Ailsa at Where’s My Backpack ? wants us to use our senses – and one of the places where most senses are at work is the Jokhang temple in Tibet. The dense smoke and all the people – eating, waiting, praying…
…and the Tibetan landscape…its vastness and immense beauty, Its total silence is overwhelming.
Late – and early. Midnight sun, Nordkapp, Norway
More of late here. Remember, it is never Too late…to join in!
Ailsa’s Travel theme goes all the way to Tibet this Friday – See more Flutter here.
Thousands and thousands of prayer flags, fluttering over the mountain roads.
Böneflaggorna sänder bönerna mot himlen
Gullfoss (the Golden Falls) has its origin in the glacier lake Hvítávatn (the White River Lake) at Lángjökull glacier about 40km north of Gullfoss. The river Hvítá flows into a wide curved three-step ”staircase” and then abruptly plunges in two stages (11 m and 21 m) into a crevice, seemingly vanishing into the earth, 32 m down. The crevice is about 20 m wide, and 2.5 km in length, and the average amount of water running over this waterfall is 140 m³/s in the summertime and 80 m³/s in the wintertime.
Over the years, there has been much speculation about using Gullfoss to generate electricity. However, the investors’ attempts have been unsuccessful, partly due to lack of money. The waterfall now belongs to the state of Iceland,
Legend has it that Sigríður Tómasdóttir, the daughter of the former owner of the falls, Tómas Tómasson, was determined to preserve Gullfoss as it had always been, and even threatened to throw herself into the waterfall. The story of the saviour of the falls is unfortunately… not true. But beautiful it is – there is even a statue made of Sigríður, standing close to the site.
When visiting Gullfoss, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Iceland, we were in for one of the most icy cold shocks ever. The air temperature maybe 8 degrees below zero – but the strong wind made it feel like -30 something.
Three of us ventured out of the car, well prepared, but faces and fingers still suffered severely. Not the best circumstances for good shots – despite sun and clear sky. We ”fired” for about five minutes, then tried to reach the car without breaking any arms, legs or cameras.
Fortunately the path to the cliffs was closed – trying to reach the ”platform” could have ended your life. During summer this spot offers a spectacular view of the falls.
But, surely you can see the golden light of the Golden Falls…even in winter?
The walk to reach the rails was not successfully made by more than 10-15 people during our short stay. It was not possible to come closer for another angle of the crevice.
Trying to regain some body heat, we were delighted to dive into the warm car and follow the glacier river Hvitá down stream.
The sunset painted the surrounding landscape using mostly short sweeps of the brush…
…leaving only few white light spots around the corner of the hills. Soon the Icelandic evening was upon us.
Our plan was to go to The Secret Lagoon for a hot bath – the perfect ending of any day. In fact, every day was ended off with bathing in hot pools – which is a great habit with the Icelanders. Their bathing culture is strong, and they make it clear to every visitor that they have to take off their clothes and shower thoroughly without swimsuit. This is a must before entering the pools.
Here a gallery of hot pools and earthen baked bread and hot coffee…I hope you are inspired!
Heading for the Geysir area in the cold of the morning. There is not much traffic in Iceland, and they do not sand or salt their roads.
This is post number six on Iceland, and there is one or two more to come. If you have missed out on the other ones, here are the links.
A Taste of Reykjavik, Heading for South Iceland, More South Iceland Magic, Land of Ice and Fire, Landscapes of Iceland, Thingvellir.
As usual- click the pictures to enlarge.
Open sky, and the coldest day so far…my hands were quite stiff from the start. Strong wind and we were told not to open more than one door at a time …
Slowly the sun opened up the landscape. – 12 degrees and no possibility to leave the car because of the icy road, the wind and the cold.
The small farmsteads all awake – the horses too.
All of them a bit far from the road –
– but we waited patiently…
The Geysir area was not crowded with people today, so we gathered around Strokkur – that spouts every 8-10 minutes, 20-30 metres, sometimes with a double puff.
After warming up our hands and faces inside the restaurant, we talked about Geysir being the first Geysir in the world – and giving name to all existing Geysirs. He is no longer active, even if he came back to life for some months after the last volcano eruption.
Sadly enough it was impossible to walk up to Geysir this time – As you can see in the header, the ice made it nearly impossible without risking your life…
In the heated car, we headed for Gullfoss and the river Hvitá – White, in English. Many glacier rivers are named Hvitá because of their colour.
On the road we finally met Icelandic horses close-up. They were standing quite still with the tough wind coming from behind.
These horses came to Iceland with the Norse Vikings, in the 9th-10th century, and there has been no cross breeding for 1000 years. This means that there is no purer breed anywhere in the world. The Icelandic horses are small, long-lived and hardy. In their native country they have few diseases. In fact, Icelandic law prevents horses from being imported into the country and exported animals are not allowed to return.
I think you agree with me that they are also extremely beautiful!
On leaving Vik, the landscape slowly turned into even darker earth colours. A last glimpse of the church half way up in the mountains.
Just around the mountain ridge, the landscape opened up to the sea again.
A glacier river graced the crossroads. Mýrdalsjökull in low light.
Arriving at Seljalandsfoss, Vestmannaeyar just sat in my lens…again.
The sun setting over the faraway islands, almost made me forget the Bride’s veil, Seljalandsfoss, waiting for us on the mountain.
Fire on the left hand side – and ice on the other..
I do not understand how someone could have managed to get behind the falls this day – the icy path made us stay away from trying…But, as you can see, someone did.
I wonder what sort of shoes you must wear to manage this! Where is the path? This is the rail to the steps…
Windows capturing the last of the setting sun over Vestmannaeyar.
We slowly returned to Reykjavik, silent and very satisfied with this glorious day.
As we only had a few days in Iceland, we wanted to show our friends a piece of Route No 1. Luckily we were blessed with a sunny day, even though the sun this time of the year only is up between 11 a.m and 4 p.m.
We started off around 10 a.m to be on the road for the sunrise.
And soon, the sky turned yellow and orange, revealing the hot springs steaming.
On our right side, the sun was awakening, and I waited for the first rays to hit the mountains on our left side. A creamy lilac across the snowy white.
Soon Hekla, the most famous volcano – and one of the most active ones (last eruption 2000) – crowned the wheaten landscape in all her glory. The farms still there below her snowcapped face.
Faraway at sea – a glimpse of Västmannaeyar with Heimey. We wanted to go there with our friends, but unfortunately the ferries took a longer route this time of the year. And I can still, vividly, remember how heavy the sea was last time we went. And, how sick I got from it…
These islands are otherwise well worth visiting. Maybe best in summer though. Puffins and other birds nesting, and you can still see the lava stream from the latest eruption burying houses and almost the harbour as well.
Along the south coast, the road is straight and easy to drive. The beautiful low, golden light followed us throughout the journey.
For today, we finish at Eyafjallajökull. Further along the road we will visit Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss – and of course Vik, with its black beach and roaring waves.
Travel theme at Ailsa’s – Waves. Mine are lava waves – show us Your interpretation! Click here for inspiration.
Cee is asking us to present something faraway. Switzerland is rather representative for this in its landscapes. I chose one traditional photo of a glacier for the concept ”faraway” and the other one following Cee’s example with something up front, close, and then the rest faraway.
Machines I’m impressed by are the mountain trains – here in Switzerland. They climb, sometimes very steep, several thousands of metres and they go down the same way. Seemingly undisturbed, effortless. And they are comfortable as well.
For Sylvain Landry. What machines are you impressed by? Join in and let us know!
Leya 
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