Welcome back to episode two of our Iceland mini -episodes. We're doing a special series of daily episodes that will capture highlights from our trip each day. We hope you enjoy this format, and make sure that you're following along with us along this journey.
Good morning, it's day two. It's a bright, beautiful, sunny day in Iceland. And we are heading out today, starting the South Road. And this will take us out towards the town of Vik. And we've got a lot of great sights to see along the way, a bunch of waterfalls, some glaciers. And we're just really looking forward to a great day.
Yeah, super happy that we woke up to some really great sunshine. And on that note, I did want to mention, so a lot of people think Iceland in the wintertime and you don't get much daylight. And so that really does depend on when you go. So we've talked and heard about people going in December when you really only have four or five hours. So the sun will come up like at 10, 30, 11 in the morning, and then you really only have four or five hours. Contrast that when if you come in the summertime. Which is why a lot of people like to come in the summertime is because not only do you have the warmer temperatures, but like 21 hours of daylight. So really just only gets like dusk and dawn, you know, for a short period of time. But here, while we're here right now, we have from about, I mean, it's light before eight o 'clock. The sun comes up eight something and then really doesn't set to almost seven o 'clock, but it really stayed light way longer than that. So don't think that just because it is technically still winter that you won't have a lot of daylight. And then even as March, this is the early part of March, and even by the time you get to the end of March, it has drastically changed. So we do have that advantage of having a little bit more daylight.
All right. So it's the middle of the afternoon on day two. And we've spent so far today driving and seeing really some really great waterfalls and stopping. And so even though it's wintertime, they've been very crowded with tours. And so I think the thing that we've enjoyed the most is the very first one walking a little further down to one that's not quite so popular because you have to walk a little bit. And then at the other one at the top of the stairs. just walking a bit away from everybody else. We have had beautiful weather, sunshine, and so that's been really, really nice. So at Skogafoss,
at Skogafoss, that's the one where we walked up to the top, and that was 23 flights of stairs.
That was quite a workout. So thankfully you go up first and then come back down. But absolutely beautiful views. I mean, a lot of people do go up the stairs. But then kind of walk away. There's actually another little waterfall at the top that you can take a peek at. But lots of snow up there. But with the sun, it's definitely been warmer. And so now, middle of the afternoon, we are in Vic. We gassed up. So be sure, I guess the other tip is to get gas in Reykjavik. We probably should have stopped and gotten gas again when we made it to Vic fine. But didn't have a whole lot to spare and grabbed some lunch and grabbed a few snacks. And so now we're going to actually head. toward the diamond beach hope to catch that for sunset we've made it to the hotel now and this is probably the nicest hotel we're going to stay in while in iceland it's called hotel something like
made it to the hotel now and this is probably the nicest hotel we're going to stay in while in iceland it's called hotel something like Chakul Sarlan, so make sure to look in the show notes to get that right because I'm sure that's not how it's pronounced. And we've made dinner reservations for 8 .30 tonight at the hotel. It looks fabulous down there. So we have to wait until tomorrow morning to enjoy the hot tub and the sauna and stuff like that because it'll be closed by the time we finish dinner. But we don't want to wait too long before going back to Diamond Beach. So that we can get some pictures during the daylight hours, maybe before all the tour buses.
Yeah, so the hotel, besides its name, is also called the Glacier Lagoon Hotel. So it's super close to where you go to the glacier to do some hiking and things like that. And then the Diamond Beach. So it's really in a fantastic location where the scenery is just amazing. And so this afternoon after we left Vic, there was a church in Vic that just caught our eye. It had just really colorful against the... blue skies, the red color. And so we drove up there to just take some pictures of it. Then what caught my eye the most between Vic and where you get to the Diamond Beach near where we're staying is just the way that the scenery changes and just absolutely beautiful. I think when you see things about Iceland, you see these main sites, you know, people go to the Blue Lagoon and they go to the waterfalls and they go to the Diamond Beach, but just being able to do that drive and see the mountains and how they change and then just see the glaciers. And so we have seen glaciers before in Alaska, but if you've never seen them, just the way that they look, just absolutely fabulous. So that was a real treat and I think a highlight for me just because I haven't seen that about Iceland and just being able to take that drive. So then after photographing that church and we drove straight to the Diamond Beach to try to catch the light at sunset. Unfortunately, a lot of it had already gone behind the map. mountain so we did have a little bit of daylight left so but absolutely beautiful it's a very interesting phenomenon where the chunks of the glacier are coming off so it's these big pieces of ice that are on a black sand beach so just really phenomenal a lot of people but you could kind of kind of move around and get it without people in the pictures it's very close to the hotel about 10 minutes drive so we're definitely um we'll be heading back that way um and we'll catch that in another light in addition to see the glacier and stuff like that. So we didn't stop all the stops along the way today. So we will decide tomorrow if we want to do, you know, hikes, we're going to stop in those places and see if we want to do a little hike or go to the Black Sun Beach. So highly recommend, I would say between, and this is my opinion, but between what we saw yesterday on the Golden Circle, I think just the scenery and what we've seen, if you had to pick one or the other, I would definitely pick for me. The South Road, just for what we've seen in the waterfalls and the difference in the landscape and the snow. And so, Scott, I wanted to ask you, so far on this trip, the two days that we've had, anything that you would do differently?
I know one thing that I would do differently is I didn't, even after we talked about it, I didn't bring base layers. So I didn't bring something to go under my pants. And it's been... pretty cold. And so I think I would make sure that I bring those layers on the trip.
Yeah. And we send people in all, you know, jeans and pants and I have had leggings and have been wearing my snow pants and very glad that I did that for sure. Definitely just protecting because I mean, it'll be, I feel like it'll be warm one minute, you know, if you're in the sun and then we'll get in a place that's a lot of wind. So definitely having, you know, gloves and hats. Yeah.
Those waterproof pants are an important part because we went into the waterfall. And while we were there, my jeans just got absolutely soaked from the spray.
Yeah, we should probably add we did not go. And so Scott has forbid me to say any names, but we did not go behind the waterfall that you can go behind. I know it starts with an S because people were absolutely coming out of there completely soaked. And that is just not a good, you know, a good situation. We went. Closer to the one that's a little further up, I got a little bit wet, but we were very thankful for waterproof shoes. I would say that's the other thing, waterproof shoes. I actually picked up a pair in London and I've told Scott no less than a hundred times how thankful I am that I did that. Some people have also have the crampons that they have. They put little ice pick type things on the bottoms of their shoes. And sometimes we've needed that. We've almost like slipped a little bit, but our shoes have both been, you know, good for hiking. Really, it is having enough and appropriate clothing. Scott, anything like itinerary wise or just? I think I agree with you.
think I agree with you. I mean, listen, you should do the golden circle. So I would never tell you not to do it. But I think I do agree with you on the South Road. I think so far that has been my favorite. And just the scenery as we are driving along in the way that it changes like so rapidly. where we'll be in snow -capped mountains, and then there'll be no snow, and then you'll have these big peaks and drop -offs. It's just amazing. Can't wait to share some of the pictures with you guys.
Yeah. And I just think for me, I just can't reiterate enough. Like, you know, I know you go to see and on these tours, you stop to see, you know, this waterfall and, you know, this beach and stuff like that. But I think for us, it really has just been about the scenery and then just trying to find, you know, little short walks here and there off the beaten path and enjoying.
Well, that's it for today. We're headed to the restaurant for some dinner. Join us tomorrow as we recap all of the magnificent waterfalls. We'll visit on our way back to Reykjavik, and then we'll get you prepared for that last day in Iceland.
