EE & S Adventures

After such a long day yesterday, we had a shorter one today. We started on the golden circle, a key tourist destination, particularly for those who do not have as much time in Iceland as we do. However, we chose to see some of the less touristy sites. Aegissidufoss was our starting point, a little waterfall which had anglers fishing at the bottom and an old fish ladder. It was mighty windy. Trying to make the most of the predicted better weather this morning we then drove to the thieves waterfall, Pjofafoss. Apparently thieves were thrown into the falls here in the past!   The falls are at the bottom of the Hekla volcano and so are situated in a plain of hardened lava. The top of the volcano rises from a vast flat plain which has pumice and rock strewn everywhere with little to no real vegetation.  We then visited Fossabrekkur. Eric says this is the most pretty waterfall he has ever seen. In contrast to others perfectly clear water fell over it, it was a shor...

What could outdo our experience jeep driving on the glacier?  For me it was Jökulsárlón beach.  We started by looking at the bay full of pieces of ice calved from the Breidamerkurjokull tongue of the glacier. It was beautiful enough watching the glassy blue structures, seeing birds roosting on one piece of ice and seals dipping in the water. But then we went to the black beach, we almost didn’t go down that far but by gee I’m glad we did. I think this beach was my highlight of Iceland.... The beach was littered with pieces of ice. It was like a living sculptural art display. The range of shapes and textures of the ice, from clear, brilliant pieces like gems to pocked and bubble filled lumps, all laying on a black and grey canvass. The range of shapes was fantastic, some reminding me of living things (like a dolphin) and others like inanimate objects. The pieces were whimsical or structured, colossal or small. I could have remained there for ages just appreciati...

Vatnajökull National Park is a must visit destination for any tourist to Iceland.  It's also one of the most inaccessable.  The main reason for this inaccessability is that much of the National Park is taken up by the enormous Vatnajökull glacier.  So you can't just drive in and walk around.  To see the interior of the park (the glacier) you need to make special arrangements - like taking a tour in a Superjeep. We booked a Superjeep tour for our first day at the park which was cancelled due to the inclement weather... However the next day we were definitely ready to see as much as we could and fortunately the tour was back on. Our tour guide was Hungarian but very well informed and we learned a lot about Icelandic culture as well as glaciers and volcanoes. The Jeep we were in had been made by the driver (and some friends) and consisted of part of a Chrysler with another van's back end bolted on and modified engine and gears.  It had 54 inch wheels w...

The east coast of Iceland attracts a fraction of the tourists and has a fraction of the population of the western side.  It really is the place for a remote getaway.  The hosts of our farmstay near Egilsstadir moved from Reykjavik to get away from the system and the hectic Reykjavik scene 😊.  Their farm certainly epitomised the word remote.  Samuel loved the farm, especially playing with the two very friendly and intelligent farm dogs. As with much of Iceland, one of the best ways to spend the time is just driving with plenty of stops for photography - in fact it's hard to make much progress in some scenic areas as the urge to park the car and whip out the camera every few kilometers is overwhelming.  This was especially the case on the one long day we spent driving from Egilsstadir to Hofn.  We started our journey on yet another overcast morning and almost immediately headed down a rough back road off the ring road in search of a waterfall.  We...