The first glacier we visited was the Sólheimajökull glacier. From afar, it didn’t look like much with all the dirt covering it; it was well camouflaged with its surroundings. But the blue ice was certainly more evident as we got closer it….not to mention its size! Of course, at the time, we hadn’t seen the other glaciers yet so being the first glacier my eyes had ever set upon, this was magnificent!
The parking area was a significant distance away from the glacier. We walked past a lake with bits of ice floating along the surface. A boat was making its way across the water; I reckon it was a tourist attraction although there was only one boat. The walk was easy, nothing strenuous and the dirt path was well laid out – it was impossible to get lost. However to be perfectly honest, we had a problem of flies. We initially thought we reeked of unwashed feet or rotting eggs cause it seemed like the flies were swarming around us only. But we soon realised that they were buzzing around everyone…we were the only ones who seemed to bother. The problem somewhat solved itself when we got to the glacier and it got real cold.
Sólheimajökull glacier was amazing and being draped in black, seemed to be going for a goth look. 🙂 But under the layer of dirt was brilliant blue ice! The shapes and forms were endless! Peaks and ridges of the glacier were spectacular! It was almost as though an artist had been there to orchestrate the sculpturing! I guess Nature is the true artist !
One of the highlights in Iceland is to do a glacier walk with a professional and all the proper equipment. We didn’t do one but a tour had just ended and a group of people were making their way back towards the parking area carrying ice cleats. It was tempting to sign up to participate cause it did look cool. 😀 There were quite a few other tourists who, like us, simply turned up to look and touch this massive chunk of ice. A small handful of people (non ice cleat equipped) managed to walk on the glacier along the path the tour group had taken, and they had somehow managed to get pretty far without any added assistance. The guide from the tour noticed this and yelled at them to come back. Being curious, I couldn’t help but try walking on the ice as well; they made it look so easy! But boy was I mistaken! And my balance is pretty good – skating comes easily to me. On this instance though, I empathized with Bambi on the ice for the first time! I had barely walked a meter before deciding against going any further and backed out onto the dirt path again. An injury would have wrecked the rest of our trip and there was still so much to see and experience!
Belosophy 