Hey dear Steemians,
it's time for another ICELAND video. The nature of Iceland is just ridiculously pretty. The last video showed you the waterfalls we visited during our stay. Check it out here.
The South Coast is on of the most visited places by tourists because
- it's close to the Reykjavik, the capital, and KEF, the international airport
- lined up along the coast are fabulous waterfalls
- depending on your interests, you can spend 3 or 14 days in this area and explore the nature.
Skaftafell - Vatnajökull National Park
The video starts out with our visit to Skaftafell. The Skaftafell Nationalpark was founded in 1967 and is part of the Vatnajökull Nationalpark today. The history is kind of sad: Shortly after the settlement of Iceland a larger homestead was founded in Skaftafell and the area was designated as a place of assembly (Þing). However, the catastrophic eruption of Öræfajökull volcano in 1362 wiped out the entire local population and the area has been called "Öræfi" - no man's land ever since. Because it's an active volcanic area, there is no more farming since 1988.
Svartifoss is a famous waterfall in National Park. It can be found on many calendar pictures because it stands out against a background of black basalt columns.
Beside Svartifoss there is the highest waterfall of Iceland in this national park. In Morsárjökull there is a waterfall of 227 meters, named Morsárfoss.
When you reach the parking lot, make sure to pay for a parking ticket inside the visitor center. They take a photo of your license plate when you enter. It might be a pricy visit, if you miss out to pay.
Looking north you have different trails to Svartifoss and the surrounding area to your left. As we visited in winter time most of the trails were closed due to recreational purposes. I found this great post about a 17km hike around the area with stunning images by Martin Stiegler. We "just" did the easy trail S2 up to Svartifoss and back. About 5,5 km and 2 hours walking time. Just bear in mind that you'll should stop several times to take photos and enjoy the view.
To your right side you can walk to the Skaftafellsjökull glacier tongue. The half paved, half gravel trail is almost even and possible to manage for people with walking disabilities. The trail is called S1 with a distance of about 3,7 km and takes about 1 - 1,5 hours of your time. When you reach the glacier you see a lagoon filled with water. If you like some adventure, you can cross the river and climb on the lowest part of the glacier. Please be careful and don't put yourself in danger!!!
Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach
Man I was so excited to see this place. Floating icebergs, big chunks of ice on the shore, seals playing in the water and the crazy sound of breaking ice! When you drive up, you see the glacier in the distance but not the lagoon. You basically park behind a big natural wall, which circles the lagoon. Make sure to stop on both sides of the lagoon because the view is way different. What we noticed is that on the western part the ice bergs basically stand still and less tourists are around. It must have to do with the flows in the water. The east part which can be visited when you cross the bride and turn left, if you come from Reykjavik. From here we saw the playing seals and I took the close up shots with the Sony. The quality is sooo bad compared to the Go Pro Hero 5 and the DJI Mavic Air. Well never mind ...
Next to me an old lady from Canada was visiting and shooting the iceberg with a Hasselblad! No joking. She was at least 80 but showed full commitment to get the best shots. Chapeaux! On the other side some Chinese tourists stayed in the car, shot photos thorough the closed window with their ipad.
When the ice breaks off the glacier it lands in the water and flows towards the ocean. The iceberg make their way thorough the whole lagoon, pass the bridge and now into the ocean. Some of the ice chunks will get washed ashore. The result is DIAMOND BEACH. The sun was barely coming out when we visited and it was really really windy. Not the best conditions for sunset photos. Nevertheless seeing this place is magical - crystal clear ice on top of black sand. In the drone video you see the east part of the Diamond Beach. The ice blocks are way smaller and not as many tourists were around. Maybe you noticed our car next to just one other in the parking lot.
Sadly we had to leave after about two hours to get to Höfn for the night. The sky turned red, orange and purple on our way. Wonderful :P
Great pizza at Íshúsið by the way. Not cheap as always in Iceland but really delicious!
Let me know if you liked the video, share the post and upvote.
More posts from ICELAND
DJI MAVIC AIR REVIEW | Aerial Shots from ICELAND [ENGLISH]
Reynisfjara Black Beach
Godafoss Waterfall
Video: Watefalls of Iceland
Video: Golden Circle - Drone Videos
Iceland from above - Part I
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