Iceland Day 9 - Changing Conditions & More Burgers
As if we were not already driving enough distances on this trip we returned to the Black Beach in Vik for sunrise. Over the course of my photography Career if been to many places, often many times. Different light of day can have such an immense effect on the same location. Vik was no exception to that. Apart from one photography course we were all alone, which by itself was already a huge change. To this day I don't understand how people are going to places like Iceland and not making most of their day by sleeping in until 11am. No complains though. Fewer People, More Photography.
The night must have brought cold and wet weather. Everything was covered in a thin layer of snow - the beach, the cliffs, the columns. Interestingly the sand somehow compounded with the snow which made us sink into the snow while walking. I've never experienced anything like this.
Compared to the day before there were even more photo opportunities. The Snow draw beautiful patterns on the sand, which made to be an outstanding foreground. Also the sunrise had a colorful orange glow. Plus the waves were bigger than in the evening. This was more dangerous but also pretty to watch.
On our list of stops towards Reykjavik the next one was Dyrhólaey. It is known for two things. A cute little lighthouse on a cliff over viewing the black beaches and another cliff that has a hole in it. On the way up we saw a sign for 4-Wheel-Drive only. In front of us there was a different car creeping up the hill. When there was a field of snow about knee deep. The other driver didn't have the courage to try it with his vehicle. After I passed him and plowed the way, he was able to get up as well.
Up there (it was windy - again) the views were crazy. With the sun looking throught the clouds, the blue sea and golden glow Iceland was trying everything to take our breath away. Easy job.
Probably the busiest location for today was Skogafoss. By far the most well known waterfall when it comes to pictures from Iceland. Almost as if this Foss is Iceland's landmark. The fall itself was really beautiful to see but sooo crowded. I think on the bottom there were at least a hundred people or more. Hiking up to the top there must have been another 100 or so. Somehow I managed to get a few shots without the people.
About an hour later we were at what I'd consider one of the most incredibly gorgeous waterfalls I've ever seen. Gljúfrabúi falls about 90 meters high into an almost fully closed of cave. The only way to get into the cave is to walk through the water. Alternatively, you can climb up about half of the cliff and view the water falling from above you into the pool below. We did both. Such a mesmerizing and memorable experience. Down in the cave we were for about 10 minutes. We were wet to our underpants in about 35 seconds. It was worth any minute. Up, on the cliff standing at about 60 meters no rope or safety, hearing the waterfall roaring reflected from all walls got me all weak in the knees.
From there we started our way to the Capital of Iceland and arrived after about two hours drive. After spending some time in our AirBNB to rest up from all our adventures of the day we headed to downtown. We saw the famous church Hallgrimskirkja and started our search to find food for a decent price. Like everywhere in Iceland this tasked proved itself to be difficult. Some time later we ended up eating 20€ burger menus in a random bar. At least the burgers tasted fine.
We started exploring the city, grabbed a tea and went to bed fairly early. Of course, we had to catch up on what we missed the day our flight was delayed. Unfortunately, the police had a problem with that.
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