Flashback Friday - Finishing the Ring Road 2019

It was the end of the tour, but it did not go out with a whimper.  Our last morning we woke up to a clear sky so we finally got another glorious sunrise. This morning we drove to Hvitserkur.  The land had eroded away leaving clumps of volcanic rock standing stark against the sky.  Legends say they were trolls that were turned to stone as they walked the coastline. 

It was a bit of a scramble to get down to the beach, but the view was incredible.  I found a little piece of ice that mimicked the rock formation for my picture, and then chucked it back into the sea so my image will always be unique!  After we finished and driving back along the main road, I saw a little farm nestled between two mountains that just seemed too perfect to me for a photo stop.

We carried on back towards Reykjavik, having lunch an a lovely little lunch at a small town with a little museum we could explore.  Travelling along we stopped many times to take pictures of the various mountains and rivers along the road.  You really would have to work hard to take a bad picture there!

The tour wrapped back up in Reykjavik, and my family was a little worn out, so the other guest and myself went for one last walk around town and had dinner had a lovely restaurant.  They had some local delicacies on the menu, and while I have tried some weird things while I travel, I did not want to try the fermented shark.  Nor the horsemeat.  I’m not judging! Those just did not appeal to me, to each their own.

It was an absolutely wonderful trip, I came home with thousands of pictures to sort through and an amazing experience with my dad and stepmom.  I still need to go back again, the guide assured us that everyone needs to see Iceland at least twice, once in the winter and once in the summer.  

Flashback Friday - Northern Iceland 2019

 Our drive back towards the west was a little fast than the one east.  There was not quite as much to see in the north of Iceland as our tour wound down.  We started out in the morning headed for Akureyri for lunch. It’s called the capital of the north, and was an absolutely beautiful small town.  It can get very busy in the summer apparently.  It’s another fishing village and a great spot for whale watching tours. 

Along our drive after lunch, we stopped at the Hraundrangi mountain range, which has an interesting spire peak.  Right below it also sits a single isolated farmstead.  I thought it made an absolutely stunning image for the isolation in Iceland. It might be one of my favourite images, though I think it’s under-appreciated as the little house is so small.  

One of the really interesting parts of the tour, as has been mentioned, was the local professional photography expert as our guide.  I learned so much from him, and he knew so many of the best places to take some landscape photography in his county.  He had his camera with him, and used it occasionally.  There was, however, a lot of been there seen that.  So while we were photographing Hraundrangi, we suddenly noted him hurrying down the road way with his camera.  Looking left quickly we spotted the sun and clouds over the mountains that had attracted his attention, so we all followed suit. 

We stopped for sunset along a river with some waterfalls along the road.  In those days at least, there was a lot of common sense assumed for tourists.  Walking past the small caution sign advising us of the cliffs, the guide and I clambered down into the gorge a little way.  The rest of the group was a little more cautious, though still explored the site for some amazing shots.  I don’t think our guide expected me to be quite so bold and to follow him in climbing up to some breathtaking spots for pictures.  I have some many great ones so this post is going to have more than my usual token example.

We stayed that night at a guesthouse in Hunavellir that used to be an old boarding school.  It was quite simple, but a nice spot for our final night before we had to head back to Reykjavik for the end of our tour.  We still had one more sunrise, which was going to be the best one since the first morning of the tour.