Iceland

That was our last day as our flight was early the next morning. The plan was to drive around the Snaefellsness Peninsula, then after the stop at Budir with the black church take the road back to the other side, drive by ‚our house‘ again, take the road back to the other side again and continue. So this is what we did. We stopped at several points during the drive around the head of the peninsula. At Budir we were lucky because obviously there was a wedding at the black church and we were there when the bride and groom arrived. Behind Budir we wentRead More →

That day was the day with the longest driving distance. In the morning there was a rainbow over our whirlpool… 🙂 We left without breakfast. First stop was at Urridafoss for a waterfall photo session. Behind Reykjavik we took the 6 km tunnel below Hvalfjordur and went to Akranes. There is a bakery that had been recommended to us and I have to say the recommendation was justified. So much yummy stuff. Since we were there we went to lighthouse for a photo session and then continued towards Snaefellsness peninsula. We stopped a few times on our way and then we finally reached our houseRead More →

That day we got up early because the weather forecast had promised us that we would see the sun within some clouds. We should have known by then that the forecast keeps lying… 😉 We got up early and went to the diamond beach again. Again high tide but it was receding. I took cool pics but sunrise… ? Nope.. later the sun was visible behind some clouds but nothing like we had hoped for. So we went back to the hotel, had breakfast and afterwards packed our stuff and left. That day we were supposed to go only towards close to Seljalandsfoss where IRead More →

I should probably say that day 8 was diamond beach day… 😉 But to start from the beginning… we left the Viking Cafe after another great breakfast and our first stop was Höfn for a few geocaches because it was …. RAINING. Again… Our plan for the day didn’t involve a lot of driving so we took our time. After Höfn we went to the diamond beach where we found lots of blue icebergs. Some of them were about 3 m high so they were not small. Unfortunately there were a lot of people there so it was rather difficult to take pics without anyRead More →

We spent the entire day at the Vestrahorn. Since we stayed at the Viking Cafe where you buy the tickets to actually be able to go out on the road we got as many tickets as we wanted without having to pay extra. The people working at the Viking Cafe were really great. Very friendly and fun. The breakfast lady made us waffles that were very good and she was funny. And the others were very nice as well. Breakfast was good there as well. In the morning the rain stopped for a while so we went out to try to get pics of theRead More →

After the wonderful breakfast we left Hotel Volcano and since it didn’t rain a lot we decided to pass at Reynisfjara. It is a very impressive beach with waves that are dangerous and I am not going anywhere near as I have too much respect. There are a lot of danger signs there but still people to too close and in the 4th pic you can see people running because the wave came higher than they expected. The ocean is very wild there. The waves might not look high on the pics but they are. People have died there because they went too close andRead More →

Monday morning we finally started our road trip. We got up early, had breakfast, checked out and K. went to her favorite bakery in Reykjavik to get some sweets. Then we were off – in the pouring rain. We were a bit frustrated that it was raining so hard. Our first stop was at a random hot thermal pool which was kind of a lost place. The name is Skydaskalinn. We had seen the sign ‚point of interest‘ on the road and decided to follow it. Interesting but too wet. Next stop was the ‚ghost town‘ Hveralgerdi. Last time I was there there had beenRead More →

That day was originally planned as ‚puffer‘ in case I got stuck in Greenland – which happens sometimes. Since we stayed another night in Reykjavik we went on a tour in the area. The original plan was to go to the volcano first although the weather was not nice and on the webcam we could see that you couldn’t see anything next to the crater. While driving over the first of the many dilemmas started… there are two things in Iceland that are missing: public restrooms along the main roads and parking spaces on nice lookouts to take pics. 😉 So while driving towards theRead More →

The next day I had decided to walk up to Perland – a nature exploration center with a 360° view over Reykjavik and surrounding areas. So I left the hotel after breakfast. Walking up there was nice and the view from the observation deck was wonderful. After I had enough I walked back to the hotel by passing a park and other landmarks. I didn’t overdo it though. In the evening around nine suddenly the fire alarm in the hotel went off. I took my most important things and went outside. When I came down I saw only other guests but nobody from the hotel.Read More →

I know I haven’t added anything in a long time but then there wasn’t anything to write about. With the lockdown and us not being able to travel there was nothing to blog about. But then in July I started to travel again. I will have to add the reports for Venice and Sardinia later. I will start with Iceland. Iceland had been planned a long time ago. Originally I had planned another trip to Greenland first and then since the flights to East Greenland leave from Reykjavik the idea was born to go on a photo trip after my return from Greenland. I hadRead More →

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And here we are coming to the end of the trip. On my last day in Iceland I had booked a tour to Thingvellir National Park (where you are between American and Europe without needing a passport ), the geysirs and then Gullfoss waterfall. I had taken my tripod to take some longterm exposures at Gullfoss but when the hail comes down hard on you you know that there is no way you can take longterm exposures. White water steam from a geysir in front of grey clouds is equally hard to see on a pic… it was interesting anyway. When I got back toRead More →

That morning after breakfast we went to the Diamond Beach first. If the sun comes out and the ice on the black beach starts to sparkle you know exactly where the name is coming from. Then we went back over to Jokulsarlon lagoon where we had been on day 5 already but ‚today‘ the lake was reflecting everything so it was another of these perfect moments where you should just stand there, breathe and enjoy. Then we went over to my favorite place in Iceland: Fjallsarlom glacier lagoon. We went to a different spot than where I had been last year but again it wasRead More →

Day 5… first day of an overnight trip to the South West where I had already been last year. Our driver/guide Friman was a source of a lot of information. He kept telling us what king of music/which artist he had selected for the next leg of our tour. First we went to Seljalandfoss – one of the nicest waterfalls in Iceland. Usually you can go behind it and I wanted to take pics from there but the path was closed. Next was Skogafoss, one of the highest waterfalls in Iceland. After that we went to the black beaches at Vik and REynisfjara. The wavesRead More →

Day 4 was another day off. Meaning without excursions. When I woke up it was raining but the forecast said it would stop around 11. So I took it slowly, had breakfast and was surprised when I didn’t get any latte macchiato at the coffee machine. When I asked if the milk was empty the guy told me they were out of milk… weird!!! Especially since there was milk going with grains… anyway… shortly before I was to leave I watched out of the window and saw the rainbow over the Hallgrimskirkja. Since the sky cleared I want back to the Solfar-sculpture but taking picsRead More →

On day 3 I had the first excursions which was towards the Snaefellsness Peninsula. I wanted to go there because of the famous Kirkjufjell mountain which is one of the landmarks. I usually see it with waterfalls in the foreground. Our bus stopped at another place though and I saw that the road is going below the waterfalls and not above it as I somehow had assumed. It was raining hard that day but on most stops we were lucky that it mostly stopped raining while we were outside of the bus. I hadn’t imagined this excursion to be that wonderful. In the afternoon itRead More →

On my first entire day in Iceland I had a ‚day off‘. Meaning I was free to roam without any tours booked. So here are impressions from in and around Reykjavik (I went geo-caching…). Weather wasn’t toooo good but at least it wasn’t raining so that was something… Aurora tours for the evening were cancelled again. Imagine why… 😉 The National Airport The PUNK MuseumRead More →

Yes, I know I am jumping a bit ahead as those pics that are going to follow have been taken only on day 4 of my trip but I know a lot of people have been waiting for them. I consider myself lucky and I am immensely grateful to have been able to experience something as wonderful as this show last friday. I know that other tour groups who went to other places didn’t see any northern lights while our show started as soon as we arrived and it wasn’t finished when we left more than one hour later. I know that some of myRead More →

Since it is raining hard this morning I have lots of time to write my first entry. Yesterday I arrived after an uneventful journey at Keflavik airport and there were only scattered clouds. Not what the forecast had said. During the bus ride to Reykjavik (about 50 minutes) the weather got worse altough I could still see some blue sky in the distance. Once checked into my hotel I discovered that I have a room with a wonderful room over Reykjavik. It is a 180° view and in the distance I can see snow covered mountains. The additional plus to this is that during theRead More →