Our next stop Immediately after Vik  was very interesting. It was only a few miles down the road. In fact it was on the beach just past the 4 pillars. This was called Reynisfjara.

It surprised me that this place was not even mentioned in my Guidebook. How could that be? Reynisfjara is a world-famous black-sand beach found on the South Coast of Iceland, just beside the small fishing village of Vík í Mýrdal (Vik).  There were huge basalt sea stacks with  roaring Atlantic waves and stunning panoramas, Reynisfjara is widely considered to be the most beautiful example of Iceland’s black sand beaches. In 1991, National Geographic voted Reynisfjara as one of the Top 10 non-tropical beaches to visit on the planet. It is really the same beach as Reynisdrangur that we had just passed. It is all connected. This time we came close to the stacks and walked on the black sand beach.

 There were also basalt columns that reminded me of Giant’s staircase in Ireland. Facing the sea was a huge natural pyramid made of basalt columns that looked like a staircase to the sky. This basalt cliff is called Gardar. The rocks are nearly perfectly shaped. It is difficult to conceive how nature could do this. After all nature never works in a straight line. Nature meanders! I think there is a lesson there for my friends who hate to meander. So many of my friends always want to get “there” as soon as possible. Perhaps this is why Chris calls me “a meanderthal.”

The symmetrical columns were shaped when many years ago, lava flowed out and then cooled and contracted. The slow speed at which the lava cooled made it crack and create these near hexagonal forms. This process is called columnar jointing. Such columns can be found at other places in Iceland such as Svartifoss waterfall or Dettifoss waterfall. The process is interesting but I decided not to include it in this post.

There are some very similar names for some of the sights. The tallest of the pillars reach as high as 66 metre. The black sand beach is literally made of lava. It is not a tanning beach. After all how often can you tan in Iceland? It was created by lava flowing into the sea which cooled it almost instantly.Reynisfjara is not a fine sand beach. It is actually small black pebbles of varying sizes. Like so much of Iceland., it was rugged and wild.

I also enjoyed looking the opposite direction away from the pillars. There was a pierced rock that reminded me of Perce Quebec. We were told that one brave flyer flew threw the hole in the rock 3 times.

When we were done we drove by another lovely church. Iceland has so many of them.

We stopped at Vik for lunch. A.O. recommended a burger joint and a more elegant establishment. We chose the burger joint.   Chris and I were the last to be served which made me nervous as I wanted to go out and photograph the pillars with lupines in the foreground, but I had to wait. Maybe not patiently, but I had to wait.

The real treat here though was not the burgers but  Reynisdrangur or the 4 pillars as they are called.  They are towering fingers of black volcanic rock jutting out of  the ocean surface nicely framed by large patches of lupines along a dramatic stretch of the coast. It was a spectacular sight. One of my favorites on this trip with many favorites. According to my guidebook, “The relentless battering wind adds to the Gothic scene—helping to make this the only non-tropical beach to be rated by Islands, a U.S. magazine, as one of the world’s top 10 beaches.”

I  also took a number of photographs of a fine church standing on the edge of a hill overlooking that beach. I particularly liked the foggy background with the Iceland flag out front and, of course, the lupines on the hillside in front of the church. It was a pity (again) that time did not permit us to go in. We just had time to eat, grab a few photos and move on. That is how motor coach tours go. They have some advantages but lingering at photogenic spots is not one of them.

I really thought this was one of the most photogenic stops on a trip with many photogenic spots. I don’t know how many times I have said that. I know at least twice today. I do tend to wear my enthusiasm my sleeve.

Jökulsárlón is an amazing place. Recently it has been discovered that the lagoon is really a fjord that was carved out by the glacier.  The eastern part of the glacier eroded the sediments of Breiδamerkurjökull to a depth of 300 m below sea level. The river carried the sediments forward. That created a deep basin. This would have been impossible if the river had not carried the sediment. Without that river the basin would have been plugged up with sediment.

Oddly, the lagoon is actually privately owned. So you could buy it. Wouldn’t you like to own a lagoon filled with icebergs? To me it was the most surprising sight in Iceland. I never expected to see them here.

Some of the icebergs were beached. We could walk partly around them. When icebergs land on a black sand beach that is an incredible sight. I could not get enough photographs of them. They were amazing.

From 1890 to the present the glacier has retreated. The large chunks of ice break off the glacier and are carried by the current of the river to its mouth where many of them get stranded on the bottom. Those that are floating only show about 1/10^thof their mass above the water. The rest is under the water. Tidal currents move the bergs back and forth and often they scrape the bottom depending on their size and the depth of the river. The smaller ones drift out to the sea.

Most icebergs are milky white except for the dark sediment that they carry, but some have a bright blue color caused by the interplay of ice crystals and light. Often seals are seen in the bay but I was not lucky enough to see any. Shoals of herring often enter the bay providing a feast for birds such as Artic terns that come here in large numbers.

I love the south-east part of Iceland. Of course, I loved pretty well all of Iceland. It is hard to tell where the east ends and the south begins. Does it really matter?

We stopped for lunch in the small village of Djúpivogur. Here I decided I had to make a choice between personal bankruptcy or starvation. I chose bankruptcy. Food and drink are incredibly expensive in Iceland. There is no getting around it. Many in our group loaded up with goodies at our hotel each morning to provide a reasonable lunch. The village of Djúpivogur had a lovely little harbour right beside our restaurant. After lunch a quick stroll was in order. I am a sucker for harbours. Especially safe harbours. There were some huge rock carvings of the eggs of various birds that were placed along the harbour.

And the waterfalls did not stop in South Iceland. Far from it. They never stop in Iceland, What a blessing. Here we gasped at the beauty of mountains such as Eystrahorn, which is actually a twin of nearby Vesturhorn. Eystrahorn was the first mountain the Vikings saw when they first came to Iceland. It must have filled them with awe. These are magnificent mountains that stand at the end of a curved fjord. At the mouth of the fjord is a lagoon filled with water from mountain streams and runoff from the Vatnajökull glacier that we saw later. The mountain was visible from Route 1 as we drove by. I wish we could have stopped for better views and better photographs, but as I have learned, you have to dance with the girl you brung.

In this area we saw an astonishing sight. It was so windy that it appeared to us that the wind was pushing water in a waterfall upthe mountain. It was a not a waterfall; it was a water rise. I’m sure it was only some of the water that moved up but it looked unreal from our bus. I know its windy in Iceland, but that would be ridiculous.

We woke to talk of hurricanes. Some of our group feared we would be stuck at our hotel. Our leaders decided it was safe to go. Icelanders have experience with wind. We had been told that in Iceland they have as many windless days as sunny days. Almost none in other words.

We were also told that Iceland is the 3^rdwindiest place in the world and no one lives in the other two. Hoping that our motor coach was not blown off the road we headed out onto the narrow roads of Iceland. And we lived to talk about it.

There was ash in this day that we were told came from the Highlands. Because of deforestation, the soil has largely washed away exposing a lot of volcanic ash all over Iceland. Because it is so windy, much of the ash blows around the country.

We continued to see waterfalls and I continued to photograph them from the bus. The hillsides were gorgeous.

I really wondered if Iceland was the most beautiful place in Europe. Until now I thought that position was held by Switzerland or Croatia. Iceland belongs in that conversation. It might be the most beautiful. once again because stops were few and far between I kept photographing from inside the bus. Beggars can’t be choosers.

Every part of Iceland is enchanting. But, first a confession, I put my  yesterday’s post out of chronological order. I hope no one notices.

After the Krafla area, we continued our journey around Iceland from the north west to the east. We noticed many sheep farms. Iceland has a lot of sheep farms, horse farms and a few dairy farms. Of course sheep have also had an important environmental influence on Ireland. They “helped’ in the process of desertification.  Our motor coach was involved in accident today. The road of Iceland are extremely narrow. Today we paid a price. Our bus collided with a large RV that its mirrors outstretched. Its mirrors and ours met head on and both suffered. We were just very happy it was only the mirrors. It could have been much worse. According to AO the other driver should have pulled in his mirrors after he finished backing up so it was his fault.

We stopped for lunch in Mödrudgurwith its fine little church built by a farmer to honor his wife.

Driving from the north west of Iceland to the east was one of the most exciting rides of my life. I know I have said that before. I love waterfalls and the region was alive with waterfalls. I am convinced there are more waterfalls in Iceland than anywhere else in the world. The only problem was that we could not stop at everyone and I wanted to stop at everyone!

We had only one stop and that was for a sensational waterfall Rjükandafossa lovely winding waterfall. This waterfall, unlike most, had a convenient place to stop and park a large bus. I was very grateful for that. Life was good again. The farther east we drove the more waterfalls we saw. It seemed impossible, but it was true.

In parts of Iceland the plains were set against magnificent mountain snow capped ranges.

We enjoyed the drive through the Dyrfjöll mountain range one of Iceland’s most dramatic. That is saying a lot. My guidebook had a fine description of this valley: “The start of the coast road runs through a steep river valley lined by pencil thin waterfalls at regular intervals—each would be a marvel in other countries, but in Iceland they are just part of the landscape.”

The fact that we could not stop often and the countryside was so beautiful made me break one of my cardinal rules—I photographed from a moving coach. And I even liked some of the results! I really wished we could have stopped at many more waterfalls, but then our trip would have taken 12 months instead of 12 days. What a pity!

Many of the mountainsides, as much of Iceland for that matter is filled with lupines. These are beautiful wild flowers, but to many in Iceland they are considered a nuisance. Since the 1950s the flower has used extensively to cover vast barren areas in order to hold down the soil so it does not wash or blow away. In the meantime in many places the flowers have escaped and invaded the rest of the island to such an extent that the plantings have been considered by many to be too successful. Now many want to eradicate it. Playing god is never an easy job.

OA had asked us what was our favorite of Iceland. That was a very difficult question to answer, but the first place I thought of was this part of Iceland. The scenery was unbelievably beautiful. It started off stark and treeless. That had its own peculiar beauty. Our final destination for the day was Reyδdarfjörδur a wonderful little fishing village at the base of the steepest fjord in the east of Iceland. The town was the site of a huge environmental scuffle when a huge aluminum smelter was built in the area in 2004. 15,000 people showed up to protest it in front of Parliament to no avail. That is a lot of people for such a small country.

On our tour around Iceland we stopped a wonderful little town called  Stöδvarfjörδur. Many of our group walked into Petra’s Stone and Rock Collection store.   A private individual had collected the stones over a life-time of rock collecting. Those who went to see the rock collection were also struck by the garden. We had not been told the garden was interesting. I did not regret my decision.

Walking in town was a serious challenge. I have never experienced wind like I did. I chose instead to walk through town since I thought it looked interesting and it had a very lovely church. I am a sucker for these churches.

The church had been turned into a guesthouse.

There was some art I thought was interesting painted on some buildings around town.

The town was very lovely and the wind did not blow me into the sea. Thank goodness for small mercies. The view across the bay was outstanding. Life was good. I had a fine time in this photogenic  little town.