Category: Iceland

Hey everyone!

This is going to be my last post about my amazing time in Iceland. I’m really excited to be able to share all my summer adventures with you really soon!!

So this is about my last day trip with Sofie, Zuzana, Martin and Stewart. One of the guys I meet on the first northern lights trip suggested a really cool place in the south, called Gljufrabui. We also wanted to check out some more hot pools that were on the way. Sofie did the driving again and I organised and navigated.

At first we were blessed with a stunning sunrise that felt like going on forever. It was definitely a wonderful start to the day. We then drove for a couple of hours before we got to the Gljufrabui. The Gljufrabui is a waterfall within a canyon, that you can only access through water. Because I knew this we all brought towels or spare sets of shoes.

 

If you look closely on the next picture you can see that I was only wearing socks and had my pants pulled up. And yes it was freezing cold especially because the ground was either a small stream or covered in ice. But it was also so worth it. I feel like the pictures don’t do the place its justice. It was so magical in there. So definitely the right decision.

Can you believe that all those three waterfalls are not even a kilometer apart. Crazy how different they are right? So after being inside the canyon we changed shoes and then went for a little stroll around the area to explore and also warm up our feet.

Before we started our way to the hot pools we did another short stop at the Skogafoss where I cought a stranger for my picture. From there on we then drove to the Seljvallalaug. It was a 15 to 20 minutes walk through the nature before we got to the hot pool build into the mountain. And I can now understand why you barely find any pictures of that hot pool in winter. It was definitely not hot so most of us decided not to get in. Only Martin went for a really quick swim before we walked back to the car. We then took a small detour and drove back to the Hrunalaug where I had been before and new the water was actually enjoyable warm!

When we got closer to Reykjavik wind started picking up and it started snowing. We checked the roads on (road.is) just to find out that pretty much all the roads going to Reykjavik where closed. You have to go over a mountain range making it more dangerous. So we had to go all the way around the Reykjanes Peninsula. Meaning a two hour detour before we got back to the hostel. Since we only got back so late and the weather was so stormy, we decided not to go and search for the northern lights that day.

So the next day already marked the last full day in Iceland. I decided to spoil myself with spending the day at the Blue Lagoon which unfortunately isn’t the cheapest. I got picked up at 7.30 and then driven to the Blue Lagoon. I pretty much spend the whole day relaxing in the lagoon. Talking to people, chilling in the water, trying out face masks or spending some time in the sauna and steam baths. The weather hasn’t been the best at first (rain or hail) but stopped later and eventually the sun came out. I just did not manage to get a proper picture of it.  It was a nice last day but I think it would have been more fun going with a group of friends.

Because our flight was fairly early (and we would have had to take the shuttle at 3am otherwise) we both individually decided to just spend the night at the airport. Together with Rachel and Andrew we drove to a remote place hoping for some last northern lights. We weren’t lucky but still had a nice evening with good conversations. After that we all waited together. I actually managed to get 3 hours of sleep in. Rachel left a little bit before us and around 6 we checked in our bags and went through security to make our way to Copenhagen.

For those of you wondering, what I am unto right now. I got to Cape Town last night and now have 6 days to explore the city and the area around it before heading to George where Im going to start my second volunteering project in an Animal Sanctuary.

Lena xx

Hey guys,

First of all I want to apologize for not posting in quite a while. As some of you might now, I’m currently doing a volunteering project at DAKTARI in South Africa. DAKTARI is a wildlife orphanage combined with a bush school. So I am really busy teaching kids and taking care of the animals. I will do a blogpost about it really soon!! So that is the reason why I did not find much time to choose the photos, edit and write the post lately.

Now coming back to the wonderful day on the Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland. I met a girl that was staying in the bed next to me and we realised we were on the same flight to Copenhagen. So we started planning what we wanted to do with the rest of our time. We decided to rent a car for 2 days and do two different day trips.

As always we did not have any plan. We just drove around the peninsula and figured on the go if there was any places we wanted to see. The first stop was at this cool lighthouse. Its not actually in use anymore but it was way prettier than the new one. Afterwards we walked between the continents. It is a space where the two plates drift apart creating a weird spot in the middle of nothing.

The next stop was at the beautiful coastline in the south of the peninsula. It was crazy how diverse it is there. On on side you have the lava fields with all the geothermal activity and on the other side rough cliffs and an endless view over the ocean.

Another stop at a pretty cool lookout point over the ocean. We read that there was supposed to be another hot pool but it turned out to be just a rock pool at the cliffs that you definitely could not swim in.

 

After we passed Grindavik we decided to do a small detour to the outreaches of the blue lagoon. It is really a very fascinating place. It was really weird to imagine that you can swim in it because the parts where you can walk along to were not really warm. Before coming back to Reykjavik we stopped at this huge lake. It was quite hard to actually see where the lake ended and where the snowy mountains started because it was completely frozen over. Must be a stunning place in summer.

I hope you will all forgive me for not posting for so long.

Lena xx

Hey guys,

As you probably know now, I spent my birthday in Iceland this year. At first I wasn’t really looking forward to it because I didn’t have anyone to spend my time with, but it ended up not being as bad as I thought. It was actually quite a nice day.

So the day before my birthday I still had no idea what I was going to do. I then met Antonio in the common area of the hostel while I was editing some pictures and preparing a post for you. We started talking and I found that he was into photography as well. He told me that he was going on a trip with a local, who was a hobby photographer as well and asked me if I wanted to join. We  had to leave by 7.30 but I think that was worth it.

We didn’t know where we were going so it was a total surprise trip. Also there was another German boy joining us that we did not know about. After quite bit of driving towards the south we stopped at the first waterfall. The Hjalparfoss. It was a nice place and we were able to walk down to the water but also up the rocks to get a few different perspectives.

After we spend maybe half an hour there, Sveinn (the local) asked the couple that pulled up to the parking spot if they wanted to join us for another cool area. We weren’t sure of the weather conditions so it would be safer to go with another car that could pull us out or the other way around. It took a while but we eventually made it there!

It was a really interesting place, because we got the chance to walk around quite it bit. We saw a lot of different things. More Waterfalls, rivers flowing down, caves, snowy pathways etc. Also we had really typical Icelandic weather. It changed every few minutes. So we had blue skies, snow, nice sunlight, clouds, …

We tried to get to another waterfall but the road was too bad and it was already to late to walk all the way so we went to another location. It was another really different waterfall. We spend a little time there and started driving back. Before actually getting to Reykjavik we had another really quick stop with a cool view. The only thing that was a bit disappointing is that it was already really dark and it started snowing again too, so we could not see too much.

After getting back, I got myself a pizza for dinner and then sat in the bar area with a few people. We had some nice chats, ate some carrot cake I bought, drank a Sumersby and opened a few small presents. It was a really nice end to the day!!

Lena xx

Hey guys!

So after all those days of getting up early for all the trips and getting to bed really late after the various hunts for northern lights, I needed some sleep and time to relax and plan, I decided to take a few days off.

I managed to get a lot of sleep in, bought myself my favourite cookies and then planned a bit.

After realizing I budgeted quite well, I decided to fulfill my dream of doing a horse riding tour on the Icelandic Horses. Although it was really expensive I really enjoyed my time here. Its crazy to think that its the only breed that has more than 3 gaits. It took me a while to get used to the tölt but after a while I really loved spending the time there.

As you can see the weather wasn’t the best, but who cares? That trip made me realise how much I miss going horse riding regularly. When I come back to Germany I will try to find the time to do it maybe once a week again.

I went for another walk around the city and captured this beautiful sun set at the Hallgrímskirkja. Later that night a girl from Couchsurfing took me and another guy from my hostel to go for another hunt for the northern lights. Sadly she was late by nearly an hour so we missed most of them. We still got to see them a little but I was too slow to set up my camera. Instead I got this really cool picture by accident, because a car decided to ruin my photo. If you look closely you can still the fine line of the northern lights.

I found lots of great foods in the ‘Free Food’ area of my hostel so I enjoyed some great meals at those days. I had a late breakfast with apple and raisins pancakes (all for free) and later that day Andrew, Nick and I (two guys I met at the hostel) made an awesome pasta bake (I only bought some spring onions to spice it up a little).

 

Remember when I was talking about that hot river up in the mountains that we tried to get to but had to turn around on our day to the Stormy South? I met a girl at my hostel, Sofie, and she still had a car for the next day and was up for going there again. This time we left in the morning and planned to have more than enough time. We got to enjoy a beautiful sunrise before we started the walk up into the mountains. It took us about an hour and we really enjoyed the wonderful nature around us. We even met some crazy people who were camping out in the cold.

We spend nearly two hours in the hot river. While being there we jumped into the snow a couple of time which was so much fun. We then started our way back to the car. The way down was quicker than the way up. On the way back it even started to snow so we were quite happy that we got out of the mountains early enough.

I know there is not too much to share about these relaxing days in the capital, but it was well needed so I hope you can forgive me.

Lena xx

Hey everyone!

As you can tell by the amount of posts that you find about the south coast of Iceland (Beautiful South, Stormy South and now this one), I do like that part of Iceland quite a bit. This trip was one of my favourite ones! First of all because we went further than we did all the other times and managed to see the magical glacier lagoon at Jökurlsalon. Also I really enjoyed being on the go for a bit longer than just the day. We went for three days in total which gave us lots of time to explore. It was great how well Xo and I got along, so that made the trip extra special.

Xo picked me up at the rental place (where I had dropped of my car from the last few days) and then we drove towards the Golden Circle. We had quick stop at the Gullfoss and at the Geysir area again.

We also had another stop at another meadow full of Icelandic horses. I know you have seen them already but they are just too cute not to post at least a few other pictures of them.

After that we did another stop at the golden circle that I hadn’t really heard of before but Xo suggested: The Friðheimar. The Friðheimar is a restaurant within a big tomato greenhouse. It is a really cool place. All the products (food and tomato cocktails etc.) are made with tomatoes harvested in the greenhouse. And although I am not the biggest tomato fan I really enjoyed the soup with some super yummy bread too!

When we started driving from there, I realised that I had saved a natural hot pool not too far from there, so we decided to stop there as well. It was amazing. A really beautiful place in the wilderness and I also met some nice people and had a good chat with them.

From there on we pretty much just drove to Vík. We had some really good chats and enjoyed the ever changing landscape around us. Since we had a big 4×4 (so lots of space) and it was also not that cold (actually raining lots) we decided to just sleep in the car. I ate some more of the bread from earlier the day, edited some pictures and worked on the blog and then curled up in my sleeping bag for the night. It wasn’t too cold, so we both survived but also decided we were going to find a hostel for the next day to have a shower and cook some food maybe.

The next morning we drove a few hours to Jökulsárlón. There is a river that meets a glacier there and forms this amazing glacier lagoon with icebergs floating around and just a really calm atmosphere. Isn’t it beautiful?! We walked around there quite a bit and if you had good eyes (or a telephoto lens) you could even see some seals lying in front of the glacier.

Really close to the glacier lagoon you will find the diamond beach. Its were the river flows into the ocean leaving all those little icebergs back on the black beach. It is such a fascinating place… Imagine coming here in summer… its warm around you but you can still find the ice on the beach.

After that really magical trip we drove back towards Vík. Stopped at the Reynisfjara again, had a quick stroll before sunset and then drove to our hostel at Skogafoss. We both enjoyed a hot shower and had some relaxed time at the hostel. That was the night when my blog decided not to work anymore and I had to face those really annoying technical problems.

The next morning before driving back to Reykjavik we decided to visit the Insta-famous plane wreck just five minutes away from Skogafoss. We parked the car and then walked towards the United States Navy Douglas Super DC-3 airplane sitting on the Sólheimasandur black sand beach. It is said to be a great photo spot but I did not like it too much. Especially since although we started really early there was annoying people there so we had to take ages to get a shot without people in it.

So I hope that although you haven’t been there with me I could at least show you some sparks of the magic. There where some really special places and I enjoyed the trip a lot!!

Lena xx

Hey everyone!

Some of you probably know that while being in Iceland I have definitely visited some places twice, a few even three times. You might think that is boring but believe me the weather not only changes so quickly in Iceland it can also be pretty different. One day it might be snowy and extremely windy, the other its sunny but way colder, then it rains but you get a beautiful sunset,… You see it never gets boring. And the same goes for visiting places. Its so different every time you go. Not only because of the weather but also because you go with different people and focus on different things.

So this post is another post about coming back.

I came back to the south of the island. This time in really stormy weather. But still beautiful and a cool day.

I drove all the way to the Reynifjara beach close to Vik. The two Irish guys and another friend of theirs came along this time. When we got out of the car we definitely had to hold on to our cloths (Con still managed to got his hat taken from the wind). We had to lean against the wind and walk carefully to make it there without being blown over.

Because of the snow on top of the small black pebbles the contrast seemed even more extrem. After our small adventure in the wind we were happy to get back to the car and drove to Skogafoss. It was still really windy and even started snowing. That just made it look soo different compared to the sunny day with a beautiful sunset.

We walked all the stairs up to the top to experience the view from up there. I actually counted the steps but didn’t write it down so I sadly forgot. We also managed to make use of the tripod (I’m only slowly getting the hang of using it regularly) and took a group picture together in front of the massive waterfall.

From there we drove a bit further towards Reykjavik to the Seljalandsfoss. It was a first because we had to skip it on our last trip due to the lack of time. It is another pretty cool waterfall where you can, if the weather is not to bad, can walk all the way behind.

Sadly the weather was ‘too bad’ to do just that though. You can probably imagine that it was already hard enough to walk up those stairs and the rest of the way was even worse. The following picture is not that interesting but you can see the place where the way is supposed to be and understand why we did not want to try our luck.

I had heard of this hot river only half an hour away from Reykjavik and after this windy and snowy day we were all up for some relaxed time in the hot spring. The only thing we hadn’t realised that to get to the river you would first have to hike into the mountains for roughly an hour.

At some point we realised that we probably won’t be able to make it to the river, enjoy some time there and then walk back all the way before the sun would set. We did not really want to walk back in the dark because some parts of the way were pretty slippery and one of the guys was only wearing Nikes which made it extra hard. So we just enjoyed the nature and the fact that we actually got to move around a bit.

You can see in the picture that the moon came out already and we were happy we didn’t stay in those mountains for too long and got back to Reykjavik to relax a bit. First we wanted to head out for another search of northern lights but because the forecast was so bad and it was also extremely cloudy I just stayed at the hostel.

That was it about me and another cool day trip around Iceland. I love to hear some feedback from you guys. No matter if good or bad, please let me know so I know what to work on!!

Lena xx

Hey Guys!

The Golden Circle. That phrase may sound familiar if you’ve read my previous posts. And that is because on my first day trip we already went to two of the major sights on the golden circle, Gullfoss and the Geysirs.

Yes, we did the whole circle again and that might seem boring in the beginning. But this time we had awesome weather!! We could actually experience the golden circle. There was beautiful sunlight all day which immersed the nature in this stunning golden light.

This time it was me driving and organising. Kitti (the Romanian girl that joined me the day before) and Liam and Con (two Irish guys) joined me this time. We started at the Gullfoss and although it was the second time seeing it, it was still breathtaking.

 

We were able to enjoy more of the golden light at the Geysir area. That was definitely way more enjoyable than the snow storm last time!!

Because of the water steam and the cold temperature some really cool ice formations on the bushes in the area were created. Aren’t they beautiful?! Also another picture of the Stroker Geysir eruption.

From the Geysir area we drove towards the Thingvellir National Park. A stop that we sadly had to skip last time due to the bad weather and lack of time. It is such a beautiful area! We got there just in time for sunset and ended up walking around for more than 1,5 hours.

Of course we found another smaller waterfall while exploring the area and enjoyed the amazing lookout points.

Before heading home we walked towards the Silfra. The Silfra is a rift formed by the two tectonically plates drifting away from each other. The rift is 63m deep and used for lots of snorkeling and diving tours. The water is ridiculously clear!! We were able to see quite a bit although it was already getting dark and we didn’t go in.

After exploring the national park we then drove to a supermarket back in Reykjavik, bought some food, had dinner and relaxed a bit before heading out for another adventure of searching for the northern lights. We were lucky to actually see them with our own eyes this time! They weren’t that bright but we got to see different colours. Look closely and you will see the green, pink and yellow patches.

 

So much about the trip around the golden circle! One last thing I want to share with you. I just got a Facebook message from a girl working at the bus company I used for getting to Reykjavik in the beginning of my trip. She told me that somebody dropped off my passport holder and they are now going to send it to me!!! So happy about that. Lets just hope its gonna arrive before leaving to South Africa so I don’t have to apply for a new passport etc.

Lena xx

Hey Guys!

So since I got here I have been really happy that my mum convinced me to get those trekking pants (thanks mum!!) because they just kept me really warm and dry. But I got to the point were I got sick of always wearing the same thing all the time and I needed a change. So this has been the first day of wearing jeans. Not just jeans but with warm functional underwear underneath. But don’t worry this post not going to be about clothes but its going to be about the day of lots of firsts.

The first day of starting off with -10 degrees, the first day of renting out a car by myself, the first day of driving through Iceland, the first day of driving on a closed road,…

You see lots of firsts!

So that day started off with me walking to the car rental place, organising everything there and then picking up the people that would join me that day. It was a Ukrainian couple and a girl from Romania. Our plan was to check out the Snaefellsnes peninsula and on the way there we wanted to stop at Hraunfossar and Barnafoss.

Of course we stopped at some small waterfalls on the way again. And we saw a beautiful sunrise around 12pm again, which still feels so weird. And then there was one of the firsts going on… we checked the road conditions (on road.is) quite late and didn’t figure out that on our way we’d have a closed road so we just kept driving. At some point there was lots of snow on the road and those patches were starting to be there more often. So at some point I got Kitti (the Romanian girl) to check again and she realised we were actually driving on a closed road. Neither of us four had seen a sign and we managed to get out of there safely but it was definitely an experience!!

We stopped at the Hraunfossar waterfall and went for a short stroll. The Hraunfossar was so different to the other waterfalls I had seen again. It was more like small waterfalls close to each other but it still had something really fascinating to it. Just up the river you’d find the Barnafoss.

 

From there on we started driving up north and stopped for some horse petting again! Compared to the last stop those horses where definitely used to being feed by people and always tried to eat your jacket.

We then drove all the way to the Ytri Tunga Beach and walked down to the beach. It was already around 4pm so we got to experience a stunning sunset over the ocean. Also it was really weird seeing the snow meet the sand.

 

Walking along the coast we got quite close to the seals down at the beach which was pretty cool!! The others got too close to them (what I found) they even scared one into the water so it felt good leaving too.

 

After that we didn’t have too much time left to explore the national park in the west so we just drove to the Kirkjufell mountain again.

I had a short rest before driving all the way back to Reykjavik. We checked out another hot spring but it got crazy windy and in the dark it was too hard to find so we didn’t go. It was a bit of a shitty ending because we got back really late and then the Ukrainians acted up with the money. They didn’t want to pay the fee for the ATM which was around 1€ and it was just really annoying.

But I still really enjoyed the trip. Oh and before I forget… here is the only picture I actually have of me wearing jeans.

Lena xx

 

Hey Everyone!

So I’ve explored the area around Reykjavik and the north, so it worked out just fine when I met three American girls in my dorm room in the hostel that wanted to drive down south the next day and invited me to join in. So how could I say no to exploring places I haven’t been to with nice company?!

 

I know I’m repeating myself but just the drive was already so worth it. Iceland countryside just has something so fascinating to it that makes you never want to look away. Especially when there is such great weather as there was on that day.

We drove along the Highway 1 (the road that takes you all the way around the island) towards Vík. Shortly before we got to that little town we turned off to go to the Reynisfjara Beach. You must know that all the way along the south coast the beaches aren’t white but black. And the Reynisfjara Beach is a great spot to go down and walk along the coast.

 

Just look at this picture of the crazy contrast!! The white iced water from where the waves broke and then the dark black pebbles of the beach.

 

But you don’t just find the black beaches with its crazy contrast at Reynisfjara, but also some pretty cool rock formations. Imagine that this was all created by mother natures forces.

 

Aren’t they cool?! After a short stroll on the beach we started driving back towards Reykjavik with a lot of stops on the way back. First stop was driving up a hill and going for a walk around there. The views were awesome!! Overlooking the long black beaches and then the hillside on the other side. Also we found this awesome icy arch.

 

From there on we drove another 15 minutes to get to the Skógafoss. It was crazy because it just looked so different to the Gullfoss. It was so much higher but narrower. But just look for yourself:

 

 

Finishing off the day with a beautiful sunset. Oh, and just in case you haven’t had a good laugh today here is a small clip for you. Alexis is a cheerleader and usually does this in her sleep but not in cold Iceland.

Enjoy your day!

Lena xx

Hey Everyone!

First of all I want to apologize that you guys had to wait so long for the next post. I had to face a few technical problems that didn’t allow me to upload any pictures. It took them a while to fix and that’s why although the post was ready a week ago I wasn’t able to post it until now.

I hope you are all alright and enjoying your life as much as I am. So when I got back from my trip around the golden circle I spend quite a few hours contacting people on Couchsurfing and on this Iceland group on facebook to find people that I could go on a trip with. I eventually got a few different options and found a guy, Jonathan, I could even join the next day to go up north for a four-day trip and discover that part of the country. So I took my chance and joined in.

We hadn’t really planned anything, so while we started our trip towards the north I read lots of flyers, and travel guides and checked the internet for places to see and especially places to stay the night.

We wanted to go up to Hellissandur on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula but a big storm came up and by the time we got there it was too dark to see anthing. So we did not see much that day. It was more of a driving day. At least we stopped at this little waterfall along the way while the weather was still good. There is literally so many of them that if you’d stopped at every single one you would not get anywhere.

We ended up being the only ones at the hostel/apartment we stayed at so we just relaxed, made some dinner, had a shower and went to bed.

The next day started with the nicest weather I had so far on my trip. The sun would actually start to rise while we drove along the north coast of the peninsula. By the time we got to Kirkjufell we had beautiful light and I think that was definitely my hightlight of the trip so far.

You could see the Kirkjufell Mountain behind that beautiful waterfall, while the sun started rising, sending its rays over the coast. We then walked over to the water and were amazed by all the beautiful reflections in the water.

We then drove further east, had a small stop in Stykkisholmur (a small fisher town at the coast of the peninsula) and then stopped in Laugar, where we were trying to find a natural hot spring I had read about on the internet. But before we got there we managed to get stuck at the parking spot. It took us a while and lots of helping hands to get out of there, but we finally made it.

Don’t worry guys I’m not that crazy, the water was actually quite warm and that little hut up there was a small changing room so it was not that bad. It was actually pretty nice and relaxing. We then drove all the way to Akureyri in the north of Iceland, had some dinner at a hostel and then tried to catch the northern lights but didn’t have any luck.

The next morning we drove to the Myvatn area. That is a volcanic area placed around a big lake with lots of craters and hot pools. But due to the snow you could not really see much and the hot pools were to cold to go in so I definitely will have to come back in summer and check that place out. We did stop at the Grjótagjá though. A cave that was formed by the two tectonical plates drifting away from each other. It was too dark to take a picture inside though but that’s what it looked like from the outside.

On the way back we stopped at the Godafoss and walked there in crazy wind. But it was so worth it.

We also stopped to pet some Icelandic horses and of course take some pictures too. Depending on how well I will budget until the end of the trip I might even go on a horse riding tour before I leave!

We stayed at Grabrók the night and had the place to ourselves again. The following day we went back to Reykjavik. We tried another natural hot spring on our way back but sadly that was only luke warm, so I didn’t really wanna get in.

I’d love to hear how you guys are doing. So maybe text me or leave a comment below!

Lena xx