5 for friday from Iceland

These pictures are taken around midnight, when we arrived to Arnarstapi. Because this is the darkest it gets in the summertime, we often arrived to places in such late hours not ralizing it and we were worried we will find no place to stay. Apparently people in Iceland do not sleep in the summer, because there was no problem arriving that late.

Arnarstapi is a former fishing village on the southwest part of Snæfellsnes penisula. You can get there through a long tunnel, which runs below the sea level. We didn´t do any stops on the way to Arnarstapi, because we were trying to arrive in some decent hour. But if you would be stopping in Iceland everywhere, where you think it´s beautiful, you probably wouldn´t get too far.

For me this detour to penisula and the stop in Arnarstapi was one of the most beautiful places in Iceland. Maybe it was because the magic of this blue "night". It seemed we arrived to completely abandoned area, nobody around, just pure nature. it was a shame that the weather got worse the next day, because it would be heaven on earth in the sunlight.

From Arnarstapi, you can make a trip up to an inactive volcano Snæfell. Its icy top Snæfellsjökull is a gate to the middle of Earth in a book of Jules Verne, A journey to the center of the Earth. We did not take that journey, because it would cost us a day of time. This place is also famous for an arctic weather a the wind was blowing like crazy that day, so maybe next time.

Tieto fotky su robené  okolo polnoci, ked sme dorazili do Arnarstapi. Tým, že v lete je toto asi najtmavšia časť dňa, často sme do miesta určenia dorazili v takej nočnej hodine a báli sme sa, že už nás neubytujú. Zjavne však na Islande v lete nespia, lebo nikto nemal problém, ani keď sme prišli skutočne neskoro.

Arnarstapi je bývalá rybárska dedinka na juhozápádnej časti poloostrova Snæfellsnes. No poloostrov sa dostanete cez dlhý tunel, ktorý vedie pod hladinou mora. My sme sa po ceste k Arnarstapi veľmi nezastavovali, chceli sme tam doraziť čo najskôr. Ale ak by ste na Islande mali zastavovať všade kde je krásne, zrejme by ste ďaleko nedošli.

Pre mňa  bola táto odbočka na poloostrov jedno z najkrajších miest na Islande. Možno za to mohlo to čaro modrej "noci", ale vyzeralo to akoby sme dorazili na úplne opustené územie, nikde nikoho, iba nádherná príroda. Škoda, že na druhý deň sa počasie trocha zamračilo, lebo v slnečných lúčoch to môže byť dokonalý raj.

Z Arnarstapi sa robia výlety na vyhasnutú sopku Snæfell. Jej ľadový vrchol Snæfellsjökull je bránou, ktorou sa v knihe Julesa Vera vchádza do stredu Zeme (kniha Cesta do stredu Zeme). My sme ju nepodnikli, pretože by nás to obralo o jeden deň, a to ani nehovorím že táto oblasť je známa arktickým počasím a aj nám fučalo ako o dušu.

5 for friday from Iceland

Today I am posting just five imagiges from the road towards Snaefelsnes (and I am not 100%  sure if all of them are from there...).  Next week look forward to one of my favourite parts of Iceland, even not planned. The weather changed our original plan to continue throught the south part to the east side of Iceland. Forecast showed the weather will be pretty bad, so we decided to turn around an take the north road to east. I am not sure if the weather was better than in the south, but we definitely went to the penisula Snaefellsnes only thanks to this change of the plans.

Dnes (a áno viem že nie je piatok :-) ) dávam len päť fotiek z cesty smerom k Snaefelsnes (a ani to som si nie istá či sú všetky odtiaľ). Budúci týždeň (teda snáď tento piatok) sa tešte na moju obľúbenú časť Islandu, ktorú sme pôvodne ani nemali v pláne. Počasie nám zmarilo pôvodný plán pokračovať cez južnú časť ostrova n východ.  Predpoveď bola veľmi nepriaznivá, a tak sme sa rozhodli vyraziť opačným smerom a ísť severom. Nie som si istá či to počasie bolo lepšie ako na juhu, ale v každom prípade sme sa v'daka tomu vybrali aj na poloostrov Snaefellsnes....

Another beautiful bride

I am lucky enough to shoot the most beautiful brides. Here is another one from November! Grace, fun and elegance, all in one!

5 for friday from Iceland

Pingvellir (Thingvellir) is the most important place in icelandic history, because in 930 a parliament (Althing) was established here.The crevise between Europe and North America is most visible here. This place was chosen thanks to great acoustics, the relief and because it was close to many settlements. It became also the first national park in Iceland, and really, you can have as many walks and trips here as you like. To get there, you are crossing a huge plateau and it doesn´t seem that you are approaching one of the most important stops in Iceland. The surroundings, even the place itself doesn´t take your breath away like many others things in Iceland do, but it has its magic, a soul...There is something about Thingvellir!

Pingvellir (Thingvellir) je najdôležitejšie miesto islandských dejín, pretože tu bol v roku 930 založený Althing, parlament. Na tomto mieste je asi najviditeľnejšia trhlina medzi Európou a Severnou Amerikou. Toto miesto bolo vybrané vďaka skvelej akustike, reliéfu a blízkosti osídlení. Stalo sa aj prvým národným parkom a skutočne sa tu môžete prechádzať do sýtosti. Cesta tam vedie obrovskou planinou, nič nenaznačuje že sa blížite k jednej z najvýznamnejších zastávok na Islande. Okolie ani samotné miesto vám nevyrazí dych ako mnoho iných vecí na Islande, predsa však má svoje čaro, istého ducha. Niečo na tom Pingvellire proste je!

Pre-x-mas wedding

One week before Christmas, when everyone around was chasing after presents, I was invited to shoot a small family wedding. It was an honor to sit down for a dinner  with just the close members of two lovely families, creating now one new.

I have known the bride since my childhood, and our moms were very good friends since their school years. We even lived close to each other until they moved out of the country for several years. But, somehow we kept in touch, and, here I am, shooting Janka as a bride. I spent the whole afternoon in her house, while she was getting ready, having a chat with her mom and sister. We did some pictures on the balcony of their beautiful apartment with the best view in town. It was freezing cold but they were bravely smiling in the camera. The official ceremony was followed by a family dinner. And let me tell you, it was one of the best evening I had lately. First of all I have to mention the company. I had such a great time with bride's sister and the others there, that I understand completely the advantages of such a small family wedding. It was so private, you could talk to everyone face to face and keep the conversation going, not to worry about other guests not getting enough attention.... Just lovely! Second, the pre - christmas atmosphere there made it a very special moment. And last but not least, great food and wine.

I would surely love to have such a great night every Saturday!

5 for friday from Iceland

We spent the first night in Iceland in Hveragerdi, in this beautiful surroundings, in that white house you see on the picture. It is right next to the golf course and it is really stunning. Next day we went for a walk to a geothermal area just around a corner. We hesitated a little, but at the end we jumped to one of these small pools (or better to say into the ditch), which are builded by the locals. Noone around, just this group on horses passed by. Lovely.

In the afternoon, we drove towards the old Parliament area, Pingvellir. We stopped several times to enjoy the views. This was when we first met with these attacking birds. Apparently they had a nest somewhere close, so they were bravely flying towards us lower and lower. We saw them across the whole country and they were never friendly...

Prvú noc na Islande sme strávili v Hveragerdi, v takomto nádhernom prostredí, v tom bielom dome co vidíte na obrázku. Susedí hneď s golfovým ihriskom a je to tam nádherné. Na druhý deň sme sa vybrali na prechádzku do geotermálnej oblasti hneď za rohom. Chvíľu sme sa síce zdráhali, ale nakoniec sme predsa len vhupli do jedného z malých bazénikov (lepšie povedané do jamy), ktoré si tam budujú domáci.  Okolo nás ani duše, jedine táto konská výprava prešla okolo. Pohoda-lahoda.

Poobede sme vyrazili autom smerom k najstaršiemu Parlamentu, oblasti Pingvellir. Po ceste sme občas zastavili kochať sa prírodou a vtedy sme sa prvý-krát stretli aj s týmito útočiacimi vtákmi. Zjavne mali niekde nablízku hniezdo a tak sa odvážne do nás púšťali nižšie a nižšie. Stretávali sme ich po celom Islande a priatelskí neboli nikdy :-).