Photo Diary: A visit to the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon in Iceland
Sir David Attenborough once said that "It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living." It was here dancing; smiling; wondering alongside the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon in Eastern Iceland that this quote and its meaning became so utterly clear to me that it was as if I had thought it up myself with the glacial lagoon as my muse. If you only do one thing in Iceland make it a visit to the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. No matter how many pictures you find online of this place, you will still be astounded that somewhere like this can and does exist.
How does it exist you ask? The Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon is a large glacial lake situated at the head of the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier (which you can see in the background of the images). By the end of the Little Ice Age (1300-1800 AD), the tongue of the glacier reached over 1 km from the Icelandic coastline. As temperatures warmed during the subsequent warm periods, the glacier tongue started to rapidly recede, continually carving icebergs and thus a lagoon in its wake. To this day, huge blocks of ice continue to break off the glacier forming the large icebergs of which you can see floating on the lagoon.
Unfortunately for car-less travelers like myself, the drive from the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik to the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon is a whooping 4.5 hours - meaning a 9 hour return trip! Fortunately for car-less travelers like myself though, Grayline Iceland offers a South Coast and Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon day trip from Reykjavik, with plenty of stops along the way at a number of my bucket-list waterfalls and beaches. Let's just say between catching up on some sleep and the constant views of glacier after glacier, viking horse after viking horse and waterfall after waterfall those 9 hours flew by! Oh and did I mention that included in the tour is a boat ride on the glacial lake where you get to experience sailing between and even tasting the icebergs!?
For more must-do activities in Iceland click here.
.How does it exist you ask? The Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon is a large glacial lake situated at the head of the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier (which you can see in the background of the images). By the end of the Little Ice Age (1300-1800 AD), the tongue of the glacier reached over 1 km from the Icelandic coastline. As temperatures warmed during the subsequent warm periods, the glacier tongue started to rapidly recede, continually carving icebergs and thus a lagoon in its wake. To this day, huge blocks of ice continue to break off the glacier forming the large icebergs of which you can see floating on the lagoon.
Unfortunately for car-less travelers like myself, the drive from the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik to the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon is a whooping 4.5 hours - meaning a 9 hour return trip! Fortunately for car-less travelers like myself though, Grayline Iceland offers a South Coast and Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon day trip from Reykjavik, with plenty of stops along the way at a number of my bucket-list waterfalls and beaches. Let's just say between catching up on some sleep and the constant views of glacier after glacier, viking horse after viking horse and waterfall after waterfall those 9 hours flew by! Oh and did I mention that included in the tour is a boat ride on the glacial lake where you get to experience sailing between and even tasting the icebergs!?
For more must-do activities in Iceland click here.
