Iceland-Land of Wild Horses and Gorgeous Scenery

This is a glacial lagoon called Jökulsárlón (also considered a glacial lake), and those are icebergs that you see. This is considered one of the natural wonders of Iceland. The bright blue color of many of the icebergs is considered a feature. (Other icebergs are white.) The color depends on the air trapped within the ice. The lake has been formed by melting glaciers.

The James Bond movie, A View to Kill, was shot here. I was surprised at the number of Bond movies that have filmed in Iceland. Of course, the scenery is dramatic.

Isn't this church cute? I love the simplicity, and the pretty color.

The Gulfoss waterfall below is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Iceland. The water seems to drop off the edge of a cliff. The country has hundreds of waterfalls and they are quite dramatic. The next waterfall is Skógafoss.

 

Here are some of the wild horses.

More pictures of the trip to Iceland here.

Iceland-Land of Ocean, Waterfalls, and Lonely Landscapes

This is the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. My daughter is visiting the country and I thought I'd share some of the beautiful and interesting things she's seeing. I was surprised to learn that this is a man-made lagoon. The water is warmed by the water from a nearby geothermal plant. Despite that kind of icky fact, the water is mineral rich and considered healthy for bathing. The Blue Lagoon has been used in several movies.

The architecture is simple, but colorful. I love this little village called Seyðisfjörður. (Most of the names I'm seeing are unpronounceable to English-speaking people.)

This is the Vatnajökull Glacier, the largest ice cap in Europe. My daughter and her friends went snowmobiling on it, which they said was great fun. I guess they didn't worry about crevasses opening up in front of them. Meanwhile, there are volcanos under the glacier, which seems weird to me.

The natural wonders of Iceland remind me a bit of Yellowstone National Park in the western US. Here's the Geysir Hot Spring.This has existed for at least 10,000 years. I was happy to see a word I recognized. It turns out that our word geyser (for hot spring) comes from Iceland. The Icelandic verb is 'geysa' meaning, 'to gush'. This geyser erupts randomly.

I had to show you the sheep grazing. Apparently they are common (as are wild horses). I think you can see from the photos that Iceland is not a densely populated country, but it is very beautiful.

Have any of you been to Iceland?