Glaciers and Lagoons

Glaciers and Lagoons

Hofn, Iceland, Europe

I had a great night’s sleep last night, and we had a good buffet breakfast at at the hotel. That filled us with energy to get going today, and we needed it! We hopped in the car and drove to the Skaftafell entrance of Vatnajokull National Park. This is one of the more accessible glaciers in Iceland, so we took a hike. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. It was sunny and beautiful for the whole walk. We got to check out a few different waterfalls on the way to the glacier (Hundafoss, Magnusarfoss, and Svartifoss), and the last one had a nice place to sit and enjoy a snack and enjoy the peace and quiet of being out in nature.

We ran into a few people on the trail to the Sjonarnipa viewpoint, but not many. It seems like we’ve gotten far enough away from Reykjavik that we won’t be seeing as many tourists on our way around the island now. When we got to the viewpoint to see the glacier, it really was amazing. I have never had a view of a glacier from above like that. It was very cool to see. We sat on the cliff’s edge for at least a half hour just enjoying the scenery and the very cold breeze coming off the ice.

We had about a 45 minute walk back down to the car, and then hit the road for the next site. We came across a glacier lagoon called Fjallsarlon, and decided to park the car next to the road and walk up to it. A few people drove past us while we were walking, but with our tiny little Chevrolet Spark, I wasn’t comfortable driving on these dirt roads with big rocks and potholes. It was cool to see the crystal clear water coming off the glacier creating a small lagoon. We didn’t hang out there for long before heading out to see another lagoon.

The second lagoon called Jokulsarlon was much more impressive. It was massive and it was our first run-in with wildlife! There were some sea lions in the water that would poke their nose out every once in a while to check out what is going on out there. There was a lot of glacial ice on the shore, and it was amazing to see how clear it is. That really must be some of the cleanest water on earth.

We drove on to find our hotel called Gerdi Guesthouse, which is in a really strange location. I’m not sure what made me think that we wanted to stay in a hotel here, because we’re not actually close to anything here. I thought we were staying somewhere close to Hofn, but the receptionist told us that we are actually about 45 minutes away. There are no restaurants or anything around here, so we went for a bite to eat in the hotel restaurant. It’s actually not just a restaurant, but a restaurant/museum. The whole outside of the building looks like books on a shelf. It turns out they were all written by a writer named Thorbergur. There was a museum all about his life and the history of Iceland itself. It was free for us to go in because we ate at the restaurant, and it was more impressive than I had first expected. Now that we have had dinner and come back to our room, there is nothing else to do around here, so we’re just going to make a plan for tomorrow and hit the hay.

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