And back in Iceland - this time in the port of Reykjavik

After five long days at sea, which we had to "waste" because we couldn't follow our original route due to the large amount of ice off the coast of Greenland, and we had everything from calm to stormy sea, but you already know that from the previous blog - we arrive in the port of Reykjavik in the evening.

MSC also offers free shuttles to the city late at night, but we decide to stay on board and start our exploration tour the next day, as we are expecting bright sunshine the next day...

And indeed... The next morning we get up at 7 o'clock for breakfast. Dressed warmly, we then make our way to the car rental company, which is about half an hour's walk from the ship's pier.

For the first day we have planned a route that will take us to the south coast of Iceland to Vik i Myrdal, about 200 km away. On the well-developed road, no. 1, we drive through the beautiful landscape of Iceland. Passing regions where steam columns of varying heights rise from the ground from time to time, we discover waterfalls and vast landscapes, some of which have black soil and in spring, when the snow melts, bring the water masses to the sea. And the view always goes to the high white glaciers on the horizon, which accompany us throughout the journey.

We are very lucky that the weather is good to us today and the sun is shining in a blue sky. That puts us in a good mood and arouses curiosity about what awaits us.

The furthest destination of our tour is Reynisfjara Black Beach. A beautiful beach section consisting of black sand and black stones that is regularly (rightly so!) voted one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The waves on the beach make the stones sparkle in the sun. It is striking that basalt stones dominate the picture widely across Iceland. Here at Black Beach, too, the basalt stone is unmistakable. We find the characteristic columns not only here, but also at many waterfalls.

On the left side of the beach there is a large cave formed out of basalt stone, which offers a perfect view of the sea. With a little luck, you can also take a photo here without any tourists like us. Most people stay directly on the beach and do not venture into the left area around the columns, as you have to estimate the intensity of the waves here in order not to get wet feet. We dare and are rewarded with a breathtaking backdrop and almost complete solitude.

Another striking and well-known feature are the puffins, also known as puffins, which are present in large numbers on the rocks. They are nimble flyers and to photograph such a colorful bird you need a little lucky coincidence. I feel transported back to my efforts to capture the hummingbirds in Palm Springs, which only succeeded after what felt like a hundred attempts...

At the beach, I only partially succeed. I didn't know that it would be much easier to photograph the birds...

We continue our journey and drive to the Dyrholaey peninsula, from which you also get a special view of the rock arch. When we arrive there, we realize that in addition to the fantastic view of the Black Beach and the rocks referred to as trolls off the coast, there is also the best view of the puffins, also known as puffins. Because they nest directly below the path on the cliffs in the meadows. Here you have an unrestricted view of them and they not only fly here, they also sit and seem accustomed to people, so without fear of us.

Puffins can be found in Greenland and Iceland. However, the largest population of these colorful beak creatures is located in Iceland. In winter they migrate to the Canary Islands ... (hmm, somehow that seems understandable to me ...)

We leave the Black Beach with numerous photos and drive to Solheimajokull, the middle of the three glaciers in our area. The smaller volcano is Eyjafjallajokull, which erupted in 2010 and paralyzed all air traffic, mainly to North America.

The Solheimajokull glacier did not show itself to us in the expected, glacier-typical white, but was rather black. The discoloration is probably still from the volcanic eruption or for reasons that are not clear to us... we accept that and are happy about a "dirty" glacier...

After the glacier, there is another waterfall. This time the Skogafoss. A waterfall about 60 meters high that plunges into the depths. Due to the sunshine, there are also two or three rainbows for free and - depending on the wind direction - a damp cooling down. To see the Skogafoss plunge from above, we climb the mountain via a staircase that was not continuously anchored in the ground and was sometimes a bit wobbly. When we arrive up there, there is no special view. You can only see the "fall" of the water masses if you go to the platform with grid plates, which was a no-go for me, of course. I have gained or have certainly gained some weight, but through the small openings, you can always fall... Caution is the mother of the porcelain box...

The next stop on our tour back was Seljalandsfoss. Another waterfall. The special thing here was that you could walk behind the waterfall. Again, the possibility of getting wet, but we gladly accepted that, especially since you could take beautiful sun pictures behind the waterfall (which didn't really work for me because of the water drops on the lens). Rainbow included here, too.

This waterfall will also remain in our memory because we will surely receive information about it from the car rental company...

Almost all parking lots scan the license plate on entry. On the site there are machines where you have to enter the license plate number and pay the parking fee with a credit card. We actually knew about this type of payment, but when we entered the parking lot, we "overlooked" the camera and therefore were not aware that there are parking fees to be paid here.

So we left the parking lot without paying and only saw the cameras when we left. So we are parking fee dodgers and will surely be asked to pay (a fine) through the car rental company... It wasn't intentional, rather negligence...

That was enough for a round trip for the first day. After returning to Reykjavik, we wanted to explore the city.

More on that in the next blog.