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When I set foot in Iceland for the first time, I was completely blown away.
The great longing for fascinating waterfalls and impressive coastal and mountain landscapes brought me back two years later.
The island of fire and ice - Iceland is simply fascinating and the rough nature, the exciting volcanic landscapes and the remote corners can best be explored with a rental car.
A visit to Kirkjufell, perhaps Iceland's most photographed mountain, is almost obligatory.
The ring road, called Hringvegur, is around 1,330 kilometers long and goes around the island and connects numerous sights and the most important places in the country. Just a piece of the ring road is enough to knock you off your feet. I couldn't manage more than a reverentially breathed wow this time, at the sight of the forces of nature and the almost endless expanses.
Midsummer night on the ring road.
I was able to experience a gigantic moment on the Vestrahorn (757 m), part of the 889 m high Klifatindur mountain range. When I got there, gray clouds covered the entire mountain range. All alone, I walked along the infinitely large black sand beach in front of it and took on more minimalistic photo motifs.
When, all of a sudden, around 1:00 a.m., the cloud cover gradually broke and the colossal appearance of this mighty mountain range opened up before me.
In front of the imposing Vestrahorn mountain range.
Iceland is the country of scenic superlatives: here you will find the most active volcanoes in Europe, countless waterfalls, rivers and lakes. And where there is so much water, glaciers are not far away, at least not when you are close to the Arctic. There are 13 glaciers in Iceland, which together cover about 11 percent of the country's surface. They are not relics of the last cold period of the Ice Age, but formed anew after Iceland was ice-free 2500 years ago. A good 15,000 years ago, the current warm phase (interglacial) of the Ice Age, which we are still in, began and the ice on the glaciers began to melt.
View of the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon just after the setting sun appeared.
Traveling around Iceland during Midsummer is a fantastic experience. Between mid-May and the end of July it is almost always light.
In June the sun hardly sets in the north, while in the south of Iceland the sun stays above the horizon for 22 hours:
Never-ending light and incredible sunsets that turn into sunrise again.
The Seljalandsfoss waterfall on Iceland's south coast captured with the famous Icelandic midnight sun.
"If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes" This Icelandic proverb fits perfectly, because one thing is certain about the weather in Iceland: the constant change. When preparing for the weather in Iceland, it is best to prepare for everything.
On Iceland's southernmost beach, a view of a bizarre rock formation: Reynisdrangar.
What is good for sun, rain, wind, cold and heat is right for Iceland. Weather in Iceland also includes heavy storms with horizontal rain, sandstorms, sudden fogs, snow showers in summer and a sudden ray of sunshine bursts out of a cloudy sky, covering the landscape with a golden light. And then you have a clear blue sky again, which you really wouldn't have expected as a Central European.
The impregnable mountain Eystrahorn, a prominent outcrop of the extinct volcano Krossanesfjall in the southeast.
IIceland, the island of fire and ice.
The land of colors and contrasts and endless space.
A harsh land full of barren, mysterious beauty.
An island formed by volcanoes, glaciers and the eternal water cycle.
Iceland is an addictive island, so I will come back sometime...
The old lighthouse of Gardur after sunset. It is located on the northern tip of the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland.
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