Southeast Iceland & Skaftafell waterfall

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Hey travellers! 

I hope you liked the first part of our roadtrip around Iceland, and here’s the second one (but not the last one)!:) 

From the last place in the previous article we headed further along the south coast, all the way to Reynisfjara. This place is famous for the incredible black beach, where you can also find the Reynisdrangar rock formations, which could have been one of the most photogenic places if there wasn’t so many people. Reynisfjara is accessible right from the parking lot, so obviously several buses with tourists from Reykjavík were parked here. That kind of ruined the beauty of this place. 

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We spent several hours chilling by the beach and then got going further to the east. We got to the lava fields called Eldhraun, by which I was riveted even more than by the black beach. When reading about this place I imagined that lava fields would look like a desert full of black volcanic rocks, where there is absolutely nothing, but when we got closer, I was left speechless. 

Eldhraun is no parched volcanic desert, but beautiful little mounds, covered by moss. I almost fell down, when I first stepped on it, because my legs sank. I wouldn’t mind sleeping here at all if it hadn’t started drizzling!:) 

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It was getting dark, so we found a perfect spot for pitching the tent just a few meters from Fjaðrárgljúfur, which we wanted to explore in the morning. 

When we set out in the canyon the next day, we were so glad that we slept right next to it, because there were no people this early yet and all the tourists started to arrive when we were leaving this place. The path went above the canyon, so we were looking down to a small river, flowing between the rocks. A typical waterfall couldn’t be missing at the end of this short path. 

On our way to the next destination, we couldn’t stop laughing because of the sign we saw. 

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After we were done taking pictures of that sign, we took off right to the Skaftafell National Park, where there are dozens of beautiful places. 

We started with a small 10-km roundtrip around the Svartifoss waterfall and the true pleasure for my photographic eye – Skaftafelljökull glacier. It was right underneath us and soooo close! 

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We descended a few meters down and found a small footpath, which took us right to the base of the glacier. 

When I think of my trip around New Zealand and the view of the Franz Josef Glacier, which was so far away from us, that even after taking a picture with my ultra-zoom camera, no one could tell it was a glacier, I was deeply moved by the fact, that we could walk on it just like that. No barriers, no entrance fees, no signs with skulls and death danger, no tourists. 

Just us and the glacier. 

Right in front of us. I figured out, that even though I hate cold, glaciers are my absolutely most favorite places on the Earth. I respect them and I would never explore them on my own, but they’re so powerful and unpredictable. We heard the glacier cracking and saw how a little piece slid down and every time this happened, I got goosebumps. 

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It started to be really cold there because of the glacier (the thermometer said 4 degrees), so we resisted only a few minutes and then ran back to the car, and took off for another destination. 

Just a few meters from the main road we stopped by Hofskirkja. This little cute church is so magical, mainly because of the roof covered by grass and strange bumps on the “garden” that surrounded the church. 

Generally, churches are not my thing, but Iceland is the first country, where I really enjoyed discovering different churches. Every time they’re original and so simple at the same time. In towns, they’re usually pretty modern and made of grey concrete, while in nature they’re wooden and tiny. 

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Well, this is definitely not the end of the beautiful stuff in Skaftafell National Park, but the rest will be in the next post. I can only tell, that in the next article you’ll see the place, which I liked in Iceland the most. <3

Cheers!
E.