“Wasn’t it so green just now?” I looked up from the camera and asked my husband who was driving. He couldn’t fathom what had happened too. We were suddenly covered by snow everywhere; roads, mountains, houses – 360 degrees. Just seconds before we were amid green landscapes, gushing flowing river by the Road, lazing/grazing cattle and sheep, majestic snow-capped mountains, cute little Icelandic houses – a perfect Icelandic out-of-the-world view, if you insist me to sum it up. So, what did we do? We felt grateful that it wasn’t a snow blizzard, took few in-car pictures/videos and drove away. We had to train ourselves to take-in the ever-changing world around us on our road trip to Iceland. Such was the grandeur that Iceland put up at every corner for us. Iceland sure is a planet on its own.

Let me take you on a visually-verbal journey that is laden with waterfalls (Oh, way too many!), churches, spectacular roads, storms and everything 100% original Iceland.

1. Reykjavik – the urbane beauty (church pic)
Reykjavik is the world’s northernmost capital city in the world. Our road trip in Iceland began and ended at Reykjavik. A full-circle, that started with stocking up on necessary groceries for the trip, exploring the happening street of Iceland a.k.a Laugavegur, shopping for the woolies and warmies till the great food and spectacular show of Northern lights right from our balcony. Wish we had more time with you Reykjavik, let’s catch up again!

2. Self-sufficient – Turf houses
We wanted to visit a couple of Turf houses before calling a day off, while we were in South Iceland. Though the Turf museum was closed (we were able to sneak in just before that), a local Icelandic person came up to us and offered us a tour of other Turf houses nearby. He even told us that Turf houses are mostly self-sufficient, making extensive use of wind, solar and thermal energy (from the underground geysirs). Truly inspirational.

3. Volcanic crater lake – kerid (Mm pic, canon eos m6 that I took)
Kerid was totally unplanned. We had way too many places on “the list” for the day and had kept Kerid as a “backup” in case we were quick to catch up on all. Kerid was a surprise. Though there is nothing much to see, a hike up this volcanic crater gave us different views on each step! This turquoise wonder costs 400 ISK per person to get in.

4. Welcome edinborg
Of the 3 days we stayed at South Iceland, 2 were spent in Welcome Edinborg guest house. A huge house with a backdrop of snow-capped peaks frequently swept over by angry clouds. Though we only spent the nights here, we were pleased by the views and self-check-in process (to us it was new up until then!). Too many places were seen, too many views were gulped down. Period.

5. Seljalandfoss – behind the falls
Ah, the you-can-go-behind-the-falls falls. Seljalandfoss gained a lot of traction from us Indians when a Bollywood song from Shah Rukh Khan’s Dilwale movie showed every bit of this waterfall. A hike up to the cave behind the waterfall showed us an entirely different view of the falls. Wish we could stay there for longer. We now think that a frostbite would have been totally worth it, if we had decided to stay.

6. Skogafoss – trails behind the falls – exploring the unexplored
Our first view of Skogafoss was like this: driving on the highway -> look towards left at a massive rock formation -> Bam! Skogafoss! Checkout our main post for more photos of this wonderful beauty, adorned with a rainbow even during an awfully cloudy day. But the highlight of this place was the hike up the waterfalls, which provided us an “exploring the unexplored” vibes which we always crave for.

7. Gullfoss – story of its save
The majestic Gullfoss a.k.a Niagara of Europe. It’s majestic, wide, breathtaking, fierce and wonderful. Period. No, cancel that period. It was saved by this woman called from a project. Icelandic people are very possessive about their natural resources. Something that we all must learn from.

8. Story of a crash plane
On , a crashed on the shores of the black sand beaches of South Iceland. It didn’t gain much attention up until a photographer put a picture of it . It’s a long walk, 4kms one-way but worth it. We saw the sunset up here and was worth the 1hr we spent just walking in miles an miles of black sand!

9. Black sand beach with rainbow
The famous Black sand beach of Reynisfjara decked with a rainbow that originated from nowhere.

10. Mosses & Icelandic fierce values of saving its environment
When you see Mosses formation in Iceland, don’t roll on it like Justin Bieber did in his music video of (link to it). Because, like I mentioned, Icelandic people are very respectful and passionate about their nature. So, just don’t.

11. Jokulsarlon glacier – talk about global warming
Amidst threatening rain, we landed up at Jokulsarlon glacier. The first views of the glacier were similar to how we saw Skogafoss, with a visual bam out of nowhere on the highway. Glacial icebergs floating is as beautiful as it is eerie. Hope we aren’t warming you up too much, Jokulsarlon. At least YOU are aware that global warming isn’t a Chinese hoax. Thanks for putting up with our stupidity for so long. Don’t melt just yet, pretty please.

12. Random pitstops – IMG_0881
On the way to East Iceland, the panoramic view of an entire black sand shore just for ourselves.

13. Zoomed mirror picture – what we left behind with a heart heavier than our luggage
Every frame like this that we saw on side-view mirrors, depicted images that were left behind with a heavier heart than our luggage (FYI, our luggage was way too heavy for 2 people).

14. Unnamed hidden falls near East fjords – winds so strong, the first bouts of insane wind
A small pitstop on the way to East fjords had a surprise for us. THIS! If any of you know this waterfall’s name, kindly comment!

15. IMG_0989 – geothermal pool inside cave
Us: “Shall we call it a day?”
Geothermal Pool-Cave: “Nope, just not yet”.

16. Godafoss & it’s glory – where restroom was 700m far.
The ONLY thing we saw that day (Apart from multitude of pitstops and the glory that is the Eastern Fjords). Totally worth it. Godafoss – God’s waterfalls. Makes sense, since this looked like it was formed with much more care and planning

17. Akureyri and fall/autumn – Fall pic with mm
Akureyri is the northern most city of Iceland. It’s crazy to think we were around 2,000 kms from the Northern Pole. This city showed us the first signs of Northern lights, when we weren’t even looking for it. And put up a spectacular show when we drove a little out of town in search of it! Thank you for that, Akureyri.

18. IMG_1167 – when we were engulfed in snow. This was the moment.
This was the moment I opened this article with. All-green-no-snow at first to no-green-all-snow next! I know, insane!

19. Dog making us pet it near snow-capped mountains
Snow-capped mountains – check. Flowing river by the side – check. Empty road – check. A running dog towards us – check. Pet it for the next 15 minutes – check, check, check.

20. IMG_1214 – roads of Iceland (collage of many roads with this in the middle)
Roads, roads, roads – the highlight of every road trip.

21. IMG_1220 – handsome, hairy horses of Iceland
The “I have more hair than you” look.

22. Car with ice on the windshield as Isafjordor
When we encountered thick frozen ice on the windshield of our glass on a morning at Isafjordur. To us Indians, this is new and exciting (at first, then worry about how to get it out, next).

23. Beautiful sleepy town of Isafjordor – reflection – IMG_1385
Hands down, the best town of Western fjords (followed by Patreksfjordur).

24. 5km tunnel at west fjords – light painting pic
A tunnel in West fjords, with a one-way roads 80% of the way spaced with a layover for oncoming vehicles to pass. Brilliant design with minimal damage to the fjords.

25. Majestic Dynjandi falls
A 7-layer gushing waterfalls explored at an almost freezing temperature.

26. View from our bjarkhaholt apartment – IMG_1549
3 days at this guesthouse of ours were spent in reminiscing what we had seen earlier and wondering how we are still alive in this weather in Iceland. Of course, followed by hiking and driving to shake off the initial feeling.

27. Most photographed mountain – being touristy – but the Wizard Hat Dragged us there
Yes, the wizard hat dragged us all the way to the West Iceland to this most photographed place in Iceland. Welcome to , .

28. IMG_1604 – 20 mt visibility while going back
Me: “Let’s head back to Reykjavik to end this trip with a bang”
Iceland: “Just not yet, sweetheart”
A recall of “The Mist” by Stephen King didn’t help the matters (to the hubby driver mostly).

29. Blue lagoon & relaxing way to wrap up the epic trip
Despite seeing many reviews that asked people to refrain from visiting AND many that suggested to visit Blue lagoon, we did the latter. And boy were we happy to end this epic trip in warmth. Just go, find your own place and chill (unintended “opposite of pun”/oxymoron).

30. Spectacular show of Northern Lights in Reykjavik
We were wrong, Northern lights wrapped up the trip for us. As always, you are in control Iceland, all hail you! A big bow to you and your wonders. Stay amazing, always.

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