Iceland Tour, Day 5

Herad-Berjay Hotel – Egilsstadir

I woke up early again after an excellent night’s sleep and decided to take another walk before breakfast. A massive hotel loomed on the lake’s shore, and I must confess, the walk wasn’t the most thrilling, but it did wake me up. After another hearty breakfast, we were ready to set off.

We were now heading down the east coast of Iceland, it was fjord day! We travelled through mountains liberally sprinkled with snow. At one point, I realized that part of the charm of my travels in Iceland lay in the ever-changing skies that beautifully complemented the magnificent scenery. Something I was to reflect on later in the day when mist obscured almost everything!

It wasn’t long before we reached the Faskrudsfjardargong Tunnel. Tunnels are a marvel of engineering and certainly cut many kilometres off one’s journey, but I wondered at the sights I was missing out on while trundling through in the semi darkness. I’m sure there were many!

Trivia: Tunnels in Iceland are usually built to bypass mountain roads which are considered too dangerous in winter. The Faskrudsfjardargong Tunnel is 5.9km long and cuts 31 km off the journey between Reydarfjordur and Faskrudsfjordur.

Emerging from the tunnel, we were greeted by more snow-capped mountains, with the road meandering down through the valley, and alongside the fjord. We made regular stops on our way to Djupivogur but to be honest, there are moments when viewing life through a lens, be it a camera or phone wears a bit thin, so I have few photos from that part of the journey.

I remember that we traveled up one side of a fjord and down the other, then did the same along the next fjord. The water remained to our left and the mountains to our right as we journeyed between them, passing through villages and homesteads as we made our way to our lunchtime destination. The mountains had become enshrouded in mist, growing so dense that our arrival in Djupivogur was an unexpected surprise.

The bus stopped at the harbour and we hopped out to see large round, marble “eggs” lining the edge of the wharf. They were, in fact, eggs!

“The Eggs of Merry Bay” were created by Sigurdur Gudmundsson out of Chinese granite and are an identical shape to the eggs of birds which nest in the area. Located in the old harbor the 34 huge eggs were revealed in August 2009. The largest the egg of the red-throated diver, the official bird of Djupivogur.

It was an impressive sight! I read later that the mountain Bulandstindur, at 1069m, towers over the small fishing town but the mist totally obscured it while we were there.

It was almost time for lunch – but food would have to wait as we were led into Audunn’s Stone and Mineral Collection. He has a collection of some of the most beautiful and varied stones and minerals I have seen and our short time there didn’t seem to do it justice. I made a couple of small purchases but would’ve loved a few of the larger examples. My luggage limit wouldn’t allow so I satisfied myself with a photo of the most unusual. What is it? I have no idea!

Lunch was fish and chips at a nearby cafe/restaurant – well, it was a fishing village so the fish would be fresh. It was, and it was also delicious.

Game of Thrones! I’ve heard of it many times but never watched it. It seems Iceland was used for shooting many of the scenes and our next stop was one of them. I can understand why as the whole country has a wild, old-world aura about it. One which has been harshly shaped by the elements and one which will never be tamed with any certainty.

The landscape on my left changed from mountains to a harsh, flat, scoured plain. There were still mountains on our right but the one disadvantage about being on a tour bus is you are stuck on one side, unless there are spare seats available.

We were on our way to Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon where, hopefully, we’d see icebergs waiting patiently in the lagoon as they slowly melted into small pieces and drifted out to sea. We were in luck!

Trivia: Glacier Lagoon is formed from melted glacial water from the retreating glacier, Vatnajokull, Iceland’s largest glacier. Unfortunately, the glacier is receding visibly year by year, increasing the size of the lagoon as the ice melts.

It was cold! I was never more thankful for the thick down jacket I purchased before I left Australia and all the extra layers I had underneath it. But seeing the huge seal-like iceberg wiped out any uncomfortable feelings I had over my rotund appearance.

More trivia: Glacier Lagoon, a 5hr drive from Reyjkavik, is Iceland’s deepest lake (284m) with a surface area of 18 square kms. Vatnajokull is Europe’s largest glacier covering 8% of Iceland and with an average thickness of 400m.

The icebergs are composed of ice that is over 1000yrs old and are either a milky white or blue, depending on the amount of air trapped in the ice. Dark volcanic ash from ancient eruptions partly covers some icebergs.

Unfortunately, the mist which hovered over the lake completely obliterated the surrounding landscape which I’m sure must have been spectacular.

The whole landscape of the lagoon is constantly changing as the icebergs calve and drift in huge formations towards a narrow exit to the sea where they sit stranded on the silt. Eventually they are small enough to pass through the exit and are shaped by the ocean waves and get deposited on Diamond Beach. Our next destination.

Black sand and a dull, overcast day didn’t lend much colour to my photos, but I was just thankful to see some of the icy diamonds littering the beach. Some blogs and reports I read before my journey told of their disappointment when, on arriving at the beach, the sands were totally bare. I have to admit the “icy diamonds” weren’t very big, but then real diamonds aren’t very big, yet they are much treasured and valuable items. The sight of the small chunks of ice and their weird and wonderful shapes was enough to make me happy and I lost myself taking in their stark black and white landscape.

It was time to make our way to our accommodation for the night. It was a short drive to the Foss Hotel, Glacier Lagoon, a large, black walled, wooden building set in the middle of nowhere with a sauna and gym. I left both to the enjoyment of others on our tour and instead opting for a walk to a nearby waterfall, eager for a bit of solitude after another day travelling through Iceland’s wonderful, iconic landscapes.