jan 5: drive back to Reykjavik. Stopped at Vik for souvenirs, nice church, and sunrise at the beach. The sunrise looked especially good when framed by the long grass growing at the beach. Actually, everything looked better when framed by the grass. It's like ketchup... everything tastes better with ketchup. (Seok suggests Worcestershire sauce as a superior alternative. I will withhold judgement till faced with sufficient evidence.)
Also saw many traditional turf houses, which looked like they were buried in the hillside. Turf is composed of plant roots and sand. Strips are cut and dried, then used like bricks to construct the house. Apparently the final consistency is similar to cork. This website is a little too comprehensive, but has interesting pictures.
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| Photo credit: Julia |
Northern Lights tour: wild goose chase around Keflavik. Felt like a lemming. Or a domesticated grazer. Herded together with a bunch of tourists. It was a bit of a shock to see so many tourists, because we had seen so few throughout our vacation.
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