Golden Circle (continued)
My next day trip was with a different agency, Sterna Travel. The logistics were the same – a small bus picked me up at my hotel, lunch was not included and we stopped for a meal where everyone ordered the food to suit their taste, at the end of the day we were dropped off at our hotels. Our guide was Klaus, a German who like Christina from Nice Travel, was a contractor and not a permanent Iceland resident.
First of all, Klaus took us to see glaciers. The strong wind was pushing our vehicle off the road. Klaus said that sometimes it gets so bad that they have to cancel these trips.
I expected to see pristine white glaciers but they were black from volcanic ash. Years ago, the parking lot was next to the glaciers. The ice retreated quite far, a new road had to be built and the parking lot was moved to be close to the glacier again. Since then, more ice melted, the road was extended once again but the parking stayed where it was. We had to walk 15-20 minutes to get to the glacier.
In fact, in the past few years so much ice and snow melted that Iceland just lost an entire glacier. It was the first time in the history of Iceland when one glacier totally disappeared. The country mourned the loss with a ceremony and a plaque.
Our next stop was Reynisfjara black-sand beach. It is not the kind of beach to where people go for swimming and tanning. They stay there fully clothed enough time to admire the great basalt walls and to take pictures.
The beach was created by lava flowing into the ocean which cooled almost instantly as it touched the water. The panorama and views of the rocks standing in the ocean are stunning.
The drizzle and cold wind made me to seek refuge in the beach café where I had a piece of cake while waiting for our bus departure time. After that, Klaus drove us to that tip on the photo above where the wind was the worst. We braved the elements and walked along the promontory. Mind you that it was July, Iceland happened to have the warmest summer on record and the weather was that rough.
Our last stop of the tour was at waterfalls. One of them, Gljúfrabúi waterfall, is called ‘hidden’ because its location inside the gorge. A path of slippery rocks leads to it. Some people did not want to risk falling and they waded into the icy cold water barefoot to get to Gljúfrabúi. No matter how you walk to it, everyone gets wet there anyway. Water drips on the head from the rock walls, the waterfall sprinkles you from all sides and it may also rain for good measure. Nevertheless, going to Gljúfrabúi is totally worth it. It is one of the prettiest waterfalls that I ever saw.
