Skaftafell
After we had put our suitcases in the car and doing some grocery shopping, we started the journey to Skaftafell and the Glacier Lagoons. We rented a studio for 1 night in ‘the Potato Storage’. It was located near the Skaftafell visitor center where the walks to Svartifoss (black basalt waterfall) and the Skaftafell glacier departed.
On the way to our accomodation, we stopped at Laufskálavarða, the Green Lava Walk, the Fjaðrárgljúfur Gorge, Foss á Síðu and Foss Midway li la lo. Then we headed to the visitor center to do the walk to Svartifoss. So beautiful !
Laufskálavarða was a field with stacked stones from where we had a great view of the glaciers.
The Green Lava Walk was a short but picturesque walk along a marked trail. We thought that it was really worth a quick stop because from the trail we had a fantastic view of the lava rocks that were covered in beautiful green moss. The moss itself was very delicate, so visitors of this attraction should absolutely stick to the trail.
The Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon was really stunning. It became very popular after it appeared in a Justin Bieber’s video. The government had to close the area for a while to avoid further damage to the environment.
The two waterfalls, Foss á Síðu and Foss Midway li la lo, do not really require a stop for visitors that have only limited time, but we managed to squeeze them in.
Our last stop before arriving at our accommodation was the Skaftafell Visitor Center. It provided all types of info about the Vatnajökull National Park. We were interested in doing the Svartifoss walk and maybe continuing to see the Skaftafellsjökull glacier. So we looked at the different options and combinations of possible hikes. In the end we did not make it to the glacier, but seeing the Svartifoss waterfall and some others along the way, was already a perfect end of the afternoon. Svartifoss was really beautiful and you noticed immediately that it was one of the more popular attractions in the South. The basalt columns were so special, unbelievable that this was a creation by nature. A photographer’s dream !
Glacier Lagoons
Meanwhile it was almost 5pm and we decided to check in into our residence for the night. Klaus gave us a warm welcome and showed us the studio. Fantastic!!! Then we quickly had something to eat after which we left to experience the sunset at one of the glacial lakes. It was very special. We first had to drive half an hour but it was completely worth it! We decided to see the sunset at Fjallsárlón (the lesser known of the two) and we certainly weren’t the only ones with this idea.
Afterwards we continued our visit to the Jökulsárlón glacier lake and we also walked to the other side of the bridge to see the ‘Diamond Beach’.
The latter was so named because the ice blocks that washed up on the shore resembled diamonds. Unfortunately there were not many as we had seen in pictures on the web, but it was sufficient to get an idea.
The next morning we visited the glacier lagoons for the second time and the atmosphere was very different from the evening before (also more visitors). We now saw more seals but capturing them on photo was still not easy. We only saw their heads above the water for a short while and then they disappeared again.
We also met the Dutch couple again that we spoke the day before during our Svartifoss walk. They were considering doing the excursion with the boat on the lake. We decided not to because we thought that the view from the shore was already great. I also have to admit that I am not a big fan of kayaking but the ones that were doing it seemed to have a lot of fun…
Höfn and the Pakkhús Restaurant
Then we drove to Höfn where we slept in an old milk factory (the Milk Factory). Along the way we often had spectacular views, glaciers and mountains reflected in pools along the way.
A highlight of the day was certainly our dinner, which I had been looking forward to since in Belgium… The Restaurant apparently had very tasty lagoustine dishes if we were to believe Tripadvisor. It was not possible to reserve a table so it was normal to find long queues after 6-7 pm.
Luckily we were just in time to score a seat and the food was indeed super! Mackerel, salmon, wild duck, lamb, cod, the lagoustines and to finish, a Créme Brûlée with licorice (yes licorice is a specialty here!).
This was a great end of our trip along the South coast of Iceland. Tomorrow we had a a long drive ahead of us as we would drive along the eastern fjords to Egilsstaðir.
