Iceland photo tour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIt is like a fire in the heavens, it is peacefulness and it is awareness of your place in the universe. The seals seemed to share this excitement, slapping their flippers against the still waters, diving from the bergs, and snorting as they surfaced for air. There was no better place to be than right here, right now, alone except for the seals, the ice and the lights, with the realisation of your small place in this great big universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iceland Aurora<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Eventually however, the cold nips at the fingers, and the show eases to a gentle green glow in the sky, and with hearts pumping we headed back to get some much needed rest.
Our final day started reasonably with a last clear out of the suitcase and a slight dip in the spirits as we headed back along the coast toward Reykjavik. No more stops at J\u00f6kuls\u00e1rl\u00f3n we turned around the great glacier, where tongues of blue pitted ice flowed through gaps in the mountains like time itself; slow and meandering yet strong and constant.
I suppose there could be many epithets attached to Iceland; the young country, land of fire and ice, the lonely land, but I would name it \u201cThe land of the Foss\u201d. There are so many spectacular waterfalls in all shapes and guises, carving the already undulating land into new form, creating a country that will still be changing through time.
This leg of the journey took us to three new waterfalls including Sk\u00f3gafoss and Seljalandsfoss. At each the sun created a lightshow through the mist to parallel the lights of the night before. Sk\u00f3gafoss in particular, a huge cacophony as melt water from Eyjafjallaj\u00f6kull and M\u00fdrdalsj\u00f6kull meet and fall down over a huge rift on their perilous journey to the sea. The weather was perfect, small clouds drifted over the fall and rainbows danced, echoing themselves time and time again in the mist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Behind the Waterfall<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Seljalandsfoss equally has its own pleasures. Donning waterproofs is a sound move here as a treacherous path leads behind the fall, the flattened pastures shining in the sun beyond, hazy but bright. It is difficult to capture this spectacle photographically, as the droplets of water, lingering for a second fall on the lens, on the eyes and into the soul.
South of Eyjafjallaj\u00f6kull a town stop at Vik for refreshments follows a trip back in time. Forget what you thought you knew about lava fields, Iceland boasts the largest lava field in Europe; the boiling landscape stretches as far as the eye can see in every direction. Once hot and molten, now cool and covered in a distinctive silver moss that lets you sink ankle deep to the rock below. Maybe another few thousand years will have obliterated this landscape, but for now there is the privilege of another claim to fame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vik is a Norse word for town and reputedly where the word Viking comes from. Vik itself is a small town but well appointed, overshadowed by a glowering cliff face; a trip around which leads to a secluded beach with stunning views in every direction of wind carved crags and towering natural monoliths. The sand beneath your feet is black and fine, sparkling and shimmering as the sun hits it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A long drive is ended as Reykjavik hoves into view, and this is the end then. Ready for food and the city lights, there is still a sadness to be at the conclusion of this journey into the Earth.
I don\u2019t think that this is the end; this is the beginning of a love affair. This adventure has only scraped the surface of this small but infinite country; we have travelled along the south coast, up into the highlands and down through the lowlands. Cross mighty slumbering ice-giants and over deep canyons. Past deafening silence and quiet disorder, I wonder what else there is to see.
There is the north to visit \u2013 vast areas of wilderness still lying in wait for exploration. There is white water rafting and Ice-caving where your hand can scrape millennia old soot from the underside of the glacier. There is the midnight sun; there is the snow chilled winter. There are horses to hack along boulder strewn fields and there is discovery of the planet, of the forces that shape it and shape us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I realise now that I haven\u2019t mentioned Reykjavik itself.
Visit the Blue Lagoon, deep turquoise water to bathe in, heated by the springs and set against the lava, or the open air swimming pools, water hotter than the hottest bath, bubbles to massage the stress away. Take in whale watching tours, harbour views and the observatory; and delve into the city through its many shops, bars and restaurants \u2013 ensuring that you try the ice-cream whenever possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will I come back? Yes, again and again and again. This is no place for the beach-bum holiday maker in you; it is a country for the explorer, the adventurer. Days can be long travelling between these sights, so a certain resilience to the road is essential (as well as a certain resilience to the wallet). But if you have a thirst for sheer natural wonder, it will appeal to the scientist and the spiritualist in you at the same time<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here you can find solitude and peace amongst the turmoil. Here you can find a culture shaped by its environment. Here you can find life working. Iceland is beautiful and terrifying, Iceland is peace and earth-shattering noise. It is a country of contradictions and of order. It is everything about our planet in a small piece of land thrown up by untameable forces. Iceland works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This post documents a tour of the South and Central highlands and Glacier lagoons at Vatnj\u00f6kull. The article is written by Ian Kostrzewski who is Tony Prower\u2019s brother. Tony Prower\u2019s Northern light picture, featured above, was captured on the trip. All other pictures are Ians. Iceland Works. Everything works in Iceland; I don\u2019t mean services […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[2416,2415],"table_tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/01\/PurpleHat-1300.jpg",800,534,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/01\/PurpleHat-1300-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/01\/PurpleHat-1300-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/01\/PurpleHat-1300-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/01\/PurpleHat-1300-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/01\/PurpleHat-1300.jpg",800,534,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/01\/PurpleHat-1300.jpg",800,534,false]},"post_excerpt_stackable":"
This post documents a tour of the South and Central highlands and Glacier lagoons at Vatnj\u00f6kull. The article is written by Ian Kostrzewski who is Tony Prower\u2019s brother. Tony Prower\u2019s Northern light picture, featured above, was captured on the trip. All other pictures are Ians. Iceland Works. Everything works in Iceland; I don\u2019t mean services \u2013 although there is very little to complain about in that sense \u2013 I mean that everything works! This country is nature at its most raw, constantly updating itself, re-inventing itself; water shaping the rock, the rock itself creating new layers of land. Land which…<\/p>\n","category_list":"Photo Tour Log<\/a>","author_info":{"name":"","url":"https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/author\/"},"comments_num":"0 comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2125"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icelandaurora.com\/archive-phototours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=2125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}