5 for friday from Iceland

Before we arrived to Hveragerdi for the night, we ended our first day in Iceland (yes, yes, we are still on day 1 and already saw so much) at two very touristy spots.

First we saw one of many icelandic waterfalls, Gulfoss. We were greeted by a beautiful rainbow. The wind was blowing like crazy and I had so many layers on like when I go skiing back home (and this was in mid-June). On these pictures I realized how small are we compared to mother nature!  

Tha last stop was the famous Geysir. Or, nowadays, it´s smaller, humbler brother Strokkur. Geysir is unfortunately not "working" anymore. It was clogged by tourists, who kept throwing stones in it. And so, Geysir stopped to be geyser. Every 6 minutes it is substituted by Strokkur. Anyway, I would not call it the highlight of Iceland, so if you don´t see it, you will not miss that much :-) .

   

Ešte predtým ako sme konečne dorazili do Hveragerdi, ukončili sme náš prvý deň na Islande (áno, áno, zatiaľ neprešiel ani deň a už máme toľko zážitkov) na dvoch "povinných" turistických zastávkach. Najskôr bol prvý z mohohých vodopádov, Gulfoss. Privítala nás nádherná dúha. Fučalo tam ako divé a myslím, že som mala všetky vrstvy asi ako keď doma idem na lyžovačku (a to bola polovica júna). Až na tých fotkách si človek uvedomí, akí sme v tej prírode malinkí...

Poslednou zastávkou bol slávny Gejzír. Alebo v dnešnej dobe skôr jeho menší skromnejší brat Strokkur. Gejzír už bohužial horúcu vodu nechrlí, pretože ho zapchali turisti. Hádzali doň toľko kamene, až Gejzír prestal byť gejzírom. A tak ho zastupuje každých cca 6 minút Strokkur. Tak či tak, určite by som to neoznačila za highlight Islandu a nič sa nestane, ak nemáte cestu okolo :-).

5 for friday from Iceland

Iceland is unbelievable. Unbelievable because there doesn´t exist a place, from where there is no view to a beautiful scenery. Whether  you are driving or walking, you got to be staring. Everywhere you turn, something surprises you. It is a common sight to see whole fields of lilac flowers (I think they are called Nootka lupin), but Icelanders are not exited about them. The flowers have been imported here and now they are loosing control over them. But, from the tourist point of you, the fields are beautiful.

That day we found another unexpected place. We ended up in Medlína, which is a crevice created by the seperation of the North Atlantic and North American plates. They are responsible for the volcanic  activities on Iceland. So in one moment we were standing with one foot in Europe and with another in America, and we ran back and forth between continents. I guess I do not need to say how much joy brought that to me :-) .

 Island je neskutočný. Neskutočný v tom, že tam snáď nie je miesto, ktoré by vám neposkytovalo pohľad na nádhernú scenériu. Veziete sa či kráčate, a len sa dívate. Kamkoľvek sa otočíte, niečo vás prekvapí. Častý je pohľad na celé polia krásnych fialových kvetov (myslím že po slovensky je to vlčí bôb), Islanďania z nich však nadšení nie sú. Kvety tam boli dovezené a sú premnožené. V každom prípade tie fialové polia sú nádherné.

V ten deň sme narazili aj na ďalšie prekvapenie. Dostali sme sa k Midlíne, čo je puklina medzi tektonickou doskou Európy a Ameriky. Tá je vraj zodpovedná za vulkanickú činnosť na Islande. A tak sme chvíľu stáli jednou nohou v Európe a druhou v Amerike  a behali hore dole medzi kontinentmi. aasi nemusím ani hovoriť, akú radosť mi to prinieslo :-) .

5 for friday from Iceland

OK, I am not really sure how this place is called. It must be popular though, because we met bus full of Japanese tourists there. We had found it by accident. We saw a steam coming up from a mountain so we drove there to check it out...and bumped into this bright green lake and a geothermal area behind it. I think it is lake Greanavatn and the geothermal field is Krísuvík, but I can´t swear I am right. Anyway, it is worth visiting when you are around Rejkjavík or Keflavík.

Ok, nie som si úplne istá ako sa volá toto miesto. Isté je, že je  známe, pretože tam bol aj autobus s japonskými turistami. My sme naň natrafili vlastne náhodou. V dialke sme uvideli stúpať paru a tak sme sa šli pozrieť bližšie. Naďabili sme na toto krásne sfarbené jazero a za ním našu prvú geotermálnu oblasť. Myslím že je to jazero Greanavatn a geotermálne pole Krísuvík, ale zaručiť to nemôžem. V každom prípade to stojí za krátku návštevu ak ste blízko Rejkjavíku alebo Keflavíku.

Autumn memories on film

I got 10 rolls of 10 years old Kodak films. So i took my Nikon F1 and try one out while apple picking. I like the way the pictures came out... grainy, but it gives them a little nostalgic feel.

5 for Friday from Iceland

So these are some of the first images I took in Iceland. When we planned this trip, everybody was saying it is a beautiful place and we will love it. Although, I didn´t know what to expect really. Pictures I saw didn´t  leave me in awe and now i know why. It is really difficult to capture the beauty of this place. It is so unique, indescribable and different from everything you know. It is mostly igneous rocks, huge fields of lava  formations, covered with moss or as it was in our case in many places, a recent volcano dust.

We rented a car in the airport and got the tiniest vehicle on the whole Island i guess - Hyundai - i10. We drove out from Keflavik and ended up by this lighthouse - which was actually the opposite direction we planned to go. It was next to a beautiful golf course. So after we wandered around and breathe in some islandic air for the first time, we turned around and tried to make our way towards to Hveragerdi. In this tiny town my cousin, who is living in Iceland for 5 years, arranged us  a sleepover at his friend´s house. and This is what we saw on the way there (gotta say we got lost and took a lot of back raods, not the main one which was supposed to bring us there pretty easily...

Tak toto je pár prvých obrázkov, ktoré som na Islande urobila. Keď sme našu cestu plánovali, všetci mi hovorili, že budeme nadšení, že je to nadherné miesto. Ale aj tak som nevedela, čo mám od Islandu čakať. Fotky čo som videla ma nenechali zas tak úplne v údive a teraz už aj viem prečo. Podľa mňa je celkom komplikované zachytiť krásu tejto krajiny. Je tak jedinečná, neopísateľná a úplne odlišná od všetkého čo poznám. Sú to vyvreniny, formácie z lávy pokryté machom, alebo ako to bolo často v našom prípade,  čerstvým sopečným popolom.
Na letisku sme si prenajali auto a dostali sme asi to najmenšie na celom Islande - Hyundai - i10. Šli sme z Keflaviku a skončili sme pri tomto majáku - ktorý bol mimochodom úplne opačným smerom kam sme plánovali ísť. Vedľa bol krásny golfový areál priamo na pobreží. A tak sme sa tam chvíľu pomotali, nadýchali sa po prvýkrát islandského vzduchu, otočili auto a šli smerom k Hveragerdi. v tomto mestečku nám môj bratanec, ktorý na Islande už 5 rokov žije, dohodol u kamarátov nocľah. A toto je to, čo sme videli po ceste (musím však povedať že sme trocha blúdili, šli sme všakovakými cestami- necestami a nie tou hlavnou, ktorá by nás k cieľu doviedla pomerne ľahko...

New series: 5 for friday from Iceland

Happy new year everybody! Hope you are well rested and started 2012 all fresh and curious for new adventures!

It is over 6 months since I was in Iceland and no one actually saw any pictures from this trip, so finally I have decided to start new Friday series. Every Friday I will post 5 pictures from Iceland. A little change from  the wedding, pregnancy and kids photography. Are you in? or shall it be less then five? Let me know!