When we finally reached the glacier lagoon, we were blown away by how big and how blue it was. We all agreed it was one of the coolest things we'd ever seen. On one side of the road was the glacier and the lagoon. On the other was the beach and the Atlantic Ocean. The beach was just as cool as the glacier; dubbed "The Diamond Beach" for the chunks of glacial ice that wash up onto the sand, we discovered plenty of "diamonds" on our visit!
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On our second and final day in Iceland, we had one major goal: make it to the glacier on the Southeastern coast. A five hour drive without stopping from Reykjavik meant we couldn't make many stops if we wanted to catch it in daylight: and we had to leave early. The two stops we did make were worth it - we stopped at the Seljavallaug pool and the Red Feather Canyon. We also pulled over a few times for the many waterfalls that lined the main road (Route 1). On our drive back, we stopped on the side of the road to watch the Northern lights dance. In the pitch black, un-light-polluted sky, it was amazing. No tripod made it difficult to capture well, but you can still see the movement pattern in the final three pictures posted above!
We did also make it to the glacier and it was well worth the drive. I'll post those pictures tomorrow! The sun was setting as we pulled up to Blue Lagoon, leaving not much time for light pictures in the blue waters. The benefit of going late? On our drive back to the Airbnb we saw our first glimpse of the Northern Lights. Those blurry green streaks you see in the last three pics are the Aurora Borealis, taken on the side of the road without a tripod, and if you think they are cool, wait until you see the pictures from night two taken far away from the light-polluted city...
I'd never been to either of these waterfalls before, so they were one of the best parts of the Golden Circle drive for me. Both were slightly off the beaten path and (clearly) less touristy.
After our overnight flight, we immediately took off into Iceland to drive the golden circle. It's my third time in Iceland, so my third time doing the most driven route for tourists, but it never fails to disappoint. Plus, we managed to hit some spots I'd never seen before...stay tuned for those spots in the next post!
Day 1 in Iceland was magical! I revisited a few popular sites that I'd seen before, and saw some new ones too. Bruce and I arrived in Kevlavik at 5 AM after getting less than an hour of sleep on the plane, and immediately hopped in a rental car and began to drive. We drove the Ring Road (aka the Golden Circle) in around 6 hours, and checked into our hostel at promptly 1PM for a 4 hour nap. After waking up, we headed down to the water and saw the Harpa Concert Hall, one of the most beautiful buildings in the world, before grabbing a meal in downtown Reykjavik.
I'm currently sitting in the empty terminal of the BWI Airport - excited and ready to fly to Europe in a few hours! My first stop is Iceland, a chilly, beautiful island I visited last summer for 48 short hours. This time, I'm back to Iceland for 4 days - before heading to mainland Europe for another 28!
If you'd like to stay up to date on my travels (aka see the bazillion pictures I'll be taking), you can get notified every time I post here. Or, if you want to see a summary of where I've been and where I'm going, click here. I can't wait to share my adventure with you! ~Rory |
Who Am I?I'm Rory; University of Virginia grad, writer, photographer, (wannabe) world traveler. What is EU and Me?A collection of photographs and musings from travels abroad. Archives
June 2020
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