[Srikanthan]

Wow. Wow. I'm speechless. Excellent travelogue and Spectacular pictures.

Wait, Have I rated 5 Star? Yes, I did.

And some of the pictures go to decorate my desktop!

[voyageur]

Tanveer,

Rated the thread a well deserved 5 star. Each and every picture you took is wallpaper quality. Very detailed narration too.

Towards the end, do post the total amount spend on the whole on the trip including the tickets and stay. That will help.

Cheers!

[FrankMartin]

Truly 5 star thread !!
Mind blowing pics with equally great narrative with all the small details.

I guess going to Iceland is like going to a different planet. Added to my bucket list.

[hemanth.anand]

Finally, I have succeeded in closing my mouth. It was open in awe since I saw the first photo until now. Just Beautiful.

And the narration is amazingly gripping.

tsk1979, I wish you travel a lot more and treat our eyes more often

By the way, can you please show me the photos of the 'Annual food production of a small farm' and the 'Gazillion of lenses'

[Mafioso]

Amazing Travelogue!! Just speechless looking at the pics and your narration adds even more zing to this waiting for more pics!

[theMAG]

Super stuff - glad you have put your MBA brain to good use! Best of luck with the Nat Geo result as well.

[tsk1979]

Decisions Decisions Decisions.
Its all about decisions. For example, what to eat for breakfast. These are easy decisions. Fairly quick.
And then there are the complex ones. Like where to go?

Its a pretty complex decision. I mean, the choices are few. North, South, East and West. However, South is the great big ocean with the great big waves. That leaves just three choices.

And guess what, the rain makes it easy. Its raining. Yes. Pouring actually, though the winds are a tame 15m/s today. The forecast is rain almost throughout the day, unless we head a large distance east or west.

To the east lies Jokusarlon. A few days from now, when we head North, we will pass it anyways. But we don't know whether it will be day or night, clear or cloudy. Today, its supposed to be clear in the evening over there.

So its done. We will drive, 200kms, to East. Two hundred. One way. But then, that's where the sun is shining, and we will chase the Sun.

Over here, well the clouds extend all the way to the horizon, and its pouring as we pass Vik just shy of 10am


Its a lovely town. Famous for the black beach and the cliffs in the sea. The church you see in the pic is the "Assembly point".

If the Sirens howl, every resident is supposed to run to the Church. No, its not to pray for some divine intervention. Its to get to higher ground. IF the Volcano North of Vik under Myrdal glacier erupts, it will melt the massive ice cap, causing a "Jokulhaulp", which means.. Glacier Run.

Icelanders are no strangers to this, and entire villages are swallowed in seconds. So every town, in the shadow of a glacier, has a protocol, with a designated safe place. Drills are frequently held, to ensure everybody is safe within the prescribed time.

However, for now, the volcano sleeps. Its the much bigger Bardarbunga which growls a hundred kms away, but that story is for another day.

Today, we just head on, admiring the fire shaped landscape


The rain lets up a bit, and we take a short pit stop


Black sand extends till the eyes can see, and the highway 1 runs through, arrow straight over a newish bridge. We are in the wastelands of Katla. Every few decades, Katla erupts. Considering, there is about 700m thick ice sheet sitting here, it means a massive Jokulhlaup.

In 1755, the discharge from the melt was about 300,000 cubic meters/second.
How much is that? Well its the combined discharge of Amazon, Mississippi, Nile, and Yangtze.

The Fury just flattens everything in its path leaving behind a flat floodplain


In 1918, Katla spewed fire for 24 days, and the southern coast of iceland was extended by five kms. This land is truly born of fire, and ice.

Far north, the glaciers sit, and when the earth breaths fire again, it this entire floodplain will flow with water and sediment.



This soil is quite fertile though. And grass grows everywhere


The primary "crop" of iceland is grass, for the sheep mainly, which outnumber humans 4 to 1.


WE proceed forward, for the road is long, and our next stop is quite interesting. Its quite amazing, how in different parts of the world same customs arise. In Ladakh, Buddhists pile on stones, to be conduits for the spirits. Here, there is Laufskalavarda, where countless stone cairns stand.

It all started in late 9th century, when an eruption swallowed the farm Laufskalvar, and all that remained was a mount(cairn). Since then travelers have been making small stone cairns. Over centuries most stones have been depleted, so the road authority moved a large supply to this place so that the tradition could be continued.

We cannot stop here for long though, its raining still


As we move on in Katla's shadow, lava fields come into view. These black rocks have been swallowed by moss, and the entire landscape looks like the alien world of Half life


And in this ancient field stands a weather station. Countless stations like these give accurate wind readings and ensure a very accurate weather forecast, atleast for the next half day.

WE have come seventy kms now, and taken 90 minutes to do so. Even though the road is fast, and traffic almost nill, frequent stops mean you can't just hurry Iceland. But if we want to reach before nightfall, we must make haste!

[Tapish]

Tanveer,

Yesterday, in my sleep, my phone beeped, weary eyed I read a message from caged_nomad (abhimanyu) that said: "Tanveer at it again", and I knew I had my latest wallpapers collection. Amazing photographs throughout the log.

Iceland is a very popular destination here on the East Coast with packages costing 600$ upwards. Would love to go there sometime soon.

Tapish

[D4D]

Fantastic write up. And even better pictures. Many wouldn't look out of place in a Travel Brochure.

Can't help, but say again-AMAZING PICTURES!

[tejas08]

Tanveer,

I am just speechless about this thread. No words are enough to explain the thrill and excitement achieved just through reading this thread.

Not sure, whether or when I will be able to go to Iceland ever, but yes, I just made a note of this and hopefully I will make a trip to Iceland Possible sometime in my lifetime.

[nkishore_007]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Some choices are very difficult. Some are very easy.
Like the one we made.
New Zealand or Iceland.
And so we went to Iceland. But what is Iceland?
Some questions are easy to answer. But this is not.

After 17 days, and 5000kms later, I cannot answer this question.. but is there a harm in trying.......?

This is the song of Fire and Ice

Awesome thread!

Iceland has been on my "to visit" list for quite some time. And seeing the pictures, (that's too taken in October!!!) makes me plan one visit soon.

We all talk about places to visit before we die, and most of us plan for the well known places while Iceland does not feature in the list most of the times. I had a good look at this place in the movie 'The secret life of Walter Mitty' and was awed by this country. Though it is one of the volcanic capital of the world, it still gives me the adrenaline to go there & walk through the roads.

You did manage to see Aurora Borealis, eh! I must that you are damn lucky. And your reference to Fire & Ice reminds me of two things: An album by glam rock band Cinderella, and Game of Thrones!

[USJ]

Wow TSK! You sir have redefined how travelogues should be written. And the song was brilliant. Thank you so much for such great entertainment and pure joy on a lazy Friday in office.

[srikrishna717]

Lovely is the word!
Your photographs speaks volumes about the splendor of this place !!!

[ABS9]

Thanks tsk1979 for those stunning photos and a very well written thread.

It is rare that pictures do justice to the beauty of the place. This time, my friend, justice has been made.

[bandlimitedlife]

What an awesome travelogue. The Pictures are Brilliant. The narration is very interesting. You are truly sharing Happiness. Cheers! Deserves a 7* unfortunately have just 5