Day 3

Just a short drive away from our cabin was Kirkjugólf – church floor – another example of the basalt column formations we saw the day before. They look like ordinary floor tiles, but are actually completely naturally-occurring. 

Then we drove to Skaftafell in Vatnajökull National Park. There’s quite a bit to see here, but we only had time for the Svartifoss walk. Now, this walk was pretty physically challenging for me, because while it was only 1.8 kilometres long, it was mainly a steep uphill hike. Which makes sense because generally, waterfalls are found in the upper parts of the river course.

About 1 km through the hike, we reached a clearing, and could see Svartifoss in the distance. Even from here we could make out the gorgeous basalt columns framing the falls.

We trudged on, down some steps, and there she was.

We left Skaftafell and headed towards our next destination – Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. The drive there, like most parts of Iceland, was very scenic. We saw part of a glacier flowing out from between the mountains and had to make a quick stop to take a photo of it.

Upon reaching Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, we understood why it’s regarded as one of the must-see sights in Iceland (but then again, everything we’ve seen so far is a must-see).

I’ve never even seen snow up close, so to see icebergs just floating around casually was just something else.

We even spotted a seal popping its head above the water now and then to get a look at us. No photographic evidence of that, unfortunately.

And that concludes Day 3!