Iceland

The Golden Circle

In Meenu's words, 2022Europe vs America. The wall behind is the tectonic plate that separates Europe and North America.

Our first three nights were in a log cabin near Geysir, and we spent the days around the Golden Circle. At Geysir a column of water and steam shot up into a grey sky. Gullfoss poured over its wide steps in clouds of spray. At Kerið, Meenu stood on the crater's rim in the wind, with the blue lake below.

At Þingvellir we crouched on the boardwalk in front of that wall. Nearby, Öxarárfoss tumbled over dark rock into a clear, fast river.

The highlands

For the next two nights we stayed at Afternoon Cottages and headed inland. At Sigöldufoss a row of falls poured over mossy rock into a pool of bright turquoise, and snow still lay on the hills behind.

At Landmannalaugar the river spread across wide gravel beds below dark hills. One mountain was furred in moss so green that Meenu tagged it #matchamountains. We also made it to Kerlingarfjöll, where a milky stream ran down through rust and ochre hills between patches of snow.

The south coast

In Meenu's words, 2022The drive from Vik to Þakgil was super scenic and one of the best so far, thanks to one of the locals who recommended this!

At Seljalandsfoss Horizons our room had big windows onto the grass, and Meenu filmed a room tour. We walked behind Seljalandsfoss and looked out through the falling water. Close by, Gljúfrabúi hides inside a narrow gorge, and Meenu stepped inside to stand in its spray. At Skógafoss she looked tiny at the foot of the falls, and at Kvernufoss the spray threw a rainbow across the rocks.

Further east, the ice of Sólheimajökull was streaked black with volcanic ash. At Reynisfjara we climbed onto the basalt columns above the black beach, with the sea stacks standing offshore. In Vík we found the white church with the red roof on its green hillside, then drove up the valley road to Þakgil, all green slopes and jagged rock.

Jökulsárlón and Stokksnes

Between Vík and the glaciers we stopped at Eldhraun, a lava field under a carpet of moss up to 60 cm thick. We also stopped at Fjaðrárgljúfur, a deep green canyon where Game of Thrones filmed Jon and Daenerys's first dragon flight.

Then came two nights at Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon. On Jökulsárlón we zipped into yellow flotation suits and rode a zodiac right up to the glacier's face. The black bands in the ice mark major eruptions. We passed icebergs striped blue and black, and on Diamond Beach, chunks of ice lay stranded on the black sand.

Our next night was at Viking Cafe, at Stokksnes. We walked out between grassy dunes on the black sand below the mountain. When we came back to our room, a sheep and her lamb were sheltering outside the window.

Mývatn, Dettifoss and Húsavík

In Meenu's words, 2022These magnificent mammals were a treat to watch out in the wild blue sea!

From Stokksnes we drove north to Einishus Cottages, our home for three nights. Meenu tagged Dettifoss as Europe's most powerful waterfall, and she stood on the rocks above it with the spray rising behind her.

Near Mývatn, the ochre and rust ground at Námafjall Hverir steamed around milky blue pools. A thousand metres down it's over 200 °C. The smell is hydrogen sulphide, and sulphur was once mined in Iceland for gunpowder. We walked the black gravel rim of Hverfjall crater. Goðafoss, when we got there, was half lost in fog.

In Húsavík we pulled on flotation suits and took a RIB out of the harbour to look for whales. A humpback surfaced in the grey sea.

Snæfellsnes and the Westfjords

In Meenu's words, 2022I've managed to successfully pass on my fever and cold to Praddy, but I love how both of us shine together.

On 1 July we drove across to the west, for a night at Stöð Guesthouse in Grundarfjörður, beside Kirkjufell. Its name means Church Mountain, for its shape, and Danish sailors called it the Sugar Top. We took our selfie in front of it in low, warm sun, with Kirkjufellsfoss behind us.

The next night was at Hotel Breiðavík in the Westfjords, where a white church with a red roof looks out over the bay. At Rauðasandur a small black church, red-roofed too, stands below the cliffs. We also found the oldest steel ship in Iceland, rusting on the shore where it was beached.