Iceland: An ultimate road trip

It was July end –both me and Prateek tired of our monotonous work lives longed to take a break, breathe in some fresh air – we were getting restless. As we sat down to decide where to go, the first place that came to both our minds was Iceland; our eyes lit up at the mere mention of this beautiful country – but then was it feasible? The major concern was that the tickets might have become very costly by now, as we had decided to go for our holiday in mid September which was just a month and half away! We immediately checked the ticket prices and as expected, it was costly...my heart sank...I sighed deeply; and then suddenly, Prateek said that if we delayed our plan by a week, we might still get a reasonable deal!

 It was decided, we were going to Iceland! I was ecstatic.

 (We had wanted to visit Iceland for long, but because of some or the other reason it had never worked out – so now that we were finally going, imagine how elated I was!)

We had landed at Reykjavik airport – my excitement knew no bounds. It is correct that I was extremely excited but at the same time was feeling damn nervous as Prateek hasn’t really driven around much in India – And after hearing so much about the unpredictable weather in Iceland, couldn’t help wondering if we will be able complete our planned drive around the ring road!

We picked up our car and started our journey towards the Golden circle route. Iceland is breathtakingly beautiful right from the word “Go”; Enormous lava fields, covered in stunning autumn colours of green, yellow and red lined the roads on both sides – Oh what a lovely sight it was! 

Beautiful play of clouds and sun rays!

We traversed through the beautiful surroundings, soaking in the surreal sights, to reach our first stop, Thingvellir National Park. Thingvellir National Park is located in an active volcanic area and is considered as a UNESCO World Heritage site - surrounded by varied mountains, featuring the beautiful lava fields with autumn colours in full bloom, streams flowing through, waterfalls – it was all an amazing spectacle!

OOooo - What a view!!! How many colours do you see??

Beautiful stream flowing through

Curiosity taking me towards the mist - what is it?

Oh there it is! - Beautiful "Oxarafoss"

The Autumn hues!

The most interesting feature of the park – continental drift between the North American and Eurasian Plates can be clearly seen in the cracks or faults which traverse the region. We visited one such fissure i.e. Silfra fissure. The amazing feeling of being able to witness this geological wonder is inexplicable!

Which continent am I in?

We hiked through the park, absolutely thrilled by the amazing views and features we got to witness. What a wonderful beginning of our journey to this stunning land of fire and ice!

Wish I could go back!

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Lammerklamm - A walk to remember!

We left Gosau in the morning for our next destination – the pretty musical city of Salzburg. We decided not to take the highway, but rather a route that passed through mountains and small villages - green meadows, small cottages with smoke billowing out of chimneys, mountains covered with lush green trees – it was magical! As we were moving, we saw some 4-5 cars parked in an area; we decided to stop and check-out what it was – we were at Lammerklamm.

We decided to go and explore it – and thank god we did! It was a beautiful gorge - an impressive spectacle of light, thundering waters, and shade; I had never seen something like this before. The entire klamm was about 2 kms long. As we were about to start our journey, it started drizzling; but we decided to go ahead, descending into the gorge over secured walk ways and stairs hugging the cliff. The walk along this klamm put a smile to our faces, refreshed us, sound of the water gushing soothed our soul and senses. As if this were not enough, the winds blowing - strong but not the least bit ill intentioned, rather coltish and carefree - ensured that the tiny droplets of water pouring around sprayed on our faces; wow what a feeling it was – inexplicable! It made this walk all the more amazing! 

"cliffed" - pretty gorge

Meandering pathway!

clear gushing water

We finished this “walk” on the marked paths but did not stop here – there was a small wooden bridge that took us to the other side of the klamm- we continued ahead, passing some cafes and cottages. As we moved further, we reached a narrow path lined with trees on both sides, we could see the mountains at a distance covered with fog, the sky was cloudy with rains pouring - the confluence of all this resulted in a sight that was spectacular; I was dazed! We clicked as many pictures as we could, knowing seemingly well that we will not be able to capture what we were witnessing! It was time for us to go back now and resume our travel to Salzburg.

crossing over to the "other" side

green green!

enchanting view on the "other" side

A visit to Plitvice - nature's marvel!

I was lying on my bed, a slow smile curving over my face, as I painted a picture of myself wandering through the park along the beautiful turquoise lakes and umpteen waterfalls – the thought of being in this stunning place in less than 12 hours had led to an inexplicable excitement that was net letting me sleep; I was getting impatient – why was the time moving so slow? I had first read about this place a few months back while browsing through the internet – it featured in this list of “100 places to visit before you die”. I showed it to Prateek and told him that would definitely visit this place someday - little did I know that this “someday” would come so soon!

Of lakes and waterfalls..

Finally, it was morning, and time for us to start our journey towards the park. I was brimming with excitement. We reached the Park around 10 - 10:30, and bought our tickets. There are a bunch of different trails to choose from depending on the amount of time one would want to spend in the park. We had the entire day and hence chose a trail that would let us explore the upper as well as the lower lakes, taking about 5-6 hours to complete. 

All set for the trek..

As we were about to start our trek through the park, it started raining – Though we were prepared for it with our umbrellas and raincoats, we were not able to take many pictures; Also, as the rain intensified, we got soaked and were almost shivering – not allowing us to enjoy the beauty that surrounded us as much as we would have wanted to! Thankfully, a couple of hours later, the sky started clearing out;  the turquoise lakes glistened as the sunrays fell on it – changing its colour from turquoise to emerald to dark blue depending on the intensity of sunlight. The walk through meandering wooden pathways over the streams, the umpteen waterfalls, the crystal clear lakes, the different shades of yellow and green on the trees that surrounded us - all seemed straight out of a fairy tale – Nothing we read or saw on the internet could prepare us for the ethereal beauty that we were confronted with.

Shades of Green and Yellow..

Walking through the rains..

One of the many waterfalls..

Pretty pretty!

Over the streams..

Crystal clear water..

Oh so beautiful!

Shades of emerald..

The "Big" waterfall

As we made our way back, covering the last stretch of this amazing journey, we were greeted by some spectacular views of lakes cascading into each other; And before we knew, it was time for us to leave this place – a place that could be best described as “nature’s masterpiece”.

Nature's masterpiece!