On day 3, we drove about 380km / 235 miles from the southern part of the island to the east, hitting some spectacular scenery along the way.
Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon
This impressive canyon was created by progressive erosion from the flowing water through the rocks over a very long period of time (obviously). There is a Chinese saying “drops of water can drill through rocks”. This is a motivating saying that if you keep at it long enough, you will succeed and this is certainly true in the natural world.
We found out that if you keep driving for another 48km on this very rocky road, you can reach the Laki craters, which is created by an eruption in the 18th century. It looks quite interesting and impressive based on google images, but unfortunately, we did not have the time to go it.
On the way to the Vatnajökull national park, we passed by stunning views of the glaciers.
Skaftafell - Vatnajökull
We signed up for a glacier hike. The tour lasted a few hours and provided us with all the necessary gear (e.g., helmets, axe, boots and crampons) for an amazing walk on (part of) the largest glacier in Iceland. It was truly an amazing experience to be surrounded by the glacier. We walked through crevasses, saw melting streams of blue water and the “icefall” (instead of waterfall). It was an awesome experience. For more adventurous people, they also offer ice climbing tours as well, which looks super fun!
There is one other attraction that we skipped called the Svartifoss, which is right next to the glacier. It is a waterfall with the hexagonal columns in the background, which makes it pretty unique. It is a 1-mlie hike one way to reach the waterfall, however, we chose to spend quite a bit of time to see the glacier and therefore didn’t have time to go.
Jökulsárlón
This is a famous glacier lagoon, where you can see icebergs floating on the Atlantic Ocean. The icebergs are basically products of the melting glacier, and the lagoon is getting larger and larger every year while the glacier is shrinking due to global warming.
Diamond Beach
From the Jökulsárlón, you can walk down to the shore to a black sand beach, where the icebergs get washed up to the shore, creating an interesting contrast on the black sand beach. There are also tons of birds flying around and seals sunbathing / swimming in the ocean.
Höfn - Vestrahorn and the viking village
Vestrahorn is 10 mins away from Höfn, and the area was one of the first settlements in Iceland by people from Norway. From the pictures below, you can see the breathtaking view of the mountains. There is a small entrance fee that you will have to pay to go in, but it is totally worth it for this view. We also took a walk down to the Viking village to see the turf houses, which were also very cool.
On the way back from the village to the parking lot, we came across this bird (see pictures below) that kept chirping at us and following us, as if it wanted to kick us out of its territory. Super cute! We have only been in this country for 3 days at this point, and we have already seen so much and have definitely fallen in love with it.
