Skip to main content

First Day In Iceland, End of the Day


In my blog last week, I talked about my first day in Iceland and left the story when we arrived at Hraunfossar water falls. But that was by no means the end of our first day in Iceland.



Just up stream from Hraunfossar is a really cool area called Barnafoss. The width of the river is narrower, deeper and swifter than at Hraunfossar. After shooting Hraunfossar I wandered up stream and found this little gem. My only regret is that I did not climb down the bank you see in the shot above and get a better composition with the water coming into the gorge. Just below this area the water moves swiftly and has carved out some very interesting contours.






By the time I had finished with this shot it was getting pretty late and we had a long way to go to get back to Reykjavik, though none of us actually knew how far or which way to go exactly.

The Storm Arrives

We headed west knowing we should be able to find our way to highway one, the ring road that goes all the way around Iceland. But night was upon us and it began to rain. Then the wind began to blow hard and in gusts. And it was now a two lane paved road, in the dark, rainy, windy with big trucks coming at us that created all kinds of havoc. The one good thing was we were now on the ring road heading toward Rekjavik. We had been up almost all of the night before, had been traveling and photographing nonstop all day and now we were gifted with this amazingly exciting challenge: get back to Reykjavik as quickly as possible. . . because we are starving!

When we reached the Hvalfjordor Tunnel we knew we were pretty much home, and I must say the calm in the tunnel (well lit with no wind or rain) was very comforting. We got back to Reykjavik around 10 pm, parked the car and headed for the nearest restaurants. Guess what, they all close at 10 pm. After getting two or three refusals to let us in we found this little café that took mercy on us.




We sat gratefully on stools at a counter. I ordered the salmon dinner and it was, hands down, without a doubt, the very best salmon dinner I have ever had. You could wonder if perhaps it tasted so good because we had not eaten all day and we were exhausted and famished. But there is a flavor that very 
fresh, properly cooked salmon has and this salmon dinner had it! In fact, I was so good I kept ordering salmon all over the south of Iceland. But none compared to the dinner I had on this night. When I return next year I will be sure this time to write down the name of the restaurant and share it with you so you can try it out yourself.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Subscribe to my blog by Email

  Get new posts by email: Enter your email address in the box and click subscribe to be notified when a new post is published. Subscribe Powered by

Bowling Ball Beach

I have been to Bowling Ball Beach three times. The first time I went it must have been high tide because there were no bowling ball to be seen anywhere. The next time I went a buddy and I researched when to be there and discovered it was to be a low tide, preferably a minus tide. So we timed a low tide with sunset and made our way to the beach. The bowling balls were so high up out of the water they were not worth photographing – they are not pretty at all when they are completely dry. So we did some more research, now having a little more insight into the situation. The best tide level to photograph the bowling balls is between a 1.5 to 3 level tide, preferably receding. Now timing this to happen at just the right time to take advantage of the golden hour and blue hour is no easy fete. And of course it would be best to be a week day so there aren’t so many tourists. And throw in a few clouds for some interest in the sky. Not asking much, just a confluence of ab

Full Moon Grand Canyon

A couple of friends and I decided we would like to have some pictures of the full moon setting over the Grand Canyon.  We found a full moon date that was workable for all of us, scheduled our flights, booked our rooms and rented a car and met up at the airport in Phoenix.  We stayed in Tusayan making it easy to get to the canyon before fist light.  Most of the year, there are places to the west of the village that you cannot drive your car, requiring transport by the park bus system.  But in winter months those roads are open to passenger cars making getting around a breeze.  Shooting a setting moon requires good timing.  If you are there too early the canyon will be too dark.  If you are late the moon will have disappeared below the horizon.  On this day our timing was good, but notice the band of clouds just below the moon.  Within minutes it obscured the moon.  Good photography involves being at the right place at the right time and a bit of luck .   Shooting the moon does not take