Glaciers of Iceland. Sights of East Iceland. South coast of Iceland
Blue Icelandic glaciers – business card this extraordinary northern country, 8 percent of whose territory is covered with ice. The unusualness of the local topography is explained by the action of underground volcanoes that erupted under the surface of melting ice.
(Total 19 photos)
1. Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Iceland, located in the southwest of the island.
2. Photographer Radner Sigurdsson says: “In 2008, this glacier became part of the Vatnajökull National Park. Nearby is Jökulsárlón, the largest glacial lagoon in Iceland.
3. Jökulsárlón developed into a lagoon after the glacier began to retreat from the shore Atlantic Ocean. The lake grew in size when glaciers began to melt more actively. Radner Sigurdsson says: “The size of the lagoon has quadrupled since the 1970s. She is considered one of natural wonders light of Iceland."
4. One of the main calling cards of Iceland is the area surrounding Vatnajökull. A number of scenes from two films of the world famous James Bond film saga “A View to a Kill” (1985), “Die Another Day” (2002) were filmed here, and in addition, the films Batman Begins (2005) and "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" (2001). Lake Fjaldsárlón is located south of Vatnajökull. Icebergs drift across the surface of the lake. Tourists visit this place less often than the Jokulsarlon glacier, but the landscape here is truly stunning.
5. This place is real paradise for photographers. Tourism brings Iceland more than 30 percent of the country's total income. Expeditions and excursions to national parks for those wishing to admire icebergs are held regularly; tourists are assisted by an experienced guide.
6. “Some of the icebergs in the Jökulsárlón ice lagoon are really huge,” says Radner Sigurdsson. “Floating icebergs melt and move, making loud noises and causing waves. There are also melting icebergs in coastal areas national park Breiðamerkurfjara, from which pieces of ice constantly break off and fall into the water of the lake.”
7. Since the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in 2010, Iceland and its volcanoes have become widely known around the world, especially among amateurs. aerial species transport, laughs Radner Sigurdsson. “The area is still covered in ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption. And besides, the entire amazing topography of Iceland is explained by the eruptions of underground volcanoes that occur under the ice cover.”
8. Formation from hyaloclastite on the Hagafellsjökull glacier.
9. Volcanic ash covers the iceberg.
10. Arctic terns feed on krill and capelin in the Breiðamerkurjökull lagoon.
11. View of the lagoons from Mount Kverkfjöll, near the glacier of the same name.
12. Cracks in the Sidujokull glacier.
13. Moss and ice - this is what the Sidujokull glacier looks like, which is more than a hundred years old.
14. Tourist boat in Jokulsarlon lagoon.
Do you want to get into a real ice kingdom? We invite you to hike to the Vatnajökull glacier in Iceland. Some people prefer to view the snow cap of the glacier from a helicopter, some go down into the ice caves, while others go to explore Vatnajökull on their own.
Glaciers occupy about 11% of Iceland's area. Vatnajökull Glacier- the largest in the country. Vatnajökull is simply amazing! Like a fairy-tale shell of ice, it covers an area of 8133 km² in the south of Iceland. Located at the foot of the glacier national park Skaftafell.
The largest white spot on the map of Iceland is the Vatnajökull glacier. The Vatnajökull glacier can be seen even from the ring road no.
In general, glaciers are something incredible: an opportunity to touch history. After all, the ice on which we will now walk is many, many thousands of years old. And the glacier is almost alive: it moves all the time.
A few words about the origin of the name of the largest Icelandic glacier.
The name Vatnajökull translates as “giving water”: from the words vatna (water) and jokull (glacier).
Where the water from the Vatnajökull glacier goes and gives water, we have already told in the post :)
Not the entire Vatnajökull glacier is accessible for visiting, but only a small part of it. So we're off to Skaftafell National Park in Iceland for some adventure!
In order to get to the Vatnajökull glacier and join one of the glacier hikes, you need to enter Skaftafell National Park. The park is located at the base of the Vatnajökull glacier in Iceland. All glacier excursions start from Skafafell.
There is no other way to get to Vatnajökull. And don’t – you can’t do it without a guide.
What to do in Skaftafell National Park?
- Get a closer look at a real ancient glacier
- Walk along one of the hiking routes
- See the black waterfall Svartifoss
- Visit ice cave.
There are both short and quite long walking routes, camping.
Skaftafell Park has many trees and is not as windy as the plains along the coast. 
The entrance to the national park is located just north of the Icelandic ring road number 1. The landscapes are so-so at first: gloomy plains, strong wind (as always in Iceland). The ice caps of the mountains are shrouded in a chilly gray fog.
Before entering Skaftafell you can see the rusty remains of a bridge Skeiðará Bridge Monument, next to which there are small area recreation.
On the other hand, if you go towards Hebn, you will see a church that is beautiful in pictures, but creepy in reality. Hofskirkja. By the way, the last church in Iceland with a peat roof!
And it’s creepy because it’s surrounded by fluffy mounds of graves, which we initially mistook for cute grass tussocks. Then we looked closer and felt somehow uneasy...
Let's go to the national park parking lot Skaftafell, where we leave the car. Entrance to the park is free, but you will have to pay for parking by purchasing a daily parking ticket. There are toilets, a cafeteria and many, many buses and cars of all kinds of guides and travel companies with whom you can go on a tour of the Vatnajökull glacier.
Almost from the parking lot, hiking trails through Skaftafell National Park begin. Most routes go, of course, to the unusual black waterfall Svartifoss:
This hike will take about an hour one way and is not particularly difficult. As a reward you will see the most unusual waterfall Iceland - Svartifoss.
Hiking trails of varying degrees of difficulty in Skaftafell National Park on the map. The picture can be enlarged.
From the parking lot we followed the short route to Svartifoss waterfall H1 - H2 - S2 - S6.
Entrance to Skaftafell National Park on the map. The place on the glacier that we visited on a tour is also marked here.
An excursion to the Vatnajökull glacier must be booked in advance. During the season, places can be sold out a couple of weeks, or even months before the desired date. While we were looking for a suitable excursion to the glacier in terms of dates and times, about 10 sites with almost similar offers caught our eye.
Having met the team, we go through a brief briefing and board a minibus - then the guide will take us to the tongue of the Svinafellsjökull glacier. Yes, the name of this glacier comes from the word “pig” 🙂 History is silent about why.
Just a quick clarification: Svinafell is the tongue of the Skaftafellsjokull glacier and part of the Skaftafell National Park of the same name. The park, in turn, is part of the large Vatnajökull glacier. Most excursions to the Skaftafell glacier involve a hike to Svinafellsjokull or Falljokull.
At first the group walks slowly and uncertainly: we learn to handle and walk with cats.
Here the group is still walking on the ground, the tongue of the glacier begins a little further.
In this photo you can see a triangular mountain, the guide said that episodes with the Wall from “Game of Thrones” were filmed here :)
Of course, the Wall was then completed on the computer. Well, we are more like not the Night’s Watch, but a flock of clumsy hobbits :)
The surface of the glacier is all dotted with cracks that form an interesting pattern. The black color is not dirt, but ash from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption in 2010. In clear weather and in the absence of soot, these faults should be a rich blue color.
And a few more photos from the hike on the Vatnajökull glacier:
That's all. The entire excursion to the Vatnajökull glacier in Iceland took three hours. An hour to get ready and travel, an hour and a half to hike along the glacier, and another half hour to get back. We did not encounter any danger, but thrills haven’t tried it 😉
There are excursions on the glacier with elements of rock climbing and visits to an ice cave, so there is plenty to choose from.
It's time for a snack! As diligent hikers, we know that the best post-exercise lunch is al fresco. Therefore, we bought the famous one in advance Icelandic lamb and potatoes. It’s very convenient because the meat is already marinated and salted, and potatoes are also sold in Icelandic supermarkets peeled and marinated.
All this stuff rode with us around Iceland for the first three days, since the strong wind made it impossible to put on a grill and light a fire.
In the end, we got tired of waiting and still built a semblance of a fireplace out of stones, despite the weather.
Nice place for barbecue. Close to Skaftafell National Park and overlooking the Vatnajökull glacier.
Despite the wind and cold, the steak was ready in about 15 minutes.
Bon appetite!
The Snæfellsnes Peninsula.
Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Europe, which is located in the national park of the same name in Iceland. total area The glacier is 8.1 km², which is about 8% of the entire territory of Iceland. The ice thickness averages 400 meters, and in some places reaches 1100 meters. According to scientists, this block contains 3.5 thousand km3 of ice.
This place boasts unique glacial landscapes with snow-covered valleys and gorges. The ice sheet rises 1400-1800 meters above sea level. No glacier in Iceland has been as thoroughly explored as Vatnajökull. The study began in 1934, when an eruption occurred in the area of the glacier, and since then the Glaciological Society (founded in 1950) has continued to study the glacier year after year. The last major eruptions occurred in 1996 and 1998. The first documented trip to the top of the glacier from the south side and back took place in 1875. An Englishman and several Icelanders took part in the climb. They were the first to see the Askjai eruption, and in the same year they reported it to people living on Lake Mývatn.
The name of the Vatnajökull glacier translates as “giving water”, and all because it feeds many Icelandic rivers and lakes with water. For example, it forms the river Jökulsau au Witches, which is famous for giving life the most powerful waterfall in Europe - Dettifoss.
WITH close range the glacier looks like an endless snow-covered field, and if you climb to its highest point, you can see the ocean expanses and Mountain peaks in the depths of the island.
Under a thick layer of ice there are several volcanoes that sometimes make themselves felt. When hot lava splashes out from the crater of a volcano, it leads to rapid melting large areas glacier. Melting ice frees up land for livestock grazing. In 2004, there was a significant eruption of one of the volcanoes, Grimsvotna.
In addition to volcanoes, hot springs located in the area also have a detrimental effect on the ice sheets. mountain range Kwerkfjöll. Hot water and steam carve entire labyrinths of ice caves out of the ice.
Vatnajökull National Park was founded on June 7, 2008 and includes the glacier area and two other nature reserves, Jökulsárglúvur and Skaftafell. Today the glacier is one of the most visited attractions in Iceland. Here travelers can walk around its surroundings, as well as ski and snowboard.
Vatnajökull National Park covers 13% of Iceland's total area. The park showcases a stunning variety of landscapes shaped by the powerful forces of nature.
TaggedHekla Volcano, also nicknamed the “gate to hell,” is an active stratovolcano.
The oldest recorded eruption of Hekla occurred in 1104, but scientists know for certain that it has been active for at least 6,600 years.
The length of the mountain range, which includes the Hekla volcano, is 40 kilometers. And the most active part of the volcano is a crack in rock 5.5 kilometers long. The volcano got its name - Hekla - because its top is almost always covered with clouds - as if with a cloak, because the literal translation of Hekla is a short cloak with a hood.
Hekla received her middle name, “Gateway to Hell,” from the monks. Thus, in a poem by monk Benedit from 1120 about the adventures of St. Brendan, the volcano is mentioned as the prison of Judas. And in the 16th century, Caspar Peucer wrote that the gates of hell could be found in the bottomless chambers of the Hekla volcano, and the belief that Hekla was the gate to hell persisted until 1800. There is another story that says that witches gather here every Easter.
Over the past 900 years, there have been over 20 strong eruptions of the Hekla volcano. Last eruption the volcano was registered on February 28, 2000.
Coordinates: 63.98757600,-19.67355900
Vatnajökull Glacier
Blue Icelandic glaciers are the hallmark of this extraordinary northern country. Well, the Vatnajökull glacier is one of the largest not only in Iceland, but also in Europe. The unusualness of the local topography is explained by the action of underground volcanoes that erupted directly under the surface of the ice.
The landscapes of the glacier are truly stunningly beautiful and are fertile ground for amateur photographers. In addition, the line of sight on the glacier is one of the largest and is even listed in the Guinness Book of Records. Expanses of up to 550 meters open up to your eyes.
Coordinates: 64.54844000,-16.78710900
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Thjorsardalur Valley
The Thjorsardalur Valley impresses with its varied landscape and rich colors.
You only have to see this picturesque picture once to fall in love with it forever. Against the background of sandy lava fields, the green of dwarf birches looks contrasting, and local rivers and waterfalls add all shades of blue to this natural idyll, which makes the Tjorsardalur valley unimaginably beautiful.
This is where the most long river in Iceland - Tjorsau, it is the most important source of electricity in the country.
In addition, it is from the Thjorsardalur valley that one can see the most active volcano Iceland - Hekla. By the way, in 1104, after the end of the period of settlement of the island, the volcano woke up without warning and wiped out 20 farms in the Tjorsardalur valley.
Coordinates: 64.13390300,-19.85026100
Leigardalur Valley - everyone's favorite park family vacation and entertainment.
There is a large open pool, you can swim in it all year round thanks to thermal springs. In addition, the park is home to Reykjavik's main sports stadium and the Laugarsholla sports and exhibition center. Here everyone will find something to their liking: walking and jogging paths, open football fields and an indoor skating rink. And the botanical park, zoo and amusement park will delight young travelers.
Coordinates: 64.14184000,-21.86711000
Hofsjokull Glacier
Hofsjökull is the third largest glacier in Iceland (after Vatnajökull and Laundjökull). It covers 996 km² and has a volume of 208 km³, and is also the largest active volcano on the island. Highest point The glacier is located at an altitude of 1765 meters above sea level.
The rivers Tjoursau (the longest river in Iceland), Blandau and Hvitau (a tributary of the Jolfusa River), rich in hydropower resources, originate from this glacier.
The Hofsjökull ice dome has a diameter of almost 40 kilometers! Its largest basin is 7x11 kilometers in size, but besides it, the glacier has a number of volcanic outcrops. The fumarolic activity concentrated in the middle part of the complex is the strongest on the island, in other words, while the volcano is dormant, it releases the greatest amount of water vapor and other gases into the atmosphere of all the existing glaciers in Iceland.
Coordinates: 64.84426800,-18.81024200
Petra Mineral Museum
Since 1946, Petra's home in Stödvarfjörður has housed her collection of minerals. Petra began collecting minerals as a child. Fortunately, this area is very rich in them; some stones from the Petra collection are 10 thousand years old. Year after year, she replenished her museum with more and more stones, and now all these lovingly collected minerals can be seen in Stödvarfjörður.
The minerals collected by Petra form one of the most magnificent and largest private collections in the world.
The Petra Museum is visited annually by about 20 thousand tourists, and Petra herself has not lived in her house for a long time, but comes here once a week to chat with visitors.
Coordinates: 64.83361200,-13.87428600
Hafragilsfoss waterfall
Hafragilsfoss is one of the largest waterfalls in the mountain icy river Jö kuls Fjö llum. The waterfall falls with a huge crash from a height of 27 meters (89 feet) and is about 90 meters (300 feet) wide.
You can see the waterfall from both sides of the river, but the eastern side is more accessible and has more good review. To see the falls from the west side of the river, you first need to go through a little adventure and climb steep climbs using several rope ladders.
The view from here is very picturesque, so if travelers are close to this place, they must visit this waterfall either on their own or as part of excursions.
Coordinates: 64.66482300,-16.85483000
The most popular attractions in East Iceland with descriptions and photographs for every taste. Choose best places to visit famous places in East Iceland on our website.
60 km².
Due to geothermal activity, meltwater accumulates beneath glaciers, which can lead to flash floods of glacial lakes, called flash floods. jökullhlaup "jökullhlaup".
The likelihood of "jökullhlaup" increases significantly when volcanic activity under the glacier. An explosion (rapid vaporization) of subglacial waters trapped in a hot zone can, in turn, trigger a volcanic eruption.
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Tindfjallajökull
Torfajökull
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19°07′37″ W d.
- My mother. My mother, my angel, my adored angel, mother,” and Dolokhov began to cry, squeezing Rostov’s hand. When he calmed down somewhat, he explained to Rostov that he lived with his mother, and that if his mother saw him dying, she would not bear it. He begged Rostov to go to her and prepare her.Rostov went ahead to carry out the assignment, and to his great surprise he learned that Dolokhov, this brawler, the brute Dolokhov lived in Moscow with his old mother and hunchbacked sister, and was the most tender son and brother.
Pierre had recently rarely seen his wife face to face. Both in St. Petersburg and Moscow, their house was constantly full of guests. The next night after the duel, he, as he often did, did not go to the bedroom, but remained in his huge, father’s office, the same one in which Count Bezukhy died.
He lay down on the sofa and wanted to fall asleep in order to forget everything that happened to him, but he could not do it. Such a storm of feelings, thoughts, memories suddenly arose in his soul that he not only could not sleep, but could not sit still and had to jump up from the sofa and walk quickly around the room. Then he imagined her at first after her marriage, with open shoulders and a tired, passionate look, and immediately next to her he imagined the beautiful, insolent and firmly mocking face of Dolokhov, as it had been at dinner, and the same face of Dolokhov, pale, trembling and suffering as it was when he turned and fell into the snow.
“What happened? – he asked himself. “I killed my lover, yes, I killed my wife’s lover.” Yes, it was. From what? How did I get to this point? “Because you married her,” answered an inner voice.
“But what am I to blame for? - he asked. “The fact is that you married without loving her, that you deceived both yourself and her,” and he vividly imagined that minute after dinner at Prince Vasily’s when he said these words that never escaped him: “Je vous aime.” [I love you.] Everything from this! I felt then, he thought, I felt then that it was not that I had no right to it. And so it happened.” He remembered Honeymoon, and blushed at this memory. Particularly vivid, offensive and shameful for him was the memory of how one day, soon after his marriage, at 12 noon, in a silk robe, he came from the bedroom to the office, and in the office he found the chief manager, who bowed respectfully and looked at Pierre's face, onto his robe, and smiled slightly, as if expressing with this smile respectful sympathy for the happiness of his principal.
“And how many times have I been proud of her, proud of her majestic beauty, her social tact,” he thought; he was proud of his home, in which she welcomed all of St. Petersburg, he was proud of her inaccessibility and beauty. So this is what I was proud of?! I thought then that I didn’t understand her. How often, pondering her character, I told myself that it was my fault that I didn’t understand her, that I didn’t understand this constant calm, contentment and absence of any attachments and desires, and the whole solution was in that terrible word that she was a depraved woman: said this terrible word to myself, and everything became clear!
“Anatole went to her to borrow money from her and kissed her bare shoulders. She didn't give him money, but she allowed him to kiss her. Her father, jokingly, aroused her jealousy; she said with a calm smile that she was not so stupid as to be jealous: let her do what she wants, she said about me. I asked her one day if she felt any signs of pregnancy. She laughed contemptuously and said that she was not a fool to want to have children, and that she would not have children from me.”
Then he remembered the rudeness, the clarity of her thoughts and the vulgarity of expressions characteristic of her, despite her upbringing in the highest aristocratic circle. “I’m not some kind of fool... go try it yourself... allez vous promener,” she said. Often, looking at her success in the eyes of old and young men and women, Pierre could not understand why he did not love her. Yes, I never loved her, Pierre told himself; I knew that she was a depraved woman, he repeated to himself, but he did not dare admit it.
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